The old Jade Hotel on 7th and L streets in Sacramento may be doomed for a date with the wrecking ball; but, like it is with so many darkly mysterious, sleepy and shadowy things, the old building metamorphosed into a brightly colored creature and made a lasting impact on the community before vanishing into the night.
Category Archives: personal work
Lake Tahoe
Brea had a conference in Tahoe this summer so we decided to make a family trip out of it. We stayed in a sweet little cabin in Carnelian Bay with Brea’s old Friend Tatiana and her awesome family. Bijou loved the water and the mountains but hated the baby backpack. No family hikes for us yet.. back to the drawing board.
The Secret to Happiness
There is an amazing book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called “Flow” which talks about optimal experiences and how they are linked to happiness. He talks about how people achieve Flow by becoming so completely involved in a moment that their mind is clear and their work or action is flawless without effort. Skateboarding simply cannot happen without achieving some amazing flow. In fact, I believe skateboarders spend way more time in optimal flow than most of the general population and are therefore much more happy than your average Joe. My theory is that if we were to integrate and build skate-able features into the design of our cities, the residual happiness would make the entire city a more awesome place to live. So next time you see some skateboarders lurking around your property, don’t kick them out, instead go offer them a plate of cookies and some lemonade and you are guaranteed some smiles, laughs and a few cool new friends.
I got a chance to go out skating with an all-star crew in Sacramento last weekend. It was nice to dust off the skate shoes catch up with the boys.
Rad Dads
Happy Fathers day to all the rad dads out there! Keep up the good work, your awesome children are going to take over soon.
Warehouse Artist Lofts
The city of Sacramento came out in droves to celebrate the grand opening of Warehouse Artist Lofts, and take a peek inside this very unique space. This is a mixed income housing projected in the middle of one of Sacramento’s historic R street district, only blocks from my own project, Beatnik Studios. The WAL is also exclusively inhabited by artists, and happens to be my own little family’s new home. I feel blessed to be part of such a great and creative experiment.
Ali Youssefi, the developer of the project has brought great guidance and vision to the WAL project.
Rolling Stills 