20071013 American Ice Co.
Last Saturday night turned out to be a great night to learn more about Iceland and Del Paso Boulevard. I ate at Lil Joe's with happyshooter.
George, the son of Lil Joe, was quite proud of his 1/2" thick grill, seasoned for more than 50 years, and his homemade ranch dressing.
Then we went out shooting neon and dropping into the art galleries for the Second Saturday Art Walk. After staying up along the northern part of Del Paso Blvd, we walked south to get shots of Iceland. I've photographed it at night before from across the street, but I wanted to get some better shots, so we walked right up to it and took quite a few pictures. Just as I was finished, the owner, Chris Lord, came out and started barking about us taking pictures of the sign without paying for it and saying he was going to turn the sign off. I was defiant and said, "Fine, turn it off."
But he was only joking. He ended up talking to us for a very long time, and telling us far more than I could ever remember and write down. He told about the murder of the owner of the old Agonaut Club, which used to be next door, the raid on a bordello across the street, the Green Olive, in which several city officials were caught, and the history of the American Ice Co. and Iceland.
The American Ice Company opened in 1922. They used to have a garage door on the front to send out ice on trucks, but so many people would come directly to them for ice that they covered over the door and put in 3 vending slots where people could get 50-pound blocks of ice to haul away.
The two neon signs in the photo from the link above were not originally on the building. He says nobody in is quite sure when the sign was added, or when American Ice Co. was expanded. The larger sign used to say in neon, "Cold Alone Is Not Enough." He says nobody knows that that means.
The holes from the neon for that part allowed birds to get inside, and they built nests there. An accumulation of dried up nests caught fire when the sign was on, and burnt out the inside, so it no longer works. Part of the smaller sign works, the part saying "ICE" in red. There is an outer tube that goes around the sign that would be blue if it were functioning. He believes that the colors were originally reversed, and got mixed up on a repair job.
The "ICE" part had not come on yet, so he went to turn it on. Happyshooter asked in amazement, "You mean you can turn it on?!?" as though he had just told us that he could use the sign to see into the future. Then came the highlight of the night. He took us inside the American Ice Company and showed us the compressors, the oldest of which dates from 1896. It was running.
He told us that as long as he and Robert Kerth (one of the family who owns the buildings) have anything to say about it, Iceland, which opened on November 2, 1940, will stay in business. He is retiring in 2 years from his other job, and will have more time to spend on Iceland.
He also told us that the KVIE documentary on the place, _Frozen in Time: Sacramento's Iceland Ice Rink_, was excellent and worth checking out. You can buy it here:
www.kvie.org/programs/kvie/viewfinder/frozen_time/default...
I plan to.
20071013 American Ice Co.
Last Saturday night turned out to be a great night to learn more about Iceland and Del Paso Boulevard. I ate at Lil Joe's with happyshooter.
George, the son of Lil Joe, was quite proud of his 1/2" thick grill, seasoned for more than 50 years, and his homemade ranch dressing.
Then we went out shooting neon and dropping into the art galleries for the Second Saturday Art Walk. After staying up along the northern part of Del Paso Blvd, we walked south to get shots of Iceland. I've photographed it at night before from across the street, but I wanted to get some better shots, so we walked right up to it and took quite a few pictures. Just as I was finished, the owner, Chris Lord, came out and started barking about us taking pictures of the sign without paying for it and saying he was going to turn the sign off. I was defiant and said, "Fine, turn it off."
But he was only joking. He ended up talking to us for a very long time, and telling us far more than I could ever remember and write down. He told about the murder of the owner of the old Agonaut Club, which used to be next door, the raid on a bordello across the street, the Green Olive, in which several city officials were caught, and the history of the American Ice Co. and Iceland.
The American Ice Company opened in 1922. They used to have a garage door on the front to send out ice on trucks, but so many people would come directly to them for ice that they covered over the door and put in 3 vending slots where people could get 50-pound blocks of ice to haul away.
The two neon signs in the photo from the link above were not originally on the building. He says nobody in is quite sure when the sign was added, or when American Ice Co. was expanded. The larger sign used to say in neon, "Cold Alone Is Not Enough." He says nobody knows that that means.
The holes from the neon for that part allowed birds to get inside, and they built nests there. An accumulation of dried up nests caught fire when the sign was on, and burnt out the inside, so it no longer works. Part of the smaller sign works, the part saying "ICE" in red. There is an outer tube that goes around the sign that would be blue if it were functioning. He believes that the colors were originally reversed, and got mixed up on a repair job.
The "ICE" part had not come on yet, so he went to turn it on. Happyshooter asked in amazement, "You mean you can turn it on?!?" as though he had just told us that he could use the sign to see into the future. Then came the highlight of the night. He took us inside the American Ice Company and showed us the compressors, the oldest of which dates from 1896. It was running.
He told us that as long as he and Robert Kerth (one of the family who owns the buildings) have anything to say about it, Iceland, which opened on November 2, 1940, will stay in business. He is retiring in 2 years from his other job, and will have more time to spend on Iceland.
He also told us that the KVIE documentary on the place, _Frozen in Time: Sacramento's Iceland Ice Rink_, was excellent and worth checking out. You can buy it here:
www.kvie.org/programs/kvie/viewfinder/frozen_time/default...
I plan to.