Jason over at LJUrban passed on this bit of local news: seems Sac County Health officials paid a visit to Old Soul Coffee Co. and told them to can it with the non-permitted retail sale of food and coffee. Old Soul contends it isn’t retailing anything, just offering up wholesale extras to whoever wanders by.

Sure looks retail-y, though, doesn’t it? Check out some photos - outside looks less like an employee break area than a alley-front cafe. The Bee covered the business and made a point of saying it wasn’t retail:

It’s a wholesale business only, with no retail sales, though people working and living in the area are dropping by in the mornings for a cup of coffee and maybe a scone. The old warehouse has cushiony sofas, abstract paintings and a coffee-brewing island in the middle of the space, but without parking, a bathroom, other seating and regulatory permits it isn’t set up to deal directly with the public.

Jordan and Griest, however, are scouting the neighborhood for retail space. In the meantime, they crank up their coffee roaster in one corner, bake breads, muffins and scones at ovens in another, and on Monday mornings invite prospective retail customers to gather around a big farm table for a coffee cupping, an exercise aimed at coming up with appealing roasts and blends.

We’re in “if it walks, talks, quacks” territory with this one. After the jump, I’ve provided Old Soul’s response to the day’s events, which have, reportedly, led to their removing their sign from the L-Capitol Ave alley where they make their wholesale home. No report on whether this event may have directed some conflicted, and ultimately unhelpful, attention on the operation.

Though I completely support midtown business, especially ones that seek to reinvigorate otherwise neglected areas - like alleys, if need be - I have to go with the Health Department on this one. Old Soul is looking for retail space - they know they have to get somewhere more appropriate to do business with the public (restrooms, access, etc). I’m sure getting the necessary permitting and retrofitting done on the alley property would be costly for a start-up, but my inner risk-averse lawyer voice says that, for their own protection, they should, sadly, reel it in for a bit. I don’t think the County was out of line - at least based on the facts at hand.
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No one, that’s who.

This Saturday night, local funnypeeps The Free Hooch Comedy Troupe present their Best-Of season ender at the Clarion on Auburn. The players (Hoochsters? Hoochies? Ha! Low hanging fruit of a joke - had to pluck it) will perform favorite sketches from the past year. Also performing, training team The 5 Second Rule.

Both teams come from the local comedy shop over at the Sacramento Comedy Spot (we’ve mentioned them before) - so by attending, not only will you get a good laugh, but you’ll be supporting local business and local artists - for what more can you ask?

Want a sample? Check out some of their sketches here. (May I suggest this or this as a good example? And this ties in well with holiday advertising you’re probably hearing on the radio already. Oh, by the way, these aren’t completely unsuitable for work, but you might want to turn the speakers down on that last bit or just wait till you get home.)

Sacramento Comedy Spot’s Fee Hooch Comedy Troupe - Saturday, December 16 at the Clarion Hotel (click for directions), 8pm, Tickets are $12 at the door or available online here for $10. Too many holiday parties this weekend? You can still get some comedic relief next Wednesday night at the Capitol Garage.

Don’t even think about commenting on a post on their blogs, because you can’t. I was reading Mike Dunne’s blog over at SacBee.com and wanted to comment on one of his posts. I looked at their other blogs (Insider, 21Q, BeatNonStop, etc.) and realized none of them permit comments. What surprised me most about this is that you can comment on any of their stories on other parts of the site, including the weather, but never on a blog. Never. Can anyone rationalize that?

Feel free to comment about this post, or any posts on the Bee’s blogs for that matter, where your comments are always welcome.

We’ve received this announcement from local bloggers and eco-happy developers LJ Urban:

Next Thursday (12/14), at 6pm, we’re gathering as many eco-urbanists as we can find at Old Soul to help us inscribe our new, three-wheeled, electric, company car with eco-urban messages. Yes, you did read that correctly. It’s a scribble-fest. Crazy, eh?

Our idea is this. We’ve got this cool car (a Zap Xebra, the first in Sacramento, in fact) and wanted do a custom skin for it. But, rather than skinning it with a great big company logo and tag line; we thought, “Why not use this as an opportunity to engage Sacramento in a dialogue about eco-urban community.”

Then, we thought: if it’s about community, why not invite the community to participate. So, we’ll have the question “What is Eco-Urban” in large font on both sides and then all of our hand-written “answers” scribbled all over the rest of the car. Voila!–the car becomes its own expression of eco-urban community: message and mission adjoined (with zero emissions, to boot).

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For those of you who haven’t gotten an invite to Governor Schwarzenegger’s inauguration on January 5, don’t wait up. Sacramento’s most famous transient is inviting the well-connected and well-funded to his first and only inauguration the first Friday in January at 11 a.m. at Memorial Auditorium. Today the Inaugural Committee announced former SF Mayor Willie Brown will emcee. If that motivates you in any way, ambition and $22,300 might just get you in the door.

On a related note, mark January 5 as bring your lunch to work day if you live anywhere near downtown.

A few of your local Metrobloggers braved the dark and rainy night to swill coffee and beer at a fairly new local haunt: R15. The name might be a giveaway but this writer here didn’t register that R15 is at the intersection of R and 15th Streets in Midtown. It’s a fairly friendly neon-esque place, with lots of room in the early evening, and the noise level was reasonable. (At least until the Kings game was blasted from one of the multitudinous screens.)

The menu sported an ad touting that you too can play wireless Xbox from the comfort of your bar chair with beer in hand. It’s gotta be a trend that catches on like wildfire. Now maybe your mother can watch her soap operas!

Beer was cheap at $2.75. This blogger had a latte that arrived in a bowl. Not bad for a bar latte, if you know what I mean. But who can compete with the best latte in town at The Naked Lounge which is only a block away. Next time I go to R15, I’ll skip the latte, and maybe loosen up and have one of them cheap beers.

Photo from Metroblogging Auckland.

If you don’t know much about Auckland (and I don’t, besides watching an episode of Globetrekker devoted to New Zealand), you really oughta check out the latest and greatest Metroblogging city. Beautiful photos and great writing. There’s a lot on the page to inspire a few thoughts about visiting and even immigrating to that fair city.

Check it out, and welcome! to our friends in the South.

My friend and Sac City USD teacher, Owen Jackman, has worked with Special Ed students for years. After seeing the touching movie School of Rock (yes, Jack Black doing sincere guy who brings out the best in people gets to me-see Shallow Hal), he was inspired to start his own rock band. The 15-member group features both Special Ed and Mainstream students, and they play an eclectic mix of music. Their next performance will be on December 14th at 7:00 p.m. at Leonardo DaVinci School (4701 Joaquin Ave.-off of Freeport and Stacia just south of Land Park) in the schools gym. They’re doing a motown set this year.

Check out a write-up on the band in the Sac City Unified School District Newsletter…I’ve heard a lot of great things about the band.

Here’s some pics of them rockin’ out!

This morning they reported on the radio that a van had been seen in the Sacramento River. Apparently two truck drivers saw it from the freeway. Emergency personnel were called in.

The Sac Bee reports that a tug boat operator saw it as well.

Now there are divers looking for the elusive van. What a sad way to spend a rainy, bad weather day like today. I hope a recovery happens soon–and shudder to think who might be inside the vehicle.

If you ever find yourself out of town and missing home, huddled inside on a rainy day, or planning your route on the freeways, look no further than the web for a real-time look at what’s happening “out there”. Caltrans covers the roads, KCRA has cameras downtown, at the airport, and destinations like Tahoe and Monterey. Sac State also has its cameras pointed on two new projects on their campus. I know that the city is putting up cameras all along K Street–any chance they’d open some up for amusement/horror from the comfort of your home?