Old-time drinking returns to Old Sacramento

Old Sacramento’s wink at bygone saloon days is getting more authentic now that alcohol can be served on its rustic sidewalks again.

For years, restaurants in the historic district had little reason to extend their ambiance outdoors due to a decades-old prohibition banning beer, wine and liquor from being served along the western-style boardwalks.

Old Sac was the only part of the city where dining hubs faced this handicap. According to Urban Design Manager Bruce Monighan, Old Sacramento’s business district was first established by the city’s housing redevelopment agency in the 1960s with a number of covenants, conditions and restrictions, more commonly known as CC&Rs, one of which forbade spirits bordering the city’s oldest streets.

On August 9, Monighan told the Sacramento City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee that no one who currently works for the city knows why that CC&R was passed in the first place. What Monighan’s staff did know is that Old Sacramento business owners didn’t like it. Under the code, nine boardwalk restaurants with alcohol licenses were prevented from competing with Midtown’s outdoor dining scene.

Monighan’s team recently drafted an ordinance to toss the old policy, as long as Old Sacramento’s restaurants are pouring the drinks in defined areas on the boardwalk. “This only applies to bona fide eating establishments,” Monigham told a city council committee, “not clubs or bars.”

The city council approved the ordinance last week.

From a tourism standpoint, Old Sacramento’s dining scene is catching up to similar historic destinations around the U.S., especially ones along riverfronts.

Steve Hammond, president of the Sacramento Convention Center & Visitors Bureau, said the potential benefits of nixing Old Sac’s prohibition days are huge. “Adding outdoor dining as a new amenity will definitely drive more foot traffic to our historic district that will benefit all of the small businesses in Old Sacramento,” Hammond observed in an email.

Jerry Fat, whose family owns Fat City Bar & Cafe on Front Street, said he’ll now take a second look at possibly having outdoor seating, though doing so won’t be as simple as it sounds. “Not all of the boardwalk is entirely level, and it has some pretty crowded foot traffic during certain events, so there are liability considerations for anyone thinking about doing it,” Fat told SN&R. “But I think changing the rule is good in the long run. It will make Old Sacramento more lively.”

Ten-22 co-owner Terry Harvego is also relieved that Old Sacramento is no longer being singled out. Harvego runs two business on Second Street and thinks the area’s dining scene is primed for some new attention.

“Clearly having outside dining is great for the environment we have down here,” Harvego said. “Part of this process has just been cleaning up rules from the past, and I’m really excited to see Old Sacramento be what it can be. People are seeing that too—they’re seeing what great bones it has.”