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Friday, November 21, 2008

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Cowboy poetry

www.pioneercenter.com

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is held every year in Elko. Dates for 2009 are Jan. 24-31.

Information: www.westernfolklife.org.

Food cruise

Swelles22@gmail.com

Ricci Martin shows 'Amore' for dad Dean

Dean Martin was a frustrating entertainer.

There was no problem selling out his shows. He was iconic, the ultimate crooner, making singing look as easy as breathing. He was also one of the most reliable of the headliners, always showing up on time.

It was just that he approached his live performances the same way he did his television variety series, casually and unrehearsed. He rarely finished a song. He let his other reputation, that of a heavy drinker and rambling raconteur, take over his persona so completely that jokes and antics and digressions almost always took precedence over the music. Audiences forgave him, but he never built the legions of ardent returning fans other performers did. Once was usually enough.

Now, Martin's youngest son, Ricci, has built a show around his father, "That's Amore: A Tribute to Dean Martin," and he brings it to John Ascuaga's Nugget on Friday and Saturday.

There's no denying Martin deserves the tribute. He had hit after hit – "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime," "Memories Are Made of This," "Volare," "Houston" and "That's Amore."

He was half (Jerry Lewis the other half) of one of the biggest comedy teams in show business history. He was part of the Rat Pack and in movies such as "Ocean's Eleven" and "Robin and the Seven Hoods." He astonished everybody with his solo acting career, whether seriously in "Some Came Running" or spoofing James Bond as Matt Helm. And his appearances on television may have been unpredictable, but almost always came off as entertaining.

Ricci sings the songs and banters with his band, The Pack, just as his father always interacted with pianist Kenny Lane and band. He also shows photos of the private and public Martin during the music, talks of his father's breakup with Jerry Lewis and shows a 1980s video he made for MTV shortly before his father's death, of Dad singing "Since I Met You Baby."

The son also attempts something his father never did. He leaves the stage and enters the audience, fielding questions. Audience members feel free to ask anything, even more so now that we are in the tell-all know-all age of celebrity, and Ricci's answers are direct and often funny. He has clearly inherited his father's wit.

A few answers come as surprises. The legendary partygoer and heavy drinker, for example, hated parties and stayed home with the kids as much as possible. It seems he always did prefer "going to the couch."

Around the Silver Circle

Mississippi Delta blues and country take over the Crystal Bay this week. Li'l Dave Thompson, who was influenced by his father, Sam, and his playing with the likes of Willie Foster and Eddie Cusic, plays in the Red Room at 10 p.m. Friday at a price most welcome in this economy – free. And Hellbound Glory, a band that likes to refer to its music as "scumbag country," a mix of bluegrass and outlaw, does likewise in the Red Room at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Food and drink notes: The Eldorado has opened its new $5 million buffet, decorated in cherry wood and glass, standard stainless steel pans replaced by porcelain platters, paper napkins replaced with cloth, and a dessert bar that includes a gelato station.

Also at the Eldorado, the Brew Brothers pub and microbrewery has won three 2008 North American Brewers' Association awards for their Redhead Amber Ale, Wild Card Wheat and Carano Extra.

The Reserve Wine Bar at the Grand Sierra features some special winery evenings. This month it's Catena Vineyards on Wednesday, O'Brien Estate on Friday, A-Z Winery on Oct. 24, Rex Hill on Oct. 25 and Craneford on Oct. 30.

IF YOU GO

• Colin Quinn: Harrah's Tahoe, Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; $25; (800) 427-7247 or www. SouthShoreRoom.com

Wake-up call at 10th and J streets

Chip Conley stands in an unfinished room at The Citizen Hotel at 10th and J streets in Sacramento. The restored building is expected to open in November. BRYAN PATRICK bpatrick@sacbee.com

Developers of Sacramento's newest cultural landmark like to refer to the intersection of 10th and J streets as "Main & Main," a figurative reference to the city's busiest north-south and east-west arteries.

That distinction may go unnoticed by downtown workers who for months have been forced to cross the street or change lanes to circumvent construction blockades. But when the fences come down, eyes are sure to pop.

The ochre-brick beauty of a building at 926 J St. will open its doors in November as The Citizen, an upscale, 188-room hotel with a restaurant called Grange, a bar called Scandal and the potential to rev up Sacramento's reputation as a once-sleepy agricultural town turned hip and happening city.

Renovations to the historic 1925 building have been in progress for three years, but only now is visual muscle starting to build on the structure's elegant architectural bones. It's a tailored look, but with punch; a carefully considered reflection of the city's personality and style. And it marks the first venture into the Central Valley for San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre Hospitality, a hotel management company that itself is a reflection of its tailored-with-a-punch CEO, Chip Conley.

Conley made waves in the hotel industry in 1987 when, at 26, he put his Stanford MBA to use by acquiring a gritty motel in San Francisco's Tenderloin district and turning it into a rock-and-roll magnet frequented by the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linda Ronstadt and even Timothy Leary. The success of that early venture helped propel JDV to prominence as a boutique-hotel operator whose portfolio now includes more than 30 hotels in Northern California and Los Angeles, with 15 more – including the Citizen – coming online within the next year.

Cookie-cutter they're not: While other hotel chains focus on predictability terms of price, amenities and decor, JDV properties are as diverse as the eclectic buildings they occupy, running the gamut from budget motels to luxury hotels. Yet all are held together by a certain elusive something that defines the JDV brand.

Conley, 47, calls it "mojo" and expounds on the concept at length in his third book on business management, "Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow" – a nod to psychologist Abraham Maslow.

We caught up with Conley during his most recent visit to The Citizen.

Q: In your book, you define "mojo" as the secret ingredient that gives life and vitality to your organization. What's the secret ingredient that defines the JDV brand, and how will visitors to The Citizen recognize it when they experience it?

A: If a boutique hotel gets it right, it's because we become a locals' favorite. Rather than go invent a hotel and bring it to a neighborhood, we go to the neighborhood, plop down and spend time there. Our goal is to create an experience and a habitat that is a mirror for the location.

So "mojo" comes from the idea that we're cultural anthropologists. And what gives spirit to the company is that our mission is not just to lodge people overnight but to create joie de vivre – joy of life. "Create joy" is our mantra.

Q: What makes the concept for The Citizen different from that for a hotel you might design for a San Francisco clientele?

A: Our hotels are personality driven. Every time we develop one, we pay great attention to what we call "psychographics." … The concept for each of our hotels is based on five adjectives; the goal is to connect with how people see themselves aspirationally.

Q: How did you come up with the five adjectives for Sacramento?

A: We wanted to make sure we got the zeitgeist right, so we held a series of town hall-type meetings to help us define the spirit of Sacramento. One was with a neighborhood advocacy group, one was with historical and architectural people, one was a movers-and-shakers cocktail party and discussion. The most fun one resulted when Bob Shallit put my e-mail address in his column in the Sacramento Bee and invited people to contact me. About 140 people said they'd love to participate, and 80 actually showed up.

Q: What went on at that meeting?

A: We presented who we were, then split into groups, with each group brainstorming what they loved about Sacramento, what they didn't like and what five words they thought described the city and where it's going.

Q: How'd it come out?

A: As a group, all 80 people came up with three of the five words: "eclectic," "influential," "classic." The other words that emerged were "authentic" and "surprising."

Overall, the experience was like putting Sacramento on the couch, doing the analysis and finding the quirks. What came through was that under the surface, Sacramento has more sophistication than people give it credit for.

Q: How's that translate for The Citizen?

A: We think the actual design is indicative of how we see Sacramento and how Sacramentans see themselves. The exterior is not pretentious; it's somewhat casual but also traditional. But when you come into the Grange restaurant or Scandal bar, the feeling is going be very urban, cool, cutting edge. Then, when you go up to the guest rooms, it gets traditional again.

Q: Who do you see as your bread-and-butter clientele?

A: Lobbyists, lawyers, basketball teams, tourists, locals – the full range. We aspire to be the best hotel in town, a luxury boutique hotel similar to the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco. Our goal is to be a premium experience, but without feeling hoity-toity. I think the humility that is Sacramento will be mirrored by the incredibly friendly and authentic staff.

Q: Turning the "psychographics" concept inward, what adjectives would you use to describe yourself and your company?

A: Probably the company is a bit a reflection of me, because that's how it is with entrepreneurs. I'd say … creative, energetic and competitive, but hopefully humble enough to have a grass-roots flavor.

Q: You were flying high as the celebrity CEO of an expanding company in the late 1990s, only to find yourself caught in the biggest downturn the San Francisco hotel industry had experienced since the Great Depression. The dot-com bust, war with Afghanistan, 9/11, the SARS epidemic in Asia and the emergence of third-party Internet booking sites all contributed. Yet during that 2000-04 downturn, JDV grew market share by 20 percent, launched its most successful hotels ever, was named one of the best companies to work for in the Bay Area and reduced its annual turnover to a rate one-third the industry average.

In your book, you explain how you did it by incorporating psychologist Abraham Maslow's "heirarchy of needs" pyramid to reorganize your company in a value-driven way that would maximize both profits and happiness. Briefly, how does that corporate view differ from the typical corporate view?

A: To sum it up: In a downturn, fear rules. People get scared, and they focus on their safety and physiological needs. We tried to create an environment where we were getting employees not to focus on the fear piece, but on their higher needs. If you're helping people live their calling as opposed to just having a job, and focus on their impact rather than just the task, you're going to get a more engaged, enthused employee.

Q: Here we are in yet another economic downturn. What does this mean for your San Francisco hotels and the new venture in Sacramento?

A: The last one was bad, but it was also quite geographically focused. This one's going to be tough. The reality is that this recession will be deeper than the last one, and more pervasive nationally.

That's not encouraging. We're launching 15 hotels in the next year – all in California, a lot of them in Southern California. That gives us more geographic diversity. Southern California and Northern California don't usually have deep recessions at the same time.

Q: So when will The Citizen open?

A: We're shooting for November and have rooms in inventory starting Dec. 15. People can go to the Web site (www.jdvhotels.com) and make reservations now.

Q: And the rates?

A: (From Brian Larson, managing director of The Citizen) From the low $100s on weekends to the mid-$300s during the week; the range will depend on what's going on in the city.

It's October, so ...

Patrick and Jeanne Mulreany wanted to start a business in 1983. They often drove on Highway 395 south of Carson City and noticed the number of out-of-state license plates on the road. They also noticed the scarcity of dining establishments and lodges.

Jeanne was a registered dietitian and wanted to open a restaurant. When they teamed up with a local developer who wanted to open a modest coffee shop with a few rooms, the result was the Carson Valley Inn.

Since the inn opened in 1984, it has grown beyond modest but remains relatively remote, and it is one of the few casino-hotels where you can walk out and be in the countryside in a matter of moments.

The Carson Valley, south of Carson City, is a beautiful stretch, especially in autumn, and it's managed to remain so despite the creeping growth of the communities of Minden, Gardnerville and Genoa.

On Friday, the Carson Valley Inn will host its annual Oktoberfest from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Shannon Ballroom. Beer lovers can choose from a wide variety of ales, lagers, pilsners and stouts, including traditional German brews and special Oktoberfest creations.

Multiple food stations will offer beer-steamed sausages, knockwurst, bockwurst, sauerbraten, pork loin, sauerkraut, German cold cuts, potato pancakes, spaetzle and cheeses. There will be a hot pretzel bar and an array of desserts, including strudel, of course.

The Al Gruber Band will play German tunes and lead sing-alongs. The traditional Chicken Dance will be featured. Authentic German attire is encouraged, and there will be a prize for the best costume.

The inn features 230 rooms with nine suites, a 59-site RV park, 6,000 square feet of convention space, 600 slots, keno, a sports book, a poker room, a wedding chapel, a spa, a gift shop, a convenience market and parking for 600 vehicles. All rooms and RV sites offer high-speed Internet access.

Three restaurants provide food beyond the German – Fiona's Bar and Grill with lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch; Katie's Country Kitchen, the 24-hour coffee shop; and Job's Perk, offering coffeehouse fare.

The cabaret lounge, one of the few still operating in Northern Nevada, features no-cover no-minimum shows five times a night, hourly beginning at 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays. This week showcases Rolland Dempsey with a five-piece band offering a mix of rhythm and blues, soul and contemporary pop, the usual cabaret brew with something to please everyone. Monday Night Football is featured on the big screen in the cabaret.

The fest can be used as an excuse to explore an area most visitors to Northern Nevada ignore as they dart between Tahoe and Reno. Douglas County stretches from the Lake Tahoe basin to the Carson Valley floor. The valley itself is backed by views of the Sierra Nevada and Job's Peak. There are the Pine Nut Mountains and agricultural lands in a state which can boast very little arable land.

Take a side trip to Genoa, the oldest town in Nevada, settled in 1851. Visit the museum in the courthouse, built in 1865, rebuilt in 1910, and temporarily a schoolhouse when the county seat was moved to Minden.

There is also Mormon Station State Park right on Main Street with a replica of the trading post and fort built by the town's founder, John Reese.

The Genoa Bar and Livingston's Exchange is Nevada's oldest operating "thirst parlor," opened in the 1850s.

Notice the statue honoring one of the state's most colorful characters, "Snowshoe" Thompson, buried in Genoa. Thompson, a Norwegian American, delivered the mail between Placerville and Genoa and Virginia City. He got his nickname because he wore 10-foot skis, guiding his cross-country trips with a pole held in both hands. He is often considered the father of California skiing and was the first to deliver silver ore mined in the Comstock Lode.

Nearby Gardnerville was settled in 1879 when the Gardnerville Hotel, a blacksmith shop and a saloon were built along a new road as the center of the hay and grain business. Named after settler John M. Gardner, it features the Carson Valley Museum and Cultural Center built in 1915 as the county's high school.

Minden, site of the Carson Valley Inn, was built as a terminus for the Virginia & Truckee Railroad and named after a German town near the birthplace of founder H.F. Dangberg. It's most elegant structure is courthouse designed by F. J. DeLongchamps.

Another easy side trip can be made to Topaz Lake, created to provide irrigation for farmers and now a recreation center for boating, fishing and skiing.

"What draws people to the Carson Valley Inn," says director of sales and marketing "is they don't get lost in the shuffle. We're small and intimate and comfortable. We offer a home feeling.

"We are more suburban than urban, and you can walk out the door, turn one direction, and be wandering in nature very quickly."

CARSON VALLEY INN OKTOBERFEST

COST: $49

GETTING THERE: From Sacramento, take Highway 50 into South Lake Tahoe and turn right at Kingsbury Grade about a half-mile into Nevada, just past the MontBleu. Travel down to the valley and continue past the stop at the bottom of the grade, about three miles, to a traffic light at Highway 88. Make a left and travel two miles until it dead-ends at Highway 395. Turn right; the inn is about a quarter-mile on the left.

1627 U.S. Highway 395N, Minden, Nev.; (800) 321-6983

INFORMATION: (775) 783-6679 or www.cvinn.com/oktoberfest

The Good Life: Welcome to a real Main Street

Scenes from Placerville, from above left: Roger Hopkins of Fair Oaks looks at a vintage photo in a Main Street window; the Hangman's Tree Tavern in its heyday (with dangling dummy); Hopkins and friend Colleen Gast explore the shops; Main Street looking up the hill. MICHAEL ALLEN JONES mjones@sacbee.com; tavern photo: RICH PEDRONCELLI Associated Press file

PLACERVILLE – We were staring through the locked saloon doors at an empty room. Me, my friend Jack, and three people fresh off their motorcycles – we were all bummed.

What was missing was the bar, the stools, and pretty much everything else, particularly the man-size dummy, wearing a faded red flannel shirt and jeans, hanging outside from a post beside a second-story window.

This used to be Hangman's Tree Tavern on Placerville's Main Street, a small – if slightly altered – monument to the days when there was a gold rush in these here parts, and the foothills of California were wild.

Jack and I wanted to see the dummy. The biker trio – two men and a woman of mid-boomer age, all in jeans, boots and T-shirts – were looking for the bar.

"Is there somewhere else to get a coldbeer?" one of the biker guys asked. He was tall, thin and surprisingly agreeable. He said "coldbeer" as one word, as if beer is served no other way. There's another bar just a block away, we told them.

They said a happy thanks and headed down the street. "You know," the coldbeer guy said as he walked away, "I heard this place is haunted. The stump of the hangin' tree is still in the basement."

He's right, about the tree at least (see box). Not sure about the ghosts. But a sign told us that the Hangman's Tree Tavern moved last month out to Smith Flat Road, a short ways north of Highway 50 and Main Street. Who says things don't change in Placerville?

The truth is, however, this really is a throwback town, back in some real ways to the Gold Rush era, but more powerfully, back about a half-century to the days when life revolved around main streets in big cities and small towns like Placerville.

For lots of people from Sacramento and the Bay Area, Placerville is the equivalent of a fly-over state, a drive-by city on the way to or from the Sierra. All they know are the what-are-these-doing-here traffic lights on Highway 50 and the gas stations and chain coffee shops at the bottom of town.

What they miss is a real town with a Main Street that's more than just a stretch of tourist charm. It's got the energy of real life, of small restaurants and drug stores, of banks and cleaners and an Army-Navy store.

"It's a bunch of moms and pops trying their best," said Jack. He's Jack Sirard, the retired financial editor and columnist for The Bee, and he's been living nearby for eight years. I met him for breakfast a couple of weeks ago at Sweetie Pie's, a bright, airy Victorian with hearty food, and he showed me around his adopted hometown.

Standing at the top of the hill by the "new" county courthouse – built in 1912 to replace the one that burned down in 1910 – and looking down on the bulk of Main, you see both 1860 and 1960.

You can feel the foothills close around the town, the steep hillsides with exposed rock and the rolling hills farther off that are a reminder this was a mining center.

The streets have expensive cars from the courthouse, trucks from the locals and big choppers from the motorcycle crowd, which seems to be the only group of travelers who know enough to stop here.

Main Street is crowded with wood awnings, and at the bottom of the hill there's the bell tower that was the town's fire alarm starting in 1865, back when a fire alarm meant something.

There are also living stores, not just antique shops and galleries. And while the businesses are more than only "moms and pops" – the Starbucks is right next to the Mr. Pickles – the feel of the town, the energy and mood, come from the smaller spots, the restaurants and bars and shops that seemingly have been there forever.

Placerville Hardware really has been there close to forever. It's the oldest continuously operating hardware store west of the Mississippi, dating from 1852, though the site started as a hotel in 1850. (There was also a fire involved, as with much of the formerly wood buildings in town.)

Out front, right off there's something you don't see everyday in these modern times. Tables of goods – gloves, candles, tools – just sitting unattended.

"That's where they used to keep the dynamite," Albert Fausel, 30, the third-generation owner of the store, told us. "Before that in the mining days, there used to be a dynamite warehouse up the street. Of course, it blew up."

Fausel's family could be considered relative newcomers to this establishment. His grandfather, Frank, bought it in 1952. Albert showed us old ledgers – flint went two for a nickel in 1915 – and the original fixtures they still use, including square bins for nails and rows of tiny drawers.

The worn wood on the floor, hammered down with square nails, has no knots because good lumber was so plentiful. It has brass- colored tacks sunk into the floor every foot so miners could measure out rope off spools still there.

"I don't have to carry a tape measure," Fausel said. "I just measure everything on the floor.

The long, narrow building is a genuine, stuffed-to-the roof, functioning hardware emporium. Fausel took calls as he talked with us, explaining to one customer on the phone how to fix something, and that he didn't need to come in for a new part. This feels like a place to get things fixed.

"They always say it's the third generation that lets a business fail," he told us. "I'm like, 'Oh, great.' I intend to hang on."

Placerville has other buildings dating from the 1850s and '60s, like the Bayless Building at the bottom of town and the Cary House Hotel, built in 1857. The hotel has 40 rooms and an 1876 piano with original strings. No word on what it sounds like.

Main Street also has a few more modern touches and newer moms and pops at work. There is, for instance, The Wine Smith wine bar and boutique, which Shelly and Jeff Winzeler bought just in September.

Shelley was a special ed teacher and Jeff works for Solar Power in Roseville. They moved to Northern California recently and chose Placerville, Shelley said, "because we wanted a slower pace for our kids and a place where we'd feel like we belonged."

Her approach to wine is both neighborly and contemporary. "I won't push my tastes on someone," she said, "so I always ask, 'What do you like?' But I do try to get something into their mouths they haven't tried before."

At the top of Main – right near the monument to, I swear, the Druid movement in California – is maybe the best combination of everything that Placerville was and is, the Cozmic Café. It was built in 1859, has a dramatic two-story stone front, and functions as a coffee house and deli downstairs, and a pub and music spot upstairs.

It calls itself the progressive hub of the foothills, and besides all the music, signs say its goal is to push "an alternative form of business, promoting art, independence, wellness, community and cooperation."

It was also a failed gold mine with a tunnel that goes 150 feet into the hillside. John Pearson bought it in 1859, turned it into Pearson Soda Works, and used the mine shaft to store ice.

"It was Placerville's first refrigerator," the woman working the counter told us.

Cozmic Café uses the front of the old mine for tables and seating. And the deeper, cooler part that still feels like someone might be digging with a pickax? Any good use for that?

"We just stick our bikes in there," she said.

But there may also be something there for my new motorcycle-riding friend, besides the coldbeer on tap. According to some town histories, the Cozmic Café, apparently like everything in town, is said to be haunted.

A good place to hang out

Not exactly. No one likes to debunk a good tale or a good town nickname, but only a few men were hanged there. Here's the summary from historical accounts.

In 1849, a man named Lopez was rumored to have hit it rich – in a saloon, not the gold fields. He was robbed, fought back, and with help, chased the men down. The bad guys, it turned out, were wanted for other robberies and a murder.

The "trial" in the hay yard not surprisingly produced a guilty verdict and the men were hanged from the tree. They may have been the only ones, but to scare off other would-be evildoers, the townsfolk called their camp Hangtown. That lasted about a year until it got renamed Placerville. So far, that name's stuck.

And then there's the breakfast – the Hangtown Fry – that has its own unsure origin. The best story is that a lucky miner walked into the El Dorado Hotel and asked for the most expensive food in the house.

Turns out, that was eggs, which had to be gingerly handled; bacon, which was always in demand and scarce; and oysters, because they had to be packed in ice and shipped from San Francisco. Plus they were oysters.

That's your Hangtown Fry – scrambled eggs, oysters and bacon – and it's not often served outside Placerville, not because it's expensive anymore, just because it sounds weird.

Placerville has another good tale that seems to be completely true. It's the story of John "Snowshoe" Thompson, a Norwegian immigrant and a mail carrier's mail carrier who started hauling mail across the Sierra in 1855, after the previous guy quit due to repeatedly barely escaping death.

Thompson carried the mail for 13 years, through the mountains, through thunderstorms and blizzards, hauling sometimes 90 pounds of letters and packages over the summit to Carson City, where he got chased by a dog. OK, kidding about the dog.

– Rick Kushman

Call The Bee's Rick Kushman, (916) 321-1187. Listen to him Thursdays at 8:40 a.m. on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK) and 8:50 a.m. on Armstrong & Getty, Talk 650 KSTE.

Treasure in the East Bay

BERKELEY – If you are looking for a low-key day trip to the Bay Area, one that boasts a buffet of low- and no-cost activities for adults and children alike, consider following the locals' lead and going to Tilden Park.

Spread over 2,077 acres of hills adjoining Berkeley's northeastern edge, Tilden is a dream come true for parents who have young children and also holds great promise for picnickers, plant lovers, hikers and swimmers.

Oakland resident Sylvia Colt, who has a 7-month-old son, takes full advantage of the park's proximity and attractions.

"I jump into my car and within five minutes I am at the park, which is full of trails for any type of hike you want," says Colt, who teaches math at Bancroft Middle School in San Leandro. "There are overlooks with incredible views of the bay, open areas where cattle roam, and moments surrounded by trees as if in a dense forest."

Kathryn Wilson, also of Oakland, takes her children to Tilden several times a year. Her son, 5-year-old Augustine, and daughter, 2-year-old Kalilla, like to ride the miniature train and pet farm animals.

"I'm always excited that Tilden Park has so many resources that are made free to the public, and I really appreciate that," Wilson says.

Sacramentans can get there within two hours, via Interstate 80 and the streets of Berkeley or by taking Highway 24 through the Caldecott Tunnel. Entering Tilden from the east, they immediately encounter a turnoff for steam-train excursions that operate from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends year-round (and on weekdays from mid-June through Labor Day), weather permitting. Rides on open-air benches and in miniature boxcars last about 15 minutes and cost $2, which as my wife pointed out "is cheaper than some of the coffees the parents are carrying."

Even if the trains are not running, pull into the parking lot and grab a free map of the park, which will prove especially helpful to hikers.

Down the road, past entry points for some of Tilden's trails and at least a half-dozen pleasant spots for picnicking, the Botanic Garden showcases some of the state's rare and endangered plants. Pick up a free pamphlet outside the garden's visitor center to help you navigate the garden's 10 sections, which segregate California's native plants into coastal, desert and mountain regions – there is even a section devoted to the Channel Islands. The pamphlet also clues you in on seasonal changes: This month and next, for example, chaparral currants bloom and dogwood trees' leaves change color.

Turn right at the garden to access Inspiration Point, a couple of miles up Wildcat Canyon Road. It looks down on undeveloped hillsides and San Pablo Reservoir and is also a launching point for mountain bikers in search of a strenuous workout. The wheelchair-accessible Nimitz Way, a paved path for pedestrians and bicyclists, heads west from the Inspiration Point parking lot and continues for several miles.

Back near the Botanic Garden, the Brazil Building is used for receptions and other special occasions.

Why Brazil, you ask? The building's interior was part of the South American country's exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.

A bit beyond the Brazil Building, Lake Anza's broad, sandy beach greets swimmers and sunbathers on weekends only through October. Admission is $3.50 general and $2.50 for ages 16 and younger and 62-plus. Swimming starts up again in mid-March on a weekend-only schedule, then expands to daily during the summer.

A short drive or hike away, you come upon the Tilden Carousel, another children's favorite that won't break the piggy bank: $2 per 3 1/4-minute ride, or $10 for seven rides. The merry-go-round, which operates 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends year-round and daily in summer, reopened Oct. 1 after a renovation project. From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 26, kids can have a frightfully good time when the carousel becomes the "Scary-Go-Round." "Christmas Fantasy" rides will run at the same times and same days, Nov. 28 through Dec. 21. For more information, call (510) 524-6773.

A gorgeous setting has the potential to compensate for hackers' poor play at Tilden Park Golf Course, which charges $34 to $57 for 18 holes. Make reservations a week in advance by phoning (510) 848-7373 or visiting www.tildenparkgc.american-golf.com.

The park also has equestrian trails, an environmental education center that includes interactive exhibits and six nature trails, and four campgrounds on the west side. Many of its facilities are handicap accessible.

IF YOU GO

It's about 85 miles from Sacramento.

• Take Interstate 80 to the Ashby Avenue exit, turn left and past the central business area turn left on Claremont Avenue. You also can reach the park via Walnut Creek, heading west on Highway 24 and taking the Orinda exit. Follow signs from there.

• For more information about Tilden Park, which is named after the local park district board's first president, Charles Lee Tilden, call (510) 843-2137 or visit www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden.htm.

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