Oldies But Goodies

Old Central Press building, on 11th and R Streets

I worked at Central Press for 15 years. It was my first big-time job as a typesetter in the publishing industry. Our original location was nearer the outskirts of Sacramento, in a building that now houses a casket maker. The brick building above was centrally located in the city, halfway between downtown and Cal Central Press, which was our "mother" company.

If you walked down the sidewalk to the left, just past our building, there was an old, small house where Mr. Weird lived. All the windows were boarded up. His ancient green station wagon was always parked in the driveway. The house was strange enough, but Mr. Weird was a cross-dresser. Some days he'd be out hoeing weeds dressed as a guy. Well, pretty much a guy, he did wear pedal pushers but he didn't have boobs on. When he went out, though, he wore a tight sweater and a straight skirt and those nylon stockings with the seam down the back. What made him weird is that he was a very homely man and an even homelier woman. He looked sorta like Richard Nixon except he was squattier and had broader shoulders. He always had a 5 o'clock shadow. And his clothes were really about 15 years out of style. He was a caricature of a cross-dresser.

Occasionally a pedestrian would come running into our office in a fright. "Call the police!!!" he'd say. He had just been walking down the sidewalk, noticed the strange house, and while he was looking at it Mr. Weird came charging out carrying a Samurai sword and chased him halfway down the street. We'd say, "Yeah, that's okay, he does it all the time."

Just across the street (and the railroad tracks) from our building was the Fox & Goose.

View of old Central Press building from the porch of Fox and Goose.

Fox & Goose is Sacramento's (supposedly) authentic English pub. I couldn't verify that because I've never been to England. Central Press went out of business many years ago, but Fox & Goose is still thriving.

F&G's delivery van.

This past weekend I met a friend there for breakfast. I'm not going to tell you who, for reasons that will be explained later. And besides it sounds mysterious.

I hadn't been to Fox & Goose for 20 years. When I worked at Central Press, the railroad tracks down the middle of R Street were actually being used by trains. Now the street is smooth, with genuine fake railroad tracks. There are nice bronze statues of a fox and a goose outside the pub. My friend took my picture with the goose.

Goose and Jan

I took her picture with the fox. I could have called it Two Foxes. But I'm not going to show it to you.

Is this an authentic English pub?

Inside Fox & Goose

It doesn't look much different than Gold Rush-era buildings to me, but what do I know? It has a wooden floor and lots of beer posters and memorabilia.

This note from the menu might interest my readers from England.

Our table was right in front of the dart board. Happily, no one was playing.

I had a great time talking with my friend, who I hadn't seen in quite a while. She had a story she was dying to tell, but didn't want her co-workers to hear. I'll tell you that tomorrow.