City of Sacramento looks to declare street as a historic district
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento has plenty of historic old buildings, but now there's an effort to list an entire street on the historical register.
The six-block stretch of San Francisco Boulevard, just east of Stockton Boulevard, sits in the Colonial Heights neighborhood and is unlike any other street in Sacramento.
"There's no other boulevard that has this double median design," homeowner Shirley Daffin said.
The street features two picturesque parallel rows of palm trees separating the lanes of traffic.
"We've had people filming music videos on this street," homeowner Ian Thompson said. "People love the character of the street and want to come here an have it as a backdrop."
The Colonial Heights neighborhood was built in the early 1900s and the double median design is part of what was called the "City Beautiful Movement" back then.
"It was an idea to really sort of bring character and levels of formality to the urban landscapes in cities across the country," Thompson said.
Neighbors became concerned last winter when SMUD cut some of the palm trees down.
"I just lost my mind," homeowner KC Schuft said. "I was like 'What is happening here?' "
Schuft has lived there for more than 20 years and said that the city has talked about removing the rest of the palms and replacing them with native species that are easier to maintain.
"I could not believe that would even be something they would be considering," Schuft said.
Now, she's helping lead the effort to get the street listed on Sacramento's register of historic landmarks.
"It protects the street from them making any changes to the design of the street itself, which includes the palm trees," she said.
Thompson added that the historic designation would give San Francisco Boulevard "a stronger chance" of maintaining its character for future generations.
Sacramento's preservation commission is scheduled to vote on the historical designation this Wednesday and, if passed, it would need to be approved by the city council before taking effect.
