It is certainly no understatement to say that a lot was going on around the world and even the universe back in 1969, a year that included the Vietnam War, the first moon landing, the Manson murders, Woodstock and right here in Sacramento, the creation of the K Street Mall. And like many things in life, the K Street Mall has undergone a variety of changes.

Celebrating the then-new mall, The Union described the mall in its Dec. 7, 1969 issue as “a seven-and-a-half-block pedestrian oasis in the heart of the capital city.”

K Street Today
Fast-forwarding nearly 39 years to 2008, one would be hard pressed to find many, if any, people who would refer to the mall as “an oasis.” Furthermore, studies have since been made regarding the possibility of reintroducing automotive traffic along the seven-block stretch of the K Street Mall.

The mall has, however, experienced some bright spots in recent times, such as the renovations of the Cathedral of Blessed Sacrament at 11th and K streets, the Crest Theater and the opening of Ella Dining Room and Bar at 1131 K St. last year.

With a history of various transitions, which on the negative side has included increased crime, aggressive panhandlers, deteriorating buildings and many vacant storefronts, it is no secret that the mall is in need of some more changes in a positive direction.

In understanding the necessity for improving the status of the mall, several city projects are in the works, including The Cosmopolitan, a 200-seat live cabaret theater, restaurant/nightclub and high-end office space project at the former Woolworth’s site at 10th and K streets. The Cosmopolitan is scheduled to open in September.

The city has also finalized its plans for its K Street Streetscape Project, which includes new paving, furnishings and light fixtures and a redesign of St. Rose of Lima Park, across the street from the Downtown Plaza. The streetscape project is scheduled to begin at the end of this year and be completed by the middle of next year.

Revisiting Redevelopment
Leslie Fritzsche, the city’s downtown division manager, said that these projects are part of a major effort to improve the areas in and around the K Street Mall.

“For us, for downtown redevelopment, we are actually quite excited about a lot of the activities that are going on [at] the K Street Mall and the J, K and L corridor that collectively represent almost $400 million in investments,” Fritzsche said. “So, we have a lot of dust flying on K Street and on J Street and we’re very excited about an optimistic future. And we think we are well poised to move forward with the continuing momentum on the redevelopment of K Street.”

A roadblock in this momentum, however, is the city’s ongoing battle regarding its desire to develop the 700 block of K Street, which is owned by Moe Mohanna.

Concerning the city’s interest in redeveloping this section of the mall, Fritzsche said, “[The city] is still in discussions with Mr. Mohanna and we hope that something can be worked out, but we’re moving forward on all fronts to try and get all the property redeveloped.”

Fritzsche added that with improvements to the mall come improvements to the image of the mall.

“If you travel down K Street, you see a lot of construction projects going on and that’s beginning to get people to think of the area in a different way,” Fritzsche said. “We’re working very hard to keep that image of things happening on K Street and to introduce new activities, new vibrancies, so we have a different mix of clientele on K Street.”

Also adding to the future clientele on K Street should be a steady flow of travelers, who will utilize the future $70.2 million, 200-room Citizen Hotel, which is currently under construction at 926 J St.

Fritzsche said that the bottom line of creating an improved K Street Mall is creating a comfortable place with unique shopping, dining and entertainment opportunities that appeal to people, both young and old.

“It’s a little bit of back to the future,” Fritzsche said. “What we’d like to do is introduce the best of what people remember about K Street and introduce new life, so people want to come down to K, they want to dine, they want to live on K, they want to remember those days when they could come down to K and go to a movie, go to a live performance and get a bite to eat. We’d like to really make sure that people feel like K Street is the place to come, that they feel safe and that they really want to experience the urban life. We think we can deliver that on K.”

K Street Then
In reviewing the history of the K Street Mall, a huge separation lies between those who remember downtown Sacramento’s K Street prior to 1969 and Sacramentans who were either born too late to recall the pre-K Street Mall years or moved to the capital city after this pedestrian-only mall was already established.

This statement is undoubtedly true, since the mall changed the portion of K Street, between 7th and 13th streets, so drastically.

Sacramento resident Al Haedinger, 93, said that he remembers a very different K Street prior to the creation of the K Street Mall.

“First of all, [K Street] was a street with cars on it,” Haedinger said. “And before the [price of] gas got so high, the kids used to run the cars up and down the streets cruising.”

Norma (Hughbanks) Kersten, 78, who grew up on Roosevelt Avenue, near 44th Street in Sacramento, said that she has fond memories of cruising along K Street as a student at McClatchy High School.

“We would cruise down K Street, cramming as many people into a car as we could,” Kersten said. “It was even better if you knew someone who had a convertible. We would wave to people and they would wave back. Everybody was so friendly back then. We had such a great time and I have such fond memories of K Street back then.”

Although the area that became the K Street Mall was much different prior to 1969, it has nearly always been a place that offers a variety of sites for shopping, dining and entertainment.

Kersten, in fact, worked as a waitress during the 40s at the Giant Waffle Shop at 927 K St. and danced to the big band music of the era with her mother Pauline Hughbanks at the Trianon Ballroom, above the Senator Theatre, at 910 K St.

In earlier years in Sacramento, J and K streets were the major thoroughfares through the city, where many locals conducted their business.

Setting the Groundwork
The project had been the dream of then-city councilmember Walter Christensen, who in 1954, while serving as president of the Downtown Merchants Association, suggested a $153,000 study for a Downtown Master Plan, which called for a revival of K Street. Construction began on the morning of June 5, 1969.

Despite various stumbling blocks, which included the discovery and removal of underground walls, pipes, electrical lines and even oil tanks that were once used for heating businesses, crews were able to meet its vigorous goal of substantially completing the mall in time for a grand opening before Christmas.

This grand opening celebration was held on Saturday, Dec. 6, 1969 and included speeches by Christensen and others at 11th and K streets, a Shriners parade, a drawing for a $2,500 shopping spree, appearances by Santa Claus and clowns and a variety of music.

The mall, which was completed in six months and originally named the Downtown Shopping Plaza in November 1969, included several features, which are no longer a part of the mall. These amenities included pools of water, fountains, artistically designed concrete “tilted planes,” representing California’s mountains and valleys, and an interactive “tot lot” with large pipes, wooden pilings and concrete planes.

And in keeping with Sacramento’s tradition as the “City of Trees,” tulip popular trees were planted along the mall.

Return of the Oasis?
As the city moves closer to its goal of changing the face and image of the K Street Mall, perhaps it will not be long before Sacramentans will be commonly referring to the mall as “an oasis” in the capital city.