Life and all in Redding California
We take a ride every year about this time down to Red Bluff just to shop at the House of Design. Gorgeous Christmas decor and gifts.
The rest of the year they have great stuff, too. Just about a 35 mile drive. Okay, it’s not Really Redding, but it is really exceptional. You should check them out. Thank you House of Design!
They were lined up out the door in the rain today to get fresh crab from R&R Meats and Seafood in Redding. My ticket number was about a hundred away. Still, everyone was cheerful and wishing one another a Merry Christmas, while CJ and his crew worked swiftly and with purpose. A guy in line offered to buy my bag of crabs on the way out the door, lol!
A crab cracking Christmas is Really Redding. Merry Christmas to you all, and to R&R Meats and Seafood. #ThisisRedding
This Map of Redding from 1890 matches up well with satelite imagery borrowed from Google Earth. I did these frames some time ago, but finally got around to animating them.
Click to enlarge
Being a rail town on a river, things still line up very well. Except now you can see the train tracks turn north over the river, since they built Shasta Dam. The Redding Cemetery is easy to see. The sawmill became the Posse Grounds. Looks like our city hall was once a horse racing track!
Deakins Riverside Farm became Turtle Bay and The Garden Tract. I wonder if farmer Deakin had any inkling that he had probably the most valuable real estate in Redding’s future. That stretch of river holds so much promise, still.
I love old maps. I don’t recall how I came across this specific one. If you like this sort of thing, check out this 1872 map of Redding overlay I posted in 2011.
This version of the 1890 Map of Redding came from the Shasta County Library site. The building is the old courthouse in Redding that no longer exists. You can click this to to enlarge also.
Captured this image of the recent so-called Super Moon from the deck of the Sundial Bridge.
And also took these shots seen below while waiting for the moonrise. The Sundial Bridge never disappoints.
Spectacular natural beauty from the center of our city, available free of charge.
That’s Really Redding.
Click to enlarge. Alas, it is no more.
From Wikipedia: “A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Serbia, Belgium, France, the Caribbean, Mauritius, Malaysia and Fiji.
At first, Carnegie libraries were almost exclusively in places where he had a personal connection, namely his home-town in Scotland and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. Beginning in 1899, Carnegie substantially increased funding to libraries outside of these areas.
In later years few towns that requested a grant and agreed to his terms were refused. By the time the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.”
What a legacy! He touched many lives. Andrew Carnegie’s Library Motto:
Presumably, Redding didn’t just casually make the decision to remove it.
But if you are reading this from beyond the pale, Andrew Carnegie, Redding in 2016 is very sorry about that. Here is how the site looks today:
Our present Redding Library is also quite beautiful. In a different way.
Just southeast of Redding is Hawes Farm. They have the farm setup for country style amusements, and Fall is their busy season. Took the grandkids along for an agrarian afternoon, and captured a few images.
In the evening it’s quite different, with a Corn Maze and various Haunted House and Zombie themed attractions. But in the afternoon with little kids, it is just entirely pleasing and inexpensive fun. They have a website with more activities, and you can click on the image below to see more.
We hear Gironda’s is now open for lunch, and decided to check it out.
Above, our attentive server Garret serves up Sautéed clams with garlic butter and shallots infused with fresh herbs and lemon, deglazed with white wine and chili flakes. Superb.
Below, a very fresh seafood salad. Shrimp, crab, cherry tomatoes, on a bed of mixed greens served with homemade Louie dressing and lemon wedge. Click any image to enlarge.
Above, house lasagna for lunch gets some added Romano. Layers of pasta, mozzarella, ricotta and homemade meat sauce baked to perfection. Surprising to find fresh tomatoes in the lasagna, which add subtle texture to an often overdone and bland dish.
Black granite tabletops lend an understated elegance, coupled with black napkin table settings. The bare concrete floors look somewhat rough in the photos, but all that texture adds a post-modern touch of style when experienced in person.
Easily recognizable art from Redding artist Armando Mejorado graces the boldly colored walls. His work suits the space very well. Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and music in a similar genre completes the scene. Entirely appropriate.
Soup of the day was a creamy chicken artichoke. Very Tuscan.
Now open for lunch. Located in a nondescript building in a semi industrial neighborhood, one which might comfortably host a more working-class diner, Gironda’s exceeds all expectations Link to their comprehensive menu: http://girondasitalian.com/ and friend on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GirondasItalianStyleRestaurantandBar/
I’ve spent no small amount of time in Chicago. Girondas accurately captures the Italian cuisine often seen there, but spins it with an authentic Neo-Redding vibe. You should check it out, too. You won’t be disappointed. Gironda’s is Really Redding.
