The American (road)way: Go For Broke Road sounds like one of those street names someone dreamed up for fun – like Out of the Way Place near Auburn or Throwita Way near Placerville. The road is by the new Santucci Justice Center in Roseville, but Go For Broke doesn't represent a legal strategy. It was the motto of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the unit made up of Japanese Americans that is often referred to as the most highly decorated of World War II and "the Purple Heart battalion." Some members of the unit were Roseville and Placer high school students. Three survive, said John Piches of United Veterans of Roseville. Representing Roseville and its veterans, he went to the Board of Supervisors – the justice center is the county's project – to name the street and adjacent Veterans Boulevard. Originally, he said, they wanted to name it 442nd Street, but fire officials were concerned about mix-ups with too many numbers – address and street. So Piches proposed Go For Broke. "They laughed," he recalled, until the connection to the 442nd was explained. A plaque proposed for the site should make it clear to folks who drive by and wonder. …
Water, water everywhere: Brian Gould and his girlfriend went for a bike ride to check out the opening day of the new Fountains shopping center. It was warm, and when they got there, "she wanted a drink," Gould said. Water was flowing through Fountains' fountains, the decorative ones, but they couldn't find a public drinking fountain. Finally, they stopped at Peet's, where, Gould said, "about half the people were just getting water." If you go to Fountains and are hot and dry, you don't have to stick your head in the misting fountain. There are drinking fountains by the restrooms, and there is another "between the fire pit and main fountain," said Vickie Sherman, a spokeswoman for Fountains. It has a foot-operated doggie drinking fountain, too. For the lap, lap, lap of luxury. …
New-see-ums: On Douglas Boulevard at Sierra Gardens Drive is a line of redwood trees of increasing height that look like the service reception bars on a cell phone. First we get cell towers that look like trees, and now this. … Under documents at Lincoln's city Web site, you can find the Markham Ravine Nature Area Master Plan that went to the council last month. Of the 93 pages, 14 are marked "This page intentionally left blank." Another seven are blank, apparently not intentionally. With more than 20 percent blank pages, we hope the consultant who prepared the report was not paid by the page. …
I-beam eye candy: Coming into Lincoln on Highway 65, right about Gateway Drive, you pass three new buildings that are telltale examples of urban architecture leaving the city. Each one is loaded with awnings that look like they're made of industrial I-beam steel and supported with tie rods. Mike Malinowski, president of the Central Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, calls them "Portland Canopies," for the city where they first popped up in large numbers. "It's almost like a statement that this building is cool and hip and loftlike," Malinowski said. And urban. The canopies are rampant in central Sacramento. But the suburbs seem to have an edifice complex, and this "loft" aesthetic is being applied to other buildings that aren't converted industrial space. Check out the Nugget Market on Pleasant Grove Boulevard in Roseville. Several stores at Fountains have variations of this, too. Imitation is the sincerest form of architecture.
Call The Bee's Carlos Alcalá at (916) 773-6847. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/alcala.
