The heart of Old Sac is beating again (under the floorboards) at Evangeline’s | Opinion
From the Railroad Museum to the overstuffed candy barrels at Candy Heaven, I unapologetically love Old Sacramento.
And now, after more than a year out of commission, Sacramento’s favorite costume mansion is back in business, once again claiming its rightful place as a must-see stop on any visit to our city’s historical neighborhood.
Evangeline’s — “purveyors of whimsy and wonder” — in the historic Howard House and Lady Adams building on 113 K St. in Old Sacramento officially reopens this weekend, after a fire inside the first floor’s gift shop last summer.
Sacramento mayor Kevin McCarty, City Council member Phil Pluckebaum and City Historian Ty Smith joined Evangeline’s owner, Deborah Chaussé in a ribbon cutting event Friday morning on the boardwalk outside the store.
The “cold dense smoke” from a suspected electrical fire in June 2025 led to serious smoke damage on the second and third floors. The gift shop on the first floor, which suffered the worst fire damage, remains closed for the time being, and will reopen in a few months, said shop owner, Chaussé. The shop had recently celebrated its 50th anniversary less than a year before.
The costume mansion and gift shop is named after Chaussé’s mother, Dorothea Evangeline, who opened the store in 1974. (And did you know it’s pronounced Evange-lynn’s — not Evange-leen’s? I’ve been saying it wrong for years.)
I deeply mourned my annual visit to the store before Halloween last year while the shop was still being renovated; it just didn’t feel like autumn in Sacramento without popping inside the old building on K Street. Apparently, last year isn’t the first fire the Howard House and Lady Adams building has survived either, said city historian Smith; the “Great Conflagration” of 1852 burned down nearly all of Old Sac, but the building Evangeline’s now resides in was saved only because it was built with brick.
Perhaps because it’s a survivor, there’s something enticing about visiting the Victorian-era building with its tight, winding aisles and darkly lit corners. The polished wood stairs and wrought-iron elevator with deep purple walls are completely refurbished, but the store somehow still looks exactly the same as before, just brighter and cleaner.
The top floor is a sparkly heaven of thousands of costumes, each organized into categories, from floor length medieval dresses and swords to nerdy schoolgirl outfits and full-body fur costumes. (Do you want to be an abominable snowman? Or perhaps a Wookie?) Pop a quarter into a box and ride a snarling fiberglass tiger, prowling eternally next to the old bar.
But it’s the second floor that feels most like home to me; a year-round ode to the best and spookiest month of the year: October. Foreboding music pipes in from hidden speakers, and skeletons dance along the purple walls packed with creepy costumes, masks and accessories for sale.
Let me loose in Evangeline’s on a payday with an iced coffee in hand, and I’ll walk out a poorer, but far happier, woman.
And now that it’s reopened, I can indulge in my spooky side year-round once more. It’s a perfect, homegrown antidote to the online fast fashion that has tried so hard to ruin the experience of shopping inside an eclectic, local store like Evangeline’s. Cities need weird, but beloved, places like this.
Of course, the reopening of the costume mansion is just the beginning of a revitalization for Old Sac that’s been in the works for years. In the Public Market buildings along the riverfront, a new restaurant and a family-friendly biergarten will open soon. Next door, a new playground for kids is being developed between the city and the Shingle Springs band of Miwok Indians and Wilton Rancheria, featuring indigenous-inspired play areas with tule boats, huts and a central play structure.
Old Sac has always been a first-rate gathering area for Sacramentans and tourists alike, and it’s great to have one of the cornerstone shops open once again for business. Thousands of Sacramentans have eagerly awaited this day, and I’m so grateful Chaussé made the decision to reopen, rather than let Evangeline’s fade into history.
Hopefully, it heralds a new beginning for Sacramento’s waterfront, and our city’s best — and spookiest — tourist attraction.
