K Street (Sacramento)

K Street is a historic street in Sacramento, California, United States. It spans from Old Sacramento, through Downtown Sacramento and Midtown Sacramento, ending in East Sacramento. Other discontinuous segments of K Street in East Sacramento are small residential streets, with the final segment ultimately ending at 54th Street. K Street is known primarily as a shopping, dining and entertainment destination for Downtown, Midtown, and Old Sac.

History[]

The path of the street roughly (but not exactly) follows the line from Old Sacramento to Sutter's Fort, which existed as a trail before Sacramento was founded.^[1] K Street was once a continuous street for automobile traffic in the mid-20th century during its heyday as a major shopping destination. Department and other large stores that once lined K Street included Breuner's, Weinstock's, Hale's, S. H. Kress & Co., Roos/Atkins, Montgomery Ward and Sears. Movie theaters included the Crest, the Senator, the Hippodrome and, nearby, the Alhambra. In 1969, K Street in downtown Sacramento was closed to all automobile traffic permanently, as it was converted into a pedestrian mall that evolved into the modern K Street Mall. In 1987, Sacramento Regional Transit opened their light rail system, with tracks running on K Street between 7th and 12th Streets. On November 12, 2011, K Street between 8th and 12th Streets was opened to automobile traffic for the first time in 42 years.^[2] In November 2012, the K Street Mall was rebranded "The Kay", and now functions as a shopping area.^[3] In May 2014, the Sacramento city council approved a public subsidy deal to build a downtown arena. The re-use of the failing Downtown Plaza shopping mall was seen as a possible catalyst to bring revenue and people to Downtown. Today, much of K Street is undergoing re-development, with many businesses still active.

Landmarks along K Street include:^[4]

• Downtown Commons including a Macy's department store and the Golden 1 Center, home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings. It sits on the former site of the Downtown Plaza and the section between 4th and 5th Streets is in the stages of redevelopment.
• 701 K: St. Rose of Lima Park
• 726 K: Former Tower Records
• 801 K: Renaissance Tower (1989)
• 818 K: Kress Office Building (1931)
• 900 K: River City Bank
• 9th & K: Former Hale's, then Weinstock's department store
• 1013 K: The Crest Theatre (1949)
• 1019 K: Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
• 1201 K: 1201 K Tower (the “Ban Roll-On” building, 1922)
• 1211 K: Esquire Imax Theatre (1940)
• 1215 K: Esquire Plaza Building
• Former Alhambra Theatre, directly at the eastern terminus of K Street at 1025 Thirty-First Street (now Alhambra Boulevard). A Safeway grocery store now sits on the old theater’s site.

Public transportation[]

The Blue Line of the Sacramento RT Light Rail runs along five blocks of K Street between 7th and 12th Streets. It shares right-of-way with auto traffic except for the block between 7th and 8th Streets, which is still closed to auto traffic. The 9th & K northbound platform of the St. Rose of Lima Park (along with the now-closed 7th & K platform) and Cathedral Square light rail stations serve the corridor.

References[]