The Lava Pups will play at the Capitol Bowl in West Sacramento at the end of February. The Capitol Bowl was once known as the El Rancho Bowl and was part of the Hotel El Rancho entertainment complex. The hotel was a 17-acre property which included palm trees, swimming pools, and tennis courts located on West Capitol Avenue. In the early 1950s, the hotel was the jewel of West Sacramento’s “motel row.” West Capitol Avenue was part of U.S. Highway 40, which stretched from San Francisco to Atlantic City.
Celebrities stayed at the El Rancho. Dignitaries stayed at the El Rancho. Even President Eisenhower stayed at the El Rancho. Interestingly, Sacramento did not have a real convention or meeting facility back then. The El Rancho provided those facilities for California’s capital.
West Capitol Avenue was the western gateway into Sacramento and led up to the Tower Bridge (then known as the “M Street Bridge”). To get into Sacramento from the West (that is, San Francisco), a traveler had to cross over the Sacramento River. Highway 40 crossed the river at the Tower Bridge.
The busiest private airport in the United States was in West Sacramento and on West Capitol Avenue.
In 1956, a 4-lane “super highway” was opened to bypass West Capitol Avenue. That 4-lane highway -- which later became I-80 -- then separated West Sacramento’s residential areas from “motel row” and the industrial areas adjacent to it.
A predictable decline followed. In 1960, the airport moved its operations to Sacramento Executive Airport, which at the time was only airport in the region offering commercial flights. By the mid-1970s, many of the places on “motel row” were at the lower end of the where-to-stay chain. Some tried to breathe life into their otherwise moribund outlook by providing hot tubs, rooms by the hour, closed circuit television, and adult movies. “Motel row” became mostly a seedy mix of weekly or monthly rentals, adult hotels, and residence motels. Interspersed among the industrial and warehouse properties to the west of “motel row” were mobile home parks.
West Sacramento became known for its warehouses, prostitution, crime, and blight.
The Hotel El Rancho, however, managed to hang on. In the 1970s, a country music entrepreneur bought it and brought in major performers. The El Rancho had a 24-hour restaurant and an 800-seat showroom. Later, the property changed hands. The writing was on the wall for the El Rancho by the mid-1980s when members of the Cleveland Cavaliers refused to stay there. Instead, they moved to a hotel across the Sacramento River in Sacramento.
The property continued to deteriorate. In 1993, the Hotel El Rancho -- a West Sacramento landmark -- became a Buddhist monastery. It was renamed “The City of the Dharma Realm.”
No more celebrities, dignitaries, or Presidents will stay at the Hotel El Rancho. Similarly, prostitutes and criminals will not be there unless they join the monastery.
Highway 40 is gone except for signs marking "Historic Highway 40." But cleaning up West Capitol Avenue is a community goal irrespective of the fate of the Hotel El Rancho. The renovation of the Capitol Bowl is a piece in working toward that goal. And the Lava Pups get to introduce more people to the Capitol Bowl.