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Description
This November 14, 1948, photograph shows the Town and Country Village, located at the intersection of Fulton and Marconi avenues. A brainchild of contractor, Jere Strizek, the open air shopping center opened in 1946 and, by 1951, was home to 73 businesses. It was built in the native-Czech Strizek’s boyhood vision of how California would look: semi-tropical plants, old weathered timbers and Spanish-style tile roofs. To gain that rustic look, Strizek purchased weathered bridge timbers that had belonged to the Central Pacific Railway and old Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company telephone poles. He used the old wood for roof support. He also forbade any electrical signage and avoided relationships with national chains. The Town and Country’s arrival was a welcomed one for suburban Sacramentans who no longer needed not make trips to K Street; nor worry about parking. Just prior to his Town and Country foray, Strizek was building radar installations for the United State Army and Navy.
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