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Sitting in the newly installed seats of the renovated Fair Oaks Amphitheater in Fair Oaks Village, Jen Schuler gushes about the space’s many possibilities. “It’s substantial, what we’re doing here,” she says, shielding her eyes from the blazing overhead sun.

As arts and entertainment manager for the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District, Schuler has the responsibility of programming and booking the newly configured performance and gathering spaces. “We’ll have all the variety a performing arts venue should, but we already have a really unique canvas here with this versatile space,” Schuler says.

The Fair Oaks Theater Festival was a mid-level community organization run by theater adjuncts from nearby American River College. They did shows like “Annie” and “Mamma Mia.” The seats were worn wooden bleacher style benches and the Fair Oaks legend of roaming bands of free range chickens was real. For a variety of reasons ranging from the pandemic and ADA compliance to bad weather and supply chain issues, the park and theater complex have been closed for nearly six years.

In the intervening time, Fair Oaks Village changed. The bar has risen significantly.

Commercial real estate, stagnant for decades, has also experienced recent turnover, allowing new businesses opportunities to establish themselves. Sitting literally and figuratively at the center of the Village redux is the Fair Oaks Amphitheater. The theater complex has long been a featured attraction of Fair Oaks Park, which feels like the theater’s front lawn on the block between California and Park avenues.

The new footprint includes two outdoor plazas with stages (band shell and plaza stage) and a community clubhouse for indoor events. There is also a flexible indoor black box theater, which can seat up to 90 people depending on how the stage and seats are arranged. The renovated amphitheater features 470 fixed seats, a 40-by-24-foot permanent stage with backstage access and all new state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment.

“There isn’t much like this in this region at all, with what we’re kind of doing with this amphitheater and our types of programming,” Schuler says. “We’ve got a really cool niche.”

The $23 million renovation project, which included both Village Park and the adjacent theater complex, has been in the works since 2019, with construction eventually beginning in 2022. After numerous delays, the town centerpiece expects to finally reopen to the public in October. The only remaining challenge is lack of enough parking in the village.

“In the prior years before the renovation, the operational days were somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 days a year,” Aho says. “With this full facility, we’re looking at about 180 operational days,” Aho says.

“We’re seeking out groups to perform in the space, but I’m always open to folks that want to propose something out here as well,” says Schuler, adding they want a variety of groups using the space so there are different people experiencing the venue and the area around it. “The idea is bringing all that back to the community here,” she explains.

When the amphitheater does reopen, Fair Oaks Village will have a significant number of recently developed amenities, including a variety of restaurants, complementing its small town vibe and unique access to the American River. Will it all come together as the buzzy tourist destination many locals desire?

A historic village

Fair Oaks will be celebrating its 130th anniversary in September while the Fair Oaks Historical Society will be 50 years old. Fair Oaks Village feels apart from the surrounding areas of Carmichael, Gold River, Citrus Heights and Orangevale because it is. Driving up or down Sunrise Boulevard, you have to take what feels like a country lane up and over a little hill into a shrubby basin before the Village appears.

Here, Fair Oaks Boulevard is a quiet suburban street, not the five-lane highway which intersects Watt Avenue. The area of the Village is roughly south of Fair Oaks Boulevard to the American River Parkway, with boundaries of Park Drive to the east and Main Street to the west.

There isn’t much like this in this region at all, with what we’re kind of doing with this amphitheater and our types of programming. We’ve got a really cool niche.

— Jen Schuler, arts and entertainment manager, Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District

Entrepreneur Leon Corcos came to Fair Oaks in 1996. “I always thought the downtown was this really cool little vintage town that had absolutely nothing going on, almost like Mayberry,” Corcos tells Comstock’s. “Antique stores that were open two days a week and hair salons. They used to call it ‘Hair Oaks’ because of all the salons.”

He saw that property here rarely turned over but thought if something did, he might take a chance. He found a vacant mortuary site and nearby empty building. There’s been some struggles, but Corcos is now the landlord of three restaurants, a flower shop and, yes, a hair salon. “Without patting myself on the back, it seems to have really revitalized the Village because people are now seeing things can be done. It’s got a good future.”

The Fair Oaks Brew Pub, Brahma Bar and Grill, Bodega Biondi and Shangri-la are relatively recent additions to the Village, creating a nightlife scene that didn’t exist beyond the classic dive bar Stockman Club or the live music venue Shire Road Pub, which was destroyed by a fire in 1977.

“In the old days, you could go somewhere and know everybody. Now you go there and you think, ‘Who are these people?’” says Dave Hill, who grew up in the Village during the ‘70s. His parents owned the hardware store which is now Biker Bar, a combination bicycle sale, rental, repair shop and health food cafe. Hill remained in the area as a concerned citizen, major property owner, gadfly and local raconteur. By his own admission, he’s participated in “every advisory council and planning group we’ve ever had here.”

Hill observes the Village has been discovered by a new generation of outside revelers. “We’re bringing people from everywhere,” Hill says. “They come downtown on scooters, e-bikes and golf carts. … That’s most every weekend, we got these people that are just having fun. It’s creating a really cool place.”

New village businesses emerge

The epicenter of the “new” Village feels like the palm tree-dotted oasis aptly named Shangri-la. The mortuary turned restaurant debuted in 2019, detoured through a fine dining iteration and survived COVID to become a popular tent post of the hospitality-driven Village.

Co-founded by former San Francisco restaurateur Sommer Peterson and her husband, landscape architect Nate French, the walled-in space features a 6,000-square-foot parking lot turned patio with bocce ball courts, fire pits and a kids’ play space. Both Peterson and French grew up in the Village before leaving to pursue careers. Now, their home is just minutes from the restaurant.

Inside, the 4,000-square-foot space has a walnut banquette with peacock teal faux leather upholstery, bubble pendant lamps, crystal candleholders and vintage cocktail glasses. The details are specific and engaging, befitting Peterson’s retro aesthetic and stylish sensibility. The food has evolved since opening.

“We knew, looking around, it was all pub food everywhere, so we just thought, maybe we’ll try something a little bit more elevated,” French says. “But then everybody said, ‘No, we don’t want fine dining, we want fun dining.’” They pivoted just as the pandemic hit and patios became the new dining rooms. Locals followed along, and Shangri-la survived.

The menu now features familiar items such as Baja fish tacos, Mary’s fried chicken, roasted Brussels sprouts and decked-out cheeseburgers. The drinks retain some of the pop culture whimsy that inspired the creative design, with cocktails like Purple Rain, with London dry gin and lavender vanilla bean syrup; Tiny Dancer, with chamomile-infused bourbon, Lo-Fi sweet vermouth and apricot shrub; and the Shangri-la Slushee, a signature house-made “boozy” tropical drink.

“We knew that it needed to be something big to draw people from not just Fair Oaks Village but from El Dorado Hills, Folsom and downtown,” French says. “With us being here, people are seeing there’s life. It’s allowed some of the new restaurants and businesses to stay open later.”

Tim Jordan, co-owner of the Old Soul Co. with Jason Griest, will be a newbie in town when the newest location of their local coffeehouse cafe opens in late August. Old Soul Fair Oaks Village, just around the corner from Shangri-la, will seat 40 customers inside, with room for 25 more on its patio.

The partners weren’t looking to open a fifth location, but when the opportunity arose they were intrigued. “We learned about all the new things that were going on in the Village and came to appreciate the character of the particular spot and the Village itself,” Jordan says. “This is a little communal gathering spot that’ll have its own vibe and its own charm. We’re really excited about that.”

Gary Juels, owner of Fair Oaks Brew Pub across the street from the park, is re-opening Slocum House just around the corner from his popular pub. A mainstay of Sacramento fine dining in a bygone era, the new restaurant will open sometime this fall as well. Nate French remembers directing lost Cadillacs there when he was a kid.

Sunflower Drive In, a vegetarian landmark since 1978 famous for its house-made nut burger, still holds it down in the Village. The park where folks often brought their Sunflower food will soon be available again.

“I think it’s going to be a shock to have it back,” Schuler says. Locals now compare the area to Ashland or Mendocino. “Carmel-by-the-River” is mentioned unironically.

“With the park being closed for five years, a lot of the new people don’t know what actually takes place over there,” French says.

“Something draws people to this area, but it’s not just one thing,” says Schuler. “It’s not just the cafe or the river, it’s all of the elements. And now we get to be a big piece of it too.”

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