Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Town of Locke




































The town of Locke, in the Sacramento Delta, was built by the Chinese. If you look up information about the town, you will find that it was founded in 1915 by Chinese businessmen after a fire in the Chinese section of nearby Walnut Grove. In 1934 Al Admai opened a restaurant called Al's Place, later called Al the Wops, and Al only served steaks. 

If you dig a little deeper into Locke's history you will find that Locke in the 1920's and 1930's was a rockin' town with Opium dens, gambling parlors, and of course girls. I have good information that Al Adami served more than steak. In the back room Al's "Ladies" were busy. Locke's close proximity to Sacramento, the State Capitol, gave our lawmakers a much needed break from the rigors of their lawmaking duties. The only door bell in town was wired to the gambling parlor to warn if the Sheriff came into town.

Now Locke is pretty tame but it's a fine ride to good destination where you can get a good meal but it sure would be interesting to see it back when.