Drive past 7485 Rush River Drive this year and the sign over the patio has changed, but the parking lot never had that half-built, taped-off look that usually means a business is between owners. One week it was Device Brewing Co. The next it was Block Craft Beer + Kitchen, same address, same patio, same taps pouring into pint glasses under the same string lights. If you live in the Pocket-Greenhaven, you probably didn't register a gap at all. That's the thing worth noticing: in this stretch of Sacramento, when a neighborhood gathering spot closes, another neighbor almost always opens the next one in the exact same room.
The Address That Called Itself Final
Back when Device Brewing's owners, Ken and Melissa Anthony, sat down for a Pocket-Greenhaven Community Association interview, they described their path plainly. They started the brand in 2013 after roughly a year and a half of prep work, ran that first location until they opened Ice Blocks in 2018, then brought Device back to their own neighborhood a third time.
"This will be our third, and perhaps final, location."
That's Ken, talking about the taproom at Rush River Drive. It didn't turn out to be final. This spring, Block Craft Beer + Kitchen took over that same space, run by local partners Jason Jokerst and Tim Giordano. Their concept is New American food built around what Jokerst calls an elevated lineup of handhelds, paired with 18 rotating taps of the brand's own Block beer alongside a curated list of craft brews, wine, and kombucha. The room kept its family-friendly bones: video games for kids, a big patio, a policy that welcomes dogs. KCRA featured the opening as the newest gathering spot in the Pocket, and the framing tracks with what actually happened. Nobody left a hole in the strip mall. One set of neighbors handed the keys to another.
A Market That Took Five Years On Purpose
The same pattern shows up a few blocks over at Elks Lodge No. 6, 6446 Riverside Blvd, where the GreenHaven Pocket Farmers Market is running its fifth season this year. The market started in May 2022, built by a committee at the Elks Lodge working directly with the City of Sacramento. Vic Cima, the market's general manager and a retired Sacramento entrepreneur, researched what it actually takes to launch a market like this before he did it, and he built his expectations around a longer runway than most first-year organizers plan for.
About six years ago, retired Judge Rudolph "Barry" Loncke, a Pocket resident, introduced Cima to City Councilmember Rick Jennings, who has represented both the Pocket and Land Park since 2014. That introduction is the reason the market exists at all. Ahead of this year's opening, Cima described what shoppers would find:
"It will feature fresh produce, a craft fair, live music, food trucks, a face painter and much more."
The market runs Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through the growing season, dog-friendly with an annual dog contest, and this year's opening brought back Famallama, a three-generation family band made up of Steve "Dad" Anglin, Henry Ray, and Michael "G-pa" Anglin, for a second consecutive year. None of this required a national brand or an outside developer. It required a judge, a retired entrepreneur, a councilmember, and an Elks Lodge parking lot.
The Owners Who Live Where They Work
Zoom out from the market and the brewery, and the same names keep showing up as neighbors rather than franchisees. Cacio, the Italian spot known for its pasta and shareable sides, is run by Jonathan and Katie Kerksieck, a husband-and-wife team who live in the Pocket and commute five minutes to their own restaurant. Jonathan has cooked in Sacramento for 30 years; Katie has managed restaurants and opened hotels around the country with Commune Hospitality. They chose to build something close to home instead of taking those skills elsewhere.
Riverside Sports Bar's owner, Jay Jugoz, put his own hand into the recipe for the bourbon-glazed burger that's become the flagship item on the menu, best paired with a local pour like New Helvetia's Citra or Bust. Bloom, the neighborhood's floral delivery subscription, is run by Amanda Kitaura, a Pocket neighbor who sources her bouquets from her own small farm and other growers within a day's drive rather than importing from out of state.
Here's how the recent turnover actually breaks down when you line it up:
| Business | Type | 2026 Status | Local Connection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Device Brewing Co. | Brewery and taproom | Closed this spring | Founded 2013 by Sacramento residents Ken and Melissa Anthony |
| Block Craft Beer + Kitchen | Brewery and kitchen | Opened this spring, same address | Locally owned by Jason Jokerst and Tim Giordano |
| Cacio | Italian restaurant | Open | Owners Jonathan and Katie Kerksieck live in the Pocket |
| Riverside Sports Bar | Sports bar | Open | Owner Jay Jugoz built the menu around his own recipe |
| Bloom | Floral subscription | Open | Owner Amanda Kitaura is a Pocket neighbor and grower |
| NuYo Frozen Yogurt | Frozen yogurt chain | Expanding in, June 2026 | Corporate chain, not locally founded |
The One Arrival That Breaks The Pattern
That last row matters. NuYo Frozen Yogurt's expansion into the Pocket, reported in June 2026, is a real counterexample to everything above it. It's a chain, not a neighbor's second act. But notice where it's landing: a new addition to the retail mix rather than a takeover of a beloved local room. The pattern isn't that chains never arrive in Pocket-Greenhaven. It's that when a space with real neighborhood history closes, like Device Brewing's taproom, the next tenant tends to be someone who already lives here, not a corporate lease filling a vacancy from the outside.
The Weekend Loop That Doesn't Change
Part of why this turnover feels steady instead of unsettling is that the physical anchors around it never move. The Pocket-Greenhaven sits inside a bend of the Sacramento River, with levee paths for walking and biking that residents use whether or not they've noticed a new sign on Rush River Drive. Garcia Bend Park, Frank Seymour Park, and the Portuguese Community Park are three of the 18 public parks inside this stretch of river bend, and across I-5 sits Bing Maloney Golf Course with its two courses, driving range, and restaurant. Salmon fishing along the river is a regular enough activity that longtime residents plan weekends around it.
Art Ballard, president of the 95831 Community Association, put it simply when asked about living here:
"I love being near the river and think we have one of the most beautiful and well-maintained neighborhoods in the region."
That's the backdrop against which a taproom can change ownership without changing the neighborhood's rhythm. The Pocket-Greenhaven Community Association still holds its quarterly membership meetings on the third Thursday of the month, still runs its District 7 candidate forums, still hands out its annual scholarships to students inside neighborhood school boundaries. The institutions that hold the place together aren't the ones with rotating signage.
What The Turnover Actually Means
If you've lived in the Pocket-Greenhaven long enough to remember Device Brewing's first Pocket opening, this year's change of ownership probably didn't feel like loss. It felt like the neighborhood doing what it usually does: passing a lease from one set of neighbors to the next, funding a farmers market on a five-year plan instead of a quarterly one, letting a chain in through the front door of a new build rather than the back door of a closed taproom. That continuity is worth naming, because it's easy to read any single closure as a sign something is fading. Here, the pattern says the opposite. The building didn't sit empty. Somebody local was already lined up to walk in.
If you're curious about how other Sacramento-area neighborhoods are holding onto that kind of continuity, or you just want to talk through what's changing on your own block, Jared Labarga is always glad to compare notes. Let's Connect.
