By admin 
On Nov. 8, 1936, the Sacramento Daily Union reported on the opening of a fire dispatch station in Albert Winn Park. “This earthquake and fireproof concrete and steel structure, to cost between $15,000 and $20,000, will house Sacramento’s central fire alarm station when the city’s new alarm system is completed in about nine months. It is to be built in Winn park, 28th and P street,” the publication noted.
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The article was accompanied by a sketch of the planned fire station.
That original sketch was recreated by Chris Lango in his artwork “Alarm House,” featured in “Coordinates: Dispatch,” a pop-up art exhibit in Albert Winn Park which pays tribute to the Art Deco building’s original purpose.
Constructed through the Work Progress Association (WPA), the building is now the temporary home of the work of 27 local artists whose creations pay tribute to its history and the Winn Park community.
The project launched this past year when the Midtown Association reached out to curator and art consultant Faith McKinnie to see if she could turn the building into an art showcase.
McKinnie asked Sacramento-based artists to create proposals for the showcase — 62 answered. It was important for her to see how each artist planned to use the spaces, and to ensure their proposals aligned with the historic nature of the building.
Those selected were given three weeks to transform the space.
“I think having artists from Sacramento is really important to me. It’s very easy to get artists from L.A. or Oakland, San Francisco into a project like this,” McKinnie said. “But I was very intentional in making sure that these are homegrown artists based here, working here, that people can come through and say, ‘I know these names.’”
Throughout the exhibit, each artist offers their own interpretations of a fire dispatch station.
Sacramento-based artist Chris Christion’s “All water has a perfect memory” made use of the building’s water fountain as a commentary on the role water has played in the struggle of African Americans for equality
Christion’s art creation includes video monitors. One displays images of water swishing around the screen’s golden frame. Another monitor shows a clip of children dancing from Zora Neale Hurston’s short film “Fieldworks” (1928), symbolizing the traditions of African American communities along the River Road in the American South. The fountains bear labels of “whites” and “colored,” recalling the Jim Crow era.
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Ellie Gainey, a Sacramento-based muralist, created faux stained-glass windows to highlight the building’s history, the current climate crisis and the park’s homeless population. One window displays the dates “1937,” the year it was built, and “2005,” the year it closed.
McKinnie’s personal favorite, “Crosstalk,” includes two red telephones on a raised podium. Viewers are invited to pick up the telephone, where they’ll hear a conversation in progress between Sacramento poet laureate Andru Defeye and Natachi Metz. The telephones were created by David Enzler, a Sacramento-based engineer.
Although the exhibit features 27 separate visions and artworks, there’s a sense of cohesion among the installations, murals and sculptures.
“The energy and synergy of working together for three weeks, and then you work through each other. It’s like, ‘Okay, you’re doing that,’” McKinnie said. “(The collaboration) may influence subconsciously or intentionally, and that’s the beautiful thing. “
The city worked with the Midtown Association to make the building available free of charge. The association absorbed the cost of insuring and securing the building, as well as any repairs or renovations necessary afterward, said Emily Baime Michaels, the association’s executive director.
Money from ticket sales goes toward expenses for the art supplies.
Not only did working together in a confined space encourage the artists to collaborate, but it brought them closer to the Winn Park community.
“I’m really mindful of displacement and what these really cool art exhibitions can do. And as I’ve been in this park for the last two months, just meeting the community members that live in this park, that wake up and go to sleep right outside these walls,” McKinnie said. “I think there’s this conversation of what this building can mean for the community.”
“Coordinates: Dispatch” is open to the public on Thursdays and Fridays from 4-10 p.m., and Saturdays from noon-10 p.m. Tickets are on sale for $25. It runs until Oct. 10.
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This story was originally published August 21, 2026 at 11:00 AM.