Nov. 7--A Bay Area burger joint. Denver's Bubba Chino's Mexican food chain. Rocklin's Icing on the Cupcake.

Those are a few of the top contenders for the deal of the decade: free rent for a year in a tiny space adjoining Harv's Metro Car Wash in midtown Sacramento.

Those three and a handful of others are on a "short list" culled from about 70 responses to the offer from Harv's owner Aaron Zeff, says Susanne Westley, Zeff's real estate agent.

But she says Zeff isn't convinced he's found just the right company yet for the site at 19th and L streets.

While those on the short list are being considered, "We'll keep searching until we find the right fit," she says.

Meanwhile, Zeff, Westley and her business partner, Jill Kirkman, have been inundated with food samples from applicants hoping to be selected for the space, which will be free for a year only to a company signing a multiyear lease.

Westley has received deliveries of cupcakes, snacks, pizza and other goodies.

"I had to go running this morning," she tells us, "because I'm gaining weight."

Happy returns

A 2-year-old Roseville investment company is turning heads on Wall Street.

Its lone mutual fund last week was rated No. 1 in its category by research firm Morningstar. And its three unit investment trusts (UITs) also are market leaders.

"We're pummeling (the competition). It's kind of fun," says Rick Gonsalves, founder and CEO of AmericaFirst Capital Management.

The company has about $160 million under management -- mostly in the three UITs, which operate like mutual funds except the holdings are fixed for the 13-to- 15-month lives of the trusts.

AmericaFirst's mutual fund -- which includes stocks and bonds from each of the three UITs -- has only about $10 million in assets. But it ranked No. 1 last week in the Morningstar category for "moderately allocated" balanced funds, with one-year returns of 48.2 percent. It's since fallen to No. 3 on the list of about 1,100 funds.

The secret to the company's success? Gonsalves credits "an unemotional, mechanical" approach based on a set of unyielding rules.

"It takes the subjectivity out of the investment process," he says.

Party like it's 1934

Sacramento's legendary Old Ironsides bar, restaurant and nightclub turns 75 this month.

To celebrate, owners are bringing back some of the downtown joint's top musical and comedy acts, its most popular meals and vintage drinks dating to 1934 when "Old I" became the first local bar to get a liquor license following Prohibition.

Overseeing the festivities is Billee Jean Kanelos, who grew up in the bar opened by her dad and now has seen three more generations of family members work there.

She's got wonderful memories of the "Damon Runyon-type" characters who've populated Old I. Some funny stories, too.

Like the one about a guy who'd had too much to drink and was shown the clock saying it was 2 o'clock, closing time. Even though it was really 2 p.m.

Or this one about another inebriated fellow who was cut off by the bartender and walked out the front door onto 10th Street.

Only to walk in the side door on S a few minutes later, mosey up to the bar and do a double-take.

Billee recalls his stunned question to the barkeep: "You work here, too?"

Reach Bob Shallit at (916) 321-1049. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit.

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