In The Hood: January

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High-Toned Meets Funky

By Michael J. Marando

While most people these days buy the booze they drink at home from a grocery store, there’s a spot in town that is a marketing throwback: Ernie’s Wine & Liquor at 6306 Fair Oaks Blvd. in Carmichael. Positioning itself as a liquor store of distinction, the place has that genuine neighborhood vibe blended with an excellent selection and a funky feel.
    Co-owner Ron Dosanjh is an affable 40-year-old ex-farmer and musician from India. As a young boy in Punjab, he worked sugar cane and tomato fields for his dad. At 14, his family immigrated to Iowa to live with an uncle for six months before moving to Yuba City. The transition was not easy.
    “At first, I wanted to go back. I had long hair and really stood out,” he says. “But I knew that if I’m going to live in this country, I want to do my best because there were so many opportunities here. I cried when my aunt cut off my hair, but I got over it.”
    Getting over it included working his parents’ tree farm through high school in Yuba City. He toiled long hours at Memorex making disk drives. Six years later, he bought his first liquor store. “I figured it this way: if I’m going to work 12 hours a day, why not work for myself?” he says.
    Dosanjh slotted in and out of the spirits industry for years to pursue other opportunities, including a bowling alley in Tracy and a career as a singer/songwriter for the Punjabi band Sangeet, which means “melody” in English. “We played weddings and parties all over California and Nevada,” Dosanjh recalls. “It was great work, if you could get it.”
    But somehow getting into a high-quality store seemed like the next logical step. Ernie’s went up for sale last summer, and a friend cajoled Dosanjh and his business partner, Bob Takhar, into buying it from owner Michael Leary.
Continued...

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