Arnold’s cigar tent, Jerry Brown’s dog run, and now something new for Gavin Newsom

A Capitol courtyard space that became famous as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s smoking retreat will be repurposed as a kids’ play area, the Sacramento Bee is reporting.

The center of the governor’s U-shaped office will be redesigned, said Ann O’Leary, the governor’s chief of staff. “We’re going to create more of a playground space out there and opportunity for kids to feel like this is their horseshoe as well.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger, famously a cigar aficionado, erected a tent in the courtyard soon after his 2003 election to the governorship.

The Los Angeles Times described the “cabana-style” structure as 12 by 16 feet, made of Sunbrella mesh, with a faux grass floor, rattan swivel chairs and “a large glass table on which sits a crystal ashtray emblazoned with the Cuban cigar label Montecristo.”

Schwarzenegger’s more ascetic successor, Jerry Brown, used the courtyard as an outdoor space for the “first dogs,” Sutter, Colusa and Cali.