young, liberal, walkable areas (Los Angeles, Sacramento: cul-de-sac, rent, home)

[Sonshine20]

I'm looking for an area that's youngish (I'm early 30s, single), tends to be liberal, and walkable. I'm going to be renting, and schools aren't an issue. (I'm on a budget, but I'd rather rent a small not-so-hot basement apt in an area I like than the best apt in an area I don't like.) Don't want to live in suburbia. But on the other hand, don't need crazy night-life, either. (Nearby groceries, cafes, restaurants (esp ethnic, Asian) farmer's markets or health food stores, all plusses) From searching these boards, Midtown seems like the best place for me. Are there any other neighborhoods, though? Is midtown the ONLY place fitting this description?

I'll be working near Jackson Hwy, between S. Watt and Bradshaw. First, I'm wondering what this area is called. How can I refer to it?

I'd love to be car-free, but it looks like the commute from Midtown to this area isn't possible with public transportation. Would it be bike-able? (Is that even a word?) If not, are there any areas nearer my work that I should consider??

Thanks so much for any suggestions! I'm going to be there this weekend and early next week to check it out.

[wburg]

The area around Jackson Highway between S. Watt and Bradshaw is called Rosemont. It is suburbia. The other neighborhoods relatively nearby are La Riviera and the city of Rancho Cordova, both so suburban you could plotz, and a bunch of industrial areas. Most of that area was strictly rural until the 1950s, so really nothing around there is "walkable."

People use "Midtown" to refer to any residential neighborhood in the central city, but there are actually many central city neighborhoods--Midtown proper is between J and R and 15th and 29th. Personally I'd recommend looking on the southern side of the central city: Southside, Richmond Grove, Poverty Ridge or Newton Booth.

The advantage of any of these neighborhoods is that they are all relatively close to RT Metro's Gold Line, which will take you closest to work. The nearest station is at Watt Avenue, which would probably put you about a mile from your workplace. It is possible to take your bike on Light Rail, so it wouldn't be hard to bike to the train station, train to Watt and have an easy bike to work. You could also bike from home to work if you're in good shape or feeling particularly hardcore but in rainy or very hot weather it wouldn't be much fun.

Nearby groceries are plentiful, from small corner stores to medium-sized Asian markets to a couple of full-sized supermarkets. There are a lot of restaurants and some nice cafes in Southside and Richmond Grove but generally it is quieter than Midtown proper--that tends to be where most of the nightlife adventure can be found, but it's easily walkable or bikeable from all of the aforementioned neighborhoods. There are farmer's markets Sunday-Thursday in the central city (different location each day), plus one in Oak Park on Saturdays. The biggest one is the Sunday market just south of Southside Park on W Street, it takes up two city blocks plus spill-over into an Asian farmer's market on Broadway and 6th.

Outside the Grid proper, the northern end of the Curtis Park neighborhood (the blocks just south of Broadway) are worth a look, along with the Alhambra Triangle (between Alhambra, R Street and Hwy 50.) Oak Park is starting to get better but still a little hinky, if you loo there stick to neighborhoods closer to UCD Med Center or Broadway. Going much farther south than McClatchy Park and McGeorge School of Law is much, much more hinky.

[d_deathrage]

You might want to look at the parts of Portal Park, Tahoe Park and Elmhurst between 59 street and 65th streets. In those neighborhoods you could walk to light rail, Trader Joes and Corti Brothers. There are also several neighborhood bars and cafes on Folsom or Broadway in this area. But its these are mostly locals. Midtown is probably a better choice if you were looking for crazy nightlife.

But the other advantage is that if you wanted to just ride your bike to work from this neighborhood, you could easily do it. There is an excellent bike trail along the river that would take you Rosemont or you can find other more direct routes here.

Find Bike Trails at Bikely.com

[Sonshine20]

Thanks so much, wburg and d_deathrage. Your replies are very helpful! Is there a good map showing Sac neighborhood and their boundries? That would be really useful...

[wburg]

Google Maps actually does a pretty good job of labeling neighborhoods, if not specific neighborhood boundaries:

sacramento, CA - Google Maps

I assume "Portal Park" refers to the neighborhood around East Portal Park in East Sac. That is pretty nice, and close to the 48th street light rail station. Tahoe Park is a bit too far south for my tastes but I know people who just love it there--kind of far from the light rail station, though. The bike path along the river is nice but it's kind of the "scenic route" unless one is living in River Park or East Sac.

[Sonshine20]

Really, Google Maps is what I've been using and couldn't find neighborhoods well with. Perhaps I need to try harder. Thanks again.

edit: the neighborhood labels are clear as day, if you just zoom out. oops!

[90Shillings]

I've lived in Bedford (Brooklyn), Alberta (Portland) and Highlands (Denver). Haven't found anything close to that around here yet.

[Sonshine20]

Yeah, I think you're right 90Shillings. After being in Sac for a couple days, even Midtown looks rather like suburbia to me.... but I think I might be able to deal with it...

[edwardius]

Welcome to Sacramento.

When anyone points out that midtown is kind of suburban, wburg's head tends to explode.

Sacramento is like Los Angeles. When you first get here, you tend to be underwhelmed, but the longer you are here, the better you tend to get sense of the place, make more friends and it grows upon you.

I would give the place a full year to get a real chance to see the place and see if grows upon you. After that if you still don't like the place then you can complain about it, but for right now, try to approach it with an open mind. It probably is very different than from where ever you came from, but you might like it.

[wburg]

Midtown is a streetcar suburb, late 19th century style. If you're looking for lots of brick brownstones, canyons of skyscrapers, or massive quantities of hustle-bustle, no, it's not here--or, at least, it's not here anymore. It's a city in that it is an active place, generally very diverse, generally very tolerant, generally where the art and music is, with a lot of things to do once you figure out where they are.

What it isn't is a 20th century auto suburb, what most people think of when you say "suburbia," with cul-de-sacs and PTA meetings and shopping malls. That's, well, the rest of Sacramento.

Either that, or they were in South Natomas and someone told them that was Midtown.