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iajo's wall-of-text is essentially true, but I'll expand on it with my own wall-of-text: a lot of the artists here are engaged hobbyists, with a comparatively small number of working professionals. I'd count myself in the "engaged hobbyist" category myself--I generally make more money from my creative output than I spend, but it isn't my primary source of income. I know a few creative people who make a living at it, but more engaged hobbyists.
Like any city that isn't one of the nation's artistic hubs or most major population centers, artists here can generally rise to a certain point of success, but there really isn't enough local money to support a very large arts community. So, those with a lot of talent and ambition move on--to Los Angeles or New York or San Francisco, or even to Austin or Portland to some extent. But mostly to San Francisco, because it is only two hours away.
Once there, they tend to find themselves to be little fish in a much bigger pond. Some end up being waiters or what have you in that city (isn't everyone in Los Angeles working on a screenplay, after all?) and the most talented and ambitious make art into a career.
I know a few local artists who make art for a living, but generally it is within the context of graphic design work. I know not everyone considers tattoo artists to be "artists" in the traditional sense (I do) but I know quite a few who went from starving amateurs in galleries to tattoo artists for a living, instead of working at Kinko's or whatever.
I haven't seen lofts marketed as "artist's lofts" in many years, the term is generally synonymous with "apartments" or "condos" that happen to be located downtown. The actual "artist's loft" idea was a creative person getting a cheap, run-down warehouse type space, nominally as a studio but they often end up living there (illegally, as they are seldom residentially zoned.) Sometimes this is tolerated, but Sacramento officials tend to take a dim view of outsider artists, so places like the Gallery Horse Cow are semi-underground and sometimes get shut down by the city.
There are actually low-cost housing developments intended for artists, like SurrealEstates SurrealEstates Artists Community , and one 1990s very-low-income development in Midtown called Pensione K.
15-25 years ago, artists and musicians of the "engaged hobbyist" variety came to Midtown Sacramento because rent was cheap and the scene was more accepting of people with pink hair than the suburbs. At the time, Midtown was kind of sketchy with prostitution and drug dealing pretty out in the open. The city didn't really mind people doing whatever there, so semi-underground music and art venues opened, and the first Second Saturday gallery nights opened as a way to legitimize this borderline art world and reduce the flow of Sacramento's talented to the Bay Area and beyond. There were also jobs which would hire people with funny haircuts and facial piercings--traditionally Tower Records (which started here), Java City (which started here) and a firm called "StateNet." This allowed some folks to work part-time, live cheap in janky little Midtown basement apartmens, and spend their spare time practicing their music or art (or going to shows put on by others practicing the music or art.)
But where artists and musicians go, yuppies follow, and today eight-year-olds have pink hair and nobody gives it a second look (at least not in California) and now Midtown is considered the city's success story. The artists and musicians are moving into Oak Park, which was way worse 20 years ago and is currently still pretty sketchy but the rent is cheap. There are still artists in the central city (especially since rents have come back down in the face of the boom) but it's harder to be a part-timer than when you could rent a studio apartment for $250 a month or crash in the back of the stucco factory where you did your artwork.
15-25 years ago, artists and musicians of the "engaged hobbyist" variety came to Midtown Sacramento because rent was cheap and the scene was more accepting of people with pink hair than the suburbs. At the time, Midtown was kind of sketchy with prostitution and drug dealing pretty out in the open. The city didn't really mind people doing whatever there, so semi-underground music and art venues opened, and the first Second Saturday gallery nights opened as a way to legitimize this borderline art world and reduce the flow of Sacramento's talented to the Bay Area and beyond. There were also jobs which would hire people with funny haircuts and facial piercings--traditionally Tower Records (which started here), Java City (which started here) and a firm called "StateNet." This allowed some folks to work part-time, live cheap in janky little Midtown basement apartmens, and spend their spare time practicing their music or art (or going to shows put on by others practicing the music or art.)
But where artists and musicians go, yuppies follow, and today eight-year-olds have pink hair and nobody gives it a second look (at least not in California) and now Midtown is considered the city's success story. The artists and musicians are moving into Oak Park, which was way worse 20 years ago and is currently still pretty sketchy but the rent is cheap. There are still artists in the central city (especially since rents have come back down in the face of the boom) but it's harder to be a part-timer than when you could rent a studio apartment for $250 a month or crash in the back of the stucco factory where you did your artwork.
I think wburg has been spending too much time listening to the recieved wisdom of the real estate pimps.
First, the engaged hobbyist scene is very wide spread. Its not limited to just one or two neighborhoods. If so the scene would be very dead. At my first open show at the 20th street gallery, the other artists that night included a retired math teacher living in Orangevale, an accountant from Santa Rosa and me a Physical Therapist living in Citrus Heights. If you are going to a lot of gallery openings to see what is selling and talking to the local artists (like what I do), what you notice is that the people selling stuff are coming from all over the region.
If you want to paint or do sculpture, you need time, money and space. Most work locally is done in the garage because you have access to the space really cheaply by parking your car on the garage. In that sense just about every neighborhood in this region is fertile ground for this type of space because just about every neighborhood has lots of garages.
Its the same thing with music. The garage bands are everywhere. Garages are just a really cheap places to practice.
On my block in Citrus Heights, the local kids are in some type of punk/alternative garage band. Around the corner some guys in their late twenties are in a funk band. From what I have seen that type of stuff happens just about everywhere in this region.
In this area I really don't think it matters where you live. If you want to do music, practice some, make some demo tapes and then take it to the clubs you are interested in. If you want to make art. Build up a portfolio, screen out your bad stuff and then take it around to the galleries that you think are going to like your work the best.
But I wouldn't get to worried about what neighborhood you live in because I really have seen no evidence that it matters at all. The strength of this area is that you can go just about anywhere and find people doing something if you just ask around.
I am not saying that there weren't people working at Tower making music. But Tower wasn't just on Broadway, there was another one at Watt and Arden another at the Birdcage Mall and another one at Florin Road. Dimple Records was out in Roseville and now on Arden Way. The Java Cities were throughout the region as well. Right now there are probably more thriftstores in Citrus Heights than in midtown.
There have always been the suburban punk rockers. Twenty years ago Hip hop has pretty much transcended the ethnic divide.
But both the music and art scenes in this area have grown beyond post adolenscent twenty somethings. I think its a bad characture to imply its just the people working in the record stores, and the thriftstores who are doing making music or making art. Quite simply that just isn't true.
I have seen more retired people doing sculpture and paintings because they have the time, the money and space to work on such stuff. When the kids move out, they have the time to take classes on using a blow torch and they have the money to buy one or buy access to one. Its similiar for painting. They have more freetime so they have more free time to build up there portfolios.
Music seems to be done by the people without kids, but again because more people are avoiding getting married and having kids, again you can find those folks in just about any neighborhood.
I think wburg has been spending too much time listening to the recieved wisdom of the real estate pimps.
First, the engaged hobbyist scene is very wide spread. Its not limited to just one or two neighborhoods.
I would echo this... as a musician that plays jazz, fusion and rock, the jam sessions are scattered all over the metro area... the concentration just isn't in midtown/downtown, there's stuff out in the 'burbs, too.
A lot of us are hobbyists that aren't trying to make a living doing this, its for fun and expressing a part of ourselves that our day jobs doesn't allow us to. And its a personal growth thing. I'll never be a famous guitar player but I'd much rather be respected by my fellow local musicians for what we get done together as a group.
And I agree that's one of the strengths of Sacramento, the creativity is everywhere.
Not to say that there aren't bad schools and areas, but there are some good ones, too. I'd avoid the flood areas no matter how great the schools were.
In comparison to the Upper Midwest and New England, even the best schools here are terribly mediocre. The unions, the uberleft political correctness, and the growing underclass funded by an overtly generous welfare system are destroying the schools.
I am not saying that there weren't people working at Tower making music. But Tower wasn't just on Broadway, there was another one at Watt and Arden another at the Birdcage Mall and another one at Florin Road. Dimple Records was out in Roseville and now on Arden Way. The Java Cities were throughout the region as well. Right now there are probably more thriftstores in Citrus Heights than in midtown.
Back then, there was only one Java City--the original location, at 18th & Capitol. This was before they became a chain. They weren't the only coffee shop in town, or even the first, but they were kind of an epicenter in the late eighties through the early nineties.
And while Tower Records had multiple locations, I'm mostly talking about their headquarters, warehouse and distribution center in West Sacramento--not everyone who worked there lived downtown, but an awful lot did.
Keep in mind that I'm not talking about midtown NOW, but about the same neighborhood 20 years ago--when it was very cheap to live here, when there were a lot more thrift stores and junk shops, and when the suburbs were a lot less accepting. I didn't pick this up secondhand, I lived it. I was one of those kids who grew up in the suburbs and moved to Midtown. 20 years ago, Midtown apartments and houses were CHEAP--even cheaper than the suburbs--and most landlords didn't give a damn if you had band practice in your apartment (or even underground shows in your basement!) as long as they got their rent on time.
Being a suburban punk is considerably easier now. In part because punk has been around a lot longer and is not perceived as being much of a threat to society anymore--it's rare to hear about someone getting an ass-kicking for having a mohawk these days. But it's also because of the Internet, which lets people with similar interests but spread out geographically communicate a lot more easily. Today you can send out info about shows and whatnot via email or Myspace etcetera. 20 years ago you pretty much had to hand out flyers and stick posters to telephone poles because little indie venues couldn't afford print ads or radio spots like big concerts could, and if your show is downtown it's a lot of time and effort to flyer Roseville and Rancho Cordova etcetera--so it's harder for kids in the sticks to find out about shows.
There were shows in the suburbs then, and a few hangouts like Birdcage Walk--but often a venue would only last a show or two before the owner would change their mind or wouldn't want that crowd around anymore, or someone would do something stupid (like a member of "Mr. T and the Screaming Vikings" leaving a dead turkey they found in a dumpster in one of the booths at a Roseville pizza place that put on punk shows in 1992.) So yes, there were suburban punks--I know, because I was one--but many moved downtown, creating more of a concentration there than in the rest of the region.
The rent/space factor became a problem later--as I said, back then you could get a place cheap here and work part-time. Now, it's a lot harder to be able to afford a Midtown apartment, and harder to get away with things like band practice in your living room, because the yuppies who moved in next door will call the police more readily than the meth lab that used to be there.
First, the engaged hobbyist scene is very wide spread. Its not limited to just one or two neighborhoods. If so the scene would be very dead. At my first open show at the 20th street gallery, the other artists that night included a retired math teacher living in Orangevale, an accountant from Santa Rosa and me a Physical Therapist living in Citrus Heights. If you are going to a lot of gallery openings to see what is selling and talking to the local artists (like what I do), what you notice is that the people selling stuff are coming from all over the region.
I got to thinking about this part and realized that iajo kind of proves my point about Midtown...where else in the region would artists from Santa Rosa, Citrus Heights and Orangevale end up in the same room than at a Second Saturday gallery show? It's no different from, say, a San Francisco art show, where the artists might include one from Marin County, one from Oakland and one from San Jose. The suburbs might be an okay place for band practices or a cheap studio, but when it comes time to show your work off, and potentially sell some, do you have a gallery show in Orangevale or Midtown?
I got to thinking about this part and realized that iajo kind of proves my point about Midtown...where else in the region would artists from Santa Rosa, Citrus Heights and Orangevale end up in the same room than at a Second Saturday gallery show? It's no different from, say, a San Francisco art show, where the artists might include one from Marin County, one from Oakland and one from San Jose. The suburbs might be an okay place for band practices or a cheap studio, but when it comes time to show your work off, and potentially sell some, do you have a gallery show in Orangevale or Midtown?
All of the galleries in the region pull talent from through out the region and sometimes out of the region.
When I was trying to figure out where to show my work, I brought my portfolio to several different galleries. Both the 20th Street Gallery and the Chroma Gallery in Fair Oaks showed interest, but the 20th Street Gallery was willing to put me into a show faster, so I ended up dealing with them. But if things had worked out differently, I could have been working with the Chroma Gallery.
Once you have your worked showed at a specific gallery in a given area you are somewhat locked in. Its bad form for me to try to show my work at both the 20th Street Gallery and Chroma Gallery. The 20th Street Gallery doesn't want to invest in promoting an artist whose work is later going to be shown at the Chroma Gallery and the Chroma Gallery doesn't want to invest in promoting an artist whose work is being shown at the 20th Street Gallery.
So you have to choose which gallery to go with. I ruffled some feathers for having my work shown at a gallery in Nevada City because that was considered too close to the 20th Street Gallery.
But shows at galleries in the bay area or Chico wouldn't have been a problem at all.
The galleries are also looking for variety. At any specific gallery it would be difficult to have a showing more often than say once every 6 months or even once every year.
As a result all of the galleries in the area function like the 20th Street Gallery. They draw on talent from throughout the region and show some work from people from outside the region as well.
The local galleries will have mostly regional talent because its easier for artists in the area to bring there portfolios to galleries in the area. But the fact that your work sold well at another gallery in say Santa Rosa, means that a gallery in Sacramento is more willing to show your work because now you are more of a proven commodity.
If you live in Santa Rosa and want your work to be shown more often than the once every six months that the local gallery in Santa Rosa is willing to show your stuff, then it makes sense to develop a relationship with a gallery in say Sacramento to have the opportunity for additional showings.
Back then, there was only one Java City--the original location, at 18th & Capitol. This was before they became a chain. They weren't the only coffee shop in town, or even the first, but they were kind of an epicenter in the late eighties through the early nineties.
What made Java City the epicenter of coffee in this region was rapid expansion. Java City grew most rapidly before Starbucks came to the Sacramento region. By 1990, they already were at Loehmann's Plaza, at Market Square, in the Sunrise Village Shopping Center and at the Madison and Manzanita Shopping Center. This wasn't just a midtown thing.
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Originally Posted by wburg
And while Tower Records had multiple locations, I'm mostly talking about their headquarters, warehouse and distribution center in West Sacramento--not everyone who worked there lived downtown, but an awful lot did.
A lot didn't. In high school lots of people went through a punk rock phase and they didn't live exclusively in midtown. It was a nationwide thing. John Hughes made a bunch of films chronicling high school life in the 80's and they all had their 80's high school punk rocker characters. This wasn't just a midtown thing. This was a late 1980's early 1990's thing. At this time, the Birdcage Mall was still hosting midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture show filled with high school students dressed in drag.
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Originally Posted by wburg
Keep in mind that I'm not talking about midtown NOW, but about the same neighborhood 20 years ago--when it was very cheap to live here, when there were a lot more thrift stores and junk shops, and when the suburbs were a lot less accepting. I didn't pick this up secondhand, I lived it. I was one of those kids who grew up in the suburbs and moved to Midtown. 20 years ago, Midtown apartments and houses were CHEAP--even cheaper than the suburbs--and most landlords didn't give a damn if you had band practice in your apartment (or even underground shows in your basement!) as long as they got their rent on time.
Being a suburban punk is considerably easier now. In part because punk has been around a lot longer and is not perceived as being much of a threat to society anymore--it's rare to hear about someone getting an ass-kicking for having a mohawk these days. But it's also because of the Internet, which lets people with similar interests but spread out geographically communicate a lot more easily. Today you can send out info about shows and whatnot via email or Myspace etcetera. 20 years ago you pretty much had to hand out flyers and stick posters to telephone poles because little indie venues couldn't afford print ads or radio spots like big concerts could, and if your show is downtown it's a lot of time and effort to flyer Roseville and Rancho Cordova etcetera--so it's harder for kids in the sticks to find out about shows.
There were shows in the suburbs then, and a few hangouts like Birdcage Walk--but often a venue would only last a show or two before the owner would change their mind or wouldn't want that crowd around anymore, or someone would do something stupid (like a member of "Mr. T and the Screaming Vikings" leaving a dead turkey they found in a dumpster in one of the booths at a Roseville pizza place that put on punk shows in 1992.) So yes, there were suburban punks--I know, because I was one--but many moved downtown, creating more of a concentration there than in the rest of the region.
The rent/space factor became a problem later--as I said, back then you could get a place cheap here and work part-time. Now, it's a lot harder to be able to afford a Midtown apartment, and harder to get away with things like band practice in your living room, because the yuppies who moved in next door will call the police more readily than the meth lab that used to be there.
I just think you are overly localizing a fad that happened in the late 1980's and early 1990's and I think you are projecting way too much significance into this fad. At this time you had punk rockers at every high school in America, the way that you had kids into Goth at every high school in America in the late 90's early part of the 2000's.
High school kids feel alienated. They buy music that reflects this alienation and they reject any music form that there parents listened to.
But this argument that these alienated kids are some how more talented or more creative than anyone else never has really carried much water with me. I just haven't seen any evidence of it.
I went to my high school reunion. The kids who wore black and smoked cloves all the time didn't really turn out differently from the kids who didn't.
A lot didn't. In high school lots of people went through a punk rock phase and they didn't live exclusively in midtown. It was a nationwide thing. John Hughes made a bunch of films chronicling high school life in the 80's and they all had their 80's high school punk rocker characters. This wasn't just a midtown thing. This was a late 1980's early 1990's thing. At this time, the Birdcage Mall was still hosting midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture show filled with high school students dressed in drag.
Plenty of people went through various phases and fads, but that isn't really who or what I'm talking about. Plenty of people never "grew out" of it, and are still active in the scene.
I know Birdcage Walk had a Rocky Horror, because I was there too--as I mentioned, Birdcage was kind of the Citrus Heights haven for suburban oddballs. But there were still incidents, from homophobic catcalls to fights, and any guy dressing like Frank N. Furter (or Janet Weiss, for that matter) and walking around the streets of Citrus Heights was risking a beating--something I imagine hasn't changed too much. As a result of the sometimes uncomfortable atmosphere of the suburbs, a lot of the people involved in that scene moved towards downtown Sacramento. The people who got into a fad in high school and got out of it generally didn't.
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I just think you are overly localizing a fad that happened in the late 1980's and early 1990's and I think you are projecting way too much significance into this fad. At this time you had punk rockers at every high school in America, the way that you had kids into Goth at every high school in America in the late 90's early part of the 2000's.
At no point have I claimed that Midtown was the only part of the region where punks or other funny-looking people ever existed. Nor am I claiming that midtown Sacramento was the only place in the country that became a gathering point for punks. All I'm saying is the seemingly obvious--they tended to congregate in the central city, in part because of the more tolerant atmosphere and cheap rent, and to some extent, still do.
By the way, Sacramento had a goth scene in the late 80s and early 90s, and a punk scene in the early 80s, it just wasn't as big of a fad yet, so you may have missed it.
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Some of CA's best school districts are in the Sacramento area?
At no point have I claimed that Midtown was the only part of the region where punks or other funny-looking people ever existed. Nor am I claiming that midtown Sacramento was the only place in the country that became a gathering point for punks. All I'm saying is the seemingly obvious--they tended to congregate in the central city, in part because of the more tolerant atmosphere and cheap rent, and to some extent, still do.
