Safe, upscale area of Sacramento with cafes, galleries and good restaurants (Roseville: appointed, low crime)

[artandtechnology]

...and an art-house movie theater too!

Hi all, My wife and I (along with our 1-year old baby) might be relocating to Sacramento later this year, we don't know for sure yet. We currently live in Evanston IL, a college-town suburb (Northwestern is here) on the northern edge of Chicago. The crime rate here is quite low and although it is technically a suburb of Chicago, Evanston has a very city-like feel and a multitude of cultural activities, great restaurants, book stores, cafes, etc, right here and on top of that we can hop on the El train and get to downtown Chicago in a matter of minutes. Near we live we have an awesome Indian restaurant, an Afghan restaurant, several outstanding Mexican restaurants, cafes, bookstores, movie theaters, shopping, etc. all just a few minutes away. Additionally, our neighborhood is peaceful, quiet, with the lake and a park nearby and most of our neighbors are well-educated working professionals with a liberal political bias like ourselves. There are also lots of synagogues in the area as well (we're Jewish).

We are trying to find out in advance if there are any areas like Evanston in or near Sacramento. A safe neighborhood comparable to Evanston is a prime concern for us now that we have a baby, and of course good schools will be important a few years down the road as well. But beyond those basics, we would also prefer to still be fairly close to some good restaurants (we especially love Indian food), cafes, a good movie theater or two and bonus points if are any art galleries or live theaters too. We don't really care about bars, nightclubs or dance clubs, however.

I've read through a lot of posts on these forums and it sounds like Midtown is where the dining/cultural action is, but that it is not the safest (or quietest) part of town or the best area for schools. I saw on yet another forum that Land Park was described as a safe, clean area that was also close to midtown - perhaps that's a happy medium? What about Fair Oaks?

I'd also be curious about some of the surrounding suburbs, particularly Folsom and Roseville since they are described as having good schools and low crime. However, I've also read in some posts that these suburbs are far more right-wing politically and you also get the guys rolling around in the lifted monster trucks, which is totally not our style. Or is that not accurate?

What about dining and cultural activities in these suburbs? Any synagogues?

In terms of housing prices, we're looking for something in the $400,000 - $600,000 range, which (hopefully) is enough to get something in Sacramento in an area like I've described above with 3+ bedrooms and at least 1800 sq. feet.

Thanks in advance for whatever information anyone can provide. We're planning a trip there in the near future, but I'm trying to do as much research as I can beforehand to make the most of that trip since it will be fairly brief. If we can begin to narrow it down to specific neighborhoods or suburbs prior to visiting, that would help a lot.

[SirObongo]

Midtown's a good compromise. But be prepared for homeless
though they are more an eye-sore (to some!) than a crime issue.

Are you an academic or perhaps I'm reading too much into
moving from Northwestern's city!

[Majin]

Land Park if you don't want to see homeless or flamboyant gays

[Mossy]

Stay in IL. You live in a great part of IL. I think you would be disappointed in Sacramento for the most part. If you do move out check out Davis, Midtown, East Sac and if you want the burbs try Fair Oaks, Folsom, Gold River and El Dorado Hills. If you want country, then do Placerville/Auburn.

[CityGirl72]

You didn't add East Sac - it's right next to Midtown, has lower crime, it's well-educated, houses are amazing. Schools are "ok" (they rate a 7 on Greatschools.net)

[Majin]

Sometimes the homeless wonder into East Sac and that might scare him.

[edwardius]

There are several threads in the archives about Jewish life in Sacramento that you might want to review.

You might want to check out the welcome page from the Jewish Federation of Sacramento here to get a sense of Jewish life in the area.

Newcomer's Page (http://www.jewishsac.org/page.aspx?ID=152215 - broken link)

You can find a map of Sacramento's Eruv here.

Sacramento Eruv Map - Google Maps

http://www.communities.saccounty.net/arden-arcade/docs/survey/map.pdf (broken link)

If you want to be active in the local Jewish community you probably want to live somewhat close to the Eruv - that might mean Sierra Oaks or Arden Park. You can find excellent public schools in these neighborhoods and an active Jewish community. Its also home to local Jewish community school.

Welcome to Shalom School - Where little children get big ideas.

You might also take a look at Davis.

Davis is home to UC Davis, Sierra Oaks and Arden Park are fairly close to CSUS. Davis is more of a college town than Sierra Oaks and Arden Park, but in all of these neighborhoods you will find a fair amount of professors from the local Universities and they tend to be wealthy liberal/ wealthy moderate as a result.

East Sac might also work, but the public schools in East Sac aren't as strong.