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My spouse and I had just returned from a 5-days visit to Sacramento, July 1 -5. We stayed in downtown, next to the convention center.
I don't know if I missed the right spots or not, and I heard that lots of people went out of town for the long weekend, but when we drove around the happening spots in midtown, we didn't see many people walking around. Is this normal? We drove up and down J, K, L, 16th streets, and some random streets. What are the intersections of the happening spots? We saw people sitting at restaurants but it's not like random people walking about all over the place.
I mean for downtown, I can understand that it could be a ghost town in the weekend, but on our last day, Tuesday, I looked down the streets from the hotel room (around 8-9am), and didn't see any traffic jam or many people walking around at all in downtown. What am I missing here?
The time we drove around downtown and midtown, it seemed like a ghost town. Not that it's a negative or anything, but just my observation.
But on the highways, 5, 80, biz 80, 50, there were tons of car and we got stuck in a nasty traffic jam on the 80 westbound to SF at the West Sac section. BTW, we got stuck in several sections of the 80 going to SF during supposedly non-traffic hours, noon. Going form Sac to SF seems more like 2.5 hours on any given day and time than the 2 hours as seen from google map and navigation software.
Last edited by roadtripp1n; 07-06-2016 at 03:49 PM..
My spouse and I had just returned from a 5-days visit to Sacramento, July 1 -5. We stayed in downtown, next to the convention center.
I don't know if I missed the right spots or not, and I heard that lots of people went out of town for the long weekend, but when we drove around the happening spots in midtown, we didn't see many people walking around. Is this normal? We drove up and down J, K, L, 16th streets, and some random streets. What are the intersections of the happening spots?
I mean for downtown, I can understand that it could be a ghost town in the weekend, but n our last day, Tuesday, I looked down the streets from the hotel room, and didn't see any traffic jam or many people walking around at all in downtown. What am I missing here?
The time we drove around downtown and midtown, it seemed like a ghost town. Not that it's a negative or anything, but just my observation.
But on the highways, 5, 80, biz 80, 160, there were tons of car and we got stuck in a nasty traffic jam on the 80 westbound to SF at the West Sac section.
Kind of depends on what you are used to I guess. Not sure about last weekend - but when I bike down to midtown for beers/food I usually head to the area between J/K/L and 19th to about 26th streets. There's usually plenty of people down there eating and drinking and milling around. I mean it's not like 3rd street Santa Monica - but it's cool.
Kind of depends on what you are used to I guess. Not sure about last weekend - but when I bike down to midtown for beers/food I usually head to the area between J/K/L and 19th to about 26th streets. There's usually plenty of people down there eating and drinking and milling around. I mean it's not like 3rd street Santa Monica - but it's cool.
Nice comparison JohnS_15, I lived in Santa Monica and 3rd Street Promenade was literally 5 minutes away by car. I was expecting to see Midtown to be filled with pockets of many shops/restaurants lining the same street like 3rd Street Promenade, but those amenities seem to be spread out all over. There was not a concentration of shops and restaurants.
Tuesday 8-9 am, people downtown are inside their offices. Why would there be a traffic jam at 9am on a workday?
PS: I'm staying in midtown Sac right now, in a hotel near the convention center. Every time I've ventured into Midtown, the streets have been packed with cars. There are people everywhere! Not sure why you missed them.
You won't find any place in Sacramento with the kind of crowds one sees at 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica except maybe during special events in Old Sacramento or downtown, like a race or a festival. Downtown generally looks pretty barren, especially on weekends and holidays, because almost nobody lives there, and unless there is a special event, there are few reasons to come downtown--and for the most part, events in the central city aren't held in the areas around the Convention Center. And yes, because Midtown is primarily a neighborhood rather than specifically a shopping district, the shops tend to be distributed throughout the neighborhood streets rather than focused in a specific small area.
Maybe part of the problem is that you drove--the best way to experience Midtown Sacramento is by bicycle, since it's easier to stop at interesting places even if they're not all on the same couple of blocks.
My spouse and I had just returned from a 5-days visit to Sacramento, July 1 -5. We stayed in downtown, next to the convention center.
I don't know if I missed the right spots or not, and I heard that lots of people went out of town for the long weekend, but when we drove around the happening spots in midtown, we didn't see many people walking around. Is this normal? We drove up and down J, K, L, 16th streets, and some random streets. What are the intersections of the happening spots? We saw people sitting at restaurants but it's not like random people walking about all over the place.
I mean for downtown, I can understand that it could be a ghost town in the weekend, but on our last day, Tuesday, I looked down the streets from the hotel room (around 8-9am), and didn't see any traffic jam or many people walking around at all in downtown. What am I missing here?
The time we drove around downtown and midtown, it seemed like a ghost town. Not that it's a negative or anything, but just my observation.
But on the highways, 5, 80, biz 80, 50, there were tons of car and we got stuck in a nasty traffic jam on the 80 westbound to SF at the West Sac section. BTW, we got stuck in several sections of the 80 going to SF during supposedly non-traffic hours, noon. Going form Sac to SF seems more like 2.5 hours on any given day and time than the 2 hours as seen from google map and navigation software.
I think you pretty much nailed it. The vast majority of people in Sacramento live in the suburbs. No one lives in downtown and that area is essentially a ghost town in the evenings and weekends. Midtown is more active but still quite overrated in comparison to other cities. I would say Sac is at least 20 years behind other cities like Portland and Denver in terms of urban development. There's just very little to do in the downtown/midtown core of Sac and anyone who visits (not emotionally invested in the area) would generally agree.
Your observations are very accurate. The best parts of the area are going to SF, Napa or into the foothills/Tahoe so hopefully you got to check out the nice areas outside Sac.
There is quite a bit to do in the downtown/midtown core, but because we are so spread out as a region, it's very hard to communicate with the people who live in Roseville, Folsom etcetera what is going on down here and why they should attend. So there are plenty of events and quite a few activities, but unless they're really major ones, they are likely to be under-attended. And even if they do find out about it, they're likely to complain if they can't find a parking space or (God forbid) have to pay for parking. People just kind of assume there is nothing to do, so even if you tell them there's something going on, often, they simply won't believe you. For those who actually do live in the central city (which is the densest part of the region, at least Midtown is) once you're here the problem is more a matter of picking which interesting thing you want to do on a given night, rather than finding out about them.
There are even "things to do" in the greater region in terms of tourism and events--from drives in the Delta to events at Mondavi Center. But they're widely distributed, and for some reason things happening a few miles from downtown Sacramento aren't seen as happening in Sacramento (while people don't seem to have a similar problem thinking of events happening in Napa as somehow being part of the Bay Area.)
But for someone out in Rocklin, where there really is very little going on, you get a different impression of Sacramento, in part because you aren't as clued into the sort of incidental communication that informs people about what's happening downtown. And for a visitor, it's pretty confusing because the Chamber of Commerce types only cheer about downtown commercial developments like the arena, which is great if you're really into construction sites but there's nothing to actually do but watch construction workers build stuff. They don't tend to talk much about where the charming little shops or interesting sites are, often low-key but potentially of interest, because they aren't interested in those things.
Although part of the "problem" is that San Francisco is so close it's pretty easy to go there to attend large events, so while they complain about driving downtown and finding parking, they'll drive to Frisco even though parking is harder to find/much more expensive than Sacramento. Does it make sense? No. But it happens.
So I dug a bit deeper to see where the happening spots are and found this website. Btw, I found it while I was in Sac but the link to the map was very misleading/confusing so I didn't see this map while I was there.
It doesn't seem like this map lists everything as I recalled there were more stuff along 16th street. Anyway, looks like we drove up and down the main spots, J, K, and 16th. As you can see on the map and what some of you mentioned in this thread, amenities are spread out in Midtown which is where the action is supposed to be. For out of town people who come from big cities, Midtown does seem like a ghost town for sure. From what I've read, I was expecting Midtown to be lively and hip, and all that. Like some of you said, it's a neighborhood, but I was expecting more as it's supposed to be the "happening" area of Sac.
Bad city planning for sure. Maybe they should knock down some sections of midtown, build a nice center, and give business owners incentive to move their shops there, then you have a concentration where tourists and local would gather. This would give a sense of the city more. I lived and been to many places in Cali and most of the main cities got a nice sort of like gathering place. For example, Santa Barbara has a really nice Main St (if I recall correctly) where you can spend at least half a day exploring shops, restaurants, etc. In Vancouver BC, we have the Commercial and Main streets districts which are located in the neighborhood areas and there are concentration of shops and places to check out. I was expecting something like that in Midtown.
I will create another thread about my observation of real estate, but here is my quick view on Midtown real estate. Why are people pay through their nose to live in Midtown as the amenities for sure does not seem to justify for the cost. Maybe it's expensive just for the fact that it is closer to downtown which is kind of a ghost town anyway. Closer to work? Portland downtown is way ahead here and I can understand why real estate and rent is way expensive in that and surrounding area. But Midtown Sac? I don't know. I mean we love the trees for sure! That was one of the biggest positive things in Sac.
And I don't understand why the new arena is going to change much in terms of activities and real estate of the midtown area. After a game or event, downtown would go back to being a ghost town.
And why are they building "The Barn" on the other side of the river? Don't they want to promote civic lifestyle in downtown and midtown?
Last edited by roadtripp1n; 07-07-2016 at 10:31 AM..
LOL at a tourist visiting for five days and deciding the city "should knock down some sections of midtown" because it didn't fit his definition of "what's happening". This is a mid-sized midwestern-oriented city, not Vancouver BC or San Francisco. Midtown has much to see and do; sorry if that particular tourist missed 90% of it in his desire to have everything within a couple blocks of each other.
LOL at a tourist visiting for five days and deciding the city "should knock down some sections of midtown" because it didn't fit his definition of "what's happening". This is a mid-sized midwestern-oriented city, not Vancouver BC or San Francisco. Midtown has much to see and do; sorry if that particular tourist missed 90% of it in his desire to have everything within a couple blocks of each other.
I did not mean to upset the locals on here. Am I am not expecting Sac to be like the big cities. Just my observation and that may have offended you.
Now after my visit, I see what you mean by Sac being a Midwestern Oriented City and I have no idea what that feels like as I have never been to the midwest or the south of the US. Being midsize, say around population of 2 millions, maybe it could do better? Look at Portland and Vancouver, which are midsize cities with about 2 millions each.
The chamber of commerce or whoever is in charge of the city (Kevin Johnson? I thought he played for the Phoenix Suns, what the heck is he doing here? ) is obviously not doing a good job of promoting your happening spots and thus missing out of this tourist who doesn't mind contributing to the local economy on his visit.
Last edited by roadtripp1n; 07-07-2016 at 11:19 AM..
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Not that it's a negative or anything, but just my observation.
