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Old 04-28-2010, 09:11 AM
 
8,680 posts, read 17,238,225 times
Reputation: 4685

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And here's the counter-argument, some bits of midtown Sacramento's "bike infrastructure":

the semi-monthly Sacramento Tweed Ride:
Pip Pip, Tallyho! | Midtown Monthly

Sacramento Critical Mass
home (sacramentocriticalmass)

Sacramento Bike Kitchen
Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen - Do-It-Yourself Bicycle Maintenance

Sac Cycle Chic blog
Sac Cycle Chic

the annual Thanksgiving Appetite Enhancement Ride (NSFW):
heckasac: November 2009
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Old 04-28-2010, 05:43 PM
 
4,025 posts, read 3,281,684 times
Reputation: 6356
Greg

Since you have lived in San Diego, let me compare Sacramento vs San Diego. First San Diego is about twice as big. So all other things being equal, you probably would expect about twice as many older neighborhoods in San Diego to be turned around as in Sacramento. But San Diego is next to the ocean and the climate next to the ocean is really nice. That made it a lot easier to turn around the older neighborhoods in San Diego vs Sacramento. Proportionately, San Diego has a lot more older neighborhoods that have been turned around.

Midtown is basically is Sacramento's version of Pacific Beach. Its about the same size and scale of Garnet Avenue in PB. You have the same mixture of a lot of night clubs, bars, restaurants, hole in the wall clubs similar to Blind Melons in PB to watch local bands. As you walk around you see a lot of the same types of shops, you have thrifts stores, next to art galleries, tattoo shops, used record stores local boutiques and a lot of places to just go out to eat. I still miss World Curry. You are about as likely to find a cannabis dispensary in Midtown as in PB. PB draws a lot of college students from SDSU and midtown draws a lot of college students from Sac State. For natural foods PB has Henry's, midtown has the Sacramento Co-op. Midtown hosts Second Saturdays once a month, PB has the PB Block Party that functions pretty much the same way and at the same scale. In both neighborhoods the locals would describe the neighborhoods laid back for the same reasons. You have a fair amount of people who choose to live in these neighborhoods in order to hang out, drink, smoke pot, go to bars, go to night clubs, hit the local restaurants and watch and discuss local bands.

But at 35 would you still want to live in PB? There are PB lifer's. If you were to talk to Donna Frye, she like wburg would say that it attracts people from all walks of life. Its true you can find everyone from college kids to active seniors in PB. But merely because some people still feel like they still fit into PB at age 35, would you be one of them?

What Sacramento doesn't have is neighborhoods that function as good alternatives to PB for people who want to get away from the college kids. Sacramento really doesn't have a neighborhood like Hillcrest, the Gas Lamp, the East Village, Little Italy, North Park, or University Heights.

Downtown Davis reminds me most of Newport Avenue in OB. You don't have people converging on OB from all parts of the region. Its much more of a locals neighborhood. While you can find some neighborhood bars and clubs, cafes and restaurants its nothing like PB. Its a lot more mellow. In terms of the actual college students in the neighborhoods, the kids in Davis are more like the kids in UTC than the kids in PB - less rowdy and more studious.

I am not saying that you are going to fit in perfectly with college students in Davis you probably won't. But I am not sure that you are still going to fit in with the college kids in midtown either. As I have gotten older it bothers me more to watch people willfully self-destruct. When I was younger I thought if someone wanted to drop out of school to take up drinking or smoking pot, well that is there choice, but as I have gotten older that bothers me more, because I have seen what those type of choices have done to my friends. So I find people making those types of choices a lot more difficult to relate with. Compared to midtown, Davis has less of that.

But while I think you were trying to describe a neighborhood in Sacramento like North Park, Sacramento really doesn't have anything quite like that. What Sacramento has is something a lot closer to PB, but at 35, I am not sure that is what you are looking for either. Midtown is a lot closer than Davis to being PB.
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Old 04-28-2010, 07:49 PM
 
8,680 posts, read 17,238,225 times
Reputation: 4685
It sounds like shelato has never been more than 1-2 blocks off of the main Second Saturday streets in Midtown, if he/she has visited Midtown on nights other than a Second Saturday at all. While I suppose I get a certain vicarious thrill by being told that I'm on a path to willful self-destruction by still living in Midtown at 41 years old, but it's tough to buy when I know better. I know too many professionals--attorneys, real estate agents, engineers, architects, state employees from low-level clerks to department heads (it's very convenient being able to walk to work!), academics, small business owners, contractors, and other educated and relatively well-off (they make a lot more than me, anyhow) people who live in the central city. Sure, there areplenty of artists and musicians and actors too--which I'm sure shelato might characterize as being on a "path of self-destruction" if I didn't know plenty of folks in all those categories who are respected professionals in their field and quite stable, or retired folks who are pursuing their interest in the arts after having completed their professional careers. Other retirees I know are involved in community activism--working for environmental causes, or for low-income housing, or for historic preservation. Hardly the "live fast, die young" stereotype. While the central city has a reputation for not being so kid-friendly, a lot of these people also raised (or are raising) their kids here, and generally they attend public schools. You may not see many of these folks out on Second Saturday--some do, but some tend to stay away from the business corridors that night...but they're happily engaged with life in Midtown during the other 29 or so days of the month.

It must seem odd to someone who lives in a neighborhood where everyone has a similar economic background to look at a neighborhood like Midtown, where people from across the economic and social spectrum live. Maybe it's a little confusing, or even a little scary. But for some people, it's just right.

Hm. Maybe I should start a "Midtown Megathread"?
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Old 04-28-2010, 09:14 PM
 
Location: Sacramento
323 posts, read 1,006,487 times
Reputation: 151
The comments that Midtown is inhabited only by young people are just not true, as anyone who actually lives here can attest.

I dunno, I like to live around a diverse array of people, shops and things to keep me interested. Being able to walk to things is very important to me. I don't really hang out with college kids either, since I'm not in college. Not all the bars in Midtown are college bars, and there are as many or more college bars in East Sacramento, as opposed to Midtown. I like to walk to Rubicon and have some great beer after work. Land Park and East Sacramento are both great, but both are more expensive than Midtown.

I live at 27th and T and it's pretty much quiet as mouse at night.
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Old 04-28-2010, 09:41 PM
 
Location: Happiness is found inside your smile :)
3,176 posts, read 14,679,482 times
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I never thought Midtown was for just Young People. I saw alot of generations there. I was there into my 30s. My neighbor was 72!
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Old 04-30-2010, 11:11 AM
 
4 posts, read 7,780 times
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As someone who has lived in San Diego and Davis, I would say skip Davis. The college kids live in their own world, the rest of the population lives in a world outside of the real world. It's a very "Pleasantville" vibe, Davis pride's itself on being boring. Yeah, it's bike friendly... but when there's nowhere worth going on your bike it's pointless. As a non-student, it got old REALLY fast. Everything is more expensive in Davis for artificial "grow as slow as legally possible" reasons. The university MAKES Davis, but they price the students and faculty out of the city. Practically all city decisions are driven by real-estate holder interests.

I'm moving to Sac from Davis next month.
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Old 04-30-2010, 06:03 PM
 
Location: Placerville California
70 posts, read 196,602 times
Reputation: 26
Default if you lean left

later for roseville!
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