Good guidebooks to Sacramento city? (Chico: neighborhood, buy, swimming pool)

[notapackrat]

Hi everyone,
I have been looking at amazon books lately for good guidebooks to Sacramento city. I was wondering if anyone here could suggest a good one. It seems that most are now out of print or have been discontinuued for some reason. Most also seem to be intended for those who want to hike outside of the city. Thats good and all, but i am looking for a guide to the city proper. Thanks!

[pistola916]

If you're looking for a Frommer's-type guidebook on Sacramento proper, there aren't any. You could buy a California or Northern California guide but even then Sacramento is only mention in a handful of pages.

I've always wondered by the major city guidebooks (Frommer's, Fodors, Moon, etc) don't have a book on Sacramento, when Portland. Salt Lake City and San Antonio have one.

There was one book that a local writer wrote on the California capital but it was published in 2001.

[wburg]

Dan Flynn's Inside Guide to Sacramento is a bit out of date but older copies can be picked up pretty cheap on Amazon, and much of the information is still current. Apparently "Offbeat Guides" does a Sacramento travel guide for Kindle if you have one of those widgets.

Sacramento kind of has an inferiority complex--part of why you find lots of guides for things to do NEAR Sacramento, rather than in it, is due to a sort of citywide assumption that there really isn't anything here worth doing, or history worth knowing about. I politely disagree.

Is there some aspect of Sacramento you're looking to know more about? Music scene? History tours? Museums? Bike trails? There is some information on the Web, but often it's not that easy to coax out.

[Think About It!]

There are a couple of local magazines which have good information in them. I read Sacmag but there is also Sacramento Magazine. I am sure you can pick them up on the internet.

[wburg]

Sacramento, Chico and Reno News & Review: source for local news and events

Midtown Monthly

Inside Publications does several neighborhood-focused papers with events calendars:
http://www.insideonline.com/

The Sacramento Bee's Ticket section is a good place to find goings-on too.
The Sacramento Bee - California News, Local News - Sacramento CA

I think the above poster is referring to Sactown Magazine.

[Think About It!]

Originally Posted by wburg

I think the above poster is referring to Sactown Magazine.

That is exactly what I meant to write. Good spot Wburg.

[notapackrat]

Originally Posted by wburg

Dan Flynn's Inside Guide to Sacramento is a bit out of date but older copies can be picked up pretty cheap on Amazon, and much of the information is still current.

Sacramento kind of has an inferiority complex--part of why you find lots of guides for things to do NEAR Sacramento, rather than in it, is due to a sort of citywide assumption that there really isn't anything here worth doing, or history worth knowing about. I politely disagree.

Is there some aspect of Sacramento you're looking to know more about? Music scene? History tours? Museums? Bike trails? There is some information on the Web, but often it's not that easy to coax out.

Thanks wburg! I will look to see if I can obtain a copy of that book since you feel that it is still somewhat current.

Interesting to hear your take on the psyche of Sacramento! I have to admit, I wondered why most of the books I saw were about taking day trips 'out and away' from Sac. It's kind of bazaar given the size of this city that there aren't more guidebooks. Since you seem to have vast knowledge of the area and are a writer, maybe there is calling for you to take up the challenge of writing the next guidebook?!

So what am I mainly interested in? The arts, bike trails and established bike lanes, science museums, indepth information on parks and swimming pools, and well...fun, free things for families to do in the city. I know I can probably eventually find all that information on different websites...but of course that takes time...hence that is why I was looking for a good guidebook.

[notapackrat]

Thanks for the news and magazines sources. I will check them out!

[KC6ZLV]

I suggest going into Barnes & Noble or Borders Books and looking over the local section. There are quite a few regional books, but most specialize on some specific interest. Outdoors, history, etc.

You should also try Beer's Books. I haven't checked to see if they still have a local section, but before they moved into their current location they had an excellent local section with new and used books.