Bay Arean's Do you like living in Sacramento? (Los Angeles, San Diego: loft, consignment)

[terranova]

Originally Posted by wburg

I sure hope I don't give that impression of the populace, because that's certainly not what I think of my fellow Sacramentans! NorCalDude is the one who seems to think we're all a bunch of small-town simpletons. Instead of moping about how we're not Los Angeles, I find ways to celebrate our city and encourage residents and visitors to enjoy everything it has to offer. I spend probably too much time here on C-D advising people on where we're hiding the cool stuff, because there is a lot of it, and more cool things seem to appear every week or so. Not a whole lot that is rustic or simple.

Yes, i meant NorCalDude. He seems turned off that there isn't more development/nighlife on the waterfront (due to the people of the area not coming up with ideas, or not getting behind those with imagination)

Btw, i am new to using City-Data, and wondering if there is a way to get email notification about these threads (as other forums do) or if i need to keep checking the web page to see if there are any more replies?
Thanks!

[NickB1967]

Sorry, but Robert is correct. A good many of us were priced out of San Jose or Concord or what have you, and are still wistful about that.

That said, now that we are in Greater Sacramento, we need to make the best of it, and, as wburg suggested, seek out the gems of this city. I would never have gone on a fascinating underground tour of Old Sacramento otherwise.

[EclecticEars]

I live in the Bay Area and would have no problem living in Sacramento. In fact, every once in a while, I think it would be a nice change. Don't get me wrong, the quality of life in the Bay is very high and the pros outweigh the cons all day long, but the cons can sometimes really get to you.

I have spent some time living in similar-sized metropolises in the Midwest--Louisville and Cincinnati, neither of which I cared for ultimately. But, I think Sac would provide that comfortable "small-big" city sort of feeling without the cheesy Midwest cultures and lousy cold winters.

[etkids]

We may be moving from LA to sacto area this summer. Are any of you from smell A--san fernando valley? We tried hard for the Sonoma / Santa Rosa area, where all our friends are--but no jobs--not able to transfer there. Husband works for the man and the corp office in Roseville. Looks like Sacto or bust (stay here in LA). I cant stand another day here after 20 years. I am afraid of the heat in Sacto--how bad is it. You see, the valley in LA is boiling hot--last summer unnbearable, but you can run for the beach in 20 minutes. Also, we get June gloom, so the heat doesnt kick in until July but goes thru Oct. This year it was still scorching Halloween. Thinking Sac heat goes from May straight to Oct with no relief--just days and days of boiling. Is it that bad? Researching El Dorado, Fair Oaks--more rural type areas. Trying to stay away from tracty ticky tack scene--dont want botox and what car u driving area, and no deliverance neighborhood. Where to go if we HAVE to move to Sac?

[wburg]

The heat in Sacramento is a bit different than that in Los Angeles, because we have lower humidity. This means the heat isn't as sticky, and it also cools off rapidly at night--it might be 100 degrees at 2 PM but drop to the 70s by 9 PM. Summers are great for nightlife and outdoor dining in Sacramento! But we really only get a few weeks of 100+ degree temperatures, and with shade trees, the Delta breeze, and a cool drink in hand, even the 90s are pretty comfortable. I was in Los Angeles this August and noticed that even though the temperature was fairly mild (I think in the 80s) it felt warm and sticky because of humidity. Drier air makes a difference!

Speaking of Delta breeze, you get more of it closer to the Delta, or closer to the Sacramento River. As you go east into the foothills you get less breeze, until you get high enough that things start to cool off. But even the foothills get pretty toasty in summer.

In terms of a happy medium between plastic SoCal and "you ain't from around here, boy", take a look at the city of Sacramento itself! Sacramento can't compete with Southern California glitz or Bay Area snobbery, so we don't even try--but we're California's capitol of keeping it real. Roseville might be the worst of both worlds in some respects for you--until recently it was a little railroad town, now it's turning into a sprawling expanse of ticky-tacky tract homes, megachurches and megamalls (last time I was there I accidentally mistook a megachurch for the mall until I saw the cross!) and Bay Area/Los Angeles transplants taking note of the neighbors' plastic surgeries and choice in Lexus/Audi models. It's kind of a little Orange County. El Dorado Hills is even more deliberately suburban, until you get way out into the hills. Fair Oaks is still tract-home country but it has some charm, definitely not rural. You might like Auburn or some of the other Placer County foothill towns.

Native Sacramentans almost seem to be self-conscious about talking about Sacramento in a good way. A native-born friend whose family were old-school Sacramento gentry told me that saying nice things about our city was seen as "putting on airs," something that simply wasn't done. I don't suffer from that malady, since I wasn't born in Sacramento. I'm from Chicago, where bragging about your hometown is a city tradition, and have an appreciation for urban grit and funkiness. I moved to Sacramento because I liked what it was, and don't mind crowing about it. But attitudes are shifting, in part due to migration of those less concerned about proper modesty and in part because some of our stuff is just too cool to ignore. Some of the old-school folk have become less comfortable, but swellings of local pride have positive results.

The success of the "Underground Sidewalks" tours that NickB mentions is just one example. Seattle has been doing tours of their underground since the 1960s, when their downtown was a rough "Skid Row" area far bigger and far worse than ours, but they did it anyhow and turned it into a success. The idea was kicked around but mostly pooh-poohed because "Why bother? It's just some old basements, and who cares about seeing anything in Sacramento anyhow?" and predicted that any attempt would end in quick failure. The tours started 3 years ago, only in summer months and only 2 days a week. In its third season now, they had to expand the tour season by several months and to 4 days a week, because nearly every tour sells out in advance and there were a lot of people who wanted to go but there wasn't room! They expanded the size and scope of the tour to include more areas, and now have occasional special tours, like an "adults only" evening tour.

The other stereotype about Sacramento is "we're just two hours from where you'd rather be," which derives from the fact that we're centrally located and close to a lot of amazing stuff. It's pretty easy to get from the heart of the city to natural splendor, small-town charm and rural farmland, in less time than it takes an Angeleno to get from one side of town to the other. Two hours in a car or on a train will get you to San Francisco, or the Sierra Nevada, any number of lakes and scenic places, and you'll have enough time to get back home for dinner downtown.

[u225615]

Originally Posted by etkids

We may be moving from LA to sacto area this summer. Are any of you from smell A--san fernando valley? We tried hard for the Sonoma / Santa Rosa area, where all our friends are--but no jobs--not able to transfer there. Husband works for the man and the corp office in Roseville. Looks like Sacto or bust (stay here in LA). I cant stand another day here after 20 years. I am afraid of the heat in Sacto--how bad is it. You see, the valley in LA is boiling hot--last summer unnbearable, but you can run for the beach in 20 minutes. Also, we get June gloom, so the heat doesnt kick in until July but goes thru Oct. This year it was still scorching Halloween. Thinking Sac heat goes from May straight to Oct with no relief--just days and days of boiling. Is it that bad? Researching El Dorado, Fair Oaks--more rural type areas. Trying to stay away from tracty ticky tack scene--dont want botox and what car u driving area, and no deliverance neighborhood. Where to go if we HAVE to move to Sac?

Moving to any area without being sold on it is a dicey proposition. OTOH if you are looking for an area that is city close but affords one the ability to live in a semi rural/rural area then Sac is a great option.

Fair Oaks is a good choice. As far as El Dorado? if you are referring to El Dorado Hills I'd suggest the older parts but the commute to Roseville wont be convenient and that will be true of other towns in El Dorado County. Have you considered communities along I-80 between Roseville and Auburn?

No areas within 20 minutes that will be significantly cooler during the summer for a break in the heat but you can easily make day trips to Lake Tahoe and SF.


Summers...moving from SF to Sac was a big change. I suspect that moving from SFV to Sac however not as much. Summer mornings in Sac are pleasant and people adjust by planning outdoor activities during that time. Evenings cool down and are comfortable. However when the temp tops 100 its hot day and night. Fortunately, that doesn't happen in continually long stretches. Also, Sac does not have that gloomy overcast look in the summer caused by smog that is typical in many inland parts of SoCal (perhaps things have changed but that's one reason we avoid travel there in the summer).

[NinaN]

As much as I like El Dorado Hills, if you're working in Roseville, I think you can find some very nice places to live much closer to work. Roseville, Rocklin, Loomis, even parts of Granite Bay.

Moving here from the heat and humidity of Texas, I don't ever find the summers too hot. Just spend the day inside, in a pool, in the shade, or on a boat. Evenings are much cooler and it's easy to host an outdoor get together with pool activities during the day, dinner at 6 or 7 when it cools off. Mornings are pretty nice until about 10 or so, plenty of time for an outdoor walk or other exercise.

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by wburg

I find ways to celebrate our city and encourage residents and visitors to enjoy everything it has to offer. I spend probably too much time here on C-D advising people on where we're hiding the cool stuff, because there is a lot of it

I like Sacramento too and think it is highly underrated, but IMO it's a little skewed when laying out the praise for Sacramento not to mention a major down side of the city: its ranking as being the worst flood risk/levee failure of any urban area. Most maps show that most of the city would be devastated, way worse than Katrina. Potential residents should be forewarned.

Sacramento Levee & Flood Risk

[wburg]

Pick your poison...Los Angeles and San Francisco have earthquakes, we have floods, New York gets hurricanes, Chicago has winter and summer.

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by etkids

I am afraid of the heat in Sacto--how bad is it. You see, the valley in LA is boiling hot--last summer unnbearable, but you can run for the beach in 20 minutes. Thinking Sac heat goes from May straight to Oct with no relief--just days and days of boiling. Is it that bad? Researching El Dorado, Fair Oaks--more rural type areas. Trying to stay away from tracty ticky tack scene--dont want botox and what car u driving area, and no deliverance neighborhood. Where to go if we HAVE to move to Sac?

The further you go out from the core of the city, the hotter it gets...unless you get into the hills (at least beyond Placerville). It is not as hot here as the Central Valley (Tulare, Kings, Fresno, Kern counties, etc), but it is HOT. We do have weeks of triple digit weather. You just learn how to live with it.

I'm not sure where you will be able to avoid those other things in Sacramento, sounds like all the newer 'burbs for tracty ticky tack, and most of Sacto for botox, etc.

You should come up here for a visit and look around.