My father was born in San Francisco, and still — he’ll quickly tell you — holds baseball records set in 1949 when he played for Mission High School in what my family have always called simply, “The City.” When my parents married — at Fremont Presbyterian, back when it was on 34th and J — they decided to settle in Sacramento. My father, by then a professional baseball player in the Red Sox organization, said he “liked the heat.”
Flash forward a half-century and change. My parents last October celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary. They are happy with most everything they’ve done and accomplished, save one thing: They wished they’d settled as newlyweds in San Francisco.
My father is still a San Franciscan in his own mind, even though three-quarters of his life has been lived in Sacramento. He is in The City at least three times a month, to attend luncheons for former star jocks, visit with high-school buddies, pick up ravioli and proscuitto at Lucca’s or (with sadly increasing frequency) attend a funeral.
When I ask him about this, he shrugs. It’s pretty obvious to him: Would you rather be from San Francisco or Sacramento?
I was thinking about this over the New Year’s weekend when I went to visit a friend in her new home in The City. Born and raised in San Francisco, she left some 20 years ago to be part of some “back to the earth” idea, and lived on remote acreages first in the Santa Cruz mountains and then in the Russian River area. She rode the property values up for all that time, and finally decided to go home, back to San Francisco and an adorable two-bedroom house near Stern Grove that cost her in excess of $800,000. Gulp.
I wasn’t in her home for three minutes before it started. She felt superior, and I felt … like a Sacramentan. We went to breakfast by the Cliff House and looked out over the ruins of Sutro Baths while she talked blissfully about her return to civilization. The stores! The restaurants! The services! The people! The beauty of it all! I nodded dutifully, happy for her but vaguely annoyed at her attitude: I live here. You don’t.
Let me just point out that in the 15 years we have been friends, she has been in my house once, and that’s because she was “kinda” in the area, having brought a sick pet in for a consult at UCD. As I remember it, she said it was too hot here, although she did concede that the Fab Forties seemed a very nice place to live. For Sacramento, that is.
As I drove home, I kept thinking about the San Francisco-Sacramento thing. Nearing the downtown over the causeway, I was disappointed in our skyline compared to the one I’d seen earlier in the day while crossing into The City over the Bay Bridge.
I turned 49 years old on New Year’s Eve, and I have never really looked at this closely. Do I wish I were a San Franciscan because I’ve been raised to think Sacramento is some dull mostly suburban backwater — despite its growth in size and sophistication in recent years? Or do I feel that way because no matter how much we carry on about being a “major-league city” we will always be second-rate compared to the world-class city down the road?
Not that it much matters, of course. The chance of me finding an extra million dollars lying about so I can snap up a tiny home with no yard in The City is about as likely as me finding pride in a can of Sacramento tomato juice.
Sacramento, born and raised. It’s nice, I suppose, but still nothing much to crow about.
The Sac Rag 
Like anything else in life, living in Sacramento is what you make of it. People can make you feel inferior about where you live only if you let them.
I do know what you mean, however. At a meeting in The City a couple years ago, one woman was shocked (SHOCKED!) that I’d driven “all the way from Sacramento” that morning. I told her that yes, it did take a while “to get the critters offa mah truck before I left,” but in all, the trip took about 90 minutes — including finding a parking space.
My dad went to Mission High School in SF too, class of 1947.
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Uhm, how much does a house cost in the fabulous 40’s these days? Is it really that far off of 800k? That is the rub in my opinion. I was born and raised in Sacramento (to the age of 25) and have lived in SF for 8 years and I find half million dollar homes (and up) to be ridiculous in Sacramento. With Sacramento charging just shy of Bay prices, I would much rather live here. I have found (possibly from growing up in sac) that I really don’t like mid-sized cities. I like small towns and big cities, rural and metropolitan. Mid-sized cities always seem to have a little man complex. Holding on to small town big truck driving, 10 gallon hat wearing (remember denim and diamonds?)chain store/sprawl lovin ways, yet very touchy about comparisons to world class cities. In my opinion Sacramento had cheap going for it that made the city like touches a nice perk to the cheapness. I don’t know your friend but I have found that my old friends from Sacramento respond differently to my Sac crap talk now that I live in SF, it’s the exact same stuff we all were saying before, but now I live in “the city.” Maybe your friend is just a jerk and not representative of the city as a whole (I find most people I work with know nothing about Sac/have never been there/zero opinion on the subject) I’m leery of all people who apparently have the means to live on acreage finding themselves and then can buy 800k houses in SF (trust fund) Thank you for your time.
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Being from Orange County, I’ve never understood this inferiority complex that Sacramentoans seem to have. In my opinion it is a self imposed stigma that has stunted people’s vision and planning for the area.
I am happy to tell all my SF and southern California friends how wonderful it is to live near Sacramento. I brag to them about the clear skies, lack of traffic, amazing outdoor recreational opportunities, and cost of living.
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OK, so I re-read your post and see your friend made a lot of money off land in the Santa Cruise mountains. But I still find it strange that somebody involved in some sort of 1970’s utopian society/commune would have such an un-evolved attitude. What a poser.
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Hey Steve what sacramento do you live in? When I vistit the folks I find myself in terrible traffic regardless of time of day. The air is horrible, all the surrounding smog just sitting in the valley. My allergies vanished after leaving, and the cost of living has no relation to local wages putting home ownership out of reach for most without using an ARM. There are some good outdoor activities though, I will give you that.
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As a recent transplant from the Bay Area, I feel I need to weigh in on this subject. Sacramento is a nice mid-sized city, but is not San Francisco. That said, the people are nicer, housing is cheaper, traffic is not too bad, and Sacramento has more interesting restaurants/neighborhoods/architecture than I ever expected.
That said, San Francisco is a beautiful city and I loved living there. The unfortunate part about San Francisco, however, is the tendency for San Franciscans to put down other cities so as to hide their inferiority complex about San Francisco being a second tier city. San Francisco may be beautiful, but it is no New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Rome or any other truly “world class” city. All anyone really needs to do is spend some time in any of the aforementioned cities and then visit San Francisco. San Francisco feels like a quaint village in comparison. This fact will forever be a thorn in the side of many San Franciscans.
I, for one, actually enjoy the self-deprecating view that most Sacramento residents have for their city. It sure beats “This is the best place on Earth” attitude of many San Francisco residents.
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Yeah, I say bump all that inferiority hogwash. Is that cowtown enough for you? Also has anyone ever used “bump” like that in place of the F word? I hope not, I like it.
p.s. Mark: $800k is the median home price in SF county.
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Too many chains…ick.
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Mark … you might want to recheck your math. Moving out of the city 20 years ago meant my friend left her native San Francisco in the mid-’80s, not the ’70s. And she wasn’t living in a commune. She sold a house in SF (she has always been a savvy investor), bought a series of rural properties, then sold the last of those to move back into SF. (Also, note CoolDMZ’s comment about median prices. A million plus will buy you a Fab Forties home in Sac. It’ll buy you a small house in a nice neighborhood in SF.)
But that’s not the point. It’s not about THEM, but rather about US, and me wondering if we’ll always feel collectively that the Sacramento area has little to offer over the SF Bay Area. Or if it’s just me.
For what it’s worth, state capitals often have such reputations, Austin being one of the few to turn itself into a destination in its own right, because of UT, the music scene, SXSW, etc. I’m pretty familiar with Tallahassee, having lived on the Florida Panhandle (a/k/a the Redneck Riviera). and I can tell you they feel a little overshadowed by Florida’s other cities. (Consider: Tallahassee vs. Miami, Appalachee Parkway vs. South Beach)  Why, if it weren’t for Florida State football — Go ‘Noles! — poor little Tally wouldn’t rate at all.
Now, if only we could get Sac State into a BCS conference …
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A lot depends on what your interests are as far as how you feel about living here. If you’re at all into outdoor activities, Sacramento is far superior to SF with our own (or close proximity to) recreational treasures — rivers, flat trails, hilly trails, lakes, and quick trips to Tahoe or the Delta.
Yes, there are too many chains and big box retailers (which contribute a hefty chunk of sales tax revenue that pays for the infrastructure you use everyday), but there are also some great local eateries and stores too. There are chains in New York, San Francisco, and every other big city. It may take a little more effort to find the local businesses here you enjoy, but then it’s so satisfying when you find the ones you really like.
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“she left some 20 years ago to be part of some “back to the earth†idea, and lived on remote acreages first in the Santa Cruz mountains and then in the Russian River area.” Fauxpaws, I took this to mean that this person left to live some sort of hippy lifestyle, and the fact that this person is very wealthy AND was treating you like a second class citizen based simply on your zip code makes me think this person is a total poser. If this person never had a hippy bent and has always been a snob then I wonder why you are friends. While I have a very low opinion of Sacramento, I would never judge anybody based on the fact that they live there. Hell, it’s transplants like Mike that cause me to never mention the specific things I like about SF as to not come off as some sort of braggart.
Further I’d like to point out that I am the Sacramento native, so you bay transplants come talk to me in 24 years. My assessment is completely unchanged from the time I left Sac, and is the same opinion of just about everyone I knew there (I never knew anybody who had moved to Sacramento from the Bay or LA, at that time, early 20’s, I would have found somebody moving from those places to Sac very strange.) Everyone I knew was born and raised in Sac and was dreaming of leaving ASAP. But I was a punk rocker in the 80’s/90’s so I am coming from a different place if you haven’t walked in citrus heights with blue hair (tons of bottles thrown from cars, I’ve been “jumped” several times, faggot yelled from cars almost daily, etc)This had never happened to me at any time in SF, not 1 time. In fact, just 2 years ago I was walking down J St. with my wife and my friend Tony and a Jeep full of dudes yelled “faggot†at us, ah nostalgia, it took me right back. And Mike, yes, I agree that San Francisco is a charming small town/big city that is not as metropolitan as New York BUT, London? London is very drab and conservative and the pubs close at 10pm. Rome? While Rome is awesome from a historical sightseeing context. It is essentially just a very large Italian town with pretty much only traditional Italian venues, bars, whereas in NY/SF you have a much broader mix of styles, themes, nationalities . While there are a lot of super high priced stores in Rome, the nightlife is dismal. Paris, I have not spent enough time there to comment, and I have never been to Tokyo.
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Runnergirl,
At the risk of looking like one those City jerks I am going to point out a couple things. SF has the pacific ocean, the Presidio with the beautiful pacific coast trail running through redwoods and ending at ocean beach, and we have Golden Gate park. All of these things are within our city, not an hour away. Leaving the city we have Marin/Sonoma. Point Reyes, Bodega, Mt. Tam.
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Yes, the bay area is rife with recreation as well. I’ve run all throughout the Marin Headlands and went to school in Berkeley & spent plenty of time up in those hills. But, I still like Sacramento better as a place to call home. I know the Presidio is beautiful too — that’s where my dad is buried. (Thanks for reminding me.)
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Whoa whoa whoa, shouldn’t we all just be focusing this norcal angst at those who truly deserve it? Like Angelinos?
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Your wish is my command. See next post. 🙂
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This whole conversation just pisses me off. I love this little town, although I’ll probably be leaving soon. I love the hell out of San Francisco, too, and I have to say that I was wholeheartedly disappointed with New York City when I visited this past year. I’ve been to London, loved it, Paris, loved it, but coming back to San Francisco has always felt like a homecoming even though I’ve never lived there.
I hate anyone belittling this city, local or not. We’ve got a good thing going here, even if it’s not at the same volume as the bay. There are hundreds of local businesses, tens of thousands of unique, non-tract houses, and a music scene I think we can be proud of. I love the fact that this place is small enough that you can be connected to almost anyone who lives here, but large enough that we have quality cultural offerings.
Granted, it hurts me that we can’t get our act together on things like a symphony to play with any regularity for the Sacramento Ballet, or public transportation. But the upside is that you’re a heck of a lot more likely to be able to meet one of those ballet dancers at a random house party here, and they’ll actually talk to you.
Mark, I was a long-haired guy in a trench coat in Citrus Heights, and believe me, I know how backwards that town is. I’m surprised you had that experience in Midtown and I can understand that it would bring back some memories of a backwards place. But I have yet to have anything like that happen to me on the grid. I find myself surrounded by hipsters and artists and progressives in midtown and east sac, and as soon as I pull onto the grid and can barely see the sky for all the trees, I know I’m home.
So take your high school issues out on something else. Sacramento didn’t do you any wrong.
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At that time Citrus Heights was not yet its own city. Yes, Midtown is an island. There were whole years I never went further east than coffee works. We are all entitled to our own assessments. I have only my lifetime of experiences to use in evaluating Sacramento. Actually it was on K St., we were talking in front of Kevin Seconds cafe on a Sat. night, getting into our car when a Jeep full of dudes started yelling crap at us and they stopped the Jeep yelling they were going to kick our asses. We just laughed and drove away, no big deal, par for the course really. And I know I had a lot of experiences that a lot of people never had but that does not mean they did not happen and they will not weigh in heavily. I guess I feel uncomfortable with the tug of war in mid-sized cities between the tolerant minority and conservative line dancers. It’s frustrating and nothing was keeping me there so I left.
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p.s.
I’d like to add that everytime I have had this conversation the other side always begins to narrow Sacramento down to just the grid. The grid is like 20% of Sacramento. That’s pretty selective.
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San Francisco is famous for its rich population of people running away from themselves and where they came from.
Contrary to Mark’s naive generalization, I moved to Sacramento when I was 22 and have found a new and permanent home in Sacramento. I’ve never felt as connected to any city in the Bay. Be it Oakland, Berkeley, SF or anywhere else – the Bay has such a cold and exclusive attitude coupled with a largely false sense of self importance. It’s very sad to see the people who grew up in Sacramento (and the surrounding suburbs) can’t see the forest (or midtown) for the trees. However, I’m always pleased to see the young, independent thinkers find like-minded friends in The City.
What is most displeasing about San Francisco, is that people like FauxPaws’ father, my family, and the parents of many friends would find themselves largely alienated by the current state of The City – which exists mostly as a parody of its former self.
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TD
Huh? Specifics please?
Definition of naive generalizations:
“San Francisco is famous for its rich population of people running away from themselves and where they came from.”
“the Bay has such a cold and exclusive attitude coupled with a largely false sense of self importance.”
Also, this is one of the most pretentious lines I’ve heard in a while and I live in “The City”tm:
“What is most displeasing about San Francisco, is that people like FauxPaws’ father, my family, and the parents of many friends would find themselves largely alienated by the current state of The City – which exists mostly as a parody of its former self.”
Do you have anything real to contribute, Mr. poopypantes?
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I’d like to come in again to say bump all this fluff. Sacramento is the best. Didn’t you even know we have not just one, but two railroad museums!!??
p.s.
I’d like to add that everytime I have had this conversation the other side always begins to narrow San Francisco down to just the Presidio and Golden Gate park and all the cool stuff that everybody loves about SF. Do you see what I did just there Mark?
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You know what I love about San Francisco? Berkeley.
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Haha, Yes!
although I was trying to think of some dull or dangerous areas of SF that would parallel my comments. Lots of people get shot in Bayview, large parts of the richmond and pacific heights are dull, you get hassled a lot in the tenderloin. I feel much safer in the tenderloin than when I lived next to Southside Park though (in Sac, case you didn’t know. Has that area changed at all?). One morning I saw the Police fishing a body out of the pond.
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My contribution: people like you miss the character of your own home, then move to The City hoping to find what you missed. I hope you’re enjoying yourself in SF, but I’m not envious of you in the slightest. Good luck trying to provide the same life my grandparents gave to my parents in San Francisco today.
But to a former blue-haired, embittered, 1990’s punk-rocker from Citrus Heights, I can see how I come off as pretentious.
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I think we’re arguing a moot point. Both communities appeal to diverse peoples. As I’ve recently learned from famed barbecue chef Steven Raichlen in his book, How to Grill (http://product.half.ebay.com/How-to-Grill_W0QQprZ1827580QQtgZinfo), some people are charcoal grillers and some are gas. Depending on your situation and preferences, one may be better for you than the other. But there is no right or wrong answer. Let’s just hate LA and go about our business. (In this metaphor, LA is filled with people who insist on microwaving everything.)
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TD
I assure you I am not trying to change your opinion of SF or Sacramento.
What kind of life did your grandparents provide?
Again, you seem to imply that 1990’s punk rockers are all pretentious. Is this a realistic world view? I specifically think that you are pretentious, regardless of your hair color and/or musical tastes.
Also, I am not from Citrus Heights, that just happens to be where I was hassled more than other areas, including being robbed at gunpoint at the Birdcage Walk and then having the crap kicked out of me and my friend Steve by six dudes back when we were Seventeen. That’s what we get for going to a dollar movie!
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Haha, you are right Sac-eats.
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Mark: I need your life story to be made into a movie. The scene of you and your friend Steve getting beat up at Birdcage Walk by Six dudes when you were Seventeen is so vivid to me that I must see this movie. A movie shot in beautiful, outdoorsy, big-box lovin Sacramento. Who would play you and your friends Steve and Tony?
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Precita Eyes Murals 24th in Mission and Bernal Heights, Taqueria on Mission up from 24th, Taqueria either on Dolores or Guerrero 16th?, Happy Donuts SOMA by Pacbell Park, Billboard Cafe/Julia’s Supper Club or their equivalents SOMA, USA cafe Northbeach, Savoy Tivoli/Schlock Shop/…Grant in Northbeach…
Upper Geary near the Arguello Wall, Ploughy Star, Plough and the Star and other stuff…Glen Park and a run up the canyon on O’Shaughnessy, Forest Hills,
Union Square through tunnel or over hill on Grant jaunt over one block to Stockton thru Chinatown to Columbus and down thru Northbeach to the Art Institute on the Hill and then in the morning ONLY to the Buena Vista for breakfast…
Montgomery and California at 9 or 5 to see the business guys…
That’s a big city, SF, NOT Ghiradelli Square, Pier 39, Cliff House and all the assorted other tourist crap
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Hmmm, Tony would be played by Steve Bechemi for sure. Steve is much harder, he looks about 12 years old even today but sort of has a John Lithgow quality, so tough call. Steve still has a vanilla ice looking scar over his eyebrow from this incident. We we getting into his yellow Datsun 210 over by Toys R. Us at the time. I sort of went into shock really, all of the sudden we we driving really fast and I thougt we were being chased. steve couldn’t see very well due to all the blood pouring out of his head. He pulled over and I drove him home. 6 months later Toys R Us mailed me my wallet.
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Okay now you’re just messing with me Mark.
As for your friend Steve may I suggest Corin Nemec? or maybe just Vanilla Ice?
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Hmmm. I really can’t think of anyone who would fit. Steve has the slight features of Corin Nemec but you’d need to dork him up a bit. Like cross him with Doogie Howser and John Lithgow. I really feel that if I saw a picture of John Lithgow when he was 18, he would be his double. Steve Buscemi could still play Tony. Tony’s been loosing his hair since highschool ala Bruce Willis but still seems to have as much hair as he had in 1993.
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..and to keep it local I would like Rob Cockerham to play me and his brother Mike to play the guy who showed me the gun and asked for our wallets.
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What about Clint Howard? He hasn’t been in anything recently, but I’m not sure how a trench coat would look on him, and the blue hair would require a rug ‘cept for maybe on your balding friend.
Was the Datsun B-210 the type that one of your buddies painted a funky color and lowered? Did you wear eyeliner and TUK Creepers/Doc Martens before their resurgence in the past decade, smoke cloves, and blare Ministry on your car stereo? (Sorry, just having a 1987 flashback here.)
We used to go to the $1 movies at Birdcage too — they always seemed to be playing Heavy Metal and Rocky Horror.
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Oh man. You really *could* write a movie about birdcage in the 90s. I know I’ve got a couple stories.
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Woah, creepy.
I liked Nana creepers and monkey boots myself. Steve’s Datsun was just a 210 and original at that point. He later did spray paint the car black with a neon orange racing stripe (with neon paint we stole from the new downtown plaza construction site) He also removed the smog equipment. After his whole dash was stolen with his stereo we bolted in an 8 track player we bought at Denios. Prior to that, we did in fact blast Ministry Land of Rape and Honey frequently.
Now I know who Clint Howard is. Not bad. Why not Torgo? Oh wait that guy killed himself soon after making Manos The Hands of Fate.
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Have you seen the MST3K version of Manos? If not, put it in the Netflix queue, stat — this goes for everybody reading this.
Mark, I certainly hope you and your friends have stopped stealing from construction jobsites; otherwise, I’ll report you at http://www.constructioncrime.com
Ministry’s “Everyday is Halloween” still ranks in my top 10 of all time.
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One more reminiscent question for Mark: Did you ever go to the “Ground Zero Cafe” nights at the El Dorado Saloon on Fair Oaks & Marconi? They played all goth, industrial, and mod remixes on Sunday & Wednesday nights in the late ’80s. You seem like the type to have gone there.
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The first club I went to was Maxims, in like 1989 or so. But check out my Sacramento Pre-1993 Dance Club Preservation Society Myspace Page:
http://groups.myspace.com/midnightdisco
We just had a reunion at the Speakeasy lounge in Old Sac. I bet you know people on there.
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I grew up in Wyoming..the tallest “structures” were not man made, they were/are the Rocky Mountains. We had to drive 3 hours to go to a mall and 90 minutes to get to a decent dining destination. During those drives, it would feel odd to see more than 20 other cars on the road.
Sacramento is the city for me..and I like it.
I enjoy a trip to SF from time to time, but I always love coming back home.
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Melly53
No malls or traffic? What’s the name of this town? I think I want to retire there.
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I was once in the birdcage dollar theater watching something horrible like Scream 2. Three obnoxiously loud african american individuals–two women, one man–were loudly heckling the entire movie (a la Mystery Hood Theater 1997). Someone in the theater yelled “Shut the f— up!” and the man jumped out of his seat and paced up and down the aisles trying find out who had yelled.
Eventually someone got the birdcage theater staff to ask them to leave mid-movie. They went out cussing and we thought we’d heard the last of them… until we heard the Sacramento County Sheriff in the lobby about 20 minutes later and literally heard the individuals fighting with the sheriff (garbage cans getting knocked over, glass breaking) as they tried to reenter the theater.
It sure was a lot more entertaining than Scream 2.
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