I love it here.

Anonymous, you are so wrong about Sacramento. I am fully aware of popular image of Sacramento, but it is wrong for two reasons. First, Sacramento’s reputation is outdated; the city has changed enormously since the mid-nineties. Second, you have to live in Sacramento to know how great it is. I chose Sacramento over all other California cities* and I am not a hick who doesn’t know better. I grew up in Los Angeles, have lived in San Luis Obispo and on both sides of the SF Bay. My quality of life in Sacramento is sky high, more gracious and fun and involved than I’ve known anywhere else.

First, a clarification. The periphery of Sacramento is largely new suburbs and whatever you think of suburbs you will think of these. Suburbs are not to my current tastes, but I’m confident that the ones in Sac are no better or worse than any others. There are portions of Sacramento that remind me of nothing so much as the San Fernando Valley, where I grew up. That’s not where I live. I live in Midtown, which is half of the Grid, which is where the numbers and letters streets are. The Grid is the central part of Sacramento, built before cars. Lots of it is beautiful. The houses are mostly Craftsman bungalows and Victorians; many streets are entirely tunneled in tall elms and sycamores.

People who live in big cities say there is nothing to do in Sacramento. Living here, though, isn’t about what you do. It is about people. I can never explain what I do that makes my days so full. But yesterday was absolutely typical. At market Ali and I ran into Mike and chatted with him about his new baby, then saw Andrew and Patricia and thanked them for their party the night before. We came home and spent a lovely couple hours on my porch, eating lunch, pitting cherries for another pie, and laughing at the kitten. Margie stopped by with the baby. Then a nap before Roxie came by to meet the kitten and we went to check out a venue for the league party. Called Chris when I got back; we went to McKinley Park to play catch, where I saw Justin who once took third at Pie Contest. Chris and I went to get burritos, ran into friends of his and joined them for dinner. We stopped by to see his parents, rode our bikes around some more in the full moon and I got to bed late. This isn’t unusual in any way. I see someone I know every time I leave the house.

Summer in Midtown is an easy, constant round of grilling on front porches, going to the park, meeting for drinks, eating on restaurant patios. People who aren’t from here ask if I go to shows or movies, but I can’t imagine when I would do that (unless I knew a band member). And Sacramentans are friendly. You get a smile and ‘evening’ every time you pass someone on the street; porch sitters wave when you walk by; strangers will invite you into parties or join your crowd if the food smells good. Warm Sacramento evenings are lived on the street and they are sublime.

*God knows I’ll never live anywhere east of the Sierras, where the map is blank and there are dragons.

(I’ve got more, but I think this is plenty for now. Tomorrow I’ll talk about how Midtown has changed, why the scale of Sacramento fits me perfectly and why I may have to leave.)