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Sacramento Staycation: Second Saturday & The Citizen Hotel
Now that I no longer live in
Sacramento and am an official suburbanite, I've missed out
on things that are happening downtown. I used to live in
midtown in the late 90s, and loved it. I loved the bars, the
atmosphere, the whole vibe. Since I moved however, midtown
exploded. New bars, night clubs, restaurants, hipster lofts.
I can honestly say I am jealous of anyone that lives there
now. Whoever is planning in Sacramento is doing something
right in midtown.
Anyway, I try to stay on top of the cool things happening
downtown, and I had the chance to check out a couple things
that have been on my list for a while: Second Saturday art
walks, and downtown's swank new hotel The Citizen. So the
wife and I decided to make a weekend overnighter out of it
and play tourist for the day.
Lunch in Old Sac
Since we had most of the weekend without the kids (thanks to
the in-laws!), we figured to hit the town early and fully
experience Sacramento. We decided to hit Old Sacramento
during lunchtime. While Old Sac has its amenities, we were a
little disappointed. To be honest, I'm not sure what we were
thinking, we have been there a million times before.
Touristy shops, knick knacks, and overpriced food.
Evangeline is always good for an hour of your time (you
really can't go wrong here), but for the most part, Old Sac
was old news. Been there, done that. If you're new to
Sacramento, it's worth a look. If not, you should go
straight to midtown.
Check In at The Citizen
The
Citizen is a place I've been eyeing since they opened.
It's an old Sacramento building from the 1920's that's been
used for office space all these years. Several million
dollars later, it's been restored to its former glory and is
now a roaring-20s style hotel. It's a unique hotel in that
it has the charm of yesteryear but some modern amenities as
well.
You can tell immediately that this place has its niche - and
that's people that work in government. It's a mere 2 blocks
from the Capitol, and the entire place has a political
theme. Old Political cartoons adorn the walls,
anti-government jokes in the elevators, right down to the
door signs ("Closed Door Session"). The rooms are small but
classy. I didn't mind that the rooms were on the small side.
After all, back in the 20s, they didn't have Residence Inns.
First class linens, furniture, sinks, tiling, while keeping
with the style of when the building was opened. I honestly
thought this was probably what my grandfather would have
checked in to in New York in the 20s. Of course, my
grandfather likely would not have had an iPod docking
station or a flat screen TV, but the room itself was a great
nod to Sacramento's glorious yesteryear.
We were greeted with a "Second Saturday" package, which was
a bottle of wine, copy of the News & Review, a map with the
spots to hit for Second Saturday, and various ads for local
businesses. This was going to be fun.
Killing Time
The Citizen is a few blocks away from K Street Mall, so we
decided to kill a few hours at the mall. It seems like
yesterday that the mall was totally renovated and re-opened
as a downtown destination. Unfortunately, the mall has seen
brighter times. The downstairs was doing pretty well, but
upstairs, you can really tell that the economy is taking its
toll. I think there were 3 stores open in all of upstairs.
That includes the anchor, Macy's. Downtown is in need of
something, anything.
Second Saturday
We decided to hoof it over to Second Saturday events,
starting at 6pm. The map said there were events happening as
close as next door in the coffee shop, but nothing doing
there. The majority of stuff seemed to focus around 20th
Street, so we walked in that direction. We were a little
anxious at first, as there really weren't a lot of people on
the streets downtown on an early Saturday evening.
Sacramento is definitely a workday crowd.
We ditched the map and just decided to walk wherever we saw
people and noise. Before long, we knew we were in the heart
of it. Crafty knicknack-and-whatnot stores seemed to be
overflowing, while there was a lot of foot traffic
everywhere. We soon saw some closed streets - a sure sign
that we're in the heart of it. The place was crawling with
art vendors, fire jugglers, free nosh, and even an outdoor
Photoshop competition. We stopped for a bite to eat at Azul,
a taqueria-tequila bar.
It was pretty much standing room only inside and out, but
somehow we snagged a spot to sit. I grabbed a Corona and an
order of chicken tamales, while Annie had the fish ceviche.
The food came out quick and was delicious. The price was not
outrageous either - it cost around $23 for a couple plates
of food and a beer. Not bad. If we lived here, we'd probably
visit often.
We wandered around, stopping to watch the bands (practically
every street), and popping inside to check out the artwork.
We're not really the artsy type but one exhibit we
particularly liked was a 50-50-50 exhibit. 50 artists, 50
pieces, for 50 days. They were all given 50 tiles to create
some sort of theme with and paint. 20 of their pieces were
up at a time, and if any were bought they just took them
down and replaced with a few others. The tiles were all
small canvas pieces about the size of a coaster. Not "Color
Me Mine", but nice stuff.
It wasn't long before we were ready to head back to the
room. We totally overdressed, and Annie's shoes pretty much
sealed the deal. We thought "night club" attire, it was more
like "wear some jeans and a nice shirt" attire. Next time
we'll know.
Finishing the Night at Grange
We grabbed a cab back to the hotel ($8), and chatted up with
the cabbie. Second Saturday is Sacramento's "Mardi Gras, 12
times a year" now according to him… it's definitely caught
on. There were probably 10,000 people in the streets of
midtown that night. While midtown has certainly taken off,
we can only hope that the momentum carries in to downtown.
We changed clothes back at the room and wandered around
downtown in search of more entertainment. Honestly, there
was none, other than at the Citizen. The Grange (a steak
house) was packed, even at 10pm, so we hung out for a couple
of beers and called it a night.
All in all, a great time. We'll be back for Second Saturday
for sure. We'll definitely be checking out the Citizen as
well if we have an event downtown. It's a great hotel that
Sacramento has been in dire need of for some time. It was a
fun diversion to an otherwise uneventful weekend!
Old Sac Cuisine (That sounds wrong)
The Citizen Hotel's exterior
plush threads
Second Saturday package includes wine!
Little things made The Citizen notable.
The view from the room.
Azul Tequila Bar
Local sounds at Second Saturday
An artist on the go! Sacramento wants him to leave because
he doesn't pay them.
