Product Description

The definitive guide to California's capital! Learn where the local's go for restaurants, cafes, coffeehouses, bakeries, bars, markets and cigars. Explore the Sacramento region's distinctive neighborhoods, dating from the 1860s-1940s. Learn about the capital's political, architectural and Gold Rush history. Enjoy excursions to the scenic Delta and nearby wineries. With more than 100 photos and dozens of maps, Inside Guide to Sacramento is the most complete capital guide ever published.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1744534 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
A fine guide to California's state capital... the best in bargains and attractions for savvy visitors. -- Bookwatch

Has the scoop on Sacramento's secrets...This is an opinionated guide. -- Orange County Register

Informative, opinionated, comprehensive -- it's a great guide book. -- The Oregonian

Informative, opinionated, comprehensive -- it's a great guide book! -- The Oregonian

Lively and spirited! Newcomers, tourists and even longtime Sacramento residents will find a lot of useful information. -- The Sacramento Bee

Think this is one of the least interesting California places to visit?...Flynn will show you how wrong you were. -- Booklist

About the Author
Dan Flynn is a veteran of the state capital political scene. His family's roots in the area date back to the Gold Rush.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
TRIVIA

The Gold Rush brought financial ruin to Sacramento founder John Sutter. To avoid flooding, many of Sacramento’s streets were raised 12 feet between 1864 and 1873. Old Sacramento was considered the worst slum west of Chicago in the 1950s. Interstate 5 and the development of Capitol Mall destroyed many of Sacramento’s early historic buildings. The middle of Sacramento’s Tower Bridge is mechanically lifted at the rate of one foot per second. The oldest firehouse building in California, built in 1853, houses Sacramento’s Firehouse Restaurant. Sacramento pioneer Sam Brannan was California’s first leader of the Mormon Church and the state’s first millionaire. Sacramento’s K Street was converted to a pedestrian mall in 1969. Sacramento still has five 19th-Century buildings designed by pioneer architect Nathaniel Goodell. Julia Morgan, architect of Hearst Castle, designed Sacramento’s Public Market Building. The State Capitol Building originally was to have been built in what is now known as Sacramento’s Cesar Chavez Plaza. The State Capitol Building’s first architect, Reuben Clark, went insane before the building was completed. Some legislators wanted to abandon the State Capitol Building in the 1970s and build two modern towers instead. The California State Fair was held near 15th and N Streets in Sacramento from 1884 to 1905. President Gerald Ford survived an assassination attempt after walking out of Sacramento’s Senator Hotel in 1975. The Stanford Window in Sacramento’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is one of the most valuable stained-glass windows in the world. The Rolling Stone’s Keith Richard was knocked unconscious by an electrical shock at a Sacramento Memorial Auditorium performance in 1965. Nancy Reagan considered the Old Governor’s Mansion to be depressing. Governor Jerry Brown lived in an apartment building across the street from Capitol Park. President Harry S Truman spoke at Sacramento’s WPRR depot during his 1948 whistle-stop campaign. Sacramento’s St. Francis Catholic Church’s organ loft and stairway features the original stair railings from the State Capitol Building. The Alkalai Flat neighborhood’s J. Neely Johnson House, built in 1854, is the oldest residence in Sacramento. Sacramento’s Boulevard Park neighborhood was once the site of the State Fair’s horse races. The Grace Day Center, established 1920, is Sacramento’s oldest day care center. The first drink was poured in Sacramento’s Old Ironsides in 1895. Oak Park is Sacramento’s first suburb, established in 1889. Sacramento’s Curtis Park, with its unusual oval shape, was the site of a racetrack in the 1860s. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy lived in Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood. Tower Records was established by Russ Solomon at 15th and Broadway in Sacramento in 1960. North Sacramento was a separate city before a controversial annexation to Sacramento in 1964. The Sporting News once described Sacramento as “possibly the best baseball town of its size in the country.” Western Swing legend Bob Wills operated a Sacramento nightclub in the 1950s. Rancho Seco Park surrounds a deactivated nuclear power plant. The City of Sacramento offers unusual recreational amenities such as a trapshooting club, bocce ball courts and a Sierra family camp. Davis was known as Davisville until 1907. Freeport was established so that shippers could avoid a Sacramento tax. Courtland is the most productive pear region in the United States. Locke once had five brothels and five gambling houses. Locke’s absentee landlord wanted to transform the historic town into a Chinese theme park in the 1970s. Patrons smear peanut butter on their steak at Locke’s Al the Wop’s. Giusti’s restaurant in the Delta has been open since 1910. Rio Vista’s Foster’s Big Horn, a bar and grill, features more than 300 wild game trophies. The Isleton Crawdad Festival attracts more than 200,000 people per year. Before 1931, Fair Oaks was spelled Fairoaks. Folsom State Prison was known by prisoners as “the end of the world.” Folsom’s Ashland Freight Depot, built in the late 1850s, is the oldest train station west of the Mississippi. Folsom’s St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, built in 1857, is the oldest church in the Sacramento region. The Lodi/Woodbridge area produces more of the premium winegrape varietals than any other region in the state. A&W root beer was invented by a pharmacist in Lodi in 1919. Rocklin lost the Southern Pacific headquarters to Roseville and a state prison to Folsom. Roseville’s oldest building is the I.O.O.F. hall, built in 1878. Massive shipping vessels can dock in West Sacramento, 85 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Green River” was written about Winters’ Putah Creek. The Yolo County Historical Museum is housed in a structure first built in 1849. Elk Grove Brewing Company was named best small brewery in the nation in 1999. Frank Fat’s in Sacramento was known as Frank’s 806 when it debuted in 1939. Biba Caggiano, owner of Biba restaurant in Sacramento, once hosted a nationally broadcasted cooking show. Darrell Corti, of Corti Bros. supermarket in Sacramento, is one of the world’s foremost wine experts. Royal Hong King Lum is Sacramento’s oldest restaurant, opened in 1906. The Sunday farmers’ market in Sacramento at 8th and W Streets is the largest in Northern California. Gunther’s Ice Cream in Sacramento has been scooping since 1940. Ronald Reagan enjoyed eating Merlino’s orange freeze at the stand on Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento. The Sacramento Natural Food Co-op is among the five largest in the United States. Dirk Mueller of Morant’s Sausage in Sacramento studied sausage making in Germany for five years. Poor Red’s in El Dorado is the world’s largest buyer of Galliano liqueur. The Swiss bakery Cafe Max in Jackson uses a brick oven that has been in continuous use since 1865. Four million people visit the American River Parkway each year. Sacramento’s highest recorded temperature was 114 degrees F on July 17, 1925. Sacramento’s lowest recorded temperature was 17 degrees F on Dec. 11, 1932.

Customer Reviews

Sacramento - he Get's Right
Dan Flynn has captured the true essence of one of California's least appreciated and most misunderstood of California cities. His guide is really packed with some hidden gems about the capitol city. I think any visitor or resident who be advised to get a copy of Flynn's book before setting out to see the Camellia City. As a staffer at the capitol, I think he is privvy to all of those secret spots politicians of any state capitol discover. Can't wait until he reviews the state buildings' cafeterias.