An Old Sac of Urban Wisdom

Last weekend I took a family excursion to Old Sacramento. This is something we do every so often to enjoy the history, architecture, and great placemaking that is Old Sac. 

Cut off from the lifeblood of the city by the greatest mistake Sacramento has ever made, I-5, Old Sacramento is often appropriately criticized for being the exclusive domain of candy shops, touristy novelty shops, and a “Disney” like environment of historicism complete with the horse and buggy rides. In a somewhat ironic situation, the very thing that dooms Old Sac to an existence of irrelevance as a fully functioning, productive place is also the thing that works to preserve it as an amazing example of what Sacramento was when it was the thriving heart of gold country prosperity: Interstate 5. This freeway cuts through the city just blocks in from the riverfront isolating both Old Sacramento and the riverfront as an island separated from the other parts of the city by the river of water on one side and the river of cars on the other. There are ways across both rivers, but alas, the separation is too much for the district to overcome and Old Sac is destined to be just a touristy museum piece for what Sacramento used to be.

This is not to say that Old Sac isn’t quite wonderful. Quite the contrary, Old Sac is a great example of quintessential California urbanism where the boardwalks flourish under the protection of the porches and the buildings are charming yet functional. This is the Old Sac I want to explore in this post. This is the Old Sac I love and the great place that pulls people back again and again, if only as tourists.

 Covered sidewalks, whether the boardwalks of the Old West or the arcades of the Old World, are extremely functional and provide a great, delightful environment for people at the street level. In Sacramento, we have two climatic concerns. Summers can be quite hot with temperatures regularly pushing triple digits with a good handful of over 100 days every year. On these days, the shade provided by these covered sidewalks is not just a relief from the strong sun but actually indispensible in creating a tolerable atmosphere. With the addition of fans and/or misters these sidewalks could actually become downright pleasant on even the hottest days. 

The other condition we have a lot is rain. Not the kind of misty rain that defines our neighbors to the north but real, torrential downpour, rain. We have lots of sunny days throughout the winter but when it rains, generally we get some good rainfall. Covered sidewalks work well for those days as well. Many times we get rain but the temperatures aren’t overly cold. If you bundled up a little and stayed dry you could be quite comfortable running erands or even window shopping along a covered sidewalk in even the most torrential downpour. 

Another great thing about covered sidewalks is they enable a way to capture useable space within the right of way. In the picture above there is great outdoor dining directly because of the covered sidewalk. Now many places have outdoor dining but if you look closely, the outdoor dining is actually on the second floor overlooking the street which leaves the sidewalk completely unencumbered as a place for people to inhabit on a more temporary basis. Even without capturing the second level terrace for didning, there is still great opportunity to create private balconies or other uses over the sidewalk. In the case of many arcades around the world, there is actual usable interior space built out over the sidewalk. These are all good options and they all create more utility for the land used while actually improving the human experience of using the sidewalk. These techniques have the added benefit of visually narrowing the street which also helps create a more pleasant environment for people.

The other great thing about Old Sac is the exceptional quality of the buildings. The architecture is marvelously human in scale, detail, proportion, and quality. It feels good to be around these buildings. There are lots of little flourishes that add to the delight of the place. There is lots of variety and visual interest. For the most part, these are great buildings by which I mean these are great citizen buildings. These buildings don’t have any pretense in trying to outdo one another but rather work together to achieve a greatness no single building could achieve on its own. That, to me, is the best thing to be said about a great place. The sum is truly greater than the parts. I’ll finish off with some shots of the great architecture that makes Old Sac what it is.