Visiting Sacramento; need help!

Factual Questions
1

I have to make a two-week trip to Sacramento, California in late July and was hoping that someone might be able to give me some advice.

I’m a grad student who is making the trip in order to do some research for my dissertation in the Calfornia State Archives (1020 O Street). I need to find accommodation within reasonable distance of the archives, and, being a grad student, i don’t have very much money. I can’t afford the rates that hotels charge, and i haven’t been able to find much on the web.

I know that sometimes universities offer accommodation in their student housing during the summer for reasonable rates. And i also know that it is often possible to find short-term sub-lets or share accommodation over the summer when people go out of town (i did this on a visit to Chicago last year). I was wondering if anyone knew of any place on the web where i might find information like this? Any other advice about finding somewhere to stay in Sacramento?

2

Don’t know a dang thing about your actual questions, but pack as if you were going to be living on the surface of the sun for a couple weeks. Super hot, super dry desert conditions. Wear sunblock. Carry water. Get a car with air conditioning.

3

You might want to look into the Sacramento International Youth Hostel at 10th and H Sts. I’ve heard very good reports from friends who have stayed there. It can be as cheap as $15 per night in a shared dorm (if you are an AYH member, which is $28/year but worth it if you’re there for two weeks). It’s 7 city blocks (about 1/2 mile) from the State Archives, and close to buses and light rail (which are pretty good in downtown Sacramento).

4

I second the Youth Hostel. I’v enever been to the one here, but around the US, they’re great for cheap lodging. Don’t expect much privacy though.

Welcome to the other end of US Highway 50!

5

Thanks for the moral support, Bearflag. I’ve stayed in various Hostels in the US – if you’re traveling on your own they have much to recommend them over a cheap motel. They’re often in historic buildings (as in Sacramento) and are usually centrally located, which means that a rental car may not be needed.

mhendo, if you need more privacy than a dorm room will provide, the Youth Hostel has some single rooms at $20/night, if they’re available.

Here are a few more tips (from a former grad student who knows how to stretch limited funds):

  1. If you’re flying into Sacramento International Airport (SMF), take the #42 Yolobus to downtown. It’s a 17 minute ride, $1.25 one-way, and stops within a block of the Youth Hostel IIRC.

  2. I can recommend the Fox and Goose aat 1001 R St, three blocks from the Archives, for good beer, food, and live music. (I’m sure SacDopers will chime in with their own preferences).

  3. If you do stay downtown, and are really going to be hitting the Archives for long periods, you won’t need a rental car every day that you’re there. However, consider a day-trip or weekend up to the Sierra Nevada, especially if you’ve never be there before. Lake Tahoe is touristy but awesome. The Gold Country of the Sierra Foothills is also very pretty and interesting historically.

  4. Consider a side-trip to the SF Bay Area. Amtrak and Greyhound are both within walking distance of the Sacramento Youth Hostel. Escape the infernal heat of Sacramento for the cool breezes and fog of the San Francisco Bay! (Bring a jacket). While here, spend all of the money you’ve saved from the tips given above. We need the tourist dollars! :slight_smile:

6

I can second the suggestion that you pack as though you’re on the surface of the Sun. When I moved here last July from Monterey, I was quite certain I would die from the heat. Do check with University of California-Davis and California State University-Sacramento to see if any dorm rooms are available. Alternatively, you can scour the Sacramento Bee for apartments that are being sublet in the time you’re interested.

7

Wow. Thanks everyone for the great advice.

I had been warned about the heat of the Sacramento area, but i’d also been told, as one of my California-native professors says, that “It’s a dry heat.” :smiley:

You know, it never even occurred to me to check for a Youth Hostel, even though that would have been my first option ten years ago. Maybe my age is catching up with me. :slight_smile: Thankyou very much for this great suggestion. I’ll go off to their website now and see what i can find out. It’s certainly handy that it’s so close to the State Archives.

The only other thing i have been able to find so far is an extended stay place called Homestead Sacramento, which is at 2810 Gateway Oaks Drive, and costs about $48 a night. From what i can gather, this is a few miles north of downtown, and would probably require a bus ride to get to the archives. If anyone knows anything about this place, or about this part of town, i’d be happy to hear it.

Thanks, Antonius, for the other suggestions as well. The Yolobus sounds excellent, and you can be sure that i’ll check out the Fox and Goose. I’m not sure that i’ll have the time or the money for the side-trip to the Sierras on this trip. I may well get to spend a few days in San Francisco, however, because my girlfriend is from there and i might drop in and stay a few days with her mother (my girlfriend has to stay in Baltimore to work). I need no encouragement to spend money in SF–it’s one of my favourite cities in the world, alongside Vancouver and my home town of Sydney. The fact that i’m likely to get back to the Bay area quite frequently over the years means that the Sierras can probably wait for a later trip, when i have some cash.

Monty, you’re in Davis so i’m sure you know the area much better than i do, but it seemed to me from looking at the map that it was a little too far for someone who will not have access to a car during my stay. Is it easy to get public transport between UC Davis and downtown Sacramento? I checked out CSUS, and they do have dorm rooms, but will only rent them out to pre-arranged conference groups, and to CSUS students taking summer school. Independent researchers like me are out of luck there, i’m afraid. I looked in the Bee, but couldn’t find any decent sublets.

Thanks again for all the help. I’m off to check out the hostel now, and i’ll let you know what i find out.

8

Why, yes. Yes it is.

So are ovens.

(former resident of the Bay Area with grandparents in Sacramento & Merced).

I also agree that a trip to SF would be a good idea if you can manage it. Or get up to Yosemite if you like trees and mountains and stuff.

9

mhendo: You can either take the bus to Sacramento. The problem with not having access to a car is that you won’t be getting around Sacramento itself all that quickly.

10

Also try mapblast.com & map that location. You can then choose to see what’s nearby & also get directions to/from anywhere.

11

This area is essentially an office park IIRC, with corporate-headquarters-type buildings and little else. According to Microsoft Streets & Trips, there appears to be a chinese restaurant (“Gourmet Wok”) within walking distance, and that’s it. You’d have to take the Sacramento RT bus 88 to downtown, then walk three blocks to the Archives (or transfer to Light Rail). A route map is here. I think you might find yourself feeling out of place in that area without a car; I don’t know how you’d be set for grocery shopping etc (I assume that you liked the look of it because rooms in the Homestead Sacramento have kitchens).

The Yolobus #42 that I mentioned in an earlier post runs to and from Davis as well as SMF airport (which are both in Yolo county, hence the name) in clockwise and counterclockwise loops. This bus runs to the downtown Sacramento / Capitol area, with stops three blocks or so from the Archives, so mhendo wouldn’t need a car if Davis-based.

mhendo, you might check out the “Roommates Wanted” section of the Davis Enterprise. Many of the ads are for sublets (often of rooms in 4BR houses) for the entire summer, but in my experience --two family members were recently at UC Davis-- it’s a renter’s market in the summer and the sublettors will take whatever $ they can get, even if it’s just $250 or so for 2 weeks. YMMV of course.

12

I dunno about lodging, but I work across the street from the Archives, and can tell you this…there’s a light rail stop right in front of the Archives (the stop is called “Archives Plaza”), so you’ll have relatively easy access to anything along the light rail system.

Sadly, that’s not saying much, but it might extend your lodging/entertainment/exploring reach a bit…

13

I was about to recomend the hostel also, but since that has been done all I can say is to be sure to tell us when you are in so that some of us might pop in to say hi or buy ya a pint. :slight_smile:

14

One other thing…there are several farmers’ markets in downtown, and they’re great for organic fruits and vegetables. You can also pick up a fairly inexpensive but tasty lunch from a number of vendors that set up during the markets. It’s Roosevelt Park on Tuesdays, Cesar Chavez Park on Wednesdays, and…somewhere else on Thursdays, but I forget…

15

Sacramento News & Review might have some ads for sublets. It’s the free entertainment and city guide in these parts.

Also, I have a co-worker who lives in Davis and takes Amtrak in. However, it’s a half hour to Davis, plus waiting time, plus walking time, plus $10 round trip.

I agree with what was said about light rail. If you’re anywhere near the line, you can get to the Archives in a snap because it stops at the front door of the Archives.

If you wanna beer, there’s also Streets of London pub.

There’s also K Street mall and the downtown mall if you have shopping needs.

16

Once again, thankyou everyone for all the great advice. The reason it’s taken me so long to get back to this thread is that i’ve been trying to sort this whole thing out.

While i have no trouble with hostels when i’m just travelling on holiday, i really want at least a room to myself when i’m on a research trip, so i can do work in the evenings if necessary. The hostel had no private room available for the full two weeks that i needed to be in Sacramento, so i scrubbed that off the list.

Running low on options, i decided to try something that worked really well for me when i went on a research trip to Chicago last year. Before i booked my flight on that trip, i sent an email to the Department of History at the University of Chicago (i’m in the History Dept. at my university) asking if they would mind forwarding it to their grad student email list. In my email, i asked if anyone had a room or apartment to sublet for a couple of weeks. I got two replies, and my girlfriend and i ended up subletting a small but nice one-bedroom apartment in Hyde Park (right near the University) for two weeks, for a total of $250. Much cheaper than any hotel, and more pleasant.

So, two days ago i sent an email to the History Department at CSU-Sacramento, asking the same thing. Within a day, i had six (!!!) replies. The best offer i had–and the one that i have accepted–was from a very nice woman who lives in Davis. She and her husband are going to Europe for the month of August, and they have given me free use of their house and car for the two weeks that i will be in California. I just have to feed their cat and keep an eye on the place.

Who could turn down an amazing and generous offer like that? I booked my flight pronto, and will be arriving in Sacramento on Sunday, July 27, and leaving on the evening of Saturday, August 9. If any Sacramento/Davis-area Dopers are up for a few drinks, i’d love to get together.

Thaks again for all your help and advice, and i hope to get together with some of you in a month’s time.

17

While your at the Capital, poke your head in Governor Davis’ office and tell him to get that damn budget signed before he gets the recall yank…

Dry heat? The high desert has the dry heat. Sacramento is in the Central Valley with river/riparian geography…It will be hot AND a little sticky…enjoy!

18

Tell us your research topic!

19

Congratulations, mhendo. That sounds like a wonderful offer – car and all!

Hope your trip works out well – and be extra nice to that cat!

20

Since you’re gonna have a car, you should know that there’s no free parking close to the State Archives. I don’t remember what the public lots cost, but there are metered spaces along 10th Street (east side of the street) between P and Q Streets that take quarters that allow you to park for all day (well, ten hours), plus some more on Q Street (north side of the street) between 11th and 12th. The catch is that you’ll have to nab one fairly early - probably before 7 AM. I’m sure there are more 10-hour meters around, but I’m not sure where they are. Many of the meters, tho, are only 2-hour meters, and you WILL get cited if you stay for more than 2 hours, even if you keep pumpin’ quarters in.

OR…

send me an e-mail and I might be able to hook you up with quasi-legitimate free parking for some of the days you’ll be in town.