Sacramento, California’s beautiful capital city at the junction
of the American and Sacramento Rivers is disarmingly
deceptive. Tranquil boulevards lined with gracious Victorian
homes shaded by leafy old trees, charming neighborhoods,
and river parks mask a mercantile metropolis and political
hotbed that thrive below the surface. The capital city of the
largest state in the union, by population, and the third
largest state by area, Sacramento is like a sweet-tempered,
smartly dressed matriarch of undisclosed wealth and
power.

Things to See in Sacramento:

o State Capitol

The California State Capitol was constructed and furnished
between 1860 and 1874 during a period of US cultural
history known as the American Renaissance, a time when
artists, artisans, architects, craftsmen, and philanthropists
set out to equal or exceed the greatest achievements of
preceding civilizations. Its pristine white architecture looks
like something straight out of the Holy Roman Empire. Eight
Roman Corinthian columns on the front portico lead the eye
to the elaborate rooftop sculptures, beyond the shining
copper dome punctuated by a glittering 30 inch gold ball set
against a clear, Sacramento sky. Inside, are beautifully
restored massive wooden doors, magnificently carved
stairways and a fabulous Carrara marble statue of Queen
Isabella and Christopher Columbus. Other features include
a circular room of murals depicting early California life, and
furnished rooms of the restored turn-of-the-century
Governor’s office, Secretary of State’s office, and Treasurer’s
office. The Secretary of State’s office has old files stacked up
and tied in red ribbon, showing the origins of the
governmental term “Red Tape.” The Senate is decorated in
red as in the British House of Lords, while the Assembly is
green, as in the House of Commons, and both chairs for
each head of the chambers are symbolic of the British
monarchy–themes borrowed from the British Parliament
from which the United States bases its two-house system.

Tip: Grab a meal at the statehouse restaurant located in the
basement. Warm red brick walls, arches and the cool cellar
atmosphere give the ambience of an Italian grotto. Note the
walls and arches made from old bricks retrieved during the
massive 1970s restoration when the building was, as the
tour guide says, “carved out like a melon,” then recreated to
its original beauty, based on old photos and furnishings
found in storage. Notice the old pictures on the restaurant
walls, particularly the photo of the “Insectuary,” a building
dedicated to “breeding beneficial insects” affectionately
called the “Bug House.”

Check it out . . . Take a walk through the 40-acre Capitol
Park and enjoy the sweet scent of rose gardens and over
400 exotic plants and trees from all over the world. Two
intriguing 20th century war memorials are also on the
grounds. The Vietnam War Memorial has many sculptures
of men in battle, and a rare sculpture of POW’s. The plaque
reads: “To the memory of those who died or remain
missing.”

o Old Sacramento

Old Sacramento is an old Western town encompassing ten
blocks with two main streets flanked by wood plank
sidewalks. Plenty of side streets loaded with two- and
three-story picturesque buildings from the Gold Rush days
make a fascinating walking tour. Listen to echo of shoe
heels clapping along the wooden sidewalks, as
pedestrians stroll past shops and restaurants that once
housed rowdy barrooms and gambling halls during the
heyday of the 1849 Gold Rush. Today the smell of grilled
steaks and homemade candy fills the air, competing with
the sounds of nearby trains and laughing children carrying
gigantic pinwheel lollipops of rainbow hues. The restored
1876 Central Pacific Railroad Station is in the center of town
and the California State Railroad Museum nearby houses
more than 20 restored locomotives and passenger cars.

o Downtown Plaza

A pedestrian tunnel from Old Sacramento leads visitors to
Downtown Plaza, a modern mall complex with an open-air
market, a megaplex cinema, specialty stores, clothing
stores, ethnic restaurants and minstrels from all walks of
life: peripatetic musicians, jugglers, mimes and other street
performers entertain shoppers and diners. A recently
restored Art Deco vaudeville theater several blocks east
shows independent and foreign films.

o Sutter’s Fort State Park

In 1839 while California was still under the Mexican flag,
Captain John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant received a
50,000-acre land grant at the confluence of the Sacramento
and American Rivers. Nine years later, while building a
sawmill, Sutter’s partner, John Marshall, saw gold shining
through the river. Walking back to his workmen, he
remarked, in possibly the understatement of the century,
“Boys, I believe I found a gold mine.” But when Sutter heard
the report, he feared ruination for his mill businesses. His
fears were not unfounded. The scent of easy money
attracted thousands of desperate people who flooded the
new American territory, launching one of the greatest gold
rushes in history, and establishing a new city, Sacramento,
to serve the influx of prospectors. As Sutter suspected, mill
workers deserted their jobs in search of gold, while invading
goldseekers tore Sutter’s fences to build ramshackle
housing on his land. Both Sutter and Marshall died
penniless. Sutter later wrote, “By the sudden discovery of
gold, all my great plans were destroyed . . . I should have
been the richest citizen on the Pacific . . . Instead of being
rich, I am ruined.”

The state park is the site of the first white settlerment in this
region. An 1839 adobe structure, faithfully reconstructed,
now houses mementoes from the pioneer period and the
Gold Rush era. (The original gold nugget Marshall found
is now at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.)