Sacramento, I love you!
Love letters to Sacramento
The lady’s choice
Were she a real lady, Sacramento would be blushing behind her fan of foliage right now. She’d have so many suitors her daddy would have to push them off the front porch with a shotgun. But then, if Sacramento were a real lady, she wouldn’t be showing you such a good time.
Readers, for this year’s Best of Sacramento issue, you sent in dozens and dozens of love letters to the city herself, praising her good looks, her spirit and her natural humility. And you shared the love with an odd assortment of her hot spots and hot bartenders—even her hot summers. Many of your letters were eloquent, effusive and full of awe. Is it even possible to overemphasize how much you enjoy the architecture of her old—by Western standards—central-city neighborhoods? Or the city’s leafy canopy? Or the beauty you see in the state Capitol—even if there are some choice things you’d like to say to a few of the people inside?
This year, we’ve expanded our Best of Sacramento issue to make room for more than 130 of our favorite things and more than 400 of yours, along with an assortment of your letters, our poems and other sweet nothings. We even include a love letter reportedly written by Sacramento herself, which shows up at the beginning of our Arts & Entertainment section).
If you’re looking for the letters most likely to make this old city blush, they’re printed in the Sex & Love section, of course.
And then there’s this one, my favorite, from Lisa, a 25-year-old devotee of the Sacramento band the Deftones:
“You began as four musicians playing your melodic harmonies and hard-hitting anthems for all of Sacramento. Though you have grown up and spread your music all over the world, you haven’t forgotten about me, or your home city of ‘Sacto.’ … I remember it so clearly, like sprinklers drizzling the flames of a fire; you—onstage at Cesar Chavez Plaza a couple months ago. Me—a spellbound blonde captured in the enchanting rifts and sensuous vocals of Chino. Oh, how you made the world stop for me.
Though thousands watched you perform like a drone of bees surrounding their hive, to me, we were alone.
You beat on that bass and screamed out your lungs and pounded on those drums until my head and mouth hurt—the good kind of hurt. The kind of hurt where you wake up in the morning sore, but you smile and grit your teeth from the moment we shared.
You may have a key to Sacramento, but you’ll always hold the key to my heart.”
She signed it “XOXO” and mailed in a hand-written copy with a photo of her King Bee, Chino Moreno. It’s almost sweet enough to make my teeth hurt.
While you read through this year’s issue, you’re bound to see some other examples of lavish sentiment. Sometimes we Sacramentans try to play hard to get, but really, this city does have us by the heart.
XOXO,
Chrisanne Beckner
Best new use for a historic brick (fire)house
Food & Drink
Writers’ choice
Food & Drink
Readers’ choice
Sports & Recreation
Best Monarch
Sports & Recreation
Writers’ choice
Sports & Recreation
Readers’ choice
Goods & Services
Best massage
Goods & Services
Writers’ choice
Goods & Services
Readers’ choice
People & Places
Best candidate for a Ghost Hunters investigation
People & Places
Writers’ choice
People & Places
Readers’ choice
Arts & Entertainment
Best evidence that Sacramento supports a thriving art scene
Arts & Entertainment
Writers’ choice
Arts & Entertainment
Readers’ choice
Sex & Love
Best advocate for choice and personal accountability
Sex & Love
Writers’ choice
Sex & Love
Readers’ choice
