Sacramento Tapestry (Urban Tapestry Series)

"Sacramento has what has been an overriding California trait since the days of the Spanish conquistadors: the promise of a better tomorrow."

A lifelong resident of California and a senior writer for the Sacramento Bee, Steve Wiegand knows the Sacramento area. In Sacramento Tapestry, he captures the unique-and distinctly un-Californian-feel of his city. With the help of more than 250 images supplied by some of the city's best photographers, he takes readers on a colorful trip through the Sacramento of yesterday and today-from the gold Rush years that brought almost 12,000 settlers to this little farming town of 150 to the Sacramento of today, a modern western hub of industry and culture.

"Sacramento is a city unto itself, proud and unique, with an identity all its own," Wiegand writes. "Despite the shadows cast by some of its glitzier, headline-grabbing sister cities in the Golden State, Sacramentans don't suffer from any kind of inferiority complex. Just the opposite. As those who are migrating here from the rest of California already know, the River City might just be California's prototypical place to make a home." Indeed, Sacramento is a wonderful place to call home. Wiegand takes readers past the city's glistening new skyline, through its businesses, museums and restaurants, and up the banks of the beautiful American and Sacramento rivers. And far from the beaches, theme parks, and movie stars that have defined the nation's stereotypical image of California, Sacramento has remained a city of neighborhoods whose residents remain contagiously genuine, friendly, and unpretentious.

Sacramento's people, culture, and scenery continue the city's promise of a better tomorrow.

Open these pages and experience for yourself a Sacramento Tapestry.