Sactown Magazine

I feel this magazine appeals to a somewhat less engaged reader, with its flashy colorful covers and way over crowded web site. I am a long time Sacramento resident born and raised and prefer something a little more in touch with our town. The owners of this mag came from NY which is probably why they were unaware that using the word ‘sactown’ is about as devistating as hearing the term sanfran. In any case, great articles now and then and some big wig advertisers so the mag will surely be around a while and I suppose I’ll just have to accept it. Just know if you’re new or visiting there are several other great publications and websites devoted to truly local happenings and support local businesses, not just saying they do as a means to remain trendy.

Sactown Magazine is one of the best local resources for when you’re trying to get a feel about our great city. Like many magazines, there is a fair amount of advertising, but the in-​depth pieces (which are thoroughly researched and some of the best journalism in the region) are second-​to-​none and really reflect a passion and pride for Sacramento.
I recently learned that Sactown has a much wider circulation now than Sacramento Magazine. I think this comes down to a number of factors. 1) Their graphics department is top-​notch and does a consistently good job of assembling colorful and catchy cover designs to pull you in. 2) They have a finger on the pulse of stories that are current and important to their readers. I read their wonderful piece recently on the new owner of the Kings, as well as editorials on saving and preserving landmarks and the farm-​to-​fork movement. All are representative of what’s important to Sacramento now, and the readers appreciate that.
I took advantage of one of their many deals and my yearly subscription costs next to nothing. To get even one quality article on local happenings each month is well-​worth the cost.

Best City Magazine ever.
The magazine captures the often overlooked aesthetic dynamics of Sacramento in a way that other magazines focusing on simply regurgitated advertisement simply miss. Sacramento has a distinct culture like other metropolitan areas and Sactown Magazine is the best and quickest way to grasp that if you’re an outsider. Simply perfect!

I enjoy receiving every issue of this magazine because I am semi new to the Sacramento area and so this magazine gives me a better insight to the «goings on» around the area.
Pros: I love how the magazine focuses not on just Sacramento as a city, but also Sacramento county with articles on the surrounding cities as well. I always enjoy the food and shopping articles and reviews as well as the pictures which are always beautiful!
Cons: The magazine is only published once a month! Sometimes they cover local people or events which I’m not necessarily interested in, but the articles will go on for pages. Too many ads, but what magazine doesn’t?
I look forward to reading this magazine every month and enjoy getting it. Just some of the articles are too long and I would like to see more food and shopping focus.

Don’t buy the Groupon Deal. I received only 3 copies of the magazine in one year; one being an old edition. Not a deal at all!

Sactown caught my eye the first month it came out. It is so much better than The Other Sac magazine. Sactown is useful, funny and cool. the layout is very artistic. Catchy articles and i love the photos. I pick it up in Whole Foods or wherever. Keep it up. love your work.
You have me convinced. Good coverage of sourrounding areas too.

good mag. covers the area — mostly features.

After some of the less than glowing reviews on here, mostly targeted at the anemic content, I’m going to take another look and am reserving that last star for further inspection. However … I would say hallelujah for a true competitor to Sacramento Magazine … and that they have stayed alive in the economy.
Rather than advertisement-​driven (like Sacramento Magazine), this magazine cares about what’s going on in Sacramento (I know because not only have I read great stories about local people/​stuff, I have also interacted with the editor and she is awesome. Has her ear to the ground.)
This magazine is a reflection of Sacramento coming out of hiding under rocks and from the shadows of other nearby cities. I think anyone who has some suggestions for them, they would gladly listen — at least that’s the impression I get.

A half step above Sacramento Magazine. Overall the content is silly. They seem to think that relating Sacramento to the big picture via celebrates, politics and fashion is the way to give the city relevance. Why not just speak of Sacramento and report it in its own unique city? Cause no one wants to read how Sacramento fits in to the big LA/​NY picture via that stupid degrees of separation exercise.
Sacramento is a great city somebody tell Sactown to drop the Maria, LA, America’s New Top Model, etc. name dropping.

Just because Sactown isn’t as terrible as Sacramento Magazine doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck…
Yes, it has nicer fonts and a prettier cover. But inside, it’s the same crap — meaningless stories so inane I’d rather stare at the blank wall at my doctors office than crack this open. The poor writing quality is astounding — these people make money writing such uninspired and poorly written stories?! I need to get a job there!
At least Prosper had some intelligence, some sophistication and stories I was actually interested in reading («Maria For President» = awesome! A year later Oprah digs into that same storyline on her show!). Not to mention very sophisticated designs and photos. It was catchy.
Too bad the two magazines Sac can support are absolute crap. Yes, the internet is taking over newspapers rapidly… but I think there will still be demand for interesing, intelligent magazines for a long time, at least another couple of decades.

I think Sactown is a big improvement over Sacramento Magazine – which I guess really ain’t saying much. I’ll give them kudos for the innovative design and sticking their neck out occasionally – editorially speaking – which SacMag never does – «pablum for the dentist’s office».
But, I think pound for pound, Midtown Monthly is doing a much better job in a quarter of the pages in coming up with clever and well written articles that I’m actually interested in like their midtown architecture spotter article and Sacramento’s custom car history in their current issue (Sept. ’08). I actually buy Sactown and there’s really not much there that holds my attention for more than 15 minutes. (Sacramento Magazine is 0 minutes other that the perverse pleasure I get out of reading their really lame «Best of» issues).

Sactown was a much needed addition to the Sacramento literary community. It covers the interests of that sometimes left out genre of the mid 20’s to early 30’s. It hits the right spots by idenitfying new places that are great to check out, hitting relevant political points, and discussing issues that truly are close to home. However, as a bi monthly publication, I sometimes find it a little thin.
Take last months publication for example — the one about staycations. Although that particular article was very good, in depth etc, there were really only three other «articles» to speak of — the one on movies made in Sac, the one about Lounge on 20, and … wait, what was the third? My point is — although I appreciate the depth and focus the magazine puts into its featured article, it sometimes lets other things go that would be equally important to the Sacramento community. And sometimes– it reads like a Sac tabloid.
That being said, Sactown still provides a putty for the hole. It’s got a very spot on listing of music and culture events (certainly SNR can be a little more amusing at times, but Sactown ups the class). I personally use Sactown for restaurant listings more than any other place (usually I look there even before checking Unilocal!). And the writers understand the growing professional community of Sacramento, and definitely write to those of us who care about what happens to Sac and it’s national reputation, and don’t want it to get left behind.
Kudos to Sactown for getting us one GIANT step closer to that world class magazine. OH and the PICTURES are fantastic!

I’m gonna be tough on this one, cause I know these guys can take it. They won a Maggie after all!
This is really strong magazine and I know a lot of people who are thrilled about its presence, including many of us who write and work for other local publications. Echoing the sentiments of others: Sactown is the Luke Skywalker to Sacramento Magazine’s Jabba the Hutt. Design-​wise, it is glossy and pro in all of the best ways.
So far, I’ve enjoyed a great number of articles I’ve read, especially the latest stay-​cation feature and the short piece on the high-​speed rail project (though I would’ve loved to have seen a longer feature on that). What they simply need to do is beef up the writing. There’s a wide discrepancy in the quality between some of the pieces.
And please, oh please, can we stop talking about how Sac can be a «world-​class» city? We are who we are, and we need to love who we are!
And to the grump below: yeah, pubs are dyin’ like fies. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but smart ones are finding new ways to make things work, and I have a feeling the folks at Sactown have that in mind.

SacTown is a fantastic publication that takes a high-​end approach to all things Sacramento. SacTown, unlike Sacramento Magazine, presents Sacramento as a growing, changing, exciting city with many facets. They report on the cool stuff that goes on, the famous people and events here, the innovations and the fine dining. The photography bears that out, and has won national awards because if their high-​quality and unique perspective. I think the design is not trying to be too Luxe or too Heckler, but it appeals to a diverse audience.

Three stars for glossy sophistication.
One star for content.
Another hit-​or-​miss venture into print publications, which… like «Prosper» is doomed to failure because of the internet age.
Look how bad the Bee is suffering in Classified Ads… down 60% because of Craigslist free classified.
I’ve noticed that a lot of the merchants who were stocking the magazine, have taken the racks out because of lack of sales.
Don’t get me wrong, I still will read magazines if they’re good… but Prosper was FREE and it still was a piece of dog poop… nothing I would pay for.
Note also that SN&R is also FREE and the local content is much better.

YES! THANK YOU! Sacramentans now have an alternative to Sacramento Magazine, which rots.
Thank you, Sactown, for providing to me a non-​fluffy piece of actual journalistic talent, with riveting articles that keep my ADD at bay and turning the page. Thank you for showing me the events around this city which ACTUAL people can attend instead of unknown real estate developers and television meteorologists.
The photography in Sactown is amazing. And the pages are just thick enough to discourage papercuts. :) Yay.

Excellent magazine. Very hip and edgy, without being obnoxiously hip and edgy.
What hit me right away was the high level of photography. I think it’s simply amazing and blows away anything SacMag puts out. SacMag takes a lot of posed photos where as Sactown has a lot of cameo shots that really captures the moment, and it comes through in the picture.
I thought the photos of the children’s auditions for The Nutcracker in the first issue were simply amazing. Ton of emotions and feelings in those photos.
I also love how they pay much more attention to midtown and downtown instead of all the burbs areas with endless topics and ads that carry no interest to me what so ever. I found it funny how Sac Mag starting printing an «urbanite» section right after Sactown came out… nice try SacMag.
Great articles from varied areas of interest including architects from The Crocker Expansion, Joe Carnahan, Ray Eames, Tim Busfield, Larry Scott, Sacramento animators at Pixar, ect. Seems like there is a little something for everyone in the magazine.
The only section that seems to lack a bit is the food section, as everyone else has mentioned.
As they put out more issues and will find out who their real readers are, they will really focus their attention accordingly, which I think will suit me well.

Good magazine for the young, hip, intelligent, Sacramentan.
Brilliantly designed. Well written articles that I actually read (no horoscopes, good sign). Beautiful photography. Food section can be a bit more expanded. But hell, it’s only on it’s 2^nd issue.
Simply a magazine that you won’t use to swat a fly with or pick up your puppies poop.
Oddly enough, this magazine makes Sacramento seem like a proud place to be.

World-​class modern magazine for Sactophiles. Four + ½ stars. The premier issue (Dec/​Jan) was an impulse buy; I actively sought out the second (Feb/​Mar ’07).
Content, layout and feel of Sactown are reminiscent of Dwell. From my perspective as a designer and fan of modernism, loved the premier article on Ray Eames (wife of Charles Eames), who was born and raised here. Together, this wife/​husband team designed iconic mid-​century furniture and architecture.
It will be interesting to see how this magazine evolves. For instance, I despise in-​your-​face spreads of local elite cavorting at cocktail parties. When I saw Sactown’s «Out and About» section, I was filled with dread. But unlike the socialite spreads in Sacramento magazine (where I find myself recoiling at the amazing number of cosmetic surgeons and dentists ads) Sactown’s take on local events and personalities seems less about wealth and more a celebration of local culture and style (hence, forgivable).
I’ve always liked Sacramento. As a result, I’ve never felt a need to defend it from mean-​spirited detractors, most of whom base their opinion solely on their observations from the freeway. It’s refreshing to see a magazine that reflects some of the things I like about it here.
You can pick up a copy for $ 3.99. Their website is:

At last, a modern Sacramento magazine!
Excellent /​way more hip graphic design (they must have paid attention in art school), excellent /​fresher photography than that ‘other’ magazine. And not nearly as many ads.
Haven’t read the content yet, just skimmed through the look-​and-​feel. The cover is thick, like Fast Company, which feels great.