Above the bustling one-way traffic on J Street, a main thoroughfare in Sacramento’s midtown, sits a second-story hair salon named Mahogany and Rose that doubles as a live performance venue once a month. On every third Saturday, dim lights, big plants and sultry incense smoke welcome attendees at the event series known as Out The Way on J.
On a typical night, live musicians play as poets, singers and rappers take the stage in front of an intimate yet energetic crowd of roughly 40 to 50 people. Many of the attendees and artists hail from Sacramento and its surrounding cities, while others drive up Interstate 80 from Richmond, Oakland and the greater Bay Area. That’s what makes Out The Way on J unique: it’s representative of the entire region.
While the Sacramento metro area and the Bay Area have their differences — namely the weather and the cost of living — the connections are undeniable.
There’s been a longstanding exchange between the two regions, both in population and culture. Many Bay Areans, like Mac Dre and Raphael Saadiq, have called the state capital home. The inverse has happened too, with folks like Sacramento-raised Hall of Famer and former San Francisco Giants skipper Dusty Baker, renowned Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, and musician-slash-model Saweetie.
The connections are also shown through organizations, like the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which originated in Oakland and once had an office in Sacramento’s Oak Park. Or how about by geology, as the Sacramento River is one of the main tributaries of freshwater flowing into the San Francisco Bay? Or even by American history: when settlers came in search of gold during the 1800s, many of them entered Northern California through the Bay before making their way into the Sacramento foothills.