Located in the northwest corner of Sacramento, the area now called Alkali Flat is bordered by the B Street railroad levee (on the north), H Street (on the south), 7th Street (on the west), and 13th Street (on the east). Its nickname, dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, comes from the chalky mineral residue that often was left behind in this area after the subsidence of flood waters from the nearby sloughs. Alkali Flat was one of the first residential areas to be developed in the city. Its oldest houses were erected in the mid-1800s.
Alkali Flat was primarily a working-class neighborhood by the 1930s. Many of its larger single-family homes had been converted to boarding houses and apartment buildings. Its population continued to be ethnically diverse, despite the growth of the Mexican-American community during the 1950s and 1960s when Alkali Flat and the Washington neighborhood to its east became the city’s Barrio. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the emergence of the Chicano Movement, whose activism was expressed artistically by the members of the Royal Chicano Air Force. The 1970s also brought redevelopment and renovation to Alkali Flat, with the construction of new low and moderate-income housing, the creation of parks, and the restoration of many of the older homes. Some vacant lots were filled by at-risk historic structures that had been relocated from other parts of the city as part of the Alkali Flat Historic Infill Program. At the same time, steps were taken toward the formal recognition of the historic status of the neighborhood in general and of its individual buildings in particular. After several 19th century homes were added to the National Register of Historic Places in the second half of the 1970s and early 1980s, three sections of Alkali Flat (Alkali Flat Central, Alkali Flat North, and Alkali Flat West) were accorded National Register status in 1984.
It is a beautiful neighborhood with tree-lined streets, like many of the streets in downtown Sacramento. There is also quite a bit of new infill being built in the historic district (ex. The Creamery) with interior courtyards and shared outdoor space.
