midtowngrid.com

Main Office:
2321 P St.  [Map]
Sacramento, CA 95816

Office (916) 455-0460
Direct (916) 595-8850
Fax (916) 650-1184
mail@midtowngrid.com

Brian Fischer (916) 996-8655
brian@midtowngrid.com

Julia Seebach (916) 595-8850
julia@midtowngrid.com

Rebecca Sykes (916) 410-6168
rebecca@midtowngrid.com

Chris Renlow
chris@midtowngrid.com

Midtowngrid (tm) started in 2004  and was inspired by the rich combination
of independent businesses and cultural resources of the Sacramento City.

midtowngrid.com was voted Best Sacramento Website four years in a row! 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Our Mission Midtowngrid.com is the central hub for local businesses and cultural resources of the Sacramento City. We aim to create one degree of separation so that we can all teach, support and inspire each other in growing a vibrant, healthy, local economy. As the central gathering point, we connect the community online and on the ground in an atmosphere of “comple-tition”, a complementary competition.

Whether you are a visitor or resident of the Sacramento region, we hope that this site serves as a useful guide, connecting you to the Central City.

How We Got Started Midtowngrid.com was started in 2005, when Julia Seebach and her now husband Scott Smithline moved to Sacramento from the Bay Area.   Living away from the Central City, Julia tripped into Midtown and went home excitedly to show Scott online.   There was a vacuum of information about Midtown and its abundance of independent boutiques and restaurants.   After seeing Midtown with his own eyes, Scott and Julia picked up and moved to the heart of it.   As a graphic design student at Sacramento State University, Julia developed a community directory with profiles of small businesses that she and Scott hoped to turn into a viable business.

Months into their project, Brian Fischer joined forces with them as Director of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development.   He helped to rebrand the company as midtowngrid.com.

Almost five years into the model, midtowngrid.com has become the local online community hub, with a strong ground presence distributing over 300,000 maps per year at over 200 locations.  

 Video: A brief Midtown Grid overview by Brian Fischer

What's Coming In 2009, the team launches its national brand of downtowngrid.com with expansion projects regionally and in the Bay Area.   They hope to spread the gospel of backyard marketing and local economies through a philosophy of ethical capitalism and a hybrid support structure for main street everywhere that is online and on the ground. 
 

Building Community... "I live and work in midtown/downtown Sacramento and I absolutely love www.midtowngrid.com! I visit your website often (at least 3-4 days per week) mostly to find new places for lunch, but for other businesses and services as well. I have also recommended your site to almost all of my friends and co-workers and they all seem to enjoy it as well. I just wanted to say thank you for providing a great directory of such a wide variety of local businesses! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" ~Carren Christensen

Do you own a small local business?...Join the Grid!

Midtowngrid.com in the news...

Brian Fischer (co-owner) featured in "The Power & Influence 100" Sacramento Magazine Sep. ‘08
"BRIAN FISCHER, Internet activist—The 36-year-old co-creator of Midtowngrid.com (along with the husband-and-wife team of Scott Smithline and Julia Seebach) and the Oak Park advocacy group 100 Minds is a force in ethical capitalism and an eloquent champion of the anti-suburb. For this tenacious grassroots activist, it’s all about connectivity: fostering social networks to advance a unique geographical identity. (What else would you expect from a guy who constructed interdependent economies out of Legos at age 4?) While no one person can claim credit for Second Saturday’s popularity, Fischer is often cited as a catalyst. Some would love to see him run for office."
> See link

midtowngrid.com: Winner of Best of Sacramento by News & Review for best Sacramento website four years in a row! 2005, 2006,2007,2008

Sacramento Magazine Article Feb. 2008

Midtown Rising By Jan Ferris Heenan
Many are following the trends closely to make sure that the essence of midtown remains the same, even as the area continues to grow and prosper. Few are more vigilant than Brian Fischer, a community organizer and one of the forces behind midtowngrid.com, a business networking and social advocacy group.

“What kind of flavor would there be to the city of Sacramento if the majority of the 100 restaurants and 40 or 50 boutiques in midtown were primarily franchises and chains? What would people remember? Where would the [profits] go?” he asks.  > complete article

> See our blog for more articles
 

Thank you Sacramento!