Midtown Stomp offers swing dancing every Friday and Wednesday night at Sacramento's Eastern Star Ballroom, a historic landmark built in 1928. Join the beginning swing dancing lesson from 8-9 p.m., and then keep dancing until midnight!

Lessons are social with rotating partners -- you don't need a partner to join. Dance the Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing, Charleston, Balboa, and many other fun, vintage dances.

Held every second Sunday of the month, the Sacramento Antique Faire is a meeting place for hundreds of antique dealers from throughout Northern California.

Come paw through furniture, textiles, architectural pieces, jewelry, cultural pieces, china, glassware, garden accessories, rugs, art, collectibles, and more.

While you're hunting for your one-of-a-kind treasure, fortify yourself with the variety of offerings from the numerous food vendors at the Faire.

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership offers a variety of walking tours designed to introduce visitors to the people, places, and events that shaped California history. At least one walk is offered daily (except most Saturdays), and topics range from art and architecture to cultural, religious, and urban history.

Current scheduled walks include:

• Old Sacramento Speakeasy Tour, special 2-hour tour runs only the third Saturday of the month
• Rock and Roll History and Pub Crawl, special summer tour runs every Friday, May - August
• Kids Meet the City, a tour of California history especially for kids
• Tales of the Central City, an overview of early Sacramento history
• Structural Stories, local examples of historical architecture styles
• Art Is All Around Us, a tour of Sacramento's collection of art in public places
• Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, about K Street commerce, growth, and redevelopment
• The Art of Terra Cotta, an architecture tour featuring local clay artisan Gladding McBean

Tours are $10 and leave from within a short walk of the Sacramento Hostel.

Reservations are required; call (916) 442-8575 or email dsp@downtownsac.org.

The Torch Club is known as one of the best blues clubs in Sacramento, and features bands from all over the Bay Area as well as some national acts. They've recently been called "the center of the blues in Sacramento" by the Sacramento Bee.

Every Sunday during happy hour they have a blues jam with no cover charge.

The Westminster Presbyterian Church on Capitol Park hosts free noontime concerts every Wednesday. Musicians include pianists, cellists, violinists, guitarists, and more.

For a full schedule of concerts, visit the series website.

Take advantage of "Pay What You Wish Day" every third Sunday of the month at the Crocker Art Museum. 

Established in 1885 and expanded in 2010, the Crocker Art Museum is one of Northern California's largest and best museums of regional artists. The collection spans from the 10th century to contemporary periods and includes a stunning collection of European master drawings and a notable selection of contemporary California art. Museum programs include touring exhibitions, educational programs, public tours, and concerts.

Once a stop on the First Transcontinental Railroad, Sacramento’s history with locomotives, train tracks, and engineers dates back nearly 150 years.

The California State Railroad Museum — one of Sacramento’s most popular tourist attractions — showcases that history, displaying 21 restored cars as well as various exhibits on all things rail-related.
And, since trains are much more fun to ride than look at, they offer seasonal steam train rides on the Sacramento Southern Railroad line on weekends, April through September.

The six-mile, 40-minute trip runs along the levees of the Sacramento River while you take in the sights, sounds, and smells of old-fashioned train travel. Take a seat in either a vintage closed coach, an open-air gondola car, or a restored 1920s first-class observation car.

Trains depart hourly from the Central Pacific Railroad Freight Depot in Old Sacramento from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Depot is seven blocks from the museum itself, and train tickets are separate from the museum admission price ($9 admission for adults / $4 for kids ages 6-17). You don't need to visit the museum to ride the trains!

Coach and gondola seats on the train are $10 for adults and $5 for kids ages 6-17 (kids under 5 are free). First-class seats on the El Dorado car cost $15 per person. Train tickets are sold at the Depot, or online.

Every Thursday, the Crocker Art Museum hosts "Thursdays 'til 9," when they're open after hours to feature film, music, conversation, cocktails, and more.

First Thursdays: Film Frame
Presented in collaboration with local film organizations and festivals, screenings include commentary by film makers, enthusiasts, scholars, and artists.

Second Thursdays: Art Mix
For those who like to mix culture with cocktails. Hear a local band or DJ, sip a specialty cocktail from the Crocker Cafe, and dive into live art demonstrations, short films, interactive installations, special in-gallery tours and more.

Third Thursdays: Playlist
Blues, reggae, indie, folk, country, bluegrass, rock, hip hop, world music and everything in between!

Fourth Thursdays: Open Art
The Crocker’s many arts and community partners are co-creators of these exchanges, programs, and happenings.

Movies on a Big Screen, an ongoing film festival/micro-cinema, is "your alternative to the multiplex."

Held Sundays at the Guild Theater, it features independent films that may not be able to secure week-long runs in commercial theaters, but are worth seeing nonetheless.

Some are old, some are new, most cost just $5 to see! Check out the website for a schedule of upcoming shows, a different film screens every Sunday.

The Guild Theater is 6 miles from the hostel -- if you don't have a car, it's very easily accessed by taking the Sacramento Regional Transit #51 bus. A bus stop is 3 blocks from the hostel on 7th Street -- get off at Broadway and 35th streets, less than 1 block from the theater.

The Sacramento Hostel shows free movies every Wednesday night in the TV lounge, located in the basement of this historic Gold Rush-era mansion. The TV room is complete with several comfy couches and a 52-inch flat-screen TV.

We'll cook up some free popcorn and start playing the week's film at 7:30 p.m. All our guests are invited to come down and hang out!

If you're not visiting on a Wednesday, you can still get your film fix at the hostel -- guests can borrow DVDs from our free film library to use in the TV room or on their laptops.

Any Tuesday night, gather up a few hostel friends, pick out an awesome quiz team name, and head down to the Fox and Goose Pub to test your brain power!

The trivia quiz includes four rounds of eight questions -- with plenty of time in between to order a round or two.

Know every European capitol city? Lyrics to a few obscure Paula Abdul hits? You'll be a quiz all-star.

Tuesdays, head to MiX Downtown for their weekly jazz night! At 6 p.m., the music kicks off in the rooftop lounge with the club's own "Singing Saxtress," Ava Lamert, followed by a different jazz musican each week.

Happy hour specials run til 7 p.m., and the week's featured band plays until 9 p.m. It's also Taco Tuesday, so help yourself to $2 chicken tacos from 4-10 p.m.!

Hiding beneath Sacramento’s sidewalks is a network of underground walkways and spaces created when the city raised its streets to prevent flooding in the 1860s.

This hour-long seasonal tour, offered by the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation, takes you into the underground, revealing the once-first-floor doorways and windows that now lead into basements, brick retaining walls protecting buildings from the elevated roadways, and secret spaces once used for tiny underground shops.

Tours are offered Saturdays and Sundays, every half hour from 10:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., and on Thursdays and Fridays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m

Tickets can be purchased online, in person at the Sacramento History Museum, or over the phone by calling (916) 808-7059.

Several other tours also depart from the history museum, including an architecture tour and one focused on the Gold Rush. These tours cost $7.

The Golden Gate Park Band has been playing free Sunday concerts in Golden Gate Park since 1882.

Their 2012 concert season (April 10 - October 9) runs the gamut from classical to circus music, opera to Americana, plus a wide range of ethnic music. The band collaborates regularly with various San Francisco ethnic and arts groups, who bring to the park their colorful costumes, dance groups, singers, and musicians.

Bring a blanket or lawn chair, pack a picnic, and enjoy one of America's oldest professional concert bands in the magnificent surroundings of Golden Gate Park.

The Sacramento International Film Festival (SFF) offers programming and events for "film enthusiasts of all economic, cultural and educational backgrounds."

With the support of a passionate arts community, SFF aims to attract the best filmmakers, industry guests, and thousands of film enthusiasts from around the world.

A festival guide with information on all the films being shown can be found here. Tickets can be purchased in advance online.

Families throughout Northern California are invited to experience one of the most festive family cultural events in California. In honor of it's 21st year, this multi-ethnic event will celebrate more than 21 Latino cultures all in one place, at one time, for one fun-filled day.  Featured countries include Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Festival attendees can tempt their taste buds with more than 21 food vendors featuring Latin flavors and savory dishes; enjoy 21 performing arts group; meet 21 artists and artisans and shop more than 21 merchants offering authentic Latin-American merchandise.

In addition, festival-goers can preview gallery style art exhibits, check out colorful crafts or create their own crafts; shop at the open-air Mercado; tap their toes and sway to the beats of genuine Latin music; learn certain types of dance; peruse educational exhibits where they'll learn about Latin heritage; and visit a number of community outreach booths. If it's Latino, it's here. 

Sample the bounty of California's harvests straight from local farms at the weekly Farmers Markets near the hostel, May - October.

Tuesdays, it's in Roosevelt Park, 8 blocks from the hostel.

Wednesdays, it's at Cesar Chavez Plaza, 1 block from the hostel.

Thursdays, it's on the Capitol Mall at 6th Street, 9 blocks from the hostel.

Saturday, it's on Folsom and Sunrise Blvd. 

Sunday, it's on 8th and W Street (under the freeway).

Certified Farmers Markets are an effort to re-establish the traditional link between farmers and consumers in California, by creating places where genuine farmers sell products they grow themselves directly to the public.

At these markets, farmers can offer field- and tree-ripened fruits and vegetables which are too delicate for the packing and shipping process of traditional food distribution systems. In addition, consumers are assured of obtaining only California-grown fruits and vegetables, fresh and in season, at a good price.

On the second Saturday of each month, galleries in Sacramento stay open for a Sacramento Art Walk late into the evening, allowing people to walk from gallery to gallery, viewing, experiencing, and discovering local art and meeting artists. 

While galleries all over Sacramento participate, most are clustered in two main areas: Midtown Sacramento and along Del Paso Boulevard in the Uptown Art District (the number of Downtown galleries is also growing). These areas support thriving arts communities, and the venues' close proximity, walkable streets, interesting boutiques, and many restaurants make for an enjoyable, leisurely walk.

This summer, Cesar Chavez Plaza becomes the hottest Friday night music venue in Sacramento!

The Friday Night Concerts in the Park series runs from May to July, showcasing local artists in a range of genres including rock, pop, punk, blues, and folk. Acts vary by week -- the concert lineup as well as links to listen to upcoming artists is available online.

Music addicts and happy-hour junkies flock to these all-ages shows to enjoy live music, fresh air, good food, and the famous beer garden.

The Sacramento River Cats are the minor-league affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They play at Raley Field, just across the Tower Bridge from downtown Sacramento.

Most Fridays throughout the season, team sponsor Toyota presents $1 hotdog and dessert nights -- and since tickets run as low as $7, you really can't go wrong!

Bring a blanket, buy a hot dog, and enjoy a classic American evening.

There are many other great home game promotions on special nights, such as Father's Day and the 4th of July. Check their website for more information.