The Sacramento Bee

Live This City: Mighty fun along the mighty Sacramento

Tucked quietly near Sacramento International Airport along a sleepy, tree-lined stretch of Garden Highway, Swabbies on the River Restaurant & Bar is a big place, but it's not easy to find by car. That's not an issue for most of the restaurant's patrons, however. They arrive in Sacramento River style – on boats. And it seems everyone else gets to Swabbies on a motorcycle, especially those of the Harley-Davidson variety.

Try looking at it this way: Everyone who's anyone on the Sacramento River knows about Swabbies, and if you don't, you obviously don't own a boat (or you aren't lucky enough to know anyone who has one). The quirky, family-owned and -operated establishment isn't recognizable by name to many landlocked Sacramentans, yet those who have ventured there and successfully found the place are fiercely and irrevocably in love.

And like all great romances, Swabbies is especially magical during the summer, when live music plays late into the night, spilling out over the serene river and up toward the starlit sky.

But Swabbies isn't just another "convenience" stop for boaters on the move (although it does also conveniently double as a watersports pro shop). The googly eyes are actually warranted by the ample and comfortable space, the cheerful staff and the general aura of "life is good" that is as prevalent as the early-evening mosquitoes in the restaurant's bustling yet unflustered atmosphere. Oh, and then there are the tacos, which might be reason enough to invest in a boat next summer.

The actual space, a small, cozy bar and patio surrounded by a grassy outdoor area, possesses the perfect "backyard" chemistry that so many urban nightclubs have tried and failed to imitate. There's the inevitable outdoor tiki bar, complete with neon straws and decorative Jack Daniel's flags, plus a stage that any band would freak out over. Twenty or so tables wait mostly vacant through weekend mornings until the afternoon, when they accommodate starving armies of water revelers. Many of them are tribal-tattooed boat brothers, flanked by their bronzed female companions, but there's a healthy dose of savvy airport commuters and bikers stopping to grab a bite and gaze out at the stunning view of river, which is just yards away.

Which brings us to Swabbies' most well-worn feature: a long, glorious ramp that leads hungry, prune-footed river folk up from the water toward malted hydration and taco salvation. I'm one of those "boatless" people, but I can only imagine how beautiful the sight of that ramp is after a morning spent wakeboarding, cruising or fishing on the Sacramento River.

Pulling up to Swabbies over Labor Day weekend was like unearthing a giant block party whose neighborhood you are not a resident of. There was hardly a dry body to be found among the high-spirited and sunburned clientele, who for the most part opted for flip-flops, board shorts and bikinis over actual clothing. The music was loud and the servers were sweaty, running back and forth with beers, cocktails and "Cheese Burgers in Paradise." Another of Swabbies' staple menu items, it is a moniker that aptly describes the phenomenon of scantily clad 20- and 30-somethings packed onto a rowdy riverbank, under the sunshine, beside the water, in what is generally known as the middle of nowhere, Sacramento.

And that sight led to a realization. People love to complain about the monotony of Sacramento's nightlife circuit. But in a city such as ours, where our natural assets are our best assets, some of Sacramento's coolest "night life" is actually "day life," and it takes energy and planning (and, ideally, a boat) to find it. By the time midtown's bars are opening their doors, those from the Swabbies crowd have a full day of boating, drinking, flirting and dining covered, and they're likely all in bed by 10 p.m., preparing for yet another carefree day on the water. Those river people really have it all figured out.