Pocket-Greenhaven (also known as The Pocket) is a suburban community within the city of Sacramento, California, 5 miles south of downtown Sacramento. It is bordered by Interstate 5 on the east and a semi-circular "pocket" bend in the Sacramento River on the south, west, and north. The three exits into the Pocket-Greenhaven community off Interstate 5 are 43rd Avenue (southbound only), Florin Road, and Pocket/Meadowview Road. Entering the area from the South on Interstate 5, travelers pass a landmark water tower with the words "Welcome to SACRAMENTO AMERICA'S FARM-TO-FORK CAPITAL" painted on it, marking the southern boundary of the city of Sacramento. The water tower was originally blank and looked very much like a spaceship alongside wheat and barley fields. Pocket-Greenhaven is located in the 95831 Zipcode.
Neighborhood residents
The Pocket-Greenhaven neighborhood is in the Southwest area of Sacramento which is now primarily populated by upper, upper-middle, and middle-class families. Original homeowners are generally older and live in Pocket-Greenhaven's periphery, while newer residents are typically younger and reside more centrally. Home construction in the neighborhood began in the early 1960s, and over the years, several noteworthy have resided within the community, including Hollywood Actor Eddie Murphy (whose then-wife Nicole Mitchell Murphy, is a Sacramento native), and members of the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team. Current Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (politician), a resident of Los Angeles County, maintains a home in the Greenhaven section of the district. Former State Senate President and current Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg resides in Greenhaven. Delaine Eastin, former Superintendent of Schools for California and Assembly member from Union City, CA lived in the Pocket section while serving as Superintendent but now resides in Davis, CA. The California Air Pollution Control Officers Association's Executive Director Tung Le lives in the Pocket.
The Pocket-Greenhaven neighborhood is a low-crime neighborhood, overall. There are two private lakes and 18 public parks in the Pocket-Greenhaven neighborhood.
Schools
The main high school is John F. Kennedy High School, established in 1967. The School of Engineering and Sciences, a smaller middle and high (i.e. secondary) school, opened in 2010. Primary schools include Brookfield School, the Caroline Wenzel Elementary School (K-6), Genevieve Didion Elementary School (K-8), Pony Express Elementary School (K-6), Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School (K-8), Matsuyama Elementary School (K-6), John Cabrillo Elementary School (K-6), and Sam Brannan Middle School (7–8). Bear Flag Elementary school (K-6), the original elementary school serving the area since 1964, closed in 2007.
Development and History
Before settlement, the Pocket-Greenhaven area was a riparian forest with woods of deciduous broad-leaves growing beside the river and streams in the bend. The center of the bend is a few feet lower than sea level, and drainage was all toward the swampy, tule filled middle. The bend is 6.8 square miles, has highly fertile alluvium soil, and contains a clay pit that is now known as Lake Greenhaven or Greenhaven Lake. An early development name was Lake Greenhaven Shores.
Before Europeans came, the Maidu Native American Indian tribe most likely inhabited the bend in the summer months when they could fish and hunt. Longtime residents say the bend contains a number of mounds, suggesting that the Maidu also buried their dead here. John Sutter and his crew likely passed by the Pocket-Greenhaven area on their way to establishing New Helvetia and Sutter's Fort. After the Gold Rush, immigrants and former miners began to inhabit the bend. Several Portuguese families were the first settlers to the area. They raised cattle, hogs, and chickens and grew wheat and barley in the fertile soil, and engaged in dairying.
