J Street is a major street for the Downtown, Midtown, and East Sacramento areas. The street begins at the Sacramento River in Old Sacramento and extends east for 4.8 miles, until it turns into Fair Oaks Boulevard where it hits the American River. Because J Street contains so many restaurants, bars, shops, galleries, and other destinations it is a popular street that forms a cultural core of many of the sections of town that it passes through, especially in Midtown.

The Convention Center, the Memorial Auditorium, Mercy Hospital, and Sacramento State are all also located on J Street.