The essential source for in-depth travel and relocation information to Napa and Sonoma Counties. Written by a local (and true insider), Insiders' Guide to California's Wine Countryoffers personal guidance to two major wine regions and their environs. Fully revised and updated, this guide contains five maps of the wine country.
A “Seismic Shift” occurred in Santa Rosa politics between 2004 and 2008, putting a progressive majority in power on the City Council for thefirst time ever. Who Rules Santa Rosa describes the defeat of the long-reigning pro-developer political machine and analyzes the underlying political dynamics; and Why It Matters is because who rules on the City Council will decide the path of Santa Rosa’s growth management, social change and environmental sustainability. This thought-provoking book will inform and challenge everyone who has an interest in Santa Rosa’s future and its politics.
This publication was created to inform others of the recent California Wildfires. It focuses on the Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa, California, about 3 years ago, which, at that time was the most destructive Wildfire in California History. The publication is a pictorial record of the devastation caused by the fire. Wildfires were created hundreds of millions of years ago to burn forests so new growth could replace the old. Volcanoes and lighting started the fires. Redwood forests grew to absorb moisture and moisturize dry forest materials to control burning. The beginning pages of the book show how the Sonoma Valley looked before the fire. Then there is a narrative of how the fire grew, followed by a pictorial display of the fire devastation. I believe, having lived in California most of my life, the fire occurred in Santa Rosa, as creation of the Golden Gate bridge resulting in migration of industries from San Francisco to the North Bay. Sleepy small towns became Cities. Santa Rosa grew to 180,000 when the fire hit. Fires such as this can travel 7 miles per hour, and fire tornadoes can strike beyond the fire boundary.
The Santa Rosa Valley, once carpeted in wild oats and littered with acorns from ancient oaks, was home to Pomo and Miwok Indians for thousands of years. The cattle ranches and farms that displaced them in the mid-1800s had already spawned a thriving commercial town named Santa Rosa, the county seat, when the railroad arrived in 1870. That railroad, and the commerce it brought, secured the city's role as the legal and financial nexus of Sonoma County and its most populous city. When many of the downtown buildings collapsed in the famous 1906 earthquake, the community built itself back into a picture-perfect all-American city, the setting for such films as Hitchcock's Shadow of Doubt and Disney's Pollyanna. Another devastating quake in 1969 damaged many structures, but once again that destruction prompted redevelopment and renewed growth for Santa Rosa in the 21st century.
Laurence Oliphant lived one of the most remarkable lives of the Victorian era, dedicated to making a real difference for his fellow man–sometimes in very unconventional ways. At the age of 38, Laurence Oliphant, a successful Victorian writer, diplomat and Member of Parliament gave up his glittering career to join an American cult for a life of hard physical labor and sexual mysticism. Then, in his 50’s, Oliphant along with his beautiful wife Alice le Strange spent their final years working to save refugees by establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Oliphant’s obituary in The Times said of him, "Seldom has there been a more romantic or amply filled career; never, perhaps, a stranger or more apparently contradictory personality."
From the first Rose Carnival in 1864, to the Great Earthquake in 1906, and the building of Highway 101, this book documents the history of Santa Rosa, illuminated in over 200 vintage postcards. Included are postcards of Luther Burbank, horticulturalist and local hero, as well as many views of Fourth Street as it changed and grew with the town.
