{"id":358,"date":"2016-08-30T20:55:30","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T20:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=358"},"modified":"2016-08-30T20:57:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T20:57:48","slug":"railroad-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=358","title":{"rendered":"Railroad Square"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonoma and Healdsburg, in Sonoma County, are dissimilar in many ways but they have one feature that is very similar.\u00a0 They each have a major town square, with inviting leafy parks that are the focal points of each town.\u00a0 Today they are surrounded by restaurants, tasting rooms, galleries and boutiques that announce that these are towns for people who have made it, who have the means to live the good life in Wine Country.\u00a0 As a visitor, you know that there is money there.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another place in Sonoma County that also has a lot of history, with shops and restaurants too, but this place says something else: \u201cI remember the old days, before Sonoma County became fashionable\u201d.\u00a0 That place is Railroad Square in Santa Rosa.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually a formally designated Historic District, and we like to think that that\u2019s not so much because anything terribly historic ever happened there, but because it has retained its roots.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a railroad station of course, but no railroads anymore.\u00a0 However, the Web (http:\/\/www.railroadsquare.net\/<\/a>) says that there will be light rail trains stopping there again, beginning in the fall of 2016.\u00a0 Trains notwithstanding, this is a section of town to be seen as a pedestrian.\u00a0 No matter where you\u2019re from, you get the sense that you\u2019ve been here before, and that you\u2019re welcome back.<\/p>\n

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\"railroad<\/a><\/p>\n

The old Santa Rosa station in Railroad Square (photo courtesy of City-Data.com)<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s the old Hotel La Rose that\u2019s been there since 1907.\u00a0 It\u2019s the kind of railroad hotel that, in the movies, the new sheriff stayed in while the schoolmarm fixed him up a place of his own.\u00a0 To be honest, we\u2019ve never stayed at the La Rose.\u00a0 You can\u2019t use frequent flyer points there, alas.\u00a0 But it is awfully pretty to look at.<\/p>\n

Up the street is a favorite restaurant of ours, Lococo\u2019s.\u00a0 It\u2019s a little Italian trattoria with red and white checkered napkins and with real Italians working in it.\u00a0 The food is good, the prices are reasonable and the charm comes free.\u00a0 Like we said, it\u2019s homey.<\/p>\n

Further up the street is Jackson\u2019s, the latest establishment to occupy that corner spot.\u00a0 It\u2019s changed hands and cuisines every few years and right now it\u2019s a frank and honest bar.\u00a0 Oh, you can get food there, too, but it\u2019s really the spot for a cold beer or a local wine, preferably on a hot summer evening.\u00a0 With each change of ownership, the new proprietors have been smart enough to keep the art deco cabinetry that once again provides historic continuity.<\/p>\n

Another good part of Railroad Square is\u00a0the coffee shops.\u00a0 Whenever we\u2019re in Santa Rosa, which is pretty often, we get our morning joe (well, actually latte) at one of two places.\u00a0 The Flying Goat is newly renovated, with black and white tiles and a lot of sunshine pouring in, a very modern look. \u00a0On the other side of the square, there\u2019s A\u2019Roma Roasters with its rustic style, little wooden tables and stools, old posters on the walls and a long row of dispensers of coffee beans, which they sell at retail. It smells of breakfast when you enter. \u00a0Both\u00a0have a few tables outside where you can enjoy your coffee and watch the crowd.<\/p>\n

The choice of coffee shops is a deeply personal one, but both of these offer the same thing: they\u2019ve been there a long time, they\u2019ll be there a long time and you\u2019ll feel welcome whenever you get there.\u00a0 Sure, there are tourists planning their wine tasting days (isn\u2019t that what you\u2019ll be doing too?) but there are a lot of locals as well.\u00a0 It\u2019s not infrequent that people will ask where you\u2019re from, what you\u2019re doing in Santa Rosa and ask how you found this particular place for a cup of coffee.\u00a0 Just tell them you\u2019re coming home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonoma and Healdsburg, in Sonoma County, are dissimilar in many ways but they have one feature that is very similar.\u00a0 They each have a major town square, with inviting leafy parks that are the focal points of each town.\u00a0 Today they are surrounded by restaurants, tasting rooms, galleries and boutiques that announce that these are … Continue reading Railroad Square<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":362,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions\/362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}