sonoma vs. healdsburg? (San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz: real estate, budget, hotel)

[CAcountrygirl]

Hi everybody,

You may have read my last post about trying to find my new hometown in CA. (I live in Ashland OR now with my partner, and we love it, we're just tired of all the gray.)

We took a trip to Sonoma County and the top two contenders are Sonoma and Healdsburg. I would love to hear the insider's scoop on the culture of these two towns. I'm wondering which one we'd like better.

See what we're looking for below. Both towns seemed like good fits, but when you're only there for a couple hours, it's hard to tell.

A beautiful small city (10,000 - 40,000), with cool historic architecture (i.e. not a bedroom community), a mild climate (no to little snow, no more than 40 inches of rain, LOTS of sun, summers that aren't totally scorching), progessive politics, really good restaurants, people my age (30s), surrounded by natural beauy (rivers and lakes a big plus). Median home price no higher than $500,000.

Believe it or not, median home prices have dropped in both places to fit that bill.

Would love to hear your impressions of each place! And by the way, I know someone is going to suggest Sebastopol, but we went there and it just wasn't cute enough for us. Thanks!

[calif]

This probably isn't very helpful, but both places are very cute. Sonoma seems to be a little more expensive to eat and shop. Healdsburg is closer to the river and 101. Does it matter for your job where you are? I love both downtown areas.

[JakeDog]

Sonoma is a bit more posh, prettier.

[CAcountrygirl]

Bot of us are self-employed. If the man decides to get an office job, he could commute to Santa Rosa, so I think it's a wash either way.

I know that they're both adorable. I guess the real question is: which one would fit us better? Are both towns equally likely to have great restaurants featuring organic, free range meat and local produce? Is it easier to make smart, fun, alternative-type friends in our age group in one place or another? Is one town more likely to have interesting independent films than another? Or a community of artists? Do both of them have an equal sense of community? Which town would be the one where, when you run into someone you know, you end up chatting with them for 20 minutes and then maybe getting ice cream together spontaneously, because the pace of life is just slow there that way and friendships have a high value? Am I creating the picture?

[rubyskye]

Originally Posted by CAcountrygirl

Hi everybody,

You may have read my last post about trying to find my new hometown in CA. (I live in Ashland OR now with my partner, and we love it, we're just tired of all the gray.)

We took a trip to Sonoma County and the top two contenders are Sonoma and Healdsburg. I would love to hear the insider's scoop on the culture of these two towns. I'm wondering which one we'd like better.

See what we're looking for below. Both towns seemed like good fits, but when you're only there for a couple hours, it's hard to tell.

A beautiful small city (10,000 - 40,000), with cool historic architecture (i.e. not a bedroom community), a mild climate (no to little snow, no more than 40 inches of rain, LOTS of sun, summers that aren't totally scorching), progessive politics, really good restaurants, people my age (30s), surrounded by natural beauy (rivers and lakes a big plus). Median home price no higher than $500,000.

Believe it or not, median home prices have dropped in both places to fit that bill.

Would love to hear your impressions of each place! And by the way, I know someone is going to suggest Sebastopol, but we went there and it just wasn't cute enough for us. Thanks!

I won't be of much help but wanted to say that I've posted a couple of questions regarding counties north of Marin county and haven't gotten a great deal of response. I don't think that there are many posters on city-data that are from Sonoma and Mendocino counties.
I'm in Santa Cruz and at times think about moving north because rental prices are so outrageous here.
I've considered Sebastopol as well. I know a couple of people in S.C. that have very good feelings about it.
Anyway, good luck and i look forward to any responses concerning both the towns you've asked about because i've considered them as well.

[cutop]

I was looking into a more affordable option in moving to a city such as Healdburg. Have any of you heard of <a href="http://www.theranchonsodarock.com/">fractional real estate in Sonoma Wine Country</a>? This way people can have the best of both worlds. Country and city life. Spend some of the year in S.F., and some out in Healdsburg. What are your thoughts?

[family first]

It's been 20 years but what I remember of living in the town of Sonoma (few houses down from the square). was that on the weekends the town became a tourist haven! I would literally want to leave town on the weekends to get away from the crowds. If you don't mind the trafic and congestion, it was a pretty town. It's design was perfect small town setting with a centralized square with shops surrounding the center square. Was pricey then and I'm sure it's only gotten worse. One of my favorite things to do was go wine tasting on bicycles. Actually my friends would come visit each weekend and away we went. You could ride in all directions and hit as many wineries as you chose. Don't remember the political feel, but I'm sure it was liberal as is a lot of CA. Oh well, hope this helps.

[prairie guy]

country girl--

I see your quandry, it's a toss up--both have a strong indy film presence, nice architecutre, mild climate, progressive politics, community spirit, and a welcome opportunity to buy some houses relatively cheap!

One criteria I don't think either can meet--both are a little too large for frequent "oh I just ran into you here in town let's go do something" encounters. It will happen, but I think you are envisioning life in much smaller communities.

One difference--both have about the same population within city limits, but Sonoma has a larger "orbit"--the communities strung out to the north in the valley (the Springs area, to Glen Ellen) are home to thousands of people who also indentify themselves "Sonomans" as they share the same high school, local newspaper, and geographic valley; and Sonoma Valley deals with more traffic and tourists; Healdsburg's orbit is smaller with marginally fewer tourists and less in-town traffic.

The trade-off is this: Healdsburg is much more to the north than Sonoma. If you live in Healdsburg, you will not want to drive to San Francisco (if this is in your plans). You have to take Highway 101, which can be a KILLER at any time of day or weekend, as it is perpetually clogged from Novato through Petaluma and Rohnert Park and into Santa Rosa. Hwy 101 is being widened as we speak, but it won't help much.

The drive from Sonoma to SF, however, skirts the worst of Hwy 101 and is at least half the trip time to SF than from Healdsburg. In return, Sonoma has more in-town traffic and the larger "orbit."

Either is a great choice, so snag a house when you can! Hope this helps. Good luck.

[KarlaT2]

Originally Posted by CAcountrygirl

Hi everybody,

You may have read my last post about trying to find my new hometown in CA. (I live in Ashland OR now with my partner, and we love it, we're just tired of all the gray.)

We took a trip to Sonoma County and the top two contenders are Sonoma and Healdsburg. I would love to hear the insider's scoop on the culture of these two towns. I'm wondering which one we'd like better.

See what we're looking for below. Both towns seemed like good fits, but when you're only there for a couple hours, it's hard to tell.

A beautiful small city (10,000 - 40,000), with cool historic architecture (i.e. not a bedroom community), a mild climate (no to little snow, no more than 40 inches of rain, LOTS of sun, summers that aren't totally scorching), progessive politics, really good restaurants, people my age (30s), surrounded by natural beauy (rivers and lakes a big plus). Median home price no higher than $500,000.

Believe it or not, median home prices have dropped in both places to fit that bill.

Would love to hear your impressions of each place! And by the way, I know someone is going to suggest Sebastopol, but we went there and it just wasn't cute enough for us. Thanks!

It sounds like you are looking for same thing I am, with exception that having a grade school age daughter schools are very important.
Anyone have any thoughts on schools in Sonoma area?

[mckinleymorganfield]

Hi, reading your post I noticed nobody who replied seems to live in sonoma or has ever lived in sonoma. As someone who has lived in the town for most of my life (7- present {almost 18}) I figured i would give a little insight. Som ething important that was missing from all of the replies was that the town is really in three parts, west side, east side, and downtown.

The West side is middle to lowerclass and in some areas (Agua Caliente and parts of Boyes Hot Springs) is primarily Hispanic. The Sonoma Mission Inn is right in the Heart of the West Side, but aside from that the west is somewhat run down, rural, and very "un-touristy".

The East side is very much upper-middle to upper class and the streets can look very east coast like (big old trees, old fashioned streetlights, victorian style homes). Many homes in the east side are less than a 10 minute walk to the town square (center of downtown).

Downtown is really the area inbetween the east and west sides. Although there are many houses, downtown is really where all the grocery stores, schools, and everything else is. Downtown is somewhat of a blend between the two sides, but more like the east than the west. The Town Square, with the Cheese Factory, Swiss Hotel, Sabastiani Theatre, and The Mission, is located right in the center of downtown (naturally) and is host of the tuesday night farmers market in the summer and all of the festivals throughout the year. It is also by far the most tourist friendly part of the town.

I also saw someone as about the schools in the area. I have been through elementary, middle, and most of highschool here and although I haven't attended any other schools, i know from talking to cousins and friends that are schools are about average in the north bay. Budget cuts hit the highschool pretty hard, even shutting down the library for a while, and almost cutting after school sports, but the city raised some money somehow i guess because they still have sports and a library.

Some other details are that the east side has a very elitist attitude toward the west side and "the springs" (boyes hot springs, and agua caliente) and the local newspaper reflects that greatly. The paper hardly ever mentions the west side and all of the problems that go with it. I have first hand knowledge of this, but sonoma (the west side) has somewhat of a Meth (Methamphetamine) problem. Every once in a while there is a meth lab fire, or a drug raid and the papers never say a thing. There have also been some gang fights and a high school student was shot and killed last year in a gang related fight. The gangs are small and hardly have a presensce in the town, but because of the great numbers of mexican immigrants to sonoma, there have been issues.

Not to put sonoma down, and not to make it sound like a ghetto (quite the opposite), but it isnt all what it seems. I like that about the town, I think its the one thing that has kept me from killing myself over the last 10 years (did i mention its a small incredibly boring town for teens? ha!).

It is a small town and it has its pro's and con's. I have seen alot of kids become pot heads and alcoholics, and some have turned to harder drugs. Many kids say its because they are bored but i have hung out in santa rosa and that is a much bigger city and kids are way worse over there. Im not saying sonoma corrupts children, but it isnt a nice 1950's community (although you probably didnt assume that).

Im rambling, so i will stop and if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I hoped some of what i said helped and didnt just make the decision much harder by confusing the hell out of you. -ian