Life in Santa Rosa? (San Francisco, Sunnyvale: crime, how much, home)

[kaymarie4201]

Hi everyone! I'm a small town girl looking to make a move soon. I'm looking attend a nutrition school whose locations are in Penngrove, Boulder and other CA locations.

I will be 20 (almost 21) when I move and am curious what you think life would be like for someone like me moving to a place like Santa Cruz. I do not know anyone out there but am looking for an adventure in life and trying to find my place.

I've been looking up information on the city and it looks beautiful and safe for the most part. If I came here I would commute to school once a week (Penngrove is way to small for my taste). My town is very small but I do visit Erie, PA (100,000 people appx.) and truly desire life in a bigger place with more diversity.

I'm very much into fitness and holistic health (I'm also considering going to Boulder, CO). The only problem I see with Boulder is the lack of diversity and size. I'm a professional hoop dancer and perform and teach, in Boulder there is not so much opportunity, would Santa Rosa be any different?

I think Santa Rosa sounds like a great place but would it be a place someone in my situation could enjoy living in for 1-2 years?

[cre8lite]

Santa Rosa is quite diverse - everything from cowboys to yuppies & everything in between. I was born & raised there, left about 8 yrs ago & still visit family/friends in the area.

Stay away from Roseland area, as it can be a little....rough. The south end of SR is farmland; the east side is rich; the west is a mixture of farms & middle class; the north is mostly more middle class.

Traffic on 101 can be nasty, so if you're going to school in Penngrove you might want Rohnert Park/Cotati area as your home base. You don't want to live on the north side of SR & commute to Penngrove each day. You can hardly tell where RP, Cotati & SR stop/start.

Traditionally the rains start in November & don't stop until...April-ish. This year the rains didn't start when they normally do.

There's plenty to see/do in Sonoma County & plenty of places to live. Just depends on how much you want to spend; how far you want to drive; etc.

[katnip kid]

What is the situation regarding fog in Santa Rosa? Is there dense fog that is difficult to drive through?

[OwlKaMyst]

Penngrove as a town is small, but if there were not signs expressing town size and boundaries, it would seem to be part of a city. Cotati, just north of Penngrove is a college town. Santa Rosa is a nice area, you can be in town or off to the side where it is more quiet and still be in Santa Rosa.
I agree the traffic can be an issue- especially weekdays between 7am and 7pm, but there are pockets of time when it moves at a decent speed. When I lived down there, at certain times of day I would drive through town rather than 101 because of the traffic.
As a hoop dance instructor, you might do quite well. There are aerial acrobatic schools in the area, I see the two appealing to the same kinds of people.
Overall- look at Santa Rosa as the 'activities center'. As for a place to live, other towns are so close that your home does not have to technically be in Santa Rosa. There are many little surrounding towns that are minutes from SR.

Santa Rosa does not really get fog like San Francisco. There are some foggy mornings and one would want to drive slower and carefully but it is not a regular thing that makes it an issue.

[chuckmann]

Originally Posted by katnip kid

What is the situation regarding fog in Santa Rosa? Is there dense fog that is difficult to drive through?

not that I have ever experienced

[chuckmann]

Originally Posted by kaymarie4201

Hi everyone! I'm a small town girl looking to make a move soon. I'm looking attend a nutrition school whose locations are in Penngrove, Boulder and other CA locations.

I will be 20 (almost 21) when I move and am curious what you think life would be like for someone like me moving to a place like Santa Cruz. I do not know anyone out there but am looking for an adventure in life and trying to find my place.

I've been looking up information on the city and it looks beautiful and safe for the most part. If I came here I would commute to school once a week (Penngrove is way to small for my taste). My town is very small but I do visit Erie, PA (100,000 people appx.) and truly desire life in a bigger place with more diversity.

I'm very much into fitness and holistic health (I'm also considering going to Boulder, CO). The only problem I see with Boulder is the lack of diversity and size. I'm a professional hoop dancer and perform and teach, in Boulder there is not so much opportunity, would Santa Rosa be any different?

I think Santa Rosa sounds like a great place but would it be a place someone in my situation could enjoy living in for 1-2 years?

Santa Rosa, to me, has that "small town" atmosphere that I remember from my youth (I grew up in the Palo Alto Sunnyvale area in the 50's. 60's. and even 70's) My oldest son is "really IN" to natural foods and he learned a lot while in this area (he is now in Hawaii Big Island pursuing his dreams).

I think that SR is in interesting place. As a photographer, I find many opportunities for the kind of art I am looking for to be found in the area.

In the end, even in the largest cities, there are many "small town" neighborhoods to be enjoyed. It is all up to you. Dont let the forest interfere with your enjoyment of the trees

Best wishes.

[sequoias]

Santa Rosa is a pretty good town to live in as long you can afford it. The crime overall is low but stay away from Roseland area for the most part. I lived there for a long time before I left California in 2000.

You can look into Cotati, Sebastopol, Penngrove and other smaller towns if you want to. Sonoma State University is in Penngrove and Santa Rosa Junior College in north of downtown Santa Rosa and in Petaluma (satellite campus) Whatever you take have available at either college. These are the major higher education in Sonoma County.

[cre8lite]

Originally Posted by katnip kid

What is the situation regarding fog in Santa Rosa? Is there dense fog that is difficult to drive through?

i call this "booney fog", cuz you're likely to encounter it while driving in the boonies you'll drive thru this kinda fog late night/early monring in the more remote areas. i've never seen it on the major roads or 101, it's always the back roads. it's not difficult to drive thru, just slow down & pay attention to the road & you'll be fine.

[lrmsd]

I've lived in both Boulder and SR. Boulder is not diverse in terms of race, but it is a renowned university town (CU-Boulder is the flagship Univ. in the state) and has world class research centers and employment opportunities employing people from around the world. It's pretty cosmopolitan and sophisticated in terms of what it offers, plus it's more compact than SR with easy biking instead of car, and very visible holistic options. Sonoma county of course is very holistic; it gets sometimes overshadowed in recent years by the wine industry and has less of that organic/crunchy vibe than in the past. Still a beautiful place, but not the same type of vibrancy that a large college town/city like Boulder has. Boulder is more yuppie now than hippie, though people always refer to it as 'that hippie place'. You really need to drive up the mountain 30 minutes from boulder and visit nederland, to find that kind of community now. Boulder and SR both have great restaurant options. Boulder is more accessible-it has good bus service plus the biking and compact nature, as mentioned. Sonoma has great restaurants all around-healdsburg has some fantastic choices, sonoma city, sebastopol, plus marin in a short drive.

It's hard to describe the differences, b/c they are just very different places. Incidentally, I prefer sonoma b/c of the weather, greenery (Boulder is VERY dry, brown (seriously, people do not always expect the brown and do not like it), access to redwoods and being in the bay area, plus I like the vibe, but I think Boulder wins on some of its amenities and infrastructure, as far as a livable city. Also, boulder has a food co op and more old-school holistic stuff, plus is a center for a number of alternative therapies, has an acupuncture college [my spouse attended, actually, and I have done holistic trainings in both the north bay and boulder, coincidentally] and more amenities concentrated in the city.

I'm surprised you did not find hoop dancing options in boulder. Denver is less than an hour away, btw. Both are similar, b/c SR is a little over an hour to SFO, plus Marin county is at your doorstep, as is Mendocino.

I know this post is a couple of months old, but for the OP, if still looking: I recommend probably Boulder for you, based on your desire to have adventure and a new lifestyle. It is full of people in your demographic, including many who also move just for a couple of years.

Otherwise, if you'd like additional sonoma county options: Look at Petaluma [great downtown, nice sized small city, more charm than SR, lots of young people and adjancent to Penngrove] and Sebastopol [the 'original' old school crunchy town. It's now got a good mix of artists, holistic practitioners, some apple orchards left from Sonoma county's agriculture past, etc. Plus, it's not far from SR. Either place would probably give you enough activity and enjoyment. By the way, Sonoma county isn't very 'diverse' either, depending on your definition of diverse.

Enjoy your time!