What's So Great About Sebastopol?

["Mad" Miles]

Hey Waccies,

This is a question I've been pondering for about six years. And it keeps cropping up on this board, what with all of the people who want to live there/here.

I'm not puzzled about why anyone would want to live in Sonoma County, particularly in the more rural parts. Hey, I'm still here after ten years even though the job market for teachers is tight as a tick and I'm still looking.

I love the climate, the Coastal Chapparal, Redwoods, Oak Savannah. (Vineyard Monoculture? Not so much...)

I like the access to the City, while living in a semi-rural area. I like the suburban vibe in Santa Rosa, even though sometimes I find it a bit sleepy and parochial, but living with trees, wildlife in "the garden spot of the world" (L. Burbank?) compensate for the lack of cutting edge urban center culture. Living in Rincon Valley for three years was very cool, rural but ten minutes to 4th St.

I suppose I'm more content in F'Ville because I'VE GOT MY OWN PLACE!!!!

Sometimes I wish there were more eating out options closer by, but this quasi-blue-collar bedroom community satellite of SR and parts south has a down to earth vibe that might be ruined by more retail food (and other shopping) establishments. And they're coming anyway in the new town "center" development that's slated for the intersection of Mirabel and 116. Besides, I can't afford to eat at most of the places in Sebasto (and everywhere else in this county.)

No, the question is, what's so special about SEBASTOPOL?

(Now that we know how to pronounce it (https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15826). Or not...? At Tod Snider's gig last Wednesday at the Mystic I met two Marinites (Marinitians?) who insisted that it's Sebasto"pool/pall". Is the pronunciation variation a Marin vs. Sonoma thing?)

I lived there (Sebasto, end of Hurlbut Lane, technically just outside the city limits, couldn't vote in the council elections) for my first five years in the county, and found myself spending more and more time in Santa Rosa. My father, brother and youngest niece live there still. I shop at Pacific / née Fiesta, eat semi-regularly at Papas and Pollo, drive though if I'm headed from Forestville to somewhere in or nearby S'pol and then on to Santa Rosa, or if I'm going towards Cotati/RP/Petaluma from F'Ville. (although I try to avoid the intersection of 116 and 12, especially during peak traffic times.)

I'd love to teach at Analy, although ElMo would be a five minute commute, so either one would be a fantasy made manifest.

I go to events at the Community Center regularly and that's where some of the most amazing live music happens in this area. (Celtic Fest, Cumulus Presents, Markus James, SAMM's Harvest Festival, etc., etc.) But lots of people come from towns and areas around Sebasto, one doesn't have to be a S'pudlian to go to the Comm. Ctr.

When I lived in Chicago I mentioned to a patrician woman who lived in the building where I was a hippy security guard that my parents had moved to Sebasto, this was in about 1989-90. She gushed, "Oh Sebastopol!!!! It has such GREAT restaurants!!"

I've lived in or near other haute bourgeois towns: Laguna Beach (SoCA), Hyde Park and Wriggleyville (Chicago, Where I spent a lot of time hanging out in Wicker Park / Bucktown) and have seen them gentrify and become more and more twee, precious and expensive.

By 1993 I was calling Main St. in Laguna the "Rodeo Drive of Orange County" What happened to the funky hippy surfer artist beach town of the sixties and seventies?

Gentrification is happening in much of Sonoma County, particularly in Sebastopol. (But also Graton, Windsor, Healdsburg, Sonoma, east Santa Rosa....)

About eight years ago my brother Ross said that many, many young retro-hippies wanted to move to the West County because it's the only countercultural mecca left.

(retro-hippy is my term, not his - retro because they're/you're too young to have been Ur-Hippies, i.e. Boomers. Another term might be second, third and fourth wave freaks... I could easily be typed as a second wave retro-hippy/freak. To young to be a hippy, too old to be a punk rocker. But all that is another story.)

I doubt that the West County is the last funky cool hangout, as there still are: Berkeley, Boulder, Santa Cruz, Rogers Park (Chicago), Arcata/McKinleyville, Eugene, Vashon Island (Seattle), Austin, Chapel Hill, Athens, Cambridge, Key West, Garden District of NOLA, Lamma Island (Hong Kong) etc., etc.

Oh Yeah, the Green Party majority. I've worked for that. (A lot in 2000, a little off and on since.) But I find the builder's / developers interests dominence on the SR council to be a more significant issue in this area.

Given the regular maligning of the Sebastopol community as "Crunchy Liberal Nutballs" in the letters to the editor of the PD (this ebbs and flows but it happens regularly) is it that people like being the underdog?

("Who you calling Yankee Doodle, Redcoat?" "We're Black, not Negro!" "We're here, we're QUEER and we're not going away!!" You know the drill.)


So what is it? Why so many requests on this board for cheap rentals, places to park trailers, people willing to live in chicken hutches in exchange for gardening and animal care services....? (On the latter option, I exagerate, but only slightly.)

And they all say, "In or near Sebastopol". So, if I haven't already answered my own question, what's the bee's knees about S'Pol?????


Please, I'm anxiously awaiting your replies, public ones preferably.

With an inquiring mind,

"Mad" Miles

:hmmm:

[mykil]

The Mexican Food of course Miles! <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

<o:p></o:p>

I lived in Forestville most of my life and never thought I would ever move, but I alwayz went to Sebastopol no matter for what. Shopping; Restaurants, you name it, I went to Sebastopol. Now that I live here in town, there is really no place I would rather be. The Simplicity of the whole environment is what it is all about, oh and there are a lot of pretty girls too:heart: !!!<o:p></o:p>

[cacatfish]

I really like Sebastopol. I have only been here for about four months, but it seems like a real special place. I guess I have come from opposite most, since I moved down here from Mendocino county (via a short stint in Santa Rosa). There is a certain amount of inexplicable appeal to the place. When I enter the town from East or South, it just feels good. Relaxed and welcoming.

The things I can put my finger on that I like:
the downtown is a place you can just walk around, and people are on the sidewalk, hanging out, at the bookstore, etc. Everyone's not in too much of a hurry to just enjoy the day.
I like the how kids seem comfortable to motor about town on skateboards, walk to coffee-shops, and so on. They seem to be able to enjoy themselves without a lot of friction. When I was growing up in Mendo, it seemed like we were always being hassled for just wanting to enjoy ourselves in the same way. Skating, hanging out, cruising around was grounds to elicit friction from the cops or local merchants. It always seemed like the kids against the "system" and that, combined with nothing much else to do, meant a lot of getting into trouble. We'll walk down to the movies for the late show, and there are lots of people out on the streets, chatting, smoking what have you, and there is a nice lack of the heavy authority presence.
Sebastopol seems like the hub of the west county area. Even though I really like the more westward rural settings, I'm just tired of all the driving. I commute to SR and RP enough, that sometimes I just want to be able to walk or ride a bike.
The groovy factor is still great. Sometimes it is just comedy, but overall it does it for me.
The only downside for me is the expense and gentrification aspect. As it is, the cost of renting here is substantial, Buying a place is quite a ways off if at all. I just hope the character stays the same and doesn't get to precious.

[lynn]

Miles...

I use to like Sebastopol when it was the rancher, hippie, town...Autos, were the rancher trucks, little old cars, and VW vans...And then, quite suddenly...It was mostly BMW's and such...Now, it just seems like another clogged, stuffy, little yuppie town...I don't find a lot of down-to-earth friendly people in Sonoma Co. like there use to be...People are more stuffy, offstandish, more fearful, or just plain rude....It's quite disheartening...It's the result of overpopulation, the illegal situation, and just being selfish and self-centered...and not feeling like you are a part of a community...you just live 'there'...

I figure, maybe, people want to live in Seb...because there is still that open 'pastoral feeling', and that's a nice thing...

Unfortunately, Santa Rosa is ruining it's last rural area, only 5 min. from downtown...The cows are gone...and the hiddeous suburban nightmare is expanding...

[fluteman]

I've been living in Sonoma County for 10+ years, minus a short stint in Arizona and Mendocino County. When I first moved here in 1996, I lived in SR near Julliard Park, which wasn't a place where you could go out at night. One of my first jobs at a broke kid in college was working out in the boonies in Sebastopol, so I got very familiar with the back roads and all of the stores. Here's the long and short of the places that drew me into this community originally:

1. The Flea Market - Even if you don't buy anything, it's just plain fun to look at all the junk for sale! :)

2. Rosemary's Garden - My mother had studied with the original owner back in the early 80s, so this store always has a special meaning to me. I love the herbs and just the general vibe of the store, I've always felt welcome shopping there.

3. Andy's Market - Great place to shop!

4. The theatre/cinema...so much more laid back than the bigger, fancier venues in SR and RP. Much better place to take your date, IMHO!

5. Various other cool places to shop and visit, music stores, bagels, etc etc!

So over the years I've lived mostly in SR and RP, and perhaps just a year total in Sebastopol...but I've always gravitated towards this area. Another reason is that I grew up on the Mendocino Coast...so living here makes it just a short drive to the ocean which is my refuge from the stress of life (you never appreciate a beach more when you move to the desert and find that the closest beach is now 1,000 miles away rather than 20!!!).

All of this being said, at times I do have a like/dislike relationship with this community. I wonder why I almost get killed every morning driving to work (some of the worst drivers I've ever seen live here!)...and another poster is spot on...there is an uncanny influx of yuppies and yippies, and not so many hippies...and plenty of "hippiecrits" that seem to think that enlightenment can be purchased rather than obtained through personal struggle.

And I do sadly remember the days of the late 90's as a college student wanting to live here...and anywhere from 40-100 people showing up to look at a crappy converted barn for 800 dollars a month. I remember once when a family actually rented me a place that 80-90 other people were looking at, and I asked the owner seriously, why the heck did you pick me out of the crowd? Their answer was simple "you were one of the first to show up, and kid, you have an honest face." For the record, I lasted one month there... :hmmm::hmmm::hmmm:

I recall one landlord who charged 30 DOLLARS to receive your application and run a credit report...and I know that she had somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 applicants for her cottage. These people would commonly never return your phone calls and milked us poor saps dry...not to mention the staggering rents that they were charging. I know that business is business, but I also fully believe in karma, so if there is a God, perhaps one day these people will get their just desserts for all of the money that they squeezed out of people trying to eek out a living! Forgive my rant, fellow Waccovians, BUT THOSE PEOPLE ARE AND WERE TOTAL AND COMPLETE MONEY GRUBBING BASTARDS!!!!!! :angry1:

This is a tough place to live for someone graduating college...heck ANYWHERE Is So County is. Any wonder why most of the younger folks aren't staying around here? If you're single without a dual income and don't land a high paying job (rare, but it does happen)...you're going to have a tough time going. My guess is that the previous generation didn't have to face the skyrocketing costs of living, rents and homes...so it could be said best that "we live in interesting times."

So like a bad lover, yes Sebastopol, you've broken my heart here and there, but I still love ya, just the same. :wink:

[nurturetruth]

I have lived in areas of West Sonoma County such as Forestville, Guerneville, and Sebastopol...for about 7 years. 2 of those years were spent trying out Fairfax .

Before this, I lived up near the high sierras/ Yuba River area.

When I was living up near the Yuba River, the town "Sebastopol" kept being made reference to as "a kewl conscious community by the coast where alternative living and hippie vibes were appreciated"

But i must say, I did see more "intentional alternative eco-village conscious communities" within a community up near the Yuba River than ANYWHERE in sebastopol or Sonoma county. If anyone has any information regarding intentional communities in West County (other than Grass Valley Community) , please let me know!!

and I was a bit heart-broken upon moving to Sebastopol that there was not a natural Spring (source of water) .

But there is a distinct vibration Sebastopol does carry that is extremely inviting and enjoyable...that i haven't found anywhere else.

~~ I enjoy the community vibration Sebastopol seems to hold. More people smiling at one another and saying "hi".... than in other places. In other communities... one has to KNOW someone that KNOWS someone in order to be acknowledged and receive a smile in passing.

~~ I greatly enjoy the local art / artists/ musicians . I enjoy the fact that kids can feel comfortable getting their band together and playing reggae music in the park....regardless whether they have an audiance or not.

~~ I also enjoy the flea markets, and all the community events that are available. currently enjoying the new Infusion Tea House .....

~~ I enjoy the fact that it is way more rural than city life and therefore a bit more tolerable. ( I enjoy the backroads. I hardly ever travel 101 to santa rosa or even marin or healdsburg!)

~~ And...the one best thing about Sebastopol...is that it has gotten sooo expensive to rent /own....that it leaves me with no option of living a bit closer to the coast...and therefore...I am not subjected to the strong rural smell of manure being turned (??) that most sebastopolians get a whiff of. (and some may find quite pleasant)

~~ I too love the sebastopol theater better than any other theater i have been to in Sonoma/marin. But until they start serving Organic Popcorn... i will continue to bring my own!