Old Courthouse Square — Attraction in Santa Rosa

November 1st, 2023. Old courthouse square in Santa Rosa, CA there was the community coming together for Day of the Dead. Day of the Dead is an ancient tradition that dates back to the Aztecs, the 14th century to be exact. Being Aztec is our Mexican peoples ancestral and native roots. It is two days filled of us celebrating our loved ones and remembering the beautiful life they once had. It also believed to that this day the border between the spirit world and the real world dissolves. It is filled with loved ones favorite foods, drinks, and toys. There are candles and gorgeous portraits of each and every deceased soul. It is the two days that the souls of the dead awaken and dance with us. Old courthouse square is the perfect location to have a special celebration such as this. Since it is a public place there are trash cans all around as well as plenty of benches to sit other than the chairs they put out. They installed a couple of porter potty’s for folks to use the restroom. This downtown area is beautiful at night as there is great lighting not only from the lamps, but from the main statue. Great place to have community gatherings.

——————————————————————————

Every Tuesday the Santa Rosa bike community gather in downtown Santa Rosa at Old Courthouse Square. Unless it’s raining of course. Then they all take a bike ride to Sebastopol road to enjoy some fresh tacos on taco Tuesday. They decorate their bikes for all the people to enjoy the show and personality of what the Santa Rosa community can be about and how fun it can be to ride bikes. They welcome all friends and family to chat, make friends, and watch lit up bikes! When I witnessed this they even passed out free warm cider. To the beautiful community of Sonoma county and visitors abroad I recommend stopping at Old Courthouse Square at 6pm...

GARDEN CITY DOUGHNUTS & COFFEE: 1200 4th Street. What a stylish, bright, expansive place to go for a coffee...or tea or hot chocolate...AND scrumptious doughnuts. SO not your Granny's doughnuts that sit in your stomach like a stone for the rest of the day. Airy, light. With weird & wonderful flavors. Bacon & maple doughnuts, coffee flavored doughnuts, more, with locally sourced ingredients, natch. Barista Theo creates his special coffees with a smile. Every one who works there is low key, calm, friendly. They seem to enjoy their work. It's an odd location...on the right side heading west on 4th Street, just outside of downtown. I think it used to be a lamp store. Beautifully laid out. Cool kitchen. You want to while away an afternoon here. But you can't.... because they close at 2:00 in the afternoon. Huh? That's right after lunch. What about my 4:00 slump? Too bad. I've parked (tricky) multiple times and gone up to a closed door. Not enough business to keep it open more? Afternoons are when people NEED their Java & a sweet. And one last thing. WHERE did they come up with the name? On a quick drive by you only see GARDEN CITY. Can I buy tomato plants? Fertilizer? It's not obviously a coffee shop. Change the name, expand the hours. It's a beautiful little shop. Just the kind of au currant place Santa Rosa really needs. We REALLY want you to succeed. We love your business. Just don't sell out of those bacon and maple doughnuts. 😏 Don't know why this posted under Old...

Earth in Upheaval is what you might call this place at the moment. This is also a Work in Progress. The Reunification of the space is coming to completion. It will continue to be a large Public Space owned and maintained by the City of SR, but will it prove to be what the City's Manager/Political Leaders hope/tell us? We shall see. More than $10M in loans were taken out to "improve" this space. Change is good, but not just for the sake of change and because a few building/business owners in the immediate area are crying about how the City doesn't do enough for them... will it prove to be an effective and efficient use of a lot of Tax Dollars. We shall see. I actually like the feel of the light in this space with the older trees that where removed because it lets the Urban/Hard structures show more and not feel so clutter with a good amount of Natural/Green scape still in there to keep it feeling balanced as an Urban Park that it is. I think adding parking and two tiny streets is just silly and completely unnecessary. Too much focus on cars and not on the space. t is also much of the reason for this project. I will miss both fountains that were demolished!!! They were lovely and a favorite reason why I would visit and just sit and watch, take pictures and relax in the space. More as things open...