Sonoma County and City Fatigue

The mood of California has soured since the presidential election. In the city, especially, the vibe has become toxic; it's like a hostile masculinity has taken hold. Drivers once refrained from honking their horns in San Francisco but now it's all you hear. The road rage is palpable; swearing, fights, the raising of middle fingers — the city has become more crowded, more unequal and less peaceful. I was threatened on the #6 bus for looking gay and meekly tried to calm my assailant down (in retrospect, I'm glad I was cautious because you never know if someone is carrying a weapon, especially after what transpired in left-leaning Portland last week). The belligerent words and actions of the cretin occupying the White House doesn't help matters. We can all agree that America has become even more racist, hateful and deeply divided or maybe it's been that way all along and everyone just feels free to express it more. Beyond the country's troubled spirit, history and politics, we can also look at the growth of metro-areas and see how cities have become victims of their own success. One of my pop culture mentors, the urban-champion Richard Florida, has even penned a mea culpa called "The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class—and What We Can Do About It," in which he tempers some of his earlier pro-city exuberance or at least comes to terms with its downsides. In its pursuit of becoming more livable, has the city become even less livable, because only the very wealthy can afford its trappings? Or have I become older and more cranky, preferring the quiet of the countryside and willing to accept the tedious commute towards the capitalist heart?

So am I ready to flee the city? Sometimes. Even San Francisco, most feminine of all cities has become a little harsh. Is it too late to return to the days when people showed manners and would instead silently judge you for a trespass instead of biting your head off? How many used hypodermic syringes do we have to step over before we admit that the city has a drug problem? 

These are not my musings alone. I've had several friends comment on the stress of the city and quite a few who have sought refuge in the North Bay, relocating to Wine Country. 

So to shake off our urban stress, Mauricio and I made a pilgrimage to Sonoma County over Memorial Day Weekend to see what all the fuss is about.

Where is this place exactly?



For you East-Coasters, Sonoma County is a wine-growing region of the San Francisco Bay Area about 20 to 30 miles north of Fog City. It is just west of the more popular Napa County (and less expensive and uptight too). Santa Rosa is both its largest city and county seat. Nearly 69% of Sonoma County's voters pulled the lever for Hillary Clinton last November and just 22% for her main opponent. There are over 425 wineries in this county of nearly half a million residents. There's even a little gay mecca in woodsy Guerneville, a village on the banks of the Russian River which is located in the western middle of the county.

We acted as tourists in the charming little town of Sonoma where we dined, shopped and took a bike ride. Sonoma has the perfect Mediterranean climate, sunny and in the 60s for most of the year, with a light oceanic breeze that rattles the Sycamore leaves in the early afternoons. The best thing about Sonoma is that it is home to a number of different micro-climates, leading to a festivity of different flora around the region: Palms, Cacti, Cypresses, Coast Redwoods and more. They even host a fair number of Maples and, of course, grapes! They also have one of my favorite trees in abundance: Poplars.

Afterwards, we went antiquing in lovely Petaluma. I found two keepsakes while perusing: a malachite-carved turtle and a depression-era, Fenton, amethyst swan.

The next day we parted ways and I joined a mini-college reunion with some friends who moved to Cotati, a cute town just south of Santa Rosa. We played Cornhole and Wits and Wagers. At night, we bar-hopped, even patronizing a biker bar where we somehow avoided getting our asses kicked (but the possibility itself was half the thrill).

In short, Sonoma awaits our next visit. It's less expensive than San Francisco, less crowded than the East Bay and less techy than the peninsula. Even if we don't end up moving there, at least it broke my 7-month blogger's block.