Railroad Square

Since I get no steps for Pilates, I  bought more time on my parking meter after class so that I could take a walk around Railroad Square, the historic district of Santa Rosa. It is aggravating to wait for the parking slip to put on the dashboard while, according to the digital readout on the machine, it is "CONTACTING BANK FOR AUTHORIZATION". Really? for a $1.25 charge to my credit card? But I digress….

Railroad Square really is the historic heart of the city. The tracks are still there, and the old stone train station, but the trains no longer run, and the train depot has been repurposed to a visitors' center. Other stone buildings have become restaurants and coffee places…lots of coffee places. My favorite is Flying Goat Coffee which occupies a large, bright, newly remodeled space in an old stone building next to the tracks with a sign at the top that says "Western Hotel". It is interesting to me that most of the railroad associated buildings in the square are made of what I assume is a local, dark grey volcanic stone. I have seen similar buildings here and there all over town, mainly in parks or other civic sites. 

My curiosity about these buildings led me to look up the history of Railroad Square. Originally it was known as "Little Italy" for the Italian immigrants who came to the city in search of jobs on the railroad and on nearby farms. Among the early settlers were four talented stonemasons who were responsible for building these impressive basalt stone buildings between 1903 and 19007. It is interesting to note that during the great San Francisco quake of April, 1906, there was more per capita damage in Santa Rosa than there was in San Francisco, and it was these stone buildings that were among the seven left standing in Railroad Square.


Pleased to learn that Santa Rosa does have an interesting history, I walked back toward my car past the Redwood Gospel Mission, a community which ministers to the needy with a busy soup kitchen and outreach and rehab programs, which we have supported with many donations of furniture and clothing, and the Hotel Oiiver, now an upmarket restaurant. It is an interesting area, with many photo ops, including an absolutely gorgeous tall black man with a beautiful tattoo in Flying Goat Coffee…but I was too intimidated to ask him if I could take his picture. But again I digress….