The best city hikes and walks around Santa Rosa

'Live' size statues of Schulz' famous cartoon characters are sprinkled all over the area.

Free entrance to beautiful 1.6 acres of blooming flowers, demonstration orchards and agricultural crops in this preserved gardens of American Botanist Luther Burbank (March 7, 1849 – April 11, 1926). This pioneer in agricultural science developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. Burbank's varied creations included fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. He developed (but did not create) a spineless cactus (useful for cattle-feed) and the plumcot. Burbank's most successful strains and varieties include the Shasta daisy, the fire poppy (note possible confusion with the California wildflower, Papaver californicum, which is also called a fire poppy), the "July Elberta" peach, the "Santa Rosa" plum, the "Flaming Gold" nectarine, the "Wickson" plum (named after agronomist Edward J. Wickson), the freestone peach, and the white blackberry. A natural genetic variant of the Burbank potato with russet-colored skin later became known as the Russet Burbank potato. This large, brown-skinned, white-fleshed potato has become the world's predominant potato in food processing. The Russet Burbank potato was in fact invented to help with the devastating situation in Ireland during the Irish Potato famine. This particular potato variety was created by Burbank to help "revive the country's leading crop" as it is blight-resistant. The blight is a disease that spread and destroyed potatoes all across Europe but caused extreme chaos in Ireland due to the high dependency on potatoes as a crop by the Irish. http://lutherburbank.org

The Stone Grandfather sculptures were used as boundary markers on Jeju Island in South Korea. The 250 cm statues were given to Santa Rosa by its sister city since 1996, Bukjeju of South Korea, in 2003. In South Korea, Dolhareubang statues like these are placed near village entrances and boundaries.

Quaint park next to the railway station, with restrooms, water, lined by restaurants and several sculptures in honor of Peanuts creator Charles M Schulz

Santa Rosa's Historic Railroad Depot Square has been converted into a restaurant and entertainment district. The former train station houses the visitor center.

Charles M Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, in 1958 moved to Sebastopol, California, where Schulz built his first studio. (Until then, he'd worked at home or in a small rented office room.) It was here that Schulz was interviewed for the unaired television documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Some of the footage was eventually used in a later documentary, Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz. Schulz's father died while visiting him in 1966, the same year Schulz's Sebastopol studio burned down. By 1969, Schulz had moved to Santa Rosa, California, where he lived and worked until his death in 2000. The Charles M. Schulz Museum opened in 2002 in Santa Rosa, across the street from the Charles M Schulz Ice Arena, designed by Schulz as a multi-purpose event center, which opened in 1969. It also housed shows and performances created by Schulz. He loved ice hockey, played actively as a senior, and was often hanging out in the cafe. The Snoopy & Charlie Brown Sculpture was planned in 1998 and placed in 2001 on Historic Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, California http://www.railroadsquare.net Colorful sculptures of Peanuts characters such as Lucy, Woodstock, and others are placed throughout town. http://schulzmuseum.org/visit/schulz-campus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_M._Schulz

These statues, the Stone Grandfathers, were used as boundary markers on Jeju Island in South Korea. The 250 cm statues were given to Santa Rosa by the city of Bukjeju, South Korea in 2003. In South Korean, Dolhareubang statues like these are placed near village entrances and boundaries.  The "Stone Grandfathers" have wry smiles, hands on their bellies and are believed to ward off evil spirits, are hand-cut basalt figures. BACKGROUND • Santa Rosa and Bukjeju of South Korea have been sister cities since 1996. The purpose of the sister cities program is to increase international understanding and foster goodwill and world peace by furthering international communication and exchange at the person-to-person level through city-to-city affiliations. Such exchanges are achieved in a wide variety of cultural, educational, youth, sports, municipal, professional, and economic projects. • The Bukjeju Sister City Committee puts together two exchanges a year, one for the Fire Festival in February and one in the summer for student exchanges. On May 15, 2003, a delegation of Bukjeju County officials unveiled and dedicated two massive Jeju Dolhareubang (stone grandfathers), which now stand together in the grassy portion of Sonoma Avenue Park, facing Santa Rosa City Hall. The year 2006 marked the 10th anniversary of Santa Rosa’s sister city relationship with Bukjeju. Both cities have planned very special projects. Santa Rosa sent a group of Artstart students to paint a mural in Bukjeju in June, and art students from Bukjeju painted a mural in Santa Rosa. Bukjeju, South Korea, gave a basalt statue of “A Woman with Water Jar” as a gift to commemorate the 10 years of a wonderful relationship during Rose Parade on May 20, 2006, and unveiled the statue at 4th Street to replace an old, existing fountain. Costs for installation, including applicable permits, structural and engineering analyses, demolishing and removing existing sculpture, replacing/upgrading site plumbing, creation of new base or elevating current base, transportation and placement of the sculpture, are estimated to be between $15,000 and $30,000.

One of Santa Rosa's oldest parks, the Juilliard Park site was once home to the Juilliard Family.  A 2-story Victorian house stood near the center of the park on Santa Rosa Avenue, and the rest was orchard.  The home was built in 1872 by Charles F. Juilliard, a winemaker. Frederic Juilliard gave the property to the City in 1931 after he moved to New York.  Frederic was the brother of Mrs. Isabella (Mark) McDonald who lived on McDonald Avenue.  Frederic's uncle, August Juilliard, established and endowed the Juilliard School of Music in New York City.  Another of Frederic's brothers, Louis Juilliard, was a State Senator. The park was designed by Oakland landscape architect Howard Gilkey, who grew up in Santa Rosa.  The park was developed in the depression years as a government project.  Its stone bridge, pond and walkway were constructed from rock hauled from the Kenwood quarries. http://srcity.org/departments/recreationandparks/parks/cityparks/listofparks/Pages/JuilliardPark.aspx Highlights:  Live at Juilliard Free Summer Sunday Concert Series http://srcity.org/departments/recreationandparks/programs/specialevents/Pages/LiveatJuilliard.aspx Juilliard Park, 227 Santa Rosa Ave All concerts are Sundays, 5-7pm from End of June to mid August. Since 1993 this FREE concert series brings some of the Bay Area’s finest bands to Juilliard Park. Pack a picnic or purchase food from a tasty vendor. Also in the park: Church of One Tree, Public Art, Playground , Bocce Courts