Journeys›Photograph

An Afternoon Walk Around Sonoma's Plaza

·Sonoma, California·#summer#bay area#architecture#sonoma#walking
Sonoma City Hall, a stone building with arched windows, displays multiple flags beneath a California flag and blue sky.

Drove up to Sonoma for an afternoon walk around the town square — which turns out to be the largest plaza in California, laid out in 1835 by Vallejo himself. This is also where the Bear Flag Revolt happened in 1846, and the whole thing was made a National Historic Landmark back in 1961. So there's a lot packed into a few green blocks.

City Hall sits right in the middle of it, a squat stone building with the same face on all sides, flags of every government that ever claimed the place hanging over one entrance. Ducks were paddling around the little pond nearby, mostly ignoring the tourists.

Worked the perimeter after that. The Sebastiani Theatre's clock tower rises over the east side, and the Ledson Hotel across the way looks a century old until you read the date on the parapet: 1999. Fooled me until I looked up. Finished the loop past the Plaza Bistro and the row of storefronts on the north side, most of them tasting rooms in one form or another. Never made it inside any of them.

A park scene features a pond with ducks, bright green trees, a grassy lawn, and cars with buildings in the background.A tall palm tree rises from a rocky pond, surrounded by green grass, with a tree-lined street and buildings.A light pink building with a clock tower and fountain, framed by dark green trees and blue sky.A building facade with an 'LEDSON HOTEL' sign and 'centre du vin' awning, partially obscured by tree leaves.The brick facade of a hotel features three arched windows, ornate balconies, and "Ledson Hotel" and "centre du vin" signs.Weathered brick building with "The Plaza Bistro" sign, an awning, and a lamppost with a parking sign.

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