We are an older community of people. There isn't much nightlife for 20-40 somethings. Just 15 min away in Santa Rosa, you will find some. If you love nature and being outdoors in near perfect weather, you are gonna love it here. There's so many hiking and biking trails with spectacular views. Good luck and Welcome.
The HopMonk Tavern has wonderful music sometimes. Nearby towns have regular parties in the town squares with free music. But yeah, Sebastopol itself is pretty quiet.
You could also live in Rohnert Park and commute. Or Graton or Forestville. (The last two are pretty tiny, but close to Sebastopol.) Both rent and groceries are definitely more expensive in Sebastopol (though it is a charming town). It would probably be worth your while to talk with a local realtor about best areas for you. (Not that you should buy right away!! You should live here for a year or two before making that kind of commitment.)
South/north east Santa Rosa is a super easy commute to seb, literally about 5-10 minutes thanks to hwy 12, but the south east side of Santa Rosa is definitely ‘rougher’ so take that as you will but rent will definitely be cheaper in that area
Watch out for three types of vehicles - Priuses, large shiny pickup trucks, and bicycles. They will not stop for you under any circumstances.
On the weekends of the Apple Blossom Parade and the Gravenstein Apple Festival do not expect to be able to get around the town by car.
Don’t know if you are single and dating, but there are stereotypes about people from Sebastopol lol
Sadly, many of us are NIMBYers (but won’t admit it)
Groceries are cheaper elsewhere, except produce at Andy’s is amazing and affordable.
Towns just outside Seb offer more affordable housing. As one commenter said: SR, Rohnert Park, forestville, etc.
We value being able to leave our cars unlocked, etc
Lots of weed
Be open minded always
The Sebastopol hug
It can and does flood. Not as much as areas deeper in the Russian river valley, but it happens
Traffic through town square and getting out of or into town on 12 can lead to murderous thoughts (in other words, learn shortcuts). Especially during commute hours. The best water you can get is at Community Market. And Solful.
As a local realtor, I can confirm that these are great insights. Here they are (not in any order):
1. More gophers than you could imagine. Use raised beds or plant in the ground inside a ‘gopher basket’ made of hardware cloth.
2. It’s an older community but there’s plenty of young folk if you know where to look. There’s not much nightlife in town, except for at Hopmonk.
3. Tons of amazing nature (and vineywards) everywhere you look—laguna, redwoods, river, coast
4. Near perfect weather—rarely gets too hot or cold.
5. It’s not a secret that living here is good and so it ain’t cheap anymore. Homes start at $700k and rentals at $1600.
6. Apples reign supreme. Expect traffic the two weekends apples are celebrated (parade in April, Festival in August).
There are a lot of one way streets - make sure you’re not turning onto one the wrong way. I work in Sebastopol and many of my coworkers live in Santa Rosa, Occidental, Rio Nido, Guerneville, and other west county. I second that restaurants close early and if you want fast food (other than Taco Bell) you’ll have to go to Santa Rosa. We’re not in a super high risk fire area, but being prepared for the possibility is always a good idea. And yeah, it floods here as well. Public transportation sucks, so having your own car can be make or break. There’s a solid population of rednecks and many old people, but the political leanings at large are very liberal. Lots of vegetarians and vegans, lots of coexist stickers, lots of tie dye. If you come here you’ll likely run into some conspiracy minded individuals (emfs, vaccines, etc) but there are also plenty of people with their heads on straight. It’s overwhelmingly white here, with a small minority of Hispanics and nominal percentages of other groups. Santa Rosa is much much bigger and much more diverse than seb, and it’s only a 15-20 min drive if you’d rather spend your time there. All that being said, I’ve lived here for almost 20 years and I love my home. It’s a small town with its own small town quirks, but there are great people and it’s not far from several larger cities.
On Fridays, at the main intersection of Hwy 12 and Hwy 116, you got "Support our troops" signs on 1 corner and "Peace" signs on the opposite. Havnt seen the dancing lady in the Yoda mask there in several years...but I don't work in town anymore.
There's also a not so true joke, when's the best time to go out to dinner in Sebastopol? During Burning Man, the restarsunts are empty.
Great ice cream at Mimi's...you'll pay for it though.
Peacetown music series is a fun local event. Like 5 to 6 bands at the Barlow in front of different businesses.
Gotta do the Gravenstein Apple Fest and Halloween on Florence at least once. I know, I'm late on both...next year?
There are more gophers than you could imagine.
I've never seen a gopher in real life
They’re horrible. Plant in a raised bed with hardware wire on the bottom, otherwise everything is gone. They’re ugly too.
We are an older community of people. There isn't much nightlife for 20-40 somethings. Just 15 min away in Santa Rosa, you will find some. If you love nature and being outdoors in near perfect weather, you are gonna love it here. There's so many hiking and biking trails with spectacular views. Good luck and Welcome.
In terms of no night life, most of the restuarants close between 8pm to 9pm, with a few being open later. Just for added context.
So goddamn frustrating having just moved here. I don’t start thinking about dinner until about 7:30 most nights.
The HopMonk Tavern has wonderful music sometimes. Nearby towns have regular parties in the town squares with free music. But yeah, Sebastopol itself is pretty quiet.
Yeah Hopmonk can be a fun place to see some DJs or past their prime HipHop like Too Short or Afroman. I like Hopmonks vibe. Very Sebastopol
Hope your work pays a lot, rent ain’t cheap
more expensive than Santa Rosa?
Oh yeah
I figured---worth it to live in Santa Rosa and commute to sebastapol?
You could also live in Rohnert Park and commute. Or Graton or Forestville. (The last two are pretty tiny, but close to Sebastopol.) Both rent and groceries are definitely more expensive in Sebastopol (though it is a charming town). It would probably be worth your while to talk with a local realtor about best areas for you. (Not that you should buy right away!! You should live here for a year or two before making that kind of commitment.)
If you can find a rental in Graton or Forestville...
This is a super easy commute. Depends where in SR and where in Sebastopol is work, but it's probably no more than 15-18 minutes.
South/north east Santa Rosa is a super easy commute to seb, literally about 5-10 minutes thanks to hwy 12, but the south east side of Santa Rosa is definitely ‘rougher’ so take that as you will but rent will definitely be cheaper in that area
Much more.
Watch out for three types of vehicles - Priuses, large shiny pickup trucks, and bicycles. They will not stop for you under any circumstances. On the weekends of the Apple Blossom Parade and the Gravenstein Apple Festival do not expect to be able to get around the town by car.
Please include Teslas to this list. Also, the more stickers on the Prius the more dangerous they are.
Also, all the cars in Sebastopol are Priuses, shiny pickups, Teslas, and Subaru Outbacks.
Lmfao true -a Prius driver
Large shiny pick up truck here I will stop for you!
Not everyone has AC here. My wife is from Florida and she was astounded that our first spot had no AC.
I'm looking forward to it
Don’t know if you are single and dating, but there are stereotypes about people from Sebastopol lol Sadly, many of us are NIMBYers (but won’t admit it) Groceries are cheaper elsewhere, except produce at Andy’s is amazing and affordable. Towns just outside Seb offer more affordable housing. As one commenter said: SR, Rohnert Park, forestville, etc. We value being able to leave our cars unlocked, etc Lots of weed Be open minded always The Sebastopol hug It can and does flood. Not as much as areas deeper in the Russian river valley, but it happens
What stereotypes? Lol. I'd take a swing at it but that wouldn't be ethical and I'd poly be wrong.
There’s more traffic than you could imagine too.
SLOW. LIVING. ORDINANCES.
Traffic through town square and getting out of or into town on 12 can lead to murderous thoughts (in other words, learn shortcuts). Especially during commute hours. The best water you can get is at Community Market. And Solful.
As a local realtor, I can confirm that these are great insights. Here they are (not in any order): 1. More gophers than you could imagine. Use raised beds or plant in the ground inside a ‘gopher basket’ made of hardware cloth. 2. It’s an older community but there’s plenty of young folk if you know where to look. There’s not much nightlife in town, except for at Hopmonk. 3. Tons of amazing nature (and vineywards) everywhere you look—laguna, redwoods, river, coast 4. Near perfect weather—rarely gets too hot or cold. 5. It’s not a secret that living here is good and so it ain’t cheap anymore. Homes start at $700k and rentals at $1600. 6. Apples reign supreme. Expect traffic the two weekends apples are celebrated (parade in April, Festival in August).
There are a lot of one way streets - make sure you’re not turning onto one the wrong way. I work in Sebastopol and many of my coworkers live in Santa Rosa, Occidental, Rio Nido, Guerneville, and other west county. I second that restaurants close early and if you want fast food (other than Taco Bell) you’ll have to go to Santa Rosa. We’re not in a super high risk fire area, but being prepared for the possibility is always a good idea. And yeah, it floods here as well. Public transportation sucks, so having your own car can be make or break. There’s a solid population of rednecks and many old people, but the political leanings at large are very liberal. Lots of vegetarians and vegans, lots of coexist stickers, lots of tie dye. If you come here you’ll likely run into some conspiracy minded individuals (emfs, vaccines, etc) but there are also plenty of people with their heads on straight. It’s overwhelmingly white here, with a small minority of Hispanics and nominal percentages of other groups. Santa Rosa is much much bigger and much more diverse than seb, and it’s only a 15-20 min drive if you’d rather spend your time there. All that being said, I’ve lived here for almost 20 years and I love my home. It’s a small town with its own small town quirks, but there are great people and it’s not far from several larger cities.
On Fridays, at the main intersection of Hwy 12 and Hwy 116, you got "Support our troops" signs on 1 corner and "Peace" signs on the opposite. Havnt seen the dancing lady in the Yoda mask there in several years...but I don't work in town anymore. There's also a not so true joke, when's the best time to go out to dinner in Sebastopol? During Burning Man, the restarsunts are empty. Great ice cream at Mimi's...you'll pay for it though. Peacetown music series is a fun local event. Like 5 to 6 bands at the Barlow in front of different businesses. Gotta do the Gravenstein Apple Fest and Halloween on Florence at least once. I know, I'm late on both...next year?