Rohnert Park, California

Rohnert Park is one of the country’s first planned communities. There’s lots to love and lots to question about planned communities but no matter where you sit on that topic it is hard to take away the amazing location of the city. You’re 50 miles from San Francisco, 20 miles to the ocean, you’re in Sonoma County (one of the great wine counties in the world), and minutes from Napa (another of the great wine counties). You’re also sitting in the center of a magnificent outdoor culture with amazing hiking, biking and camping throughout Marin and Sonoma Counties.

Planned communities that were built in the early cycles of these developments left out city centers. The mistaken assumption was that people were craving suburban lifestyles as an escape from cities. While that may have been true for awhile it turns out that people on the whole really do want a walkable city center, albeit in many cases, a less intense and less expensive one than they may have left. Rohnert Park has massive development plans for a new town center but until then you’ve got to go to Santa Rosa or another neighboring city to experience cultural or nightlife experiences.

As was noted, Rohnert Park is a planned community and so it’s lifestyle is built around suburban family activities. There are plenty of parks including the massive Crane Creek Park which has 128 acres of trails, disc golf, meadows and even cows grazing. There is a big sports culture here (for kids and adults) and facilities like the Rohnert Park Community Center offers sporting fields, fitness classes and community rec programs.

SOMO Village is a fun community space where the city gathers for farmers’ markets, festivals, concert and family events. Finally, the Spreckels Performing Arts Center and Green Music Center, on the campus of Sonoma State, host year-round concerts, plays, musicals and live dance events. Even though the city doesn’t yet have a downtown there’s a lot happening to keep locals busy.