Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HOTEL LA ROSE
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The earliest known inhabitants of Santa Rosa were the Pomo, Miwok, and Wappo Indians. They
were displaced by the Spanish, who occupied much of present-day California in the early 1800s and
made a number of land grants to encourage settlers. The first land grant in this area was given to
the mother-in-law of General Vallejo, who commanded the Mexican forces north of the Presidio in
San Francisco. Señora Maria Ignacia Lopez de Carrillo named her home Rancho Cabeza de Santa
Rosa, or Ranch of the Santa Rosa.
Local legend says that Father Juan Amorosa was performing a baptism on the day of the Feast
of Santa Rosa de Lima in the river, and so named the local river after this saint. Once the name
stuck, it was also applied to the valley, and then later the town that grew. To support her ranch,
Señora Carrillo built an adobe structure near the junction of the Indian trading routes. The ruins
still stand today near the present-day Farmer's Lane and Highway 12, adjacent to Street Eugene's
Church. The gold rush brought many people to the surrounding area, but quite a few of them real-
ized they would probably never get rich in mining, and elected to farm the fertile valley instead.
Several enterprising businesspeople rented the Carrillo Adobe in the 1850s, opening a general
goods store. To attract settlers and customers, they plotted out a town and sold lots for $25 each.
Santa Rosa was born and, in 1868, the State of California officially recognized it.
The arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1870 and the Santa Rosa & Carquinez Rail-
road in 1887 assured the new town's success. After a fire destroyed the original stationhouse in
1903, it was replaced with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad depot. Still standing, the depot has
been used as a site for scenes in movies such as Alfred Hitchcock's
Shadow of a Doubt
and
Cheaper
by the Dozen
.
The same stonemasons who constructed the new train depot built the Hotel La Rose across
the street. They are credited with building a number of other buildings in the area, most fa-
mously, Jack London's Wolf House. Basalt blocks for these buildings were quarried from hills to
the east of the city.
When built a century ago in 1907, the Hotel La Rose cost $35,000 and had 40 rooms and a bar.
The hotel was so popular that, during Prohibition, the hotel's bar continued to serve red wine, pro-
duced in copious quantities in Sonoma County. A local constable was almost tarred and feathered
for trying to shut down the hotel's bar.
