A Place That Always Felt Familiar - Bill Blosser
Bill’s Sonoma Journey
This is the second of three stories about Bill’s relationship with Sonoma.
🟩 Passing Through Sonoma - Chapter 1
🟥 A Place That Always Felt Familiar - Chapter 2 (You are reading this story.)
🟦 Giving Back to the Community That Became Home- Chapter 3
Click the story title above to continue Bill’s journey as Bill and Darlinda become part of building the Sonoma community.
A Place That Always Felt Familiar begins below.
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Although Bill Blosser spent most of his adult life in Oregon, Sonoma had been part of his life since childhood. Family trips from Oakland to visit relatives in Willits took him through Sonoma, and the town left a lasting impression. Decades later, after a career in consulting and wine, he found himself building a home in the very place he had admired as a boy. Today he sees Sonoma through a unique lens—as both a longtime observer and a relative newcomer who appreciates the town’s continuity, climate, and enduring appeal.
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My family has roots in Northern California that go back to the 1850s. Although I was born and raised in Oakland, generations of Blossers lived in Willits, where there is still a Blosser Elementary School and a family cemetery that remains an important part of our history. As a child, I often traveled with my parents from Oakland to visit relatives in Willits. Those trips took us through Sonoma, and I remember being charmed by the town even then.
What strikes me today is how little Sonoma’s outward appearance has changed. I’m now eighty years old, and when I look at the Sonoma Plaza, I see much of the same character I remember from sixty or seventy years ago. The square, the park, and the buildings around it created an impression that stayed with me. Sonoma joined places like Healdsburg, St. Helena, and Petaluma as towns that represented the Northern California I loved growing up.
Life eventually took me north. After graduating from Stanford in 1966, my wife and I moved to Portland so she could attend graduate school at Reed College. What began as a temporary move turned into a lifetime. I worked for a consulting firm, later helped start a winery, and spent most of my adult life in Oregon. My parents eventually moved north as well, joining my sisters in Oregon and Washington. Before long, the entire family had relocated.
Many years later, after my divorce, I met Darlinda Parker. One of the first things that attracted me to her was that she lived in Sonoma. Here was someone who lived in the very place I had admired since childhood. There was another coincidence as well. Although Darlinda lived in Sonoma, she had been born and raised in Portland. She had deep roots there, just as I did, and we immediately shared that connection.
Today we divide our time between Oregon and Sonoma, but Sonoma has become our home. We built a house near downtown and immersed ourselves in the community. Over the years we have both served on a variety of nonprofit boards. I currently serve on the boards of La Luz Center and Jack London Park Partners. Darlinda has served with organizations including La Luz, Sonoma Plein Air, and Sonoma Salon. Through that work we have developed a wide circle of friends and become deeply connected to the life of the town.
One thing that surprises me is how stable Sonoma has felt during the years I’ve lived here. Many longtime residents describe dramatic changes over the last fifty years, particularly the growth of tourism and the wine industry. My perspective is different. Most of those transformations happened before I arrived. When I compare Sonoma today to the Sonoma I remember from childhood drives through town, the continuity stands out more than the change.
Because we own a vacation rental, I pay close attention to tourism trends. Apart from the interruption caused by COVID, demand has remained remarkably steady. Many people assume visitors come primarily for wine tasting, and certainly wine is part of Sonoma’s appeal. What surprised me was learning how important destination weddings have become to the local economy. A large percentage of our guests are here for weddings, staying several days and bringing family and friends with them. When you combine weddings, wine country tourism, and family gatherings, it helps explain why Sonoma continues to attract people year after year.
My career in the wine industry also gives me a slightly different perspective. While wine remains an important part of Sonoma’s identity, I see a region that has matured. The explosive growth occurred decades ago. Today the industry faces challenges, just as wineries do in Oregon and around the world. Consumption patterns are changing, and wineries are adapting. But I remain optimistic. Wine is not disappearing. It is simply finding a new balance.
Perhaps that is part of Sonoma’s enduring appeal. The town offers a combination that is increasingly difficult to find: a beautiful setting, a comfortable climate, a historic downtown, world-class wine country, and a genuine sense of community. People come here for weddings, celebrations, vacations, and special occasions, but many of them leave understanding why so many of us choose to stay.
When people ask what I think of Sonoma, my answer is simple. I cannot think of a better place to live in Northern California. The climate is extraordinary. After spending most of my life in Portland, I appreciate being warm and dry much of the year. But it goes beyond weather.
There is something about Sonoma that feels familiar at a deeper level. The quality of the light, the smell of the air, the rhythm of the seasons—they all remind me of the Northern California where I grew up. Those impressions become part of you as a child and stay with you for a lifetime.
In many ways, moving to Sonoma felt less like discovering a new place and more like returning to one that had been waiting for me all along.
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Places can shape us long before we live there.
Bill’s connection to Sonoma began as a child on family trips to Willits. Decades later, those early impressions still influenced where he chose to build a home.
Different generations experience Sonoma differently.
Many longtime residents witnessed Sonoma’s transformation from a quiet agricultural town into an international destination. Bill arrived after much of that change had already occurred, giving him a perspective focused more on continuity than change.
Community involvement creates belonging.
Serving on nonprofit boards and participating in local organizations helped Bill and Darlinda become part of Sonoma’s civic life and build lasting friendships.
The appeal of Sonoma extends beyond wine.
Wine may be Sonoma’s best-known attraction, but weddings, family gatherings, natural beauty, climate, and community all contribute to the town’s enduring popularity.
Home can feel like a return.
After spending most of his adult life in Oregon, Bill found that Sonoma felt familiar in a way he could not fully explain. The landscape, climate, and atmosphere connected him to memories of Northern California and made Sonoma feel like home.
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This story was created from a recorded conversation between Bill Blosser and Don Lundgren as part of the Sonoma Stories project. The conversation was edited for clarity and length while preserving the storyteller’s experiences, reflections, and voice. Sonoma Stories is an ongoing community archive, and storytellers are welcome to update or revise their stories at any time.
