I Turned Left and Found Sonoma - Walt
Walt's Sonoma Journey - I Found page
This is the second of three stories about Walt's relationship with Sonoma.
🟩 Fifty Dollars and a Help Wanted Sign - Chapter 1
🟥 I Turned Left and Found Sonoma - Chapter 2 (You are reading this story.)
🟦 Keeping Sonoma Moving - Chapter 3
Click the story title above to continue Walt's journey as his skills as a mechanic lead to his own business and a lasting place in the community.
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Walt discovered Sonoma almost by accident when he turned left instead of right from his Boyes Hot Springs rental. The town reminded him of the small farming community where he had grown up. Sonoma had one stoplight, open fields along Highway 12, and a slower pace than Santa Rosa. A nearby dealership gave him a job, unexpected acts of trust helped him find housing and buy his first home, and Sonoma became the place where he built his life.
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I discovered Sonoma because I turned left one day instead of right.
I had been renting a house in Boyes Hot Springs and thought I lived on the outskirts of Santa Rosa. When I finally drove in the other direction, I realized there was a separate town nearby.
Sonoma immediately felt familiar.
It was a lot like the small farming town where I had grown up. Santa Rosa felt large by comparison. Sonoma had open fields along Highway 12 and, as I remember it, only one stoplight near Safeway.
I felt that I fit in here.
I also discovered that Sonoma had a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership less than half a mile from my house. I wanted to work closer to home, so I got a job there and stayed until the dealership went out of business.
After that, someone from the local Ford dealership asked me to come work for them. I accepted and continued building my life in Sonoma through the work I knew best.
Housing also worked out through a series of unexpected opportunities.
After I had rented the Boyes Hot Springs house for about a year, the owner told me he needed to sell it. He had paid about eleven thousand dollars for the property and believed he could sell it for eighteen thousand. He was amazed that it had increased by seven thousand dollars in one year.
I had been a good renter and never called him to repair anything. If something broke, I fixed it myself.
Because he had to ask me to leave, he arranged for me to rent another house connected with his family on Wood Valley Road. I thought I could never afford to live there, but they offered it to me for the same three hundred dollars a month.
The new place was also close to my work.
Later, I met a man through my auto shop who asked where I lived. When I told him I rented, he said I should buy a house.
I told him I did not have the money.
He replied, "I'll be the bank. You can pay me each month."
That was how I bought my first house.
When I eventually sold it, I used the money to buy a better home. I bought the house where I still live for about ninety thousand dollars in the early 1990s.
I was fortunate to arrive when I did. I could not afford to buy those same properties in Sonoma today.
My arrival had been accidental, but the town gave me opportunities I am not sure I would have found in the place where I grew up.
Sonoma became home because people were willing to take a chance on me, and because I was able to build on each opportunity that came along.
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Walt discovered Sonoma by turning toward town from his Boyes Hot Springs rental.
Sonoma's small-town, agricultural character reminded him of the farming community where he grew up.
A nearby Chrysler-Plymouth dealership allowed Walt to move his work closer to home.
A landlord's family helped Walt find another affordable rental when his first Sonoma Valley home was sold.
A customer offered to finance Walt's first home personally, allowing him to become a homeowner.
Walt believes arriving when he did gave him opportunities that would be difficult to find in Sonoma today.
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This story was created from a recorded conversation between Walt and Don Lundgren as part of the Sonoma Stories project. The conversation was edited for clarity and length while preserving Walt's experiences, reflections, and voice. Once published, Walt may request changes at any time or ask to have the story removed.
