Weekend Visits Led Us to Sonoma - Jim Kent
Jim's Sonoma Journey - I Visited page
This is the first of three stories about Jim's relationship with Sonoma.
🟩 Weekend Visits Led Us to Sonoma - Chapter 1 (You are reading this story.)
🟥 Two Acres and a Back-to-the-Land Dream - Chapter 2
Click the story title above to continue Jim's journey as weekend visits lead to a home and family life in rural Sonoma.
🟦 Taking Sonoma's Young Performers to England - Chapter 3
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Jim Kent was born and raised in Berkeley, but Sonoma became familiar through his parents, who visited on weekends and eventually bought a small place here. Jim and his wife began visiting too. They liked the rural setting, free music in the plaza, and the idea of raising their family somewhere quieter. When Jim’s job with the Oakland Fire Department made the commute possible, those weekend visits began turning into something more.
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My name is Jim Kent, and I was born and raised in Berkeley.
My first connection with Sonoma came through my parents. They used to visit on weekends, and eventually they bought a small place here that they could rent out when they were not using it. That gave them a place to stay when they came to Sonoma and gave the rest of our family a reason to become familiar with the town.
My wife and I began coming here too.
We liked Sonoma. There was free music in the plaza sometimes, and the town had a quiet, rural feeling that was very different from the East Bay. We were also interested in farming and in the back-to-the-land idea that appealed to many people at the time.
Sonoma felt like a place where that kind of life might be possible.
At the time, I worked for the Oakland Fire Department as a fire engine operator. The fire department schedule made living farther away more practical than it would have been for someone commuting five days a week. I only needed to make the trip every third day.
Another Oakland firefighter, Greg Rose, also lived in Sonoma, and the two of us commuted together. Years later, Greg would tell his own Sonoma Story about finding this town and making it home.
What drew my wife and me to Sonoma was not one dramatic event. It was familiarity. We had visited, spent time here, and gradually came to understand what the town offered.
Sonoma was much more rural then. There was not a great deal of organized entertainment, but the plaza, the local shops, the surrounding land, and the pace of life made it an appealing place to spend time.
The town was still centered on the needs of local residents. There was a grocery store on the plaza. Penelope's was a real hardware store where you could buy a few nails and receive a handwritten receipt. A feed store sold grain, ant traps, and agricultural supplies in the area where restaurants and tasting rooms would later appear.
Tourism existed, but it had not yet reshaped the town. Sebastiani was the winery most visitors knew. Gundlach Bundschu opened its winery operation during the years after we arrived. Wine tasting and wine tourism were much smaller parts of Sonoma life than they would later become.
We were looking at Sonoma before it became the destination it is today. What we saw was a small agricultural town where we might own a little land, raise our family, and build a different kind of life.
By 1976, we were ready to stop coming only as visitors.
We bought two acres and made Sonoma home.
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Jim first became familiar with Sonoma through his parents' weekend visits and small rental property.
Jim and his wife were attracted to Sonoma's rural character, plaza activities, and slower pace.
His Oakland Fire Department schedule made a Sonoma-to-Oakland commute practical.
Jim commuted with fellow Oakland firefighter and Sonoma resident Greg Rose.
Repeated visits gradually convinced Jim and his wife that Sonoma could become their home.
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This story was created from a recorded conversation between Jim Kent and Don Lundgren as part of the Sonoma Stories project. The conversation was edited for clarity and length while preserving Jim's experiences, reflections, and voice. Once published, Jim may request changes at any time or ask to have the story removed.
