Walk Sonoma Plaza today and the town is still organized around it. Eight acres of lawns, paths, fountains, a pond, and a 1908 Mission Revival City Hall at the center, ringed on all four sides by an unbroken arc of adobe and brick — the same buildings that framed the pueblo when Vallejo laid it out in 1835 and the Bear Flaggers raised their standard in 1846. Mission San Francisco Solano stands on the northeast corner, the Sonoma Barracks beside it; the Bear Flag Monument, a bronze of a Bear Flagger raising the flag dedicated in 1932, marks the spot on the northeast lawn where Todd's flag went up. The Toscano, Swiss, and Sonoma Hotels face the square from the north and west. It is the largest town plaza in California, a National Historic Landmark district — and the only town square in the state where a sovereign republic was ever declared.
Today Sonoma is the historic anchor of California's wine country, a year-round destination organized around the same eight-acre plaza General Vallejo paced out in 1835. Visitors come for the Plaza, the Mission, the Barracks, the Bear Flag Monument and the adobes; for the Sonoma Valley AVA wineries north and east of town pouring Cabernet, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel; for the Valley of the Moon drive up to Glen Ellen; and for the Sonoma Coast a short drive west. Our Sonoma designs gather that identity into wearable form. Explore the collection and carry California's flag with you.
Why People Visit Sonoma California
Sonoma is the rare California town where the state's earliest chapters are still standing on the same square. Visitors come for the Plaza — the largest town plaza in California — and the adobes that ring it. They come for the Bear Flag Monument and the story of the 25-day California Republic. They come for Mission San Francisco Solano, the last of the California missions. They come for Buena Vista and the Sonoma Valley AVA, where California's premium wine country began. And they come because Sonoma is, in the most literal way, where California started.
