Charlie Brown in Santa Rosa

If you have heard at all about Santa Rosa, California, you probably think of it in terms of Luther Burbank, who gardened here at the turn of the twentieth century. After all, his gardens are still managed as a small but pretty local museum. Or you have heard that this was the real epicenter of the earthquake of 1906 -- because it was a Really Small Town then, the loss of life was less than in San Francisco.

But Santa Rosa's current claim to fame is as the home of Charles Schulz.

Schulz lived here most of his adult life. He based some of his cartoon characters on his childhood friends, and even though the town is a full-sized city (county seat of Sonoma County in fact), it's easily possible to imagine Charlie and Lucy and Linus still playing in one of the many parks.

To help your imagination, a drive through the town reveals Peanuts characters in unexpected places. These photos are from the grounds of the Kaiser Permanente Hospital, but there are others, both here and in Windsor, just a vew miles up the road.