Most people walk past the sign without thinking about it. Juilliard Park — like the conservatory in New York, the one that turns out cellists and Broadway leads.
It is, in fact, the same family. And the man this Santa Rosa park is named for wasn’t a musician at all. He made wine.
According to the City of Santa Rosa’s own records, the two-story Victorian house that once stood at the center of this park was built in 1872 by Charles F. Juilliard, a winemaker. That’s the whole reason a nine-acre lawn in the middle of downtown Santa Rosa carries one of the most famous names in American music. It started with an orchard, a hardware business, and a wine venture in Sebastopol.
If you’re coming to Sonoma County for wine, this is a better first stop than it sounds. Here’s what’s actually here, when to come, and how to build a genuinely good half-day around it.
What and where it is
Juilliard Park sits at 227 Santa Rosa Avenue, a few blocks south of Old Courthouse Square and directly across Santa Rosa Avenue from the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens. It’s roughly nine acres — one of the oldest parks in the city — and it anchors the south edge of downtown.
What you’ll find on the ground:
- Wide open lawn, the kind you can put a blanket on without negotiating for space
- A redwood grove at the north end, cool and dim even in August
- The Church of One Tree, a Gothic Revival chapel built in 1873 from the lumber of a single redwood felled near Guerneville — Robert Ripley, a Santa Rosa native, made it famous in an early Believe It or Not! cartoon
- A stone bridge over the creek channel, built in the 1930s from rock hauled down from the Kenwood quarries
- Playground, picnic tables (first come, first served), community garden, and public art
The park is also the gateway to SOFA, Santa Rosa’s South of A Street arts district, and it’s a short walk along the Prince Memorial Greenway to Railroad Square. That geography matters more than the park itself, which we’ll get to.
The winemaker behind the name
Charles Frederic Juilliard was born in France in 1825 and came to the United States as a boy. His parents were French Protestants from Burgundy; his father was a shoemaker. Somewhere on that Atlantic crossing — or shortly after landing, depending on which account you trust — Charles’s younger brother Augustus was born.
Charles came west during the Gold Rush, married in Sacramento in 1858, and by 1872 had landed in Santa Rosa, where he bought 14 acres just across Santa Rosa Creek from downtown. He built the house, planted the orchard, ran a hardware business on the square, and got into wine in Sebastopol.
Augustus went the other direction. He built a textile fortune in New York, served as president of the Metropolitan Opera, and left the bulk of his estate to the advancement of music in America. His trustees founded the Juilliard Foundation in 1920 and The Juilliard School in 1924.
The link back to Santa Rosa runs through Charles’s son. Frederic Augustus Juilliard — born in San Leandro, educated at Berkeley — went to New York to work for his uncle Augustus and inherited the business when Augustus died in 1919. In 1931, Frederic donated the family’s Santa Rosa home site to the city.
The park you walk through today was designed by Oakland landscape architect Howard Gilkey and built out during the Depression as a public works project. So: a Gold Rush emigrant’s orchard, a wine venture in Sebastopol, a textile fortune that became a conservatory, and a Depression-era work crew. That’s a lot of American history for nine acres of lawn.
Want to taste where the story continues? Sonoma County has more than 470 tasting rooms, and you can filter them by city, AVA, varietal, and reservation policy. Browse Sonoma wineries →
Sunday evenings, July through August
If you can time your visit, come on a Sunday in mid-to-late summer.
Live at Juilliard is a free concert series that’s been running since 1994 — its 31st season in 2026. Shows run 5 to 7 p.m. on Sundays on the park lawn, with food vendors on site. The 2026 season runs July 12 through August 16, and the remaining dates as of publication are:
- July 26 — Gas Money (rock and Motown)
- August 2 — Michelle Lambert (pop)
- August 9 — Dennis Johnson & The Revelators (blues/rock)
- August 16 — Jimbo Scott & Yesterday’s Biscuits (Americana)
Beer and wine are sold at the concerts, with proceeds going to The Lost Church, a Sonoma County nonprofit that runs live performance spaces. Bring a low chair or a blanket; the lawn fills in by about 5:30.
Two other downtown events overlap and are worth knowing about. The Wednesday Night Market takes over Courthouse Square from 5 to 9:30 p.m., May 13 through August 12 in 2026 — a ten-minute walk north. And the SOFA district opens its studios on First Fridays, which starts a block from the park’s south side.
The rule that catches wine drinkers out
This is the part no other guide to Juilliard Park will tell you, and it matters if you’re carrying a bottle.
Santa Rosa classifies Juilliard Park as a neighborhood park. Under city rules, alcohol in a neighborhood park is allowed by permit only, and only for events that are open to the public. That’s why beer and wine are legally sold at Live at Juilliard — the event holds a permit — and why bringing your own bottle to a picnic on an ordinary Tuesday is not the same thing.
Separately, and this one applies everywhere: glass beverage containers are prohibited in every City of Santa Rosa park and playground. No exceptions for a nice bottle of Pinot.
The practical read: treat Juilliard Park as the place you walk to and from a tasting, not the place you drink. Buy your bottle, take it back to your hotel or picnic somewhere it’s permitted, and let the park be what it’s good at — shade, grass, live music, and a hundred and fifty years of story. City rules can change, so it’s worth a glance at the Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks page before you plan around them.
Where to taste within a short walk
Here’s why the park is a smart anchor for a wine day: you can leave your car once. Everything below is inside a ten-minute walk of the park lawn.
About five minutes north, toward Courthouse Square:
- Enology Wine Bar and Lounge — inside the 1906 Beaux-Arts Hotel E on Old Courthouse Square, pouring Sonoma and Napa wines by the glass alongside local beer. Roughly a third of a mile.
- Wilibees Wines & Spirits — a locally owned bottle shop with a serious wine bar attached: two dozen-plus wines on tap and rotating by-the-glass flights.
About seven to eight minutes northwest, in Railroad Square:
- 4th Street Cellars — a restored 1913 storefront in the historic Railroad Square district, serving as the tasting room for the Bambury family’s wines.
- Bonneau Wines — third-generation grower and winemaker John Bambury’s flagship label, a few doors down. His grandparents planted vines in Sonoma Carneros a century ago.
- Stonemason Cellars — a boutique producer working with Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, and Dry Creek fruit out of a small downtown space.
That’s five genuinely different experiences — hotel wine bar, bottle shop, family tasting room, grower-producer, small-lot boutique — without moving your car. For a region where most tasting requires a designated driver and twenty minutes of country road between stops, that’s unusual.
Hours and reservation policies change, especially in shoulder season. Check current listings before you go.
Not sure which of those five suits you? The Wine Concierge asks a few questions about what you like and hands back a short, specific list instead of a page of options. Try the Wine Concierge →
A half-day you can actually walk
Here’s the version we’d recommend to a friend, built for a Sunday in late July or August.
3:00 p.m. — Park first, briefly. Ten minutes in the redwood grove and a lap past the Church of One Tree. You want the context before the wine, not after.
3:20 p.m. — Luther Burbank Home & Gardens. Directly across Santa Rosa Avenue. The gardens are free to walk; house tours are seasonal and ticketed. Twenty minutes is plenty unless you’re a plant person, in which case budget an hour.
4:00 p.m. — One tasting, not three. Walk north to Railroad Square and pick one of 4th Street Cellars, Bonneau, or Stonemason. One focused tasting beats three rushed ones, and you’re on foot, which changes the math on how much you can responsibly enjoy.
5:00 p.m. — Back to the park for the concert. Grab something from a food vendor, find a spot on the lawn, and stay through the second set.
7:00 p.m. — Dinner downtown. Courthouse Square and the surrounding blocks are a five-minute walk, and by then you’ve earned it.
That’s four hours, one parking space, and zero driving between wine stops.
Practical notes
Parking. There’s street parking along Santa Rosa Avenue and Sonoma Avenue, and downtown garages within a few blocks. Concert Sundays and market Wednesdays fill the closest spots — arrive 30 minutes early or park north and walk down.
Dogs. Leashed dogs are welcome on the lawn. Check posted signage for any restrictions during permitted events.
Restrooms. Available in the park, and reliably open during permitted events. Courthouse Square and downtown businesses are the backup.
Shade and timing. The redwood grove is genuinely cool on a hot afternoon, which matters in July and August when Santa Rosa regularly runs into the 90s. Morning and late afternoon are the comfortable windows.
An honest note. This is a downtown city park in a mid-sized city, not a private estate lawn. It’s well-used, it’s lively, and like most central urban parks it rewards ordinary situational awareness — especially in the more secluded corners of the redwood grove, and especially after dark. During daylight and during events, it’s busy and easy.
Planning the rest of the trip
If Juilliard Park is your starting point, the natural next moves are west into Russian River Valley (25 minutes to Forestville), north to Healdsburg and Dry Creek Valley (20 minutes), or south into Sonoma Valley and Carneros (35 minutes). All three are day trips from a downtown Santa Rosa base.
A few ways we can help with that:
- Build a custom itinerary → — add tasting rooms, sequence your stops, and get a driving route
- Browse gifts for wine lovers → — for the person who already owns three corkscrews
- Get the newsletter → — one email, what’s opening, what’s pouring, what’s worth the drive
Frequently asked questions
Where is Juilliard Park in Santa Rosa, California?
Juilliard Park is at 227 Santa Rosa Avenue in downtown Santa Rosa, California, a few blocks south of Old Courthouse Square and directly across Santa Rosa Avenue from the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens. It covers roughly nine acres and is one of the city’s oldest parks.
Why is it called Juilliard Park — is it connected to The Juilliard School?
Yes, through family. The park is named for Charles F. Juilliard, a winemaker who built his home on the site in 1872. His younger brother, Augustus D. Juilliard, made a textile fortune in New York and left his estate to the advancement of music; his trustees founded The Juilliard School in 1924. Charles’s son Frederic donated the Santa Rosa property to the city in 1931.
Can you drink wine in Juilliard Park?
Not on your own. Santa Rosa classifies Juilliard Park as a neighborhood park, where alcohol is permitted only under a city permit and only at events open to the public — which is why beer and wine are sold at the Live at Juilliard concerts. Glass beverage containers are prohibited in all Santa Rosa city parks regardless. Confirm current rules with Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks before planning around them.
When is the Live at Juilliard concert series?
Live at Juilliard runs on Sunday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. during mid-summer. The 2026 season runs July 12 through August 16 on the Juilliard Park lawn. Admission is free, food vendors are on site, and 2026 marks the series’ 31st year.
Are there tasting rooms near Juilliard Park?
Several, all walkable. Enology Wine Bar and Wilibees Wines & Spirits are about a third of a mile north near Courthouse Square. 4th Street Cellars, Bonneau Wines, and Stonemason Cellars are in and around Railroad Square, roughly a ten-minute walk northwest. That makes downtown Santa Rosa one of the few places in Sonoma County where you can taste at several producers without driving between them.
Juilliard Park won’t be the reason you drive to Sonoma County. But it’s a good reason to start your trip in downtown Santa Rosa rather than blowing through it on Highway 101 — and it’s a reminder that the wine story here is older and stranger than most itineraries let on.
Ready to plan the rest? Browse all Sonoma County tasting rooms — filter by city, AVA, varietal, and whether they take walk-ins.