Were you devastated like my daughter and I, when the pottery studio in Santa Rosa closed? Well, no…read moreneed to be sad anymore!!! 'Create it!' is the new place to go! The prices are a little higher than I remember from the pottery studio but the pieces are cooler, and the owner is amazing. She gave us just enough advice to take our piece from homemade trinket to amazing one of a kind piece of art. There are sample pieces all over the studio giving you great ideas when your mind isn't into creating (but your kid is.) Wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

The place was absolutely PACKED on this Sunday in August! Every table was full of artists ranging…read morefrom kids to seniors. I LOVED IT!! On this day alone, I witnessed a birthday party, a sweet date, friend groups, families, and solo painters. The choice of products ranged as well, giving many items to choose between and even included holiday options. I'm NOT an artist so honestly, felt a bit anxious making those first colorful paint strokes on my coffee mug. I mostly settled into the experience knowing there was no turning back now! An hour and half later, I handed over my creation and a couple weeks later, VOILA. A reminder of this fun afternoon! (the less glowy stuff) I never got a call about my item. I only knew it was ready because others in my group were posting pics of their final products. When I did call, they couldn't find my slip so it became a hunt based on my description. I don't know what would've happened if I didn't have pics from the day I was there. Also, not sure *I* think it was worth $44 for a coffee mug BUT the group experience + final product makes me glad to have been introduced to Create It. I would both recommend and return.

This place is the best! The owners are incredible people who, in the wake of recent fires, have…read moreoffered so much help to the local community all while almost losing their own home! That's what amazing businesses do - they make a difference! That being said, the music teachers are amazing, patient people who are there to guide the children and help them learn. Their positive attitude is evident as you walk through the door and are warmly greeted by the receptionist. If you live in the area and are considering art or music for your child, try this place first.

I'm so thrilled Art & Soul has opened up a new location in Santa Rosa! My 6 year old absolutely…read moreLOVES this place. We've done the summer camps 2 years in a row, and will be doing the art and dance classes this fall. The staff is wonderful- every staff member is warm, welcoming, and clearly loves what they do. SO happy to have found this amazing place!!

I love this charming local art center and have enjoyed many exhibits here over the years. Today we…read morevisited the Wayne Thiebaud exhibition, which was absolutely fabulous. I've seen a number of his works before at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, but several of the pieces on display today were new to me--such a treat to experience different works up close. The gift shop is small yet thoughtfully curated, featuring items inspired by the current exhibit along with creations by talented local artisans. Admission is very reasonable, and students receive discounted entry at just $10. Donations are also warmly welcomed and help support this wonderful community art space.

Way too hot to stay indoors, the sound was terrible at the Jerry Garcia show on Sunday. The guitar…read morewas way too loud. You couldn't hear the vocals. The people with their cell phone don't respect your personal boundaries. I will never buy a ticket here again very disappointing.

Little Wildflowers (LWP) is hands-down one of the best preschools in Sonoma County. Maria and…read moreEvelyn (the co-founders/directors and primary teachers) have created an incredibly nurturing school that has made a lasting impact on our family. These two amazing women have poured so much of their lives into developing the school and programs over the last several years, despite the challenges of opening a preschool directly before the COVID shutdown in 2020. The school was initially recommended to us in mid-2020 by another family whose child started there when the school first opened. Looking back, we're incredibly grateful we were told about Little Wildflowers as many of the other preschools had completely shut down due to COVID or had very limited hours (unlike LWP which is open 8am-5:30pm). Our initial meeting/video tour with Maria and Evelyn immediately put our minds at ease given how warm and caring they were, in addition to being very apparent to us that they were not just your standard preschool teachers, but rather business founders and educators who cared deeply about the success of their school and students. Our daughter began attending Little Wildflowers when she was 2.5 years old in the Spring of 2021 and she stayed through her "graduation" in August 2023. She recently started Kindergarten and we can already tell how well prepared she is from both a social and academic perspective. During her 2+ years at Little Wildflowers she made huge strides in her emotional, cognitive, and social development. Not only is the education program here top-notch with daily time spent on arts and crafts, reading, music, language, number/letter work, etc, but also a large amount of time is dedicated to learning more broad behavioral and social skills. We enrolled our daughter here as she was going through a period of transition due to multiple changes in her home life. Maria and Evelyn appreciated our unique situation and were imperative in assisting our daughter as she worked through changes at home and school. Both of them are incredibly caring and provided such a loving and intimate atmosphere for our daughter during her time there. Despite the school being located directly across from the Coddingtown shopping center, the facility is beautiful and very well maintained. The two-classroom building sits on a lovely corner lot with thoughtful landscaping and numerous trees to provide shade. The classrooms trends toward minimalist décor with a Montessori inspiration which gives you a sense of calm (unlike many of the messy and chaotic preschools out there). The school also has a huge outdoor play area which our daughter loved - most days the kids get multiple hours of time to play, explore, and participate in education activities outside. Overall, we can't speak highly-enough about the school and its educators. Against all odds (COVID restrictions, challenges hiring teachers/assistants, growing a new small business, etc) Maria and Evelyn have done an outstanding job creating an environment where young kids can grow freely in a diverse, nurturing, and caring community. Our daughter truly flourished during her time at the school and ended up making many close friends and countless memories (as did we with the other wonderful parents). To provide full transparency, some families might be surprised with the school policies and high level of expectations for both parents and students. These include strict drop-off times, numerous COVID policies (though these have been greatly relaxed over the past year), uniforms requirements, and home-prepared food to be sent every day (other than Fridays). While sometimes challenging, we viewed these polices as overwhelmingly positive which contributed not only to the success of the school, but also benefited the families and students. Plus, preschooler's wearing uniforms is just plain cute. Overall, we're extremely grateful for the school and the amazing talent and hard work that Maria and Evelyn put in every day. If you're on the fence about choosing a preschool for your child, or brand new to the search process, we highly recommend setting up a time to speak with them. If you want your child to be in a safe, nurturing, and educationally focused preschool with the most caring teachers in the world, Little Wildflowers is the place!

When we were searching for daycare/preschool for our then 2-year-old, who needed stimulation than…read morewe or a nanny could provide, our priorities were cleanliness, a large outdoor area, and, most importantly, warm and caring teachers. Little Wildflowers exceeded our expectations. And their awareness of how parents feel entrusting their children to someone else was beyond what I had expected. Our son was in a phase of 'stranger danger' when we first met Ms. Maria, but he felt immediately comfortable with her, which was a sign for us. Initially, we wanted to start with just a few days a week and gradually increase, but thanks to the integration period at LWF, within a few weeks he was happily attending full days and loving it. Both Evelyn and Maria work incredibly hard and are true professionals. There have been weekends when my son wanted to go to LWF. Statements directly from my little one: Me: How was your day at school? LO: It was great, just great! Me: Do you like going to school? LO: Yes, I do! Me: What do you like about it? LO: I like my teachers and friends. He always comes home happy, and we are so thankful for LWF. They even helped potty train our son, something I expected to be much more challenging, but like everything else, Evelyn and Maria made that transition relatively effortless.

Calabi Gallery is one in a million. In a sea of mediocre and soulless art pimps, this guy is an…read moreangel and a true patron. He has the most eclectic and ahead-of-the-times artists represented- the kind of thing you buy for a song now and others pay top dollar for in another few years when they catch up. This is more than a gallery. It's obvious when you walk in that this is a man who loves the work and just wants his clients to love it too. He's a conservator by trade and knows so much more about the work than any curator or dealer. Bottom line: this place and it's people have soul!

From the owner: Calabi Gallery features an eclectic collection of unusual antique, modern and contemporary art in…read moreall media with a focus on postwar west coast modernism

Great teachers and a beautiful college! It is my first time studying in the USA and I'm really…read moreimpressed by this college--it definitely has great teachers! Of course most of the students are not "perfect" some of them are rude, and others have bad attitudes but the college is good anyway!

Someone broke into my car and stole a pair of shoes from me and left a f*cked up post-it note on my…read morewindow saying I left my door unlocked f*got.

Just wonderful experience to learn from the most experienced dancer. A calm professional demeanor,…read morealong with great instruction provide a fast learning curve! Just the best!!

John is a very kind, patient and encouraging dance instructor with decades of teaching experience…read more He is great at identifying our issues and helping us improve our skills. John is very knowledgeable about a wide variety of dances, and his passion and enthusiasm for dance are contagious. We highly recommend him! BTW, we also enjoy his monthly dances in Rohnert Park, which include a drop-in lesson and snacks, with warm, welcoming people in attendance.

Such a great community spot! They offer swim lessons and lap swim. They recently installed a little…read moresplash pad for kids which is adorable. The smaller pool is warm which is amazing for kids, parents, and everyone else in! The swim instructors are amazing, and the facilities are well kept and clean.

They dont just offer swim classes for kids, they have private lessons, adult refreshers to sharpen…read moreyour swimming skills and also swimming for beginners. The class that I was in was 25 minutes, and they make sure that its 25 minutes and not a second more. Dont get me wrong, you can really learn a lot from instructors if you show up and apply yourself. One recommendation for Finley would be to pull someone who is holding a class behind. Its not benefiting them in anyway and a lot of attention gets put on them leaving the rest standing(swimming) around alone. Implement a plan where someone can retake the first week of classes instead of allowing then to go on to week 2 when they're still struggling with week 1 assignments. Just be aware of this if you decide to sign up for any of their courses.

My Bernina 990 sewed flawlessly all afternoon after John worked his magic on her. Thank you John…read more Expert repair, 5-star service.

If it were possible to give this place LESS than one star, I would. No matter what THEIR response…read moreis to this post, THESE are the facts: My machine was turned in for servicing. When completed, I picked it up. It was filthy underneath and there was lint IN the needle and surrounds. My friend paid for this service for me for a birthday present. I showed her the machine. She insisted I take it back. I showed people at The Legacy in Sebastopol that work on sewing machines the condition of my machine upon picking it up. They told me to take it back. I took it back. The employee who took the machine back in at V.S. viewed the goop and lint and said it should not look that way after servicing. Time went by, I picked up the machine again and looked at it. Still filthy. So I said to the employee who was at the counter at that time, "The machine is still filthy. Are there any notes on the computer about it?" Nothing. So I said to her, "The machine has been "serviced" twice now, and it's still filthy. So my friend wasted almost $200 and I will still have to take it somewhere else to be serviced. Got it". And I left. Then I recieved a call from John basically telling me that is it MY fault the machine looks like that and that he never spends more than ONE hour on a customer's machine because, "I just won't do that". Nice. Must be nice to make $150+ an hour for doing nothing..... Then he has the nerve to tell me "we need to part ways". So, to recap: I brought my machine in twice, he didn't do his job, and then got snippy with me about it. The ONLY person who has EVER serviced my machine has been Village Sewing. So if there is any goop on it, or whatever is on there/in there, it is whatever THEY put in/on/lubricated my machine with the previous two times I had it serviced there. Speaking of which.....the first time I had the machine serviced after purchasing it from them, I told John the light had gone out almost immediately when I began to use it. I asked if the bulb mount could be the problem. He just put in a new bulb....which of course went out immediately when I began using it. Again. So, the second time I brought it in the be serviced, I told him that the light had gone out right away again, could the mounting area be the problem? Again, he just replaced the bulb, which went out right away AGAIN when I began using it. So this time when I brought the machine in for service, I told them the 3rd time about the bulb issue and again, the bulb was just replaced. This time he said he put in an LED bulb, but once again, no mention of whether the mount/mounting area was the problem. I haven't used the machine at all yet since I picked it up because it's still filthy and I'm going to have it serviced by a private party this time to ensure it's done correctly. John's arrogant, condescending attitude was/is such a turn off, under no circumstances would I EVER consider patronizing Village Sewing ever again. To try to blame ME for the mess HE made, and then get angry with ME when my friend insisted I bring it back is him trying to deflect from the fact he just didn't want to take the time to do his job properly. Potential Future Customers: I suggest you have your machines serviced somewhere else by someone competent.

UPDATE: I went back today to try a facial and it was…read moreunbelievably great! As good as any salon I've been to. Excellent, excellent experience. I highly recommend that you try it! For $30, it was the best bargain ever. I was pampered and my skin literally glowed when the student finished. I'm going back for a chemical peel in a few days. After my facial was finished, I went to the other side of the salon to have my hi-lights re-done. The Salon Manager, Sarah, was empathetic, professional and genuinely wanted me to be happy with my hair. I wasn't sure she could fix my previous hi-light mistake, but lo and behold, she knew exactly what to do! (She's incredibly knowledgeable because she's been a stylist for over 22 years!) Sarah never left my side and made sure the fix-it service was done right. She was such a dream!!! Thank you, Sarah!!!! Before I got there, I was very worried that my hair would look worse, or might break off, but with Sarah handling my hi-lights (with a student helping), I needn't have worried. In addition to the no-charge for the hi-light fix, they also gave me a free facial. So, I'm giving this place 5 stars. They genuinely cared that I left the salon happy. And my hair looks gorgeous! Along with my skin! It was a totally great experience and I highly recommend you try Lytle's Salon. If you're less than thrilled, I guarantee that Sarah will make it right. PS: You can tip the students, but only with cash. They don't accept plastic for the student's tips. (I therefore, always stop off at the bank before I go to Lytle's to get five-dollar bills to tip the students.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PREVIOUS: This place is super cheap, but there's reason. Experienced teachers are supposed to watch the other students, but in three out of my three experiences, 2 were horrible and 1 was kinda bad. And the teachers were the ones making the mistakes! 1) Perm was not good. One side of the curlers on my head were tight, while the other were loose. Perm turned out weird. One side had curls and the other didn't. Teacher didn't check or care. Took 6 hours start to finish. 2) I got a haircut that was uneven. Noticeably uneven. Had to cut one side myself when I got home. Again, the teacher didn't check. Took 90 minutes start to finish. 3) I had a very partial highlight. They screwed it up. Teacher apologized and said it was her fault for not catching it. I now have to go back to have it redone. Took 4 hours start to finish. Yikes! Be prepared to spend a lot of time here, the students are still in the process of learning. I just wish the students had better teachers.

I've been sitting on this review since May, as I've been very conflicted. I feel like I should have…read moreknown better letting students work on my hair, but then i remembered that there are licensed professionals assisting them, it's not the students' fault. Lupita was the instructor in charge of my color, and she couldn't have cared less. She barely came to check up on my girl who had no idea what she was doing. I asked for very simple highlights, I have virgin hair, and I was there from opening until closing. Lupita let bleach sit in my hair from 9:30am to 3:30 pm, right before they close. The student took a while because she was trying to do her best, I don't blame her at all. Lupita allowing this bleach to sit on my hair for hours has caused irreversible damage to my hair's integrity. I lose a ball of hair every time I shower now, and my hair is so fried it's always frizzy. Mind you, I grew out my hair to the longest it's ever been so I could treat myself and color it, and this is what happened. To make things worse, her and the student were talking about my hair in Spanish in front of me at the wash bowl, not knowing that I can understand some, with the student saying "it looks yellow, right?" and her responding "yeah but she can come back". They also ran out of time so I got no haircut with the initial damage. Then when I came to get it fixed, Lupita had some excuse about how the salon was cold so that's why my hair didn't process enough. No, babe, I didn't process because you didn't help your student, and the bottom layer of my hair is at a level 9 while the rest is a 6-8. I've never had a problem with my hair being lifted by bleach. I will never let Lupita touch my hair again, and I really don't even want to come back again because of her.