Here's a list of Santa Rosa locals who are nationally and internationally famous, as well as those who are well-known in the area.
By the way, this list is a work in progress. If you have any suggestions for additions, email me and let me know what you think.
- Luther Burbank: Santa Rosa was home to the famed horticulturist and the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens is located in town.
- Robert Ripley Ripley’s Believe It or Not! creator was born and raised here. A movie about Ripley, starring Jim Carrey, is scheduled for release in 2009.
- Charles M. Schulz: The Peanuts creator lived here for the last 40 years of his life, and the Charles M. Schulz Museum is located in town. Coincidentally, while Schulz was still a young man in Minneapolis, he sent in a drawing to Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and that was his first work to ever be published.
- John Ash: Santa Rosa is home to the celebrated chef, wine and food educator, and a guiding force behind Wine Country Cuisine.
- Levi Leipheimer: The professional cyclist calls Santa Rosa home.
- William Mark Felt (a.ka. Deep Throat) The Watergate source known as “Deep Throat” lives in Santa Rosa. His daughter Joan Felt writes a blog on the Press Democrat newspaper's website.
- Natalie Wood: The actress was living in Santa Rosa when she was discovered at age 5.
- Philip Marlowe Santa Rosa was the hometown of the famous fictional character Philip Marlowe, the “hard-boiled” private detective in author Raymond Chandler’s series of mystery novels. In film, Marlowe was most famously played by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946).