Peanuts Statues
Santa Rosa, California
Cartoonist Charles Schulz is forever associated with Santa Rosa.
As his career and syndicated comic strip popularity took off, he moved his studio in 1958 to nearby Sebastopol, and then to Santa Rosa by 1969. He bankrolled the town's ice skating rink, and the Charles M. Schulz Museum tells his story and exhibits his wildly successful comic strip, Peanuts. Schulz died in 2000; locals still remember him as an unassuming, regular guy who you might bump into on the street.
While Schulz himself preferred not to be immortalized in bronze, in downtown Santa Rosa you'll find a Peanuts cluster of statues: Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the rest.
There's an official bronze of Charlie Brown and Snoopy in a park in Railway Square, "In celebration of the life and works of Charles M. Schulz from the people of Santa Rosa and his fans across the world." The sculpture by Stan Pawlowski was dedicated in 2001. Metal disks set into a circular fence at the base of the statue depict iconic Peanuts moments: Schroeder playing the piano, Snoopy zoning atop his dog house....
Visitors wandering the shops and restaurants of Railway Square will spot other familiar Peanuts figures -- leftovers from a community art project that scattered scores of painted fiberglass versions around town. But these seem to be permanently installed for tourists.