Historic photos show what Sonoma County life was like in 1979

What was life like in Sonoma County in 1979?

Poised at the cusp of the 1980s, Sonoma County was transitioning from a diverse agricultural community to a wine-centric monoculture. With grape and wine prices high, boutique wineries opened in all of our microclimates and tourists followed.

To make way for the new Santa Rosa Plaza shopping center, the city's 1910 post office was rolled from Fifth and A street 30 feet per day toward its new destination on Seventh Street, where it would become the Sonoma County Museum.

In 1979, Helen Rudee became the first female chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and Sebastopol florist Gwen Anderson followed as the town's first female mayor.

In spring, during the second major gas shortage of the 70s, odd-even gas rationing was kicking into full gear. Commuters with even numbered license plates were allowed to fill up on certain days and odd numbered on the others

And in the summer of 1979, Newsweek magazine named Guerneville the nation's “gay boom town” to the glee and consternation of the small town's diverse population.

Click through our gallery above to see what life was like throughout Sonoma County in 1979.