Railroad Square is what remains of Santa Rosa's pre-earthquake downtown — a pocket of basalt-fronted warehouses, the 1904 Northwestern Pacific depot, and the Hotel La Rose (1907), clustered around the SMART commuter-rail station west of Highway 101. Most of the surviving buildings now hold antique dealers, vintage clothing shops, breweries, and a handful of restaurants; the area is at its busiest on weekend mornings.
The depot has been restored and now houses the Visitor Center; the small Roundhouse Plaza in front of it holds outdoor concerts in summer. SMART trains run from here south to Larkspur Landing (with a ferry connection to San Francisco) and north as far as Cloverdale. The whole district is on the National Register of Historic Places.