Friday, March 7, 2014

Small town claims to fame

Petaluma, CA – After a long and very full day in San Francisco yesterday, we decided to take it easy today and take care of some housekeeping chores.  I opened the Zanin barbershop for one special client, and we topped up the windshield washer fluid reservoir in the RV – exciting stuff like that.

It was also time to replenish the grocery supply, so we drove in to Petaluma with our list in hand. The town is quite pretty, especially right now as all the fruit trees are bursting into bloom, and the daffodils are up as well.  The historic downtown section looks like it belongs in a movie set, which it has done for some classics such as American Graffiti and Peggy Sue Got Married, among others.

The town’s name does not come from “petal”, as one might think because of its strong agricultural character, but rather from an early native name meaning “on the back side of the hill”.  Some interesting things happened in Petaluma.

The town got its biggest boost during the California Gold Rush, when thousands flocked here to make their fortune. Following the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the town became a staging location for rescue efforts, since its bedrock foundation spared it from much damage.

The Mediterranean climate and fertile soil gave Petaluma its strong agricultural base, and for a time the chicken industry was responsible for its nickname of Egg Capital of the World.  In 1911 the very first airmail letter was posted from here, making the trip via airplane from here to Santa Rosa, just a few miles away.

More recently, in addition to its role as a movie location, Petaluma was a longtime host of the annual arm-wrestling competition (called wrist wrestling at first), and still gleans international headlines every year when the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest takes place. 

The hand-built guitar amplifier designed by Randall Smith of Mesa/Boogie of Petaluma was the preferred choice of Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, and actors Lloyd Bridges and Winona Ryder come from here.

We didn’t buy eggs, exhibit an ugly dog or shop for a guitar amplifier, but our little grocery-shopping trip into Petaluma on a sunny spring day was a very pleasant interlude for us!

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