Petaluma- A Hollywood Favorite

The highlight of this tour was our visit to the Antique Market Place and Estate Sales. This place is so large and has such a variety of items, it is amazing. I came away with a pair of very heavy, painted natural shells for a mere .00. It was overcast when we first arrived and slightly chilly. If you have the time, take the tour to Mrs. Grossman's Paper Company which is one of the largest sticker firms in the industry. There is also a 60 store outlet if you're up to more walking. Petaluma is the only place I found up north (other than SF) that has live theater.

Quick Tips:

Petaluma has some very handsome Victorian homes and you can take a self-guided tour with a map that will point you in the right direction. Petaluma prides itself in that it served as a locale for some of our movies such as American Graffiti, Peggy Sue Got Married, Mumford and Phenomenon . The Visitor Center has a complete list of sites for all the filming if you are interested. One other unusual and interesting thing to do is to avail oneself of the free tour offered by the Rouge et Noir Cheese Company . You can also partake in a tasting tour at the Lagunitas Brewing Company . Free admission gets you into the Military Museum if you are inclined to look at soldier relics from the 2 World Wars and the Civil War. We did not stay through the night, but there are a number of spots which offer music and dancing. Volpi's is a name that came up often and advertised a lot.

Best Way To Get Around:

You need a car no matter how you look at it. If you are downtown, you can park somewhere and walk around, especially if you're doing the gallery thing, or on the River Walk where you can spot a yacht or two.

For more on San Francisco and other Northern California Cities:

San Jose

Healdsburg

Go West!

Slumming in San Francisco

San Francisco II

Rohnert Park Berkeley

Santa Rosa

Sebastopol

This is part of the Chelsea Premium Outlets centers which boasts 25 such venues across the United States. In Northern California alone, they have one in Gilroy, which is the largest. One at the American Tin Cannery; you can read my report on this outlet at: Tin Cannery Outlets. Another 3 can be found in Napa, St. Helena and Folsom.

It is very difficult to find oneself in the proximity of outlets and not stop. The outlet here is larger than the one at Pacific Grove. It features some of my favorites like Jones New York, Hanes & Bali, Mikasa, Nine West (where I made a killing last time with leather shoes) and Wilsons Leather Outlet where they always have unusually elegant styles.

Fortunately for all of us, this season, they are featuring a holiday couponwhich you can print online and redeem at participating centers throughout the US. To print your own copy and claim your dollars off, go to Holiday Coupon and run to your nearest outlet. Don't you just love to get a discount?

George Mattingly is the owner of this huge, and I mean huge emporium which absolutely must be seen to be believed. As a younger man, he collected trains which are now worth a few thousand dollars a piece, and he's got them on display mid-way through the store. We had no idea this place was here, as it is off the main drag, Petaluma Boulevard. You have to walk go down a hilly driveway called Lacey Road, which is immediately behind Petaluma Boulevard. You'll spot a billiards place, and they are next door. They face a very large parking lot, and their alternative address is 110 Car Parking Lot (Yes!)

The entrance is quite deceiving, as it is narrow and you only gain an appreciation of the breadth of the collection when you are way past the door.

We had heard a lot about the antiquing in Petaluma, and Chuck and I love to browse and we always manage to pick something up from this or that trip. I could have picked up much more from this Antique Market, but considering I still live in New York, it would have been difficult to transport it back. There's quite a collection of art deco prints, furnishings from the 60's era, even masks from Bali. I also managed to find a coconut shell tea pot, and had I not owned one already, I would have bought it. There is quite a bit of memorabilia by way of out of print magazines and books. Looking through these definitely transports you to a different era.

When we walked into the shop, there was only one other man there, and he turned out to be a judge from Sacramento. He and the owner were engaged in a conversation about politics, its effect on business, its lack of effect on the judge's workload, etc..Hard not to join that conversation, and eventually Chuck and I were talking to both men behind the counter about all sorts of things.

They have quite a few decorative pieces and many ethnics sculptures; not very much in the way of glass, but interesting photographs: I found a pastel drawing of Marylin Monroe that was amazing. You must not let the cluttered atmosphere discourage you; some of the passages in the back of the stores are so narrow and filled with articles that you can barely walk through.

Something finally captured my heart and Chuck gallantly offered to buy them for me: a beautifully painted pair of abalone shells which now hang in the living room. They depict a tropical paradise with an oarsman in the midst of the water, as tranquil as the scenery around him. I could not believe the price of $12 for the pair. Apparently, people do come back here from areas removed, as did the judge from Sacramento who's apparently a regular. I would definitely return on my next trip to Northern California.

A giant painted chicken once stood at the entrance to Petaluma. That was back in the 1930’s when Petaluma was known as the "Egg Basket of the World". Not very California, especially in the midst of Wine Country. But then, for those times, the area’s chickens produced millions of eggs annually which were shipped all over the U.S. To this day, this heritage is celebrated each April at the Butter & Eggs Day Parade. Chicken floats, music, egg toss (of course!) and a kid’s contest for the cutest little chick outfit.

So how did the chicken and the eggs get up here? The answer is fairly standardized no matter where you look for it and goes something like this: " it might have been the perfected incubator and the city’s manufacturing capability that started Petaluma on the road to chicken history, but it was a small army of people, each with 500 or so chickens, that made this city the Egg Basket of the world from about 1915 to 1955

The industry leaders of the time produced advertisements to the country’s Easterners on the attractiveness of egg ranching. So much so, that a specific term was coined as the Petaluma Syndrome to reflect the malaise which struck city folks as they tried to adapt to rural life. We may not be dealing with chickens today, but as a city dweller, I find I have to adjust my velocity down a few notches when I come out West.

The Butter and Eggs Day celebration ceased in 1928, and was brought back in the early 1980’s. The town pulls out all the stops for this event. Chicken coops that once held the famous chickens are now covered with moss and are slowly decaying; however they remain part of Petaluma’s landscape. If you are traveling to Northern California around the end of April, you might want to plan to attend this fun event.

Just as Californians in Monterey tout their homegrown fresh greens, and credit local sources on their lip smacking menus, Petalumans have a list of their own manufactures.

There are many, and I will list the ones that provided the most appeal to me:

1: Marin French Cheese Factory - making their own Brie, Camembert and other cheeses. I can probably live on French baguettes, cheese and English tea. The tour is free and so is the tasting. Call 707-726-6001 for cheese making schedule and indulge!

2: Petaluma Natural Soap - produce handmade soaps which are vegetable oil based, and scented with various heavenly essences such as lavender, citrus/floral, peppermint and others. For prices and shipping info, you can call 707-763-5746.

3: Barbara's Bakery - in business for the last 25 years supplying all natural cereal and snack bars, cookies, crackers and chips. Their products are found wherever natural foods are sold.

4: Main Street Custom Furniture - do custom made furniture from kiln dried woods. They also offer design services. Additional services include custom made upholstery, draperies, slip covers etc.. Call 707-769-0987 to visit. Their logo reads "designed to treasure & made to measure". Clever!