C&J Road Rave 2014-2015 : Feeling Cooped Up? Visit Petaluma!

Monday, November 9, 2014

Today, we explored Petaluma. Its' downtown area is a ten minute drive from our campsite. Petaluma was known as the "egg basket of the world". It hosted the only known poultry drugstore and was the creative ground for Lyman Bruce's invention: the egg incubator in 1879. Now, grain milling and chicken processing is less common. Today, Petaluma thrives on dairy farms, olive groves, vineyards and fruit and vegetable farms.

Brunch at Hallie's Diner:

Internet "cold" spot!

We met Randall, the president of the Petaluma Odd Fellows http://www.ioof.org He noticed us referring to our historic walking tour guide. We explained we were reading about the Odd Fellows Hall (across the street). He introduced himself and told us about an event the hall was hosting. Musicians who do not have access to health care are given an opportunity to meet with health care providers--free of charge http://petaluma.opositivefestival.org/about-o/ Randall invited us to stop in. We continued walking, took a quick look inside the hall, then chatted with Randall outside the hall, our second impromptu meeting!

Wickersham Building Built in 1910 on the site of a former bank that was built in 1880s, the Wickersham Building, at 170 Petaluma Blvd. N., is believed to be the site of Petaluma’s first telephone. It also housed a silent movie house featuring an electric piano.

Chicken Pharmacy (left of photo) Near the southeast corner of Petaluma Boulevard and Washington Street, the storefront was originally the world’s only chicken pharmacy. Featured in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and National Geographic, it dispensed 50,000 pills daily. The corner that is now Petaluma Boulevard and East Washington Street was the intersection of Petaluma’s two main roads.

Washington Hotel / Sonoma County Bank: The former Sonoma County Bank Building on the southwest corner, built in 1926, now houses the Seed Bank.

http://www.rareseeds.com/get-to-know-baker-creek/petaluma-seed-bank/

Those are cows on the ceiling motif! The guides at the visitor's center suggested we tour the seed bank and look for the cows!

These two photos are from the second level of the store:

Penry Park: Left of the photo is the former site of Byce’s Incubator: 271 Petaluma Boulevard North

At Maquire's Pub to watch some football: San Francisco Giants vs. New Orleans Saints.

Iron Front Row: 1880's

These four photos are from the women's washroom at the Petaluma museum.
(Museum will be a later visit!)

The guide promised me: "It's the prettiest washroom in Petaluma!" It lived up to its' billing!

McNear’s Mystic Theater: The historic McNear’s building complex (15‐23 Petaluma Blvd. N.) has two buildings. The building to the north was built in 1886 and housed a National Guard armory on its upper floors. The newer building, built in 1911, housed the old (and now the new) Mystic Theater, which featured silent movies accompanied by organ music. The McNear family was Petaluma’s mercantile dynasty, starting with John A. McNear, who came here in 1856 and moved from real estate to the grain business to flour milling to shipping, banking, and railroads. His son George continued the family tradition with a feed mill empire to serve the emerging egg industry. The family contributed the McNear Canal, McNear Park, the Golf and Country Club, Cypress Hill Cemetery, and the town’s first electric lights.

In 1891, at the height of their campaign, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union had a water fountain installed on the street corner to protest the bars and pubs.

Masonic Building: http://town.blogs.petaluma360.com/12693/town-clock/

After Prohibition @ Volpi's Restaurant

Petaluma River Turning Basin: This section of the Petaluma River is known as the Turning Basin and was created to provide boats with enough room to turn around and head back toward the San Francisco Bay.

The following seven photos are from: Faces of Petaluma ‐ Theater Square, completed in 2007. Theater Square is the first multibuilding addition to the downtown area since John McNear built the Mystic Theater in 1911. At the center of the square stands the Faces of Petaluma Fountain, featuring personal sculptures created by children and adults as an artistic link between Petaluma’s past and future. Historic Walking Tour of Petaluma

Boulevard Cinemas: the cornerstone of Petaluma’s recently developed “Theater District,” was the idea of seven junior high school girls, who came to be known locally as “The Superb Seven".

"Through their consistent effort in building community support and engaging others in the dream, the modern downtown cinema palace came to be. Standing in front of the main entrance to the theater are the seven stars that honor these seven energetic young women who represent Petaluma’s pioneering heritage and solid community spirit. " Historic Walking Tour of Petaluma

http://americanprofile.com/articles/movie-theater-teens-push-city-council/

"At the center of the square stands the Faces of Petaluma Fountain, featuring personal sculptures created by children and adults as an artistic link between Petaluma’s past and future. "

On the benches around the city, and here again in the theatre district, I noticed the name of a high school inscribed on the wood or metal http://www.sonoma.edu/pubs/newsrelease/archives/001092.html
There's an egg on the center of this bench and the metal posts are rooster heads.