Editing Petaluma, California (section)

==History==
[[File:06824-Petaluma-1905-The Old Adobe Fort-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Built in 1836, the [[Rancho Petaluma Adobe|Vallejo Adobe]] at [[Rancho Petaluma]] was the largest privately owned [[adobe]] in California.]]

The [[Coast Miwok]] resided throughout [[Marin County|Marin]] and southern [[Sonoma County, California|Sonoma County]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Sarris |first=Greg |date=September 30, 2016 |title=The Last Woman From Petaluma |url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/tending-the-wild/the-last-woman-from-petaluma |access-date=October 20, 2022 |website=KCET |language=en}}</ref> The village of {{lang|csi|italics=unset|Péta Lúuma}} ([[Coast Miwok language|Coast Miwok]] for "backside of the hill", or "sloping ridge") was east of the Petaluma River,<ref name=":0" /> with a number of other Coast Miwok villages nearby: {{lang|csi|italics=unset|Wotoki}} was immediately to the south of {{lang|csi|italics=unset|Péta Lúuma}}, on the opposite side of the river; {{lang|csi|italics=unset|Etem, Likatiut,}} and {{lang|csi|italics=unset|Tuchayalin}} were near today's downtown; and {{lang|csi|italics=unset|Tulme}} and {{lang|csi|italics=unset|Susuli}} were just north of today's city limits.<ref name="Miwok">{{cite book|last1=Peterson|first1=Bonnie J.|title=Dawn of the World: Coast Miwok Myths|isbn=978-0-912908-04-5|year=1976}}</ref>

The Petaluma area was part of a {{convert|66,000|acre|km2|adj=on}} 1834 Mexican land grant by Governor [[Jose Figueroa]] to [[Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo]] called [[Rancho Petaluma]]. In 1836, Vallejo ordered construction of his Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a ranch house near Petaluma, which his family often used as a summer home, while he resided in the neighboring town of [[Sonoma, California|Sonoma]]. Vallejo's influence and Mexican control in the region began to decline after Vallejo's arrest during the [[California Republic|Bear Flag Revolt]] in 1846.

Pioneers moved to Petaluma from the eastern United States after [[James W. Marshall|James Marshall]] found gold in the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] in 1848. The town's position on the Petaluma River in the heart of productive farmland was critical to its growth during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Sailing [[scow]]s, such as the scow [[schooner]] ''Alma'' (1892), and [[Steamboat|steamers]] plied the river between Petaluma and San Francisco, carrying agricultural produce and raw materials to the burgeoning city of San Francisco during the [[California Gold Rush]].

There were brothels downtown along Petaluma Boulevard,<ref>{{cite web|title=Old Chicago Pizza – Delicious Pizza Restaurant in Petaluma, California|date=February 27, 2019|url=http://oldchgo.com/old-chicago-pizza.htm|quote=Aside from the pizza, you might be interested in knowing that the room you are sitting in was at one time the parlor for a house of ill-repute}}</ref> which used to be the main thoroughfare until [[U.S. Route 101 in California|U.S. Highway 101]] was constructed in the 1950s. The [[Petaluma Historic Commercial District]] is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

The Sonoma County Bank Building was the home of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and the Petaluma [[seedbank|Seed Bank]] until 2019.<ref>{{cite web|website=Rareseeds.com|title=Petaluma Seed Bank|url=http://rareseeds.com/petaluma-seed-bank/}}</ref> It was built in 1926.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.visitpetaluma.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Hist-downtown-Sites-No-Directions.pdf|title=Historic Downtown Petaluma Sites|date=September 28, 2019|publisher=VisitPetaluma.com|access-date=September 28, 2019}}</ref>

Petaluma soon became known for its grain milling and chicken processing industries, which continue to the present day as a smaller fraction of its commerce. At one time, Petaluma was known as the "Egg Capital of the World," sparking such nicknames as "Chickaluma".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Harwood |first=W. S. |date=May 1908 |title=A City Of A Million Hens: How Poultry Raising Conducted As A Business Has Made Petaluma Known Over The World |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=XVI |pages=10207–10124 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=naaZD2r_coMC&pg=PA10207|access-date=July 10, 2009 }}</ref> Petaluma hosted the only known poultry drugstore and is the place where the coal lamp [[Incubator (egg)|egg incubator]] was invented by Lyman Byce in 1879.
[[File:1857 Petaluma CA (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|View of Petaluma in 1857]]
One of the largest historic chicken processing plants still stands in the central area of town; this 1930s brick building is no longer used for the chicken industry, but is being evaluated for preservation and change of use. While it is no longer known as the Egg Capital of the World, Petaluma maintains a strong agricultural base today with dairy farms, olive groves, vineyards, and berry and vegetable farms.

According to the Army Museum at the Presidio, San Francisco, Petaluma was relatively unharmed during the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|San Francisco earthquake]] of April 18, 1906, due to significant stable bedrock underlying the region.<ref name="History">{{cite web|title=The History of Petaluma California|url=http://www.petaluma.com/history.html|website=Petaluma.com|access-date=November 17, 2017}}</ref> As one of the few communities in the region left standing after the earthquake, Petaluma was the staging point for most Sonoma County rescue and relief efforts.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}}

There are extant pre-1906 buildings and Victorian homes on the western side of the river.<ref name="History"/> The downtown area has suffered many river floods over the years{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}} and during the Depression commerce declined. A lack of funds prevented the demolition of the old homes and buildings.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}} In the 1960s there was a counterculture migration out of San Francisco into [[Marin County, California|Marin County]] and southern Sonoma County, in search of inexpensive housing in a less urban environment. The old Victorian, Queen Anne and [[Eastlake movement|Eastlake]]-style houses were restored. Historic iron-front buildings in the downtown commercial district were also rescued. Traffic and new home development for the most part was rerouted to the east of downtown by the construction of Highway 101.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}}
[[File:Jules Tavernier - Marin Sunset in Back of Petaluma.jpg|thumb|right|''Marin Sunset in Back of Petaluma'' (1880s), by [[Jules Tavernier (painter)|Jules Tavernier]]]]
The first official airmail flight took place in 1911, when Fred Wiseman carried a handful of mail from Petaluma to Santa Rosa, including letters from Petaluma postmaster John E. Olmstead and the mayor of Petaluma. Wiseman's plane ended up in the [[National Air and Space Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/historicplanes/early/historicplanes_early_wise.html|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=January 29, 2011|title=Fad to Fundamental: Airmail in America}}</ref>

There was a substantial influx of Jewish residents to the area in the first three decades of the 20th century. Most of the settlers were secular Eastern European Jews; they founded today's B'nai Israel Jewish Center as a secular Jewish community center with no rabbi and only a small area for prayer. The community became active in the poultry industry, and some settlers joined the local labor movement and participated in leftist political organizing, leading to significant conflicts between integrationists who aimed to quietly integrate into Petaluma society and socialists who hoped to change it.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kann|first=Kenneth|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26974588|title=Comrades and chicken ranchers : the story of a California Jewish community|date=1993|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=0-8014-2807-6|location=Ithaca|pages=1, 59, 97–98|oclc=26974588}}</ref>

With its large stock of historic buildings, Petaluma has been used as the filming location for numerous movies set in the 1940s through the 1960s (see list of movies below). The historic McNear Building is a common film location.

[[File:20080905 13 Petaluma, California (38265136955).jpg|thumb|left|Hotel Petaluma]]

Petaluma pioneered the time-controlled approach to development. After Highway 101 was re-aligned as a freeway in 1955, residential development permits tripled, from 300 in 1969 to 900 in 1971. Because of the region's soaring population in the sixties, the city enacted the "Petaluma Plan" in 1971. This plan limited the number of building permits to 500 annually for a five-year period beginning in 1972.<ref>Fulton, William, and Paul Shigley, ''Guide to California Planning,'' 3d edition, pp. 199–200. Point Arena, Calif.: Solano Press Books, 2005.</ref> At the same time Petaluma created a redbelt around the town as a boundary for urban expansion for a stated number of years. Similar to [[Ramapo, New York]], a Residential Development Control System was created to distribute the building permits based on a point system conforming to the city's general plan to provide for low and moderate income housing and divide development somewhat equally between east and west and single family and multi-family housing.

The stated objectives of Petaluma's time controlled growth management were to ensure orderly growth; to protect the city's small town character and surrounding green space; to provide a variety of housing choices; and to maintain adequate water supply and sewage treatment facilities.

[[File:Petaluma 6899 (40434706943).jpg|thumb|right|Petaluma Historic Commercial District]]

The controlled development plan attracted national attention in 1975 when the city was taken to court by the Construction Industry Association. The city's restriction was upheld by the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit|9th Circuit Court]] in 1975 and the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] denied a petition for writ of {{lang|la|[[certiorari]]}} in 1976. This court ruling still forms the foundation for most local growth management ordinances in California.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}}

Despite this history of planned development, the Petaluma City Council voted on April 13, 2009, to eliminate the entire planning department and lay off the whole planning staff.<ref>Shigley, Paul, "Petaluma Eliminates Its Planning Department", ''California Planning & Development Report'', April 14, 2009 [http://www.cp-dr.com/node/2303]</ref> Planning Division responsibilities were subsequently contracted out to the consulting firm Metropolitan Planning Group, which re-hired some of the former planning staff and continues to operate planning services for the city.

In the late 1990s, Petaluma was also known as [[Telecom Valley]] due to the telecom [[startup companies]] that seemed to multiply from one another, and offer great riches for early stockholders and employees. Two success stories were that of Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC) (now Tellabs), and [[Cerent]], which was purchased by [[Cisco Systems|Cisco]]. Some Cerent employees went on to purchase the [[Phoenix Theater]], a local entertainment venue, which was once an opera house.

In 2021, Petaluma established a goal of achieving [[carbon neutrality]] by 2030. In March of that year, the city formally prohibited construction of new [[Filling station|gas stations]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 24, 2021 |title=Petaluma moves to ban new gas stations |url=https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/petaluma-city-council-moves-to-ban-new-gas-stations/ |access-date=March 4, 2021 |website=Santa Rosa Press Democrat |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Petaluma bans all new gas stations in push to curb emissions |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/petaluma-bans-all-new-gas-stations-in-push-to-curb-emissions/ar-BB1eaqZA |access-date=March 4, 2021 |website=www.msn.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 2, 2021 |title=Petaluma becomes first city in the U.S. to ban new gas stations |url=https://www.ktvu.com/news/petaluma-becomes-first-city-in-the-u-s-to-ban-new-gas-stations |access-date=March 4, 2021 |website=KTVU FOX 2 |language=en-US}}</ref> becoming the first municipality in the world to enact such a ban.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rushe |first=Dominic |date=August 17, 2021 |title=This town is the first in America to ban gas stations – is the tide turning? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/17/end-american-gas-station-ban |access-date=August 17, 2021 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=November 1, 2022 |title=California Towns Banning New Gas Stations |url=https://weather.com/news/climate/video/california-towns-banning-new-gas-stations |access-date=November 2, 2022 |website=The Weather Channel}}</ref> The city also streamlined the process of building [[EV charging station]]s and potential [[Hydrogen fuel|hydrogen]] filling stations.

The city has identified about two dozen buildings and districts as [[Petaluma landmarks]].<ref>{{cite web |title=City of Petaluma: Planning Department |url=http://cityofpetaluma.net/cdd/plan-historic.html |access-date=January 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107181041/http://cityofpetaluma.net/cdd/plan-historic.html |archive-date=January 7, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>