Petaluma River House

Petaluma is a pretty town with nice old buildings and horrible traffic. Although it was close to the epicenter of the 1906 earthquake, it sustained very little damage and many of the old buildings are still standing.

 The first incubator for hatching eggs was invented there in 1879. Soon, profits from the eggs, which sold for 30 cents a dozen, poured into Petaluma which became known as "The Egg Basket of the World". For nearly two decades, there was more money on deposit in Petaluma banks, per capita, than any other town on earth. Eventually the chickens became less cost effective, and some of the many, many chicken houses dotting the hills around Petaluma were converted to artists' studios. It sounds awfully disrespectful to artists, but apparently those chickens lived better than one would be inclined to believe, and their houses had good light. Eventually, most of them were declared unfit for human occupation and have now disappeared. To this day, however the town has a "Butter and Egg Parade" through it's downtown streets every year.

I get fresh eggs from my friend Tobi who treats her chickens like royalty.

These days Petaluma is much favored by millennials for its charm, relative proximity to San Francisco and somewhat reasonable housing prices. 

OilMan would rather stand in front of a bus than go shopping for a piece of furniture, but my brother is more than willing to accompany me on such errands so we went off to Petaluma today to investigate a store which has nice antiques. We didn't buy anything but we had a very pleasant day walking along the Petaluma River and eating lunch at the wonderful Della Fattoria Bakery. The white Victorian house, nicely framed by the Petaluma River and the hills caught my eye. 

It is now a Thai restaurant and several other businesses, none of which have anything to do with chickens or eggs....