:Always Breaking

I’ve been keeping up with the April Challenge, but seem to fall behind in the 2008 Community Challenge. Maybe because there is so much that falls apart. Anyway, here are the shots for week 14 and week 15 (which by my count is this week).

I set out yesterday evening to shoot the old Sunset Twine building because the light hits it perfectly with few shadows. The building is truly amazing. It was a working factory up until about a year ago (maybe two). Developers had planned to turn it into condos, but the city kept dragging its feet on approving plans, so the developer finally gave up. I want to see the building preserved and hope someone comes along to take care of it before it falls down.

This barn was moved a couple of years ago to this spot by the river to make room for a parking garage downtown. The move was about a 1/4 mile as the crow flies. I tend to not like development that displaces or destroys old buildings, but I was ok with this move because it preserved the building and put it in a new riverside park. Moving it was a good compromise.

These shots were taken as part of the 2008 Challenge at photochallenge.org.

No Comments

I’ve actually been keeping up with the April Challenge, so far. It’s only Day 5, so I guess it’s not much of an accomplishment yet. Here are the shots for days 2-5.

April 2, 2008

Paint peeling off the old barn/shed in my backyard. This building is probably 100+ years old, and looks like it. It is also my next project at home. I’ve neglected it for too long and will be fixing it up over the next few months.

April 3, 2008

I’ve blogged before about trains (or lack thereof) in Sonoma County. This is a section of track north of Penngrove, CA.

April 4, 2008

April 5, 2008

One of the thousands of pieces of glass from my car window that was smashed yesterday in a random act of stupidity. Actual size is 1/2 inch long.
These shots were taken as part of the April photo challenge.

No Comments

At some point in Petaluma’s past, trains ran down this stretch of track in downtown. Since I’ve lived here, it’s been a hazard and an eyesore. The trestle runs along the water front of the Petaluma River turning basin, a main pedestrian thoroughfare in downtown. Several years ago the trestle was fenced off to prevent people walking on it because it had deteriorated to the point where it became a safety hazard. Now the 85 year-old trestle sits, neglected, in the heart of town as a sad reminder of our past.

But, there are some who care about preserving history for future generations. The Petaluma Trolley Project is working to get the trestle and trolley service restored to Petaluma. There is even talk of putting the trestle on the National Register of Historic Places. I would love to see the trestle restored with trolleys running along the river. I’m not sure it would help traffic, but it would be cool, kind of like the Cable Cars in San Francisco. OK, maybe not as cool, but for a small town like Petaluma it would be great.

So much local history gets lost, and it seems there is little support for preserving old landmarks. Developers want to make money off the land, or turn places into resorts to generate profits. I’d like to see more historic places preserved for everyone.

The Petaluma Argus-Courier has a good article on the efforts to restore the trestle and its history.

This shot has a Geotag on Zooomr for those that want to know the exact location. This shot was taken as part of the 2008 Challenge at photochallenge.org.

No Comments

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been behind in the 2008 Challenge. This week I’m trying to catch up a little by posting two shots, both of which I took this morning while on a walk with my dog.

Only a few blocks from downtown sits one of the town’s dairies. I don’t know how long this one has been around, but I’m pretty sure the site has been a dairy since Petaluma became a town. This one also sits across the street, diagonally, from city hall. Petaluma has a long history as a diary town, so it’s nice to some reminders right in the middle of everything. The trucks coming and going are probably a nuisance since it’s a residential neighborhood, but I like seeing it.

Petaluma has its share of graffiti problems, but this is actually authorized graffiti artwork. I am totally opposed to graffiti as vandalism, but completely support property owners who allow graffiti artist to paint walls as a form of expression. In Petaluma, the Phoenix Theater allows graffiti art on the back wall of the building. The art is clearly visible from one of the busiest streets in town and has grown more colorful and expressive in recent months. This shot is inside an old room attached to the building that has no roof. Fortunately the left over cans and trash aren’t visible from the street.

Both shots are hosted on Zooomr for those that want to know the exact location. Both shots were also taken as part of the 2008 Challenge at photochallenge.org.

No Comments

Six weeks into 2008 I’m doing my third post for the 2008 Challenge. It’s definitely been a slow year for me, at least in terms of taking pictures. Everything else is completely insane, unfortunately photography has been moved to the back burner. This week I forced myself out of my cube and took a long lunch just to be outside taking pictures. I decided to go to the Petaluma Adobe State Park.

I’ve lived in Petaluma for 13 years and had never been to the adobe until this week. I may have been there as kid in grade school as part of a field trip, but I don’t remember. It’s somewhat embarrassing to admit that I haven’t visited this cornerstone of my community. The Adobe is probably the most historically significant place in the area. For a complete history and description see the official web site at http://www.petalumaadobe.com/index.html.

Aside from the historical significance of the building, it’s also an impressive structure that has stood for 160 years through several earthquakes, including the 1906 and 1989 quakes. General Vallejo built the Adobe in the 1830’s as part of his 100 square mile land grant from the Mexican government. The building is made out of adobe bricks and redwood. I love old buildings, especially simple, natural structures. As soon as I walked up to the building I knew I could spend the day just taking pictures and appreciating the simple beauty of construction and architecture.

I choose this photo because it gives a sense of the size of the building and shows the adobe and redwood construction. The second floor has a wide balcony the runs around the entire building, this shot was taken along the back wall of the building on the balcony. I took about a hundred shots and haven’t processed them all, but a few are up on Zooomr:

I plan on going back to the Adobe with my family and spending more time going through all the exhibits. The Adobe is a state park and is open everyday. The admission fee is very low, I think it was $2 for adults. If you’re in the area it’s worth a stop just to see the building.

1 Comment

This past weekend I said goodbye to my 1982 Toyota pickup. It’s just a beat up old truck, but I owned it for 13 years, significantly longer than any other vehicle. It was a good truck that served me well for many years.

In September when the registration was due, I took it to get the bi-annual smog certification. I had my doubts about whether or not it would pass because two years before it had barely passed. Sure enough, it failed. I applied for repair assistance and was granted up to $500 for emission related repairs from the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR). I took it to a shop, which said it needed a lot more than $500 dollars and a lot of non-emissions related repairs. Essentially, the cost of repairs was a lot more than the truck was worth.

The BAR has a program that pays people to junk old cars that can’t pass smog. Because of pollution, the state is trying to get old cars off the road. The program encourages people to get polluting vehicles off the road by giving them more money than the car is worth (at least in my case). I rarely drove the truck and I had felt guilty about driving after it barely passed the smog test two years ago. It was a work truck that cost me more in insurance, smog, and registration in a year than the truck was worth and since the state was willing to give me money to junk it, I applied for the retirement program in November. Last Friday I drove it to the junk yard and they gave me my “vehicle retirement” check right there on the spot. It was a nice chunk of money for such an old vehicle, especially sense I don’t have to insure it anymore.

The markings on the truck are required by BAR. Junk yards are prohibited from selling the truck or any parts, so they mark all the body panels, and even the rear view mirrors. There wasn’t much usable on my truck. The passenger side of the cab had been partially caved in by a tree branch about 5 years ago. Some home body shop repair with a sledge hammer got the door open after that incident, but it still had to be slammed shut. The left front fender was a brown because I had to replace it after a small fender-bender. Every body panel had a dent of some kind. The truck is probably a smashed lump of plastic and metal by now.

I’ll miss my old truck, it was good to have around, but I also know it’s better that older cars be taken off the road.

1 Comment

In 2001 the only movie theater in Petaluma closed its doors largely because the company that owned it had recently opened a huge 16 screen theater 11 miles away in Rohnert Park. That left residents two options - drive to the new Rohnert Park theater or drive to Novato (both are about the same distance). Imagine, a town of 55,000+ with no movie theater. Bear in mind that scenes from many movies have been shot in Petaluma, most notably American Graffiti. Residents were not happy, especially those with teens.

Seven young teenage girls decided to do something. To make a long story short, in 2005 they got our town a new theater. (You can read about opening night and the history at SF Gate.) Our town owes a huge debt of gratitude to Noëlle Bisson, Elizabeth Comstock, Ditmer, Liza Hall, Sarah Marcia, Taylor Norman and Madison Webb.

It’s not just that we again have a place to watch movies locally, it’s what the theater has added to the community, especially downtown. The old theater was at the North end of town in a commercial/business area. You had to drive to get there. The new theater anchored a huge redevelopment effort on edge of the historic downtown shopping district.
Boulevard Cinemas and the accompanying Theatre Square retail/office/urban housing center are only a couple of blocks from the true heart of downtown where local shops and restaurants dominate the retail landscape. Also, the entire downtown area is within easy walking distance for many residents.

Many feared the new development would bring more chain stores and ruin the small town feel, but so far the theater and accompanying retail stores have been a huge boon for our town. The new theater, restaurants, and shops have added greatly to what was already a wonderful downtown.

In the past couple of years the movie theater has sparked a revival of night life in downtown Petaluma. On Friday nights teens and tweens swarm to the theater in droves. When new releases come out, long lines are not uncommon. Because the new theater is downtown, it’s easy to go out to dinner and movie because you can walk from one of the many local restaurants to the theater. Every month I go with a group friends to have a beer then see a movie. We would not have done that without a downtown theater.

The theater is thriving, and that is driving people to downtown pretty much every night of the week. Every time I go to the movies or walk around the theater district, I see friends. It’s become a great place to hang out and relax, and enjoy the community.

This shot was taken as part of the 2008 Photo Challenge at www.photochallenge.org.

2 Comments

Well 2008 is upon us, and with it a new year of photos. Trevor Carpenter, who has posted a series of Photo Challenges, put together Photochallenge.org to organize a year long Community Challenge. Last year I tried the photo-a-day thing with somewhat mixed results. I ended up doing 1-2 per week, and completely missed the month of December.

This year I’ve decided to take Trevor up on his challenge, although I’m getting slightly late start. The idea is pretty simple: take one good picture a week of your community. I think I can do that, aside from missing Week 1. I have legitimate excuses, but they don’t matter much now. You can follow everyone who is participating in the challenge on both Flickr and Zooomr. I’m posting to both sites, but hosting the blog shots on Zooomr. It’s pretty amazing to see photos from all over, especially through the eyes (and lenses) of individuals, not through the media.

About this shot, I set out at lunch today to take a picture and as I was driving I thought, duh, why not start with the most obvious thing you can. So here’s the first shot in my year long effort to document my community.

In my community this structure dominates the view near downtown. I don’t know the history or building, but it’s pretty old. Last year there was a fire in one of the grain elevators that burned for over a week, stinking up the town with acrid yellow smoke. Everyone was grateful when the fire department finally put it out, although there was quite a price tag attached to their efforts. Not sure who paid that bill.

It is an impressive and imposing building that adds to the character of the town, and the economy. Petaluma still has a thriving dairy industry and I think is, at heart, a farming town. This building provides a visual reminder of the history of this town. Oddly enough, a new apartment complex sits just to the left of the building. Another reminder that the town is growing. Petaluma is definitely a place where the new and the old mix, generally to the benefit of the community.

1 Comment

Yesterday when I went out to my car after work, I saw the fire department next door practicing with their big ladder truck. Fortunately I had my camera, so I took a few quick pictures. Also, fortunately, there was no fire. I’ve thought about walking over to the fire station at lunch sometime and taking pictures, but never have. I took this one from the parking lot at work, so got a little lucky with the timing. I don’t the name of the fireman, but the photo was taken at the Petaluma Fire Station. The geotag is on Zooomr.

I have to give a bit of public thanks to the Petaluma Fire Department. About 10 years ago my daughter fell off a slide and was knocked unconscious. The fire department responded quickly and rushed her to the hospital. She was fine, but they really treated her great and even gave her a little stuffed animal bear. Most importantly they knew how to handle two frantic parents. A long belated thanks.

I took this with my 70-300 IS zoom lens. It’s great to have a lens that lets me get up close from far away. All the shot info is on Zooomr. You can view the large version of this photo as well.

No Comments

St. Vincent de Paul church, Petaluma, CA.
Shot Details:
Shooting Date:9/29/2007 14:26:32
Shutter Speed: 1/500Sec.
Aperture Value: F6.3

ISO Speed: 100
Lens: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Focal Length: 48.0 mm

No Comments