Month: October 2014

VIDEO UPDATE: Jewish Community of #Petaluma Celebrates 150 Years

A celebration in August 1925 for the opening of the Petaluma Jewish Community Center photo/courtesy b’nai israel jewish center

VIDEO DOCUMENTARY

Posted by the Producer, Director and Editor Mac Weinstock on YouTube on November 3, 2014.

 

An old photo of B’nai Israel Jewish Center’s current building
An old photo of B’nai Israel Jewish Center’s current building

 

We didn’t see this report elsewhere, so we felt it was important to share for its historical significance of our great city. On October 23 the Jweekly.com wrote and article announcing the Jewish community of Petaluma celebrates 150 years by shoshana hebshi , j. correspondent.  The congregation started in Petaluma in October 22, 1864, and they were incorporated as Congregation Society B’nai Israel by the state in 1871.

During our famed “Egg Basket of the World” in 30’s and 40s thousands of chicken farmers were jewish farming families. More came from Russia after WWI in postwar years. The Petaluma Jewish Community Center was dedicated on 740 Western Ave near the downtown in 1925.

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When it comes to fighting Alzheimer’s Disease It’s All About Needing More Benjamins

The Benjamins
The Benjamins

If you missed this year’s Petaluma Walk to End Alzheimer’s at #Petaluma’s Shollenberger Park after watching this video you may decide you want to be a part of next years event. We ran across this video produced and posted by Christine Drew Benjamin (Music by Ingrid Michaelson) covering this event and we are very impressed by it. The YouTube video below is called “It’s All About the Benjamin’s – THANK YOU!” and does a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the event and sense of community coming together to help fight such a debilitating disease. Her father who was diagnosed with the disease in 2012 is also on the video as he does a short speech. Notable is the amount of money she helped sponsor for this event with thank you’s to all her donors are provided as credits at the end.

Two #Petaluma Candy Bars Featured In 7×7 for Halloween

A 7×7 article by Alissa Merksamer 6 Local Candy Bars for Halloween featured two Petaluma companies that make candy bars to help sweeten eager trick-or-treaters.
000388Did you know that Amy’s Kitchen made candy? According to their website, Amy’s father Andy loves candy. As the son of a candy maker, he spent his childhood sampling chocolate morsels and chewy caramel from his father’s candy kitchen.  The 7×7 article indicates they launched this past summer adding four candy bars to the Amy’s line of organic, vegetarian prepared foods.
Milk_Chocolate_Bar-large
The other Petaluma company is Sjaak’s Organic Chocolate who are known for their organic chocolates. Owner Jacques Holten trained in confectionery in his native Holland before marrying his Northern California-reared wife Pam. Their small company in Petaluma emphasizes social responsibility, and they craft a variety of vegan chocolates made with non-bone char sugar, meaning sugar that hasn’t been bleached by ground cow bones. They too have bite-size treats appropriate for Halloween.
Click on these links to purchase click on the candy photos below.


 

KQED Bay Area Bites Announces Pop-Up Octoberfest at #Petaluma’s Thistle Meats

Chef Mark Malicki. Photo: Brian Howlett
Chef Mark Malicki Photo: Brian Howlett

KQED’s Bay Area Bites Pop-Up Octoberfest at Petaluma’s Thistle Meats by Stephanie Rosenbaum Klassen suggests “Why not have a meat-heavy festival like Octoberfest at a butcher shop?” This will be Thistle Meats 3rd pop-up dinner featuring the same chef Mark Malicki who has built up a following. So what’s different about this one? What’s unique about this one is you usually don’t hear about it until it’s over and you hear people on the streets saying “Hey I wonder what’s going on at Thistle tonite” or “Oh yeah, I saw a bunch of people at Thistle last night – what was going on?”

Previous reports on the first two pop-ups were excellent. Click here for a review on Chowhound posted by tom246.

Here is the information:
Octoberfest Pop-Up, October 27, 6-9:30pm
Thistle Meats
Address: Map
160 Petaluma Blvd North
Petaluma, CA 94952
(707) 772-5442
Facebook: Thistle Meats

Thirst for craft beer drives expansion at Sonoma

                    Photo By Crista Jeremiason / The Press Democrat

In a Press Democrat article today, it appears there is plenty of demand for craft beer in Sonoma County.  Being local we often take for granted of how plentiful craft beer is our area and with so many excellent choices it’s like Christmas all year round.  So no wonder we are driving expansion – we have become craft beer snobs. We have Lagunitas Brewing Company, Russian River Brewing Company, Hen House, Petaluma Hills, 101 North, Bear Republic just to name a few.

This article interviews Tony Magee, founder and owner of Lagunitas Brewing Co. in Petaluma, and he shares how he intends to play a leading role in this expansion. More great craft beers in Sonoma? You had me at hello.

via Thirst for craft beer drives expansion at Sonoma | The Press Democrat.

Second Look Sunday: A Positively Petaluma Weeks In Review

There are lots of great things going on in #Petaluma, you just have to dig for them.  We search for and collects the positive information about our great city in one place: The Petaluma Magazine.  The Second Look will be a reflection of some of the posts from the previous weeks.

1000’s are enjoying their free subscription with thousands of positive articles including these most recent posts from previous weeks:

Petaluma Celebrates the Centennial of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad

Petaluma’s Alex Tanalski California State Chili Champ

Barich works her way up the cross country ranks

Record-breaking season for the Case Grande HS X-country team

$6 million makeover for Petaluma school

POPULAR: Positively Petaluma Interview with Actor Adrian Grenier

Petaluma’s First Firefighter James Mott Not Forgotten

Petaluma Coastguardsman Honored for Bravery

A motorcycle crew with a heart of gold

“Save Lives Sonoma” helps 13-year Old Lewis Save The Life Of His Father with CPR

Award-Winning Pacific Empire Chorus Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Fleet week with the crew of the Sea Scout Ship Compass Rose

Trojans bounce back for happy homecoming

Rich history of river celebrated in Petaluma

Petaluma Racer not yet out of gas

Petaluma’s Labcon bringing new energy to North Bay

Video Petaluma Casa Grande Matt Abramo: A Bright Light In A Dark Room

From Marketing Executive to Petaluma Farmer: Deborah Walton created Canvas Ranch

Dead Pirates Roberts Day with Actor Cary Elwes

Other posts can be found on in our archives.  Thanks also for “Like”ing us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

#Petaluma Celebrates the Centennial of Northwestern Pacific Railroad

Trains were a big factor in our local economy and industry.  The fact that we have a Northwestern Pacific Railroad Museum and Historical Society is because Petaluma would not be the town that it is today without the rail system.  Positively Petaluma did a little digging into the history and wanted to show you some vintage photos of the train history in Petaluma.

Here are some photographs we found in the Sonoma County Historical Archives.

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Our historical Petaluma Visitor Center and art center is the original train depot and in the past has served as the center of our city’s transportation since 1914.  In 1991 it was featured in a made for TV Hitchcock thriller in 1991.  Today it will become a depot for the new Sonoma Marin Rail Transit Commission (SMART) train system.

Here are historical photos of our Petaluma Depot.

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#Petaluma’s First Firefighter James Mott Not Forgotten

You may have seen some of the posts on James Mott and his memorial on October 23.  This led me to do a little more research on him.downloadThe first firefighter in Petaluma was 1873 but at that time there were no city employees and only volunteers.  James Mott was the first paid Petaluma firefighter for our city starting 1807 and became a part of the YOUNG AMERICA ENGINE COMPANY NO. 3, PETALUMA FIRE DEPARTMENT. He was also the city jailer and ambulance driver well-known for his special bond with his horse Black Bart. He is also the first Petaluma firefighter making the ultimate sacrifice while fighting a fire in the downtown who lost his life in the line of duty in a vehicle explosion on October 20,1912.   His life would end a few days later at the age of 57.

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You can click on the photo of the newspaper to read the article of the story in the San Francisco Call.  I had not seen it mentioned anywhere else, but the Mayor of Petaluma, William H. Zartman, at that time also served as a volunteer firefighter and he was badly burned in this fire.  Additionally a former Petaluma Fire Chief Henry J. Myers working as a volunteer had both ears burned off. The article indicates Mott inhaled flames from the fire.  The force of the blast was taken directly by James Mott burning him severely. Despite being burned firefighter Mott assisted the injured bystanders to safety and helped extinguish the intense fire. This newspaper reported that over 25 people were seriously burned as a result of this explosion and fire.

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