Petaluma’s Shollenberger Park…Spring has sprung!

Petaluma’s Shollenberger Park presents a variety of vistas, views, and wildlife. Saturday, before Easter, we walked a portion of the wetlands trail to take in the experience.

I am not an experienced bird watcher and certainly am not an expert on identifying the various species that inhabit Shollenberger.  However, this walk did present many great photo ops including seeing swans OUT of the water! It was the first time I had an opportunity to see their feet! You don’t want them stepping on you!

PHOTO GALLERY

• Click on any photo below to start the gallery
• The gallery may take a minute to load, depending upon your connection speed!
• Navigate between photos using the left and right arrow keys, or by clicking or tapping the arrows on the left and right.
• Click “view full size” below any image to see the photo directly outside the gallery.

Big Foot? No, just a swan out of the water. Shollenberger Park

Shollenberger Park Wetlands

Red-winged Blackbird Shollenberger Park

Red-winged Blackbird Shollenberger Park

Red-winged Blackbird Shollenberger Park

Shollenberger Park Wetlands

Shollenberger Park Wetlands

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! A time to look ahead…

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to One & All!

Year-end is the usual time for most of us to engage in some level of reflection on the past…and to plan for the coming year.

As for me, I am presently reflecting on the fact that after all these many years I have finally discovered…

 The Great Truth

There are more things

That I do not know…

Than there are things

That I have forgotten…

And…I have uncovered two competing corollary truths…

• You are never too old to learn something stupid
• You are never too old to learn something, stupid

As you can see, adding a comma is everything!

Looking ahead to 2013, I have decided that at this Fork in Life’s Road* I will leave the ranting and opinion rendering to others and will focus (pardon the pun) on playing with my camera toys making photos…

The above notwitstanding, I will offer one ”snarky” photo obervation about the difficulties of trying to breach Petaluma’s East Side/West Side border crossing in 2012…

For 2013 I plan to concentrate on different locations and scenes to build photo grids. A few photos may show up on this site or on its companion site, THE PETALUMA SPECTATOR PHOTO BLOG—if I am so motivated to post!  It may be some time before I do so because at the moment I am more interested in making actual prints than digital postings. Time will tell…

*Speaking of “forks in the road”…You may want to peruse A Fork in the Road: Carlsbad Officials Deal with Fork Rebellion

NOTE TO SUSCRIBERS & FOLLOWERS

While I have been “silent’ since June–and intend to remain so for the foreseeable future–you may want to check out a new photo post, Why did the turkey cross the road…or street?

In addition, the Petaluma Downtown…Photo Grid is now available.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 15, 2012

PLEASE NOTE:  Signs & Scenes Gallery 2012 is NOW available.  Simply click on the tab at the top of the page!

American Alley WPA Murals–A PostScript

Past articles regarding the WPA murals by Charlie Roetter & Fernando Nugent are filed under American Alley

Last in the series about Petaluma’s American Alley

A collaborative project with Independent Journalist, Frances Rivetti

A constant feature of our collective search for the history behind the murals, was encountering the unexpected. During the interview with Frances Rivetti in the alley, Fernando Nugent mentioned, almost casually, that the artwork also extended into the store.  He took us inside Copperfield’s and led us downstairs where he pulled boxes away from the wall to reveal…

© Frank Simpson

Now here comes the embarrassing part for me.  The above photo is the only one I intended to publish from inside the store.  As I was organizing my files for archiving, I noticed another photo I had made inside the store–one that I totally disregarded, but which really caught me off-guard when I really looked at it. I completely missed it…

© Frank Simpson

 Did Fernando predict that someone would come along 18 years later and photograph him on site?

© Frank Simpson

Rebuilding (A Community) Together…Petaluma

“I believe that it is only by sharing our stories that we truly become one community.”

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger

(New York Times Book Review, April 29, 2012)

In the spirit of this quote, I will attempt to share some of the stories from Rebuilding Together Petaluma’s workday on April 21st.

On April 21, 2012, Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP)* volunteers once again spread out across Petaluma to  assist five qualifying homeowners with major home repairs and modifications. In addition, RTP and Daily Acts conducted an educational work project to enhance the City Hall Gardens planted in 2009. The City Hall project was sponsored by Sonoma Bank and the Paula Lane Action Network.

While I have never seen a barn rasing, RTP workdays are, most likely, quite similar in terms of energy and human spirit.

In the past I have attempted to show a portion of these RTP projects through photos.  This time I will first provide some feedback  from two of the homeowners:

• “ (We had)…all about gave up on humanity. We were in despair – until all of you came. Thank you for giving us hope and faith. Thank you also for your hard work, efforts, kindness and compassion. You’re truly our heroes. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU! With Joy and love.”
• “The kindness of the volunteers meant much more than words could ever thank you for! It is humbling to receive this kind of help. Bless you all. My home is lovelier than it has been in years and years.”

Jane Hamilton of RTP reports that in one location: “The work day generated so much activity in the neighborhood, that several other homeowners started working on their places and within days all of the leftover compost and mulch were distributed into many yards.   Often when repairing a person’s home we inadvertently end up affecting the whole neighborhood as well!”

Jane also advises that the work on a  mobile home of a disabled veteran was particularly gratifying: “(Mr. R’s) mobile home (is now)…a cleaner, safer, more water and energy efficient, accessible home. Most of (the RTP volunteers did not) get to see the final product of (their) exceptionally hard work, because it took a few more days to finish, but the results were stunning. (Mr R.) asked me to express his deepest gratitude to all of you and let you know he feels he is living in a whole new world. He is exercising up and down the hallway 4 times a day with his new grab bars, able to use his kitchen and bathroom with ease, and he is extremely motivated by the amount of stuff gone from his home and yard.”

And now the photos!

Photographers Joan Bunn, Victor Kunkel, Guiseppe Lipari, and Joe Chatterton covered four of the work sites and I was at two homes in Leisure Lakes.

All photos are available by clicking on RTP’s SmugMug Page

PLUS…A Brief Slideshow

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

*NOTE FROM JANE HAMILTON

Please take note of the businesses and organizations that sponsored and/or volunteered their expertise or goods to help make these projects a success:

Sears Heroes At Home Program; S.C. Barns; Jeff England & Associates; Lon Wiley Construction; Doug Sanders Painting; Craig Riddle Handyman; North Bay Corporation; Velasco’s Restaurant; Whole Foods

Larry Hillblom Foundation; Petaluma Realtors; Circle Bank; Podesta Builders; C & J Properties Services, Casey Hopkins; City of Petaluma; Just Floor Covering, Mike Roesner; JF Electric, Jamie Freedman; Moore Heating & Air-Conditioning, Jon Diamond; North Bay Corporation; Strom Electric, David Freedman; The Floor Works, Robyn Perry

Redwood Credit Union & Volunteer Team;  Summit Bank; Adaptive Pest Control; Casey Hopkins; City of Petaluma; C & J Property Services, Jim Gemperline; Design in Wood, Andrew Jacobson; Fine Home Tuning, Rick Edwards; Just Floor Covering, Mike Roesner; Icon Plumbing, Jeff Martini; JF Electric, Jamie Freedman; Moore Heating & Air-conditioning, Jon Diamond; Nick Ryan Construction; Tony Capretta

American Alley’s Mural Array–Whodunit?

Fifth in the series about Petaluma’s American Alley

A collaborative project with Independent Journalist, Frances Rivetti

Past articles are filed under American Alley

Also See Hidden in Plain Sight on Petaluma Patch

Finding the answers as to the ”who, what, when and why” behind the artwork on the back of the present day Copperfield’s required the collaboration of several people.

Mattei Brothers Clothing Store

Bill Hammerman was able to come up with the first breakthrough in solving this art history mystery when he established that the man behind the artwork was Bob Mattei of the Mattei Brother’s clothing store. Briefly, Mattei’s had been in business in Petaluma at several downtown locations for 87 years. It occupied the building now known as Copperfield’s from 1965 until the business closed at the end of 1994. (For background on the store, see SF Gate*)

Armed with this information, Frances and I visited with Bob Mattei on March 27. Mattei told us that the clothing market  was changing in the early nineties and he was searching for ways to meet the shifting trends of the marketplace: “I was going for the high school business…jeans, etc. I always had kids from the high school working in the store.” Mattei worked with them to come up with a plan for a separate teenage department or store in the basement and involved them in the advertising and inventory selection. They also came up with the name, The Underground Clothing Store.

According to Mattei: ”A lot of the teenagers did not like coming into my store because it was like their father’s store, So I came up with the idea of putting the entrance in the alley…[to provide an alternative entry].”  As a means of attracting customers to the back of the store, Mattei decided that some artwork over the back door was in order. Consequently he connected with two local artists who eventually produced the work.  He did not discuss the concept or the design in the interview except to say that the artists “…ran some ideas by me and came up with the work theme.” To carry out the project, Mattei brought in portable lifts to enable the artists to work and to be able to exit the alley when vehicles needed to pass.

The Artists

We were able to get a better feeling for the timeline of the artwork after Frances established contact with an artist who worked on the project. He provided a critical piece of information–the date of a 1995 Argus Courier article regarding the murals.** 

Armed with this information, Katherine Rinehart located the article on microfilm in short order. From the information contained in the Argus article, it appears that the artwork was completed a few months before the store closed in 1994. This may explain why so few people have any memory of it, or its origins. We did learn from the article that the artists researched and were heavily influenced by the WPA style artwork of the 1930′s when they designed and laid out the project.

NOTES

*On December 13, 1994, the Argus Courier published an article by Jay Gamel on the store’s closing. Katherine Rinehart wrote a retrospective article about Mattei’s for the spring 2008 edition of Petaluma Magazine: Kentucky Street Suited Mattei Brothers. These articles are not available online but are available at the library. My interpretation of the copyright laws precludes their inclusion with this article.

** I did not attach a copy of the 1995 Argus Courier article or the accompanying photo of one of the artists for the same reason as stated in the above note. The article did report the names of two artists commissioned by Mattei as Fernando Nugent and Charlie Roder.

This series will resume later next month.

So stay tuned!

In the interim, enjoy a brief slideshow documenting the multimedia aspects of the work.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

.

American Alley…Hidden Scenes

Second in the series about Petaluma’s American Alley

A collaborative project with Independent Journalist, Frances Rivetti

Past articles are filed under American Alley

In American Alley what you see or notice is dependent on the lighting, which changes quickly due to the fact that it is a narrow passageway not unlike the bottom of a steep, narrow canyon. 

American Alley, Western Avenue Exit © Frank Simpson

• Scenes in the “canyon” may only be readily noticeable for a few minutes before returning to the shadows.
• Another factor influencing color and visibility in the alley is whether the pavement and walls are wet or dry. 

SLIDESHOW

The Nooks & Crannies of American Alley

The slideshow does contain a few examples of unauthorized ”street art” but there are other mysteries, known only to those who created them. For example, consider the images of the religious icon or statuary in the wall or the castle by the downspout. 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

TOMORROW:  American Alley’s Secret WPA Murals…Hiding in Plain Sight…PART I – The story of how fickle lighting conditions led me to “discover” the murals behind Copperfield’s and the collective search to uncover their history.

For those who care to linger over any of the photos in this article, see the gallery below.

American Alley, Western Avenue Exit © Frank Simpson

“Alley Art” © Frank Simpson

Castle Downspout © Frank Simpson

Possible Wall Shrine? © Frank Simpson

Possible Wall Shrine? © Frank Simpson

Loading Dock © Frank Simpson

Loading Dock © Frank Simpson

American Alley…New Series!

Starting next Monday, April 16, 2012, I will begin a series of articles about Petaluma’s American Alley.  For those who associate me with a certain kind of “reporting” in the past about blight and graffiti, you will be disappointed.  There will be no ranting or bemoaning the fall of civilization.

Instead, it will be a positive story of scenes that are seen, but not seen, or scenes that are only revealed at certain times of the day.  It will also be a story of how a photo exercise turned into an ongoing research project involving several people.

So, as they used to say, “Stay tuned!”

©Frank Simpson

Street Scenes & Signs…Bridging 2011 to 2012

I thought it fitting to launch the New Year with a slideshow of hitherto unpublished ”street” photos, mostly of a whimsical nature.  One, however, is not so whimsical.

It is a scene that will be repeated again and again in 2012…

The Foreclosure & Short Sale Blues

The Foreclosure & Short Sale Blues (Petaluma, CA) © Frank Simpson

SLIDESHOW*

Note: To stop the slideshow and focus on a particular photo, simply place the cursor over the slideshow frame or window.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

*Slideshow Photo Notes

1. Tomato Still Life–I have no idea who left the cans on the bench.  They were just there.
2. Teame Gold–For those not familiar with Petaluma, the photo documents the current status of a sign that used to read “Steamer Gold.” Time and the elements have modified it. 
3. Revolution–a sticker prominently displayed on a litter can next to McNears in Petaluma.

PHOTO ALERT:To see two rather esoteric, if not exotic, (non-street scene) photos, go to Colors…to Black and to White

 

 

 

What the….!???

“What the….!???” is the declamation I frequently utter when I come across certain scenes in my daily passages around and about Petaluma.  Those familiar with my postings over the years will expect another round of graffiti and trash photos. Fortunately, that will not be the case today.  I have mostly evolved from such urban documentation. 

“What the….!???” #1

First, I offer this photo from Lucchesi Park (a locale that has served up many interesting photo ops over the years) for your consideration…

Lucchesi Table Lamp © Frank Simpson

How did the lamp come to take up residence on a picnic table in the park?

Was it there to illuminate a nighttime game of frisbee?

Was it an example of buyer’s remorse after a nearby garage sale?

“What the….!???” #2

Next, I offer a “What the….!???”  scene from our front yard. 

A little background will be helpful in understanding the following photos.  For thirty years or more there was a large cypress evergreen at the end of the driveway.  As time would have it, it grew larger and taller, increasingly blocking the view of the street when backing out of the garage.  Pruning helped reduce the hazard over the years.  However, it finally became necessary to have it removed. 

In our ‘Hood, the vegetation near the sidewalk often serves as trash receptacles for pedestrians.  Cypress evergreens are particularly useful as trash cans as you can insert something through the branches and the item(s) will disappear and be secured by the inner branches. From time to time, I would spot an empty beer can or soft drink bottle while pruning  and remove it.  Given the tight weave of the inner branches, I did not venture very deep inside the tree during my pruning.

Last week a crew came to remove the cypress.  In the progress of their work, they discovered a large “What the….!???”  deep inside the branches…

Yup! A fly swatter!

It had been there for…who knows how many years.

Other items embedded in the tree included a tennis ball, coffee cup, and, of course, an aluminum can…

© Frank Simpson

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.