The Riverfront, Walnut Park and last views of downtown

We made a short detour to the bridge in the area known as the Riverfront.

It led to a restaurant that was still setting up for the morning...

Food wasn't on our minds, at least not yet. We had a view of the clock tower from this side of the bridge.



Then we headed back, passing by this building once again (if you watch "American Graffiti", you will see this building many many times in the night cruising scenes).

Lots of mom and pop shops here plus this farm to table restaurant which Kirk ate during his visit last year (post linked towards the end).


Detail of the Masonic building downton. See the eye?

Our hotel was just four blocks away. Nearby was Walnut Park, which I found out recently had been refurbished with a new playground, a war memoral and a "peace obelisk" which came with some controversy (articles linked at the end).

We loved how each neighborhood had their own little park. There were many families out that day, the kids playing happily in the playground. In the middle of the park was a charming gazebo/bandstand (built in 1927)  along with a war memorial.



Wire spells out Centennial 1879-1979.


The peace obelish with the word "peace" spelled out in different languages. Some community members felt that the word peace should have been written in the native language/writing system rather than spelled out. Others felt it was easier to have the words Romanized so park goers could read it easily and learn to pronounce it. Others were upset they didn't have a say in the choice of languages (Bulgarian being one) because it wasn't representative of the community at large and yadda yadda yadda.


Plaque with information about the different languages:

We didn't stay too long since we had places to go still. It was still quite nice visiting a neighborhood park and seeing folks enjoying the day.

Articles from petaluma360:
"Walnut Park facelift continues"
"A legacy for Walnut Park" Jan 19, 2015
"Peace Pole sparks disagreement" March 7, 2015
"In park pole controversy, finally peace" May 27, 2015

Plus this very informative article about the park's history:
"The evolution of Petaluma's Walnut Park" March 28, 2016

Here are a few links to Kirk's Petaluma posts, here, here, and  here (not in any particular order).

Walnut Park
@ Petaluma Blvd & D St.
Petaluma, CA 94952

cityofpetaluma.net/parksnrec + Reviews from yelp

After freshening up at the hotel, we were off to another park, or more like a nature preserve...