A brief history
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For more than 50 years, the City of Petaluma, California, has served as a backdrop for Hollywood films, and in more recent times, television commercials. The reason is due to Petaluma's unusual variety of architectural types consisting of styles ranging from Victorian elegance and turn of the century farms to present day urban settings...and everything in between.
This unique collection of architecture and landscapes has resulted in Petaluma's frequent use as a location for motion picture and television productions, along with a growing reputation as 'Hollywood North'.
What follows is a tour of locations used in some of the most noteworthy films shot in Petaluma, with frequent references to whether the sites can still be seen (most can).
As far as the commercials are concerned, the transitory nature of television makes it difficult to remember locations used in TV productions. Hundreds of commercials have been filmed in the town resulting in a frequent presence of Petaluma on television. Of particular interest are Ronald Reagan's famous 1984 Morning In America commercials which were filmed almost entirely in downtown Petaluma.
Most of these films are widely available at video stores. If a film is available on DVD from Netflix, it will be so noted.
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Petaluma Filmography
The Farmer's Daughter |
1947 |
Ground Zero |
1972 |
American Graffiti |
1973 |
Heroes |
1977 |
Cujo |
1983 |
Explorers |
1985 |
Peggy Sue Got Married |
1986 |
Howard the Duck |
1986 |
Tucker, The Man and His Dreams |
1988 |
Shadow of a Doubt (TV) |
1991 |
Basic Instinct |
1992 |
Lolita |
1996 |
Inventing the Abbotts |
1996 |
Flubber |
1997 |
Mumford |
1999 |
Take the tour of Petaluma's film locations
visitors