On a recent Saturday evening at Petaluma Boulevard and B Street, passers-by may have seen something new, or rather, the return of something once very Petaluma. Across from the Mystic Theater, red and gold paper lanterns hung high around the perimeter of the newly renamed Historic Chinatown Park, red light beaming through the rice paper, the color of good fortune in Chinese culture.
Gathered in the glow underneath were Asian-Petalumans and their families, friends and others, sharing sweet rice cakes, chatting and laughing, lighting incense for the ancestors who helped to build this town.
“From the 1860s to the early 20th century, Chinese people lived and worked in downtown Petaluma. They labored as brickmakers, farmhands, merchants, river and railroad workers—helping to build the town’s infrastructure, agriculture and economy.” So begins the dedication memorializing Petaluma’s historic Chinatown on a new plaque unveiled that evening in the park that stands at the center of what once was a vibrant Chinese community…