Petaluma history book is back in print

Petaluma history buffs have reason to rejoice. The beloved and coveted book, “History of Petaluma: A California River Town,” by Adair Lara has been out of print for a number of years, but due to strong demand, the public will at long last have the opportunity to get their hands on a copy via the Internet.

“This book has been completely unavailable for years,” said Lara, who wrote the comprehensive history in the early 1980s. “I only have three copies of it myself. I then had this idea of digitizing the book and having it available on the Internet so that anyone who wants it can have it. It looks like the original book, but it is a scanned version.”

Lara and then husband, Jim Heig, moved to Petaluma from San Francisco in 1980. She was so captured by the charm and beauty of Petaluma that she decided to learn more about its history.

“Petaluma had such personality as a town, and even though we were city folk, we were drawn to that,” said Lara. “You walk around town and you wonder about it as you trip over train tracks and cobblestones.”

On Lara’s quest to learn about Petaluma, she discovered history resources to be lacking.

“At the time, there really wasn’t much of any sort of history of Petaluma,” said Lara. “There were a couple of historians at the library who had interested themselves in Petaluma history, but there wasn’t much written. So, I started researching and writing brochures about interesting things about Petaluma. The book grew out of that.”

The book quickly became a family project and helped launch Jim Heig’s publishing career, which includes 25 books on local history.

“It really became a family enterprise and was very interesting,” said Lara. “I didn’t know much about California history.”

“History of Petaluma: A California River Town” tells the history of Petaluma from its beginnings in 1852 through meteoric reinvention of itself as the egg wonder of the world in the 1920s and continues up to the late 1950s. It also features a number of historical photos and stories, plus a walking tour of downtown.

The book launched Lara’s writing career. She went on to become a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, eventually moving back to San Francisco, and has published 10 other books, including several collections of columns. “History of Petaluma,” however, has remained her local claim to fame. The book became extremely popular and many people were upset when it went out of print.

“People have been coming in over the years asking for the book,” said Matt Brown, manager of Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma. “The used book department even had a waiting list for the book. We hoped that it would be reprinted one day.”

“We really wanted the book to become available again,” said Lara. “It seemed such a shame, but we didn’t have the resources for printing the book again.”

Thanks to the digital age, the book is available again at www.lulu.com. A paperback copy costs $18.95 and a digital download version is $9.

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Lara of the book becoming available again. “Some day we may update the book because it’s mostly about Petaluma in the 19th century. It has very little about the 20th century history. Most people are interested in those early days of Petaluma, though.”

“I’m really excited about the reprinting,” said Don Bennett, an Argus-Courier columnist who also helped Lara put the original book together. “She did a superb job and did a tremendous amount of work on it. I was excited about it then and now I’m excited all over again.”

For more information on “History of Petaluma: A California River Town,” visit www.adairlara.com/petaluma.

(Contact Yovanna Bieberich at yovanna.bieberich@arguscourier.com)