Petaluma’s Hank Simoni keeps time with downtown changes

When Henry W. Simoni, his wife Olive and their 13-year-old son Hank, moved to Petaluma in 1943 to take over the Rendezvous bar and fountain, Main Street (Petaluma Blvd. North) between Western Avenue and Washington Street, was occupied by a varied assortment of about 60 merchants. By 1947, in this city of about 9,000 residents, and with Hwy. 101 running through town, that one block offered downtown shoppers seven eating establishments, three drugstores, several department stores, bakeries, women’s clothiers, gift shops, and shoe stores, the American Hotel, a choice of banks and the Chicken Pharmacy.

Renamed Sam’s Rendezvous by its new owners, the historical significance of this long ago razed landmark, which closed in 1968, cannot be overlooked. From 1866-68 it was the site of the Sonoma County Bank and in 1872 it was called a Faro Bank, after a gambling game. In its basement was Petaluma’s first bowling alley, which was removed and transported to John Croci’s new seven-lane Petaluma Bowl, at 29 Kentucky St., in the 1940s.

Having worked at the Rendezvous or across the street at Simoni’s Clock Shoppe, for nearly all of those 74 years, Hank Simoni possesses a keen memory of many of the businesses that have come and gone over the years, and owns an impressive collection of classic photos of the commercial development.

The two-story, 20x100-foot Rendezvous building, with living quarters located above the bar, was the only spot in town that served hard liquor in the back and had a soda fountain in the front. As a teenager, Simoni worked there as a soda jerk, serving customers from a menu that included milkshakes, homemade sandwiches and chili, and Campbell’s soup from the can. He also worked mornings before school driving a garbage truck, and in the summer he labored on a stationary three-man hay baler. Physically fit and a top athlete, he was a smooth-fielding shortstop and solid hitter for the high school Trojans and Petaluma Spartans, who was once scouted by the Detroit Tigers.

Simoni took advanced math classes, but quit school and joined the Army when he was just 16-years-old, learning aerial photography while mapping much of South America from a B-17 and developing a passion for photography that continues on today. He married his late wife of 61 years, Bonnie, in 1948, and the couple lived above the Rendezvous while he helped his father at the bar and worked for a while as a hardwood floor installer. Following the death of Henry Simoni in 1962, Hank and Bonnie took over the landmark establishment, while Olive Simoni, a prominent civic leader, devoted much of her time to the Blood Bank of Sonoma County.

The soda fountain closed in 1965 and three years later the family was obligated to vacate the Rendezvous location under immanent domain, when the city decided to widen Washington St. Simoni had considered selling insurance but passed that up in order to purchase the property at 171 Petaluma Blvd. No., whose previous tenants included the It Club, Adrian’s Tavern, and Arata’s Pharmacy. Adding a taste of nostalgia to its new location, Sam’s Club showcased the magnificent and historic, century-old bar from the Rendezvous. When deciding to change careers, Simoni wanted an occupation both he and he wife could do together, so he took correspondence courses to learn clock repair and became a certified master clock maker.

At 87-years-old, Simoni doesn’t keep a regular work schedule, but the business remains in capable hands under the watchful expertise of his daughter, Cheryl Shields and grandson Sean Shields. At one time, the three of them were acknowledged by the American Clockmakers-Watchmakers Institute as the only active three-generation family of horologists in the country. With its distinctive time-zone clocks gracing its storefront, Simoni’s Clock Shoppe, one of Petaluma’s oldest businesses, is running smoothly and still ticking after 49 years.

At home, an eclectic collection of 25 cuckoo clocks, perpetual motion clocks, grandfather clocks and other unique timepieces of every age, description and style, hang on his walls, sit on mantels and stand on floors. Of the many time machines, he keeps just three of them wound. An accomplished amateur photographer and skilled woodworker whose devotion to detail reflects his talent, Simoni’s advice to others is simple.

“You don’t have to be the best. Just be among the best.”

(Harlan Osborne’s column Toolin’ Around Town appears every two weeks. Contact him at harlan@sonic.net)