Petaluma, California

Mid-point between San Francisco and Santa Rosa, Petaluma is known as a location for many distinguished, well-preserved pre-1906 buildings and Victorian homes. In the 1960's the hippie migration out of San Francisco looking for cheap, dilapidated old houses to rent or buy began to restore them, and an active historic preservation movement started to reclaim the downtown. With its large stock of historic buildings, Petaluma has been used as the filming location for numerous movies set in the 1940's, '50's, and '60's:

American Graffiti (1973)
Cujo (1983)
Explorers (1985)
Howard the Duck (1986)
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Max,13 (1997)
Inventing the Abbotts (1997)
Flubber (1997)
Lolita (1997)
Pleasantville (1998)
Mumford (1999)

Notable past and present residents include:

Elijah Wood, actor
Winona Ryder (Horowitz), actress
Lloyd Bridges, actor
John Mark Karr, confessed/possible murderer of Jon Benet Ramsey

Petaluma also acts as a "Gateway" to the southern entry points of the Carneros, Sonoma Valley, and Napa Valley wine country areas.