Petaluma: Wrist-Wrestlers and Bare-Chested Full-Body Wrestlers

Remember the Peanuts continuity in which Snoopy goes to the wrist-wrestling championships in Petaluma, California.  Thus giving everyone a chance to say "Peta-luma?" with a quizzical expression, sort of like how the Chicago radio djs said "Ber-wyn?"

Turns out that there really is a Petaluma in California, about 40 miles north of San Francisco, not far from Santa Rosa (where the Peanuts strips were set, sort of).

And it really was home to the World Wrist Wrestling Championships, held every year from 1954 to 2003 (there's talk of bringing it back in 2019). There's a statue downtown of Bill Soberanes, a newspaper columnist started the event and many others in his 50 year career as a town booster.

Petaluma has been called "America's Home Town."  Its iconic downtown is familiar from a dozen movies and tv shows, including American Graffiti, Peggy Sue Got Married, Basic Instinct, Scream, Pleasantville, and Beautiful Boy.


Museums: The Petaluma Historical Libray and Museum, Rancho Obi-Wan (with the world's largest Star Wars collection), and museums of railroads, military history, and wildlife.

Restaurants: Trip Advisor Recommends Sax's Joint, which serves fried chicken and waffles.  On the same plate.  Do you pour syrup on both?

Churches: St. John's Episcopal is the oldest in town, and also gay-welcoming.

Colleges: Santa Rosa Community College, Petaluma Campus.  A list of courses with LGBTQ content: Intro to Sociology, Psychology of Gender, Human Sexuality, Psychology of Prejudice, LGBT Arts and Literature.


High Schools: 2 public, 1 Catholic.

1. Petaluma High, 1300 students.  The sports team is the Fighting Trojans. Cross-country, volleyball, wrestling, swimming, badminton, but no wrist wrestling.








2. St. Vincent de Paul.  No GSA, but it does have a Teens Against Discrimination Club (TAD).  Sports: No wrist wrestling.











3.  Casa Grande, 1200 students.  It is one of the few schools in the country with its own fish hatchery, releasing 20,000 steelheads annually.  That's a lot of steelheads.

Clubs include the Believers, the Eyes Open Club, the Jesus Club, the Interact Club, the Red Nose Club, and a Gay-Straight Alliance.

Sports (The Fighting Gauchos) include wrestling, swimming, badminton, lacrosse, but no wrist wrestling.

But a lot of full-body wrestling.



Why do the wrestlers usually pose with their singlets halfway off? Is the photographer saying  "Come on, show your fans some skin?"
















Must be a Petaluma thing.


















I'm sure no one objects.