The American Graffiti Cruise

Petaluma Boulevard North, the two-way main street of downtown Petaluma, is the road the cars cruise for most of American Graffiti. George Lucas began shooting the film in San Rafael on 26 June 1972, and within a day the San Rafael city council, worried about the disruption to businesses, withdrew permission to film beyond a second night. Lucas negotiated two more nights of general cruising footage there and moved the production twenty miles north to Petaluma, which proved more cooperative. Filming in Petaluma began on 28 June and the picture wrapped on 4 August, on a budget of about 777,000 dollars. The film is set in Modesto, Lucas's home town, in 1962, but the streets on screen are Petaluma's. The locations are still recognisable. Toad's crash and the street race were shot at Washington Street and Petaluma Boulevard North; the police car lost its rear axle outside the McNear Building and the Mystic Theatre at 23 Petaluma Boulevard North; Carol's revenge on the boys was staged at Western Avenue and the Boulevard; and the drag race at the end was run on Frates Road east of town. Petaluma High School on Fair Street also appears, and the Pharaohs grab Curt outside what was then an appliance store at 145 Kentucky Street. Francis Ford Coppola came back to shoot the 1986 film Peggy Sue Got Married, and Paul Verhoeven filmed scenes for the 1992 film Basic Instinct on Liberty Street and Western Avenue. Since the mid-2000s Petaluma has held a Salute to American Graffiti each May, when as many as eight hundred period cars cruise the boulevard again.