PHOTOS: Petaluma's Salute To American Graffiti - Celebrating Those Happy Days!

From Al Francis:

There were movie stars, oldies tunes, dancing in the streets, roller skating, hot rods and classic cars at today’s 10th Annual Petaluma’s Salute to American Graffiti.

But the real stars were the more than 400 immaculate cars and trucks from those “happy days.”

Before cell phones, texting, pagers and even before answering machines, the social media then was a landline phone and getting in a car to head downtown on a Saturday night to see who was with whom and catch up with friends -- the tradition of cruising.

In downtown Petaluma on Saturday, cruising returned with loud engines and amazing vehicles.

The car show and cruise is a celebration of the classic coming-of-age movie “American Graffiti” directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola and featuring a cast of young stars including Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Candy Clark, Paul Le Mat, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Williams, DJ Wolfman Jack and, of course, the elusive Suzanne Somers in the white T-bird.

Filming was initially to take place in San Rafael, but the production crew was denied permission to shoot beyond a second day. As a result, most filming was moved to Petaluma, according to Wikipedia.

Clark, one of the “American Graffiti” stars, was signing autographs, posing for photos and greeting fans at today’s event.

There were several cars on hand, as well, that were featured in the movie, including a 1967 Citroen 2 CV, a funny-looking car driven by Dreyfuss in the 1973 film and rediscovered 40 years later in Napa County.

One muscle car on display that drew crowds was a 1972 Dodge Charger, owned by John and Cindy Lane of Petaluma. It had a big engine that John fired up after encouragement from the crowd. After folks cleared back, it roared to life, and no one was disappointed. Even a couple of impressed Petaluma police officers took photos.

Area Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts also joined today’s fun with a Pinewood Derby, racing their small cars down a track for trophies.

• --All photos by Al Francis of NapaSonomaPhotos.com.