August 2008 Archives

[This column originally appeared Oct. 27, 2002, which explains the presence of a couple of dated references. This summer marks 50 years since Hearst Castle was opened to the public, by the way.]

Hearst Castle: an embarrassment of riches

Midway up the California coast, there's a celebrated dwelling, built on a hill by a famous eccentric, that today is a tourist draw and an official historic landmark.

Actually, there are two.

This week's restaurant: Joanne's Cafe, 1141 N. Mountain Ave., Ontario.

Joanne's is in an A-frame building on Mountain near Fourth Street and was most recently Home Kitchen. Longtime residents will recall it as the Pie Place. *

I ate there months ago, without reviewing it, when it was still Home Kitchen, and on Friday thought I'd give it a try under the new name. The place seems virtually the same.

Inside it's a moderately-sized open room, somewhat updated from the classic coffee shop -- there are chairs at the counter, for instance, not swivel seats, and carpeting rather than tile -- and with a lot of pink, green and orange. Cheery and colorful. I didn't notice the fish tank until on my way out.

The prices seem reasonable to me. You can get a meatloaf dinner (the menu's come-on: "Mom's old recipe will find a new friend in you!") with vegetables, mashed potatoes, gravy, garlic toast and soup or salad for a mere $6.99. The five "senior breakfast" specials ("value-priced for seniors 55 and up") are priced under $4.

If you want dinner, you'd better have it for lunch: Hours are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days.

I had a tuna melt ($5.99), with cole slaw rather than fries or fruit. Big and piled thick, on sourdough with cheddar, the sandwich was pretty good. The slaw, kind of tasteless. The server kept the ice tea coming. Overall, an unexciting but pleasant enough experience.

Disappointing, though, that the onetime Pie Place * is now pie-less. But if you need to indulge, there's a Baskin Robbins next door.

* By acclimation (see all the comments), this was actually an outpost of the House of Pies chain, not The Pie Place. Thanks for the correction.

That's where I spent a couple of relaxing days earlier this week. Ventura isn't the most exciting beach town, and that's what I was looking for -- a place that would be much cooler than the Inland Valley, with a beach, and not overrun with tourists. In those respects, Ventura was a winner.

One question: Is the city's name pronounced Ven-tura or Ven-chura? More on that in a moment.

At a record shop, I finally broke down and bought a used copy of America's "Greatest Hits." It's a CD I've eyed warily for years, the '70s band being a guilty pleasure, one I was cautious of making official. Seeing the disc for $8, and thinking on my drive the day earlier about that ol' Ventura highway that was the subject of one of their songs, I chuckled and figured the time was right.

"Ventura Highway" came up just as I was entering the freeway to return home. The disc, by the way, was about what I'd expected: Neil Young Lite, plus the uncommonly (for them) exciting "Sister Golden Hair," plus (ugh) "Muskrat Love." But on balance I'm glad I have it.

Now, back to the pronunciation. I'd concluded some time ago the correct way was Ven-tura, but I'm not sure why. The name was never said by anyone during my stay and, having assumed the matter was settled, it didn't occur to me to ask around.

On my way out of town, though, I was shocked to discover that America, as official a band as the city has, pronounced the name Ven-chura.

Since my return, SoCal natives among my colleagues to whom I mentioned my destination have said the name both ways. I dunno. How do you say Ventura?

Marilyn Varney found a vintage (1940s?) postcard on eBay featuring the Deluxe Diner and Motel in Pomona. Click here to see the listing and photo.

The operation was supposedly at 2nd and Valley, which would be way out on the west edge of town. Under the "Fresh Orange Juice" sign, two waitresses pose, waving.

Marilyn adds: "Looks like a friendly little place, don't you think?"

In (ahem) news from the Aug. 19 Ontario council meeting:

Fullmer Construction donated a building to Ontario for use in fire-training exercises. In response, at the meeting a Fuller rep was given a large, horizontal plaque with a gold-plated fire ax attached.

Photos were taken, handshakes were exchanged, Councilwoman Sheila Mautz hugged everyone and seats were resumed.

Then one worry was belatedly expressed.

Mayor Paul Leon said, "Councilman Bowman is concerned we just gave Fullmer the ax."

I took a drive on Arrow Highway the other day to check out the new/old L.A. County Fair sign. It stands a few yards west of White Avenue in La Verne at Fairplex Gate 15.

The sign originally stood at Foothill and White near the Mount Baldy Drive-In sign, which featured three images of a skier on the slopes; when the neon blinked, the skier appeared to be in motion.

The drive-in was in existence from about 1960 to 1984, when it was replaced by a Target store, according to Charles Phoenix's "Cruising the Pomona Valley" guidebook. The fair sign was there in approximately the same span and, after being taken down, was preserved in a Fairplex warehouse until its recent restoration.

"That was a little miracle they found it," Phoenix told me. He was pleased to know it was restored, and by the same company that made it originally, Pomona-based Williams Sign Co.

It looks pretty sharp, and I'm looking forward to driving past there at night to see the neon.

I'm taking a couple of days off, returning to work Wednesday. Attending four meetings over three nights last week* made me itch for a quick out-of-town getaway.

Keep checking back here, though, because blog posts will continue appearing, as will a column in Wednesday's paper.

* Chino Hills and Ontario councils on Tuesday, Rancho Cucamonga council on Wednesday and Ontario-Montclair school board on Thursday. What was I thinking?

[For this entry in my Armchair Traveler series, here's my June 1, 2005 piece about visiting Boston. I still have fond memories of the trip, but not fond memories of the freak storm. Concerning the missing glove mentioned below, I found it a month later while cleaning the backseat of my car.]

Boston: Come for the history, stay for the accents

Trying to decide on a vacation spot? Consider Boston, the picturesque city from which yours truly just returned.

Hey, you could do a lot worse than Boston. But you might not do worse than I did, which was to arrive in Boston during a "nor'easter."

This week's restaurant: Mel's Drive-In, 11550 4th St., Rancho Cucamonga.

After an incredibly long gestation of more than a year, Mel's finally opened recently in the Signature Center across from Ontario Mills. (The north side of 4th is in Rancho.) There's nothing "drive-in" about it. Forget car hops; Mel's is in a pleasant but corporate-looking shopping center.

It's part of a chain. The original Mel's was used in "American Graffiti" and was later razed. The restaurant name and style were revived in the 1980s on San Francisco's Lombard Street; I've been to that one a couple of times. You can read the history at the chain's website.

Inside the Rancho Cucamonga location, Mel's has rather successfully updated the diner motif for 2008. High ceilings and a somewhat industrial look, yes, but a chrome-edged counter, mini-jukeboxes at some tables and employees in white paper hats and bow ties.

I've now been to this Mel's twice. Last week I had the half-sandwich, half-salad combo ($6.95) with a meatloaf sandwich and spring salad. The salad was better than average and I wasn't disappointed with the meatloaf. On Friday I returned for a 1/3-pound Mel Burger and fries (also $6.95). They came on a real plate and passed the taste test. There seems to be an attention to quality ingredients here.

They have a long, varied menu of American comfort food staples, some in healthier style than the originals. I suspect Mel's will become part of my lunchtime circuit.

The only obvious flaw: The awning over the entrance reads "Where the Local's Meet to Eat." Ditch the apostrophe and you're golden, Mel's.

No, Pomona still doesn't have a single movie theater. Nevertheless, its Fresh Air Flicks series this month on an inflatable outdoor screen in downtown's Thomas Street Plaza is filling in the gaps in my cinematic knowledge.

The past two Fridays introduced me to "Back to the Future" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," neither of which I'd seen, having felt a bit old for them when they were released.

Tonight brings "Roman Holiday," the William Holden-Audrey Hepburn movie, and I'm not sure what my excuse is for never having seen that one.

Perhaps I'll come up with one before the movie's 8:30 p.m. start. Bring a lawn chair and enjoy.

A visitor to our office requested to speak with me -- and expressed great surprise when I approached the counter.

"You've lost a lot of weight!" the stranger exclaimed.

I get this once in a while, so I was somewhat prepared.

"I haven't lost any weight. Actually, this is the heaviest I've ever been," I said.

"But your picture in the paper...you look much heavier," he said, a bit confused.

I put my hand at neck level. "The photo's from here up," I reminded him. "I have a fat face."

At one point about all that construction crews had found inside Pomona's Fox Theater were dead pigeons. But when an internal wall was knocked out recently, this vintage movie poster was uncovered. It's for "Christina," a 1929 silent film starring Janet Gaynor.

The Fox, as all schoolchildren know, opened in 1931. Perhaps "Christina" played there in a revival later on, or the poster was used as theater decor at one point, as movie posters sometimes are. It was a Fox film, by the way.

Today's column is about the end of Steve Harvey's "Only in L.A." column in the Times, to which I contributed items for a dozen years. In fact, what turned out to be Steve's last column ended with an item from me. (Talk about going out with a whimper.)

Here's a link to that column , to a photo tribute to "Only in L.A." and to a best-of. And, why not, to an Amazon listing for his "Best of Only in L.A." book.

I always thought when Steve retired, he should host a luncheon, maybe at the Redwood, the unofficial Times tavern, for his regular contributors. I've seen their names so many times I can come up with a decent invite list from memory: Phil Proctor (I assume he's the Firesign Theatre guy but never asked), David Chan, Hank Rosenfeld, Lisalee Wells, the woman (Arlene something?) who runs the acting school for elders. We could include Bob Patterson of Alta Loma, who made it into print several times.

If you have thoughts about Steve's column, feel free to leave comments below.

What with heavy traffic on Mountain Avenue in Upland on Tuesday, I wasn't able to get into the freeway lane to head back to work. So I hung a left on Sixth Street in Ontario and took it east. Much to the consternation of Sixth Streeters, I'm sure, who don't like it when their quiet street is used as a freeway alternate.

That's why "traffic calming" devices were installed a decade ago. These were small planters in the middle of the street that make motorists to pay attention and slow down. (Whenever I mention traffic calming, I always get an amused note in the mail from Sixth Streeter Bruce Henning, who finds the islands slightly ridiculous. We'll see if he finds this online.)

The islands to the west are small and rather ineffectual, as they're easily maneuvered around; the islands east of San Antonio Avenue are bracketed by curb extensions that do force you to go slow.

I was in a state of zen-like calm, lulled by the traffic island greenery and the mature trees along the right side of the street, until I looked ahead and saw a sudden lack of greenery. Namely, the green light at Euclid a block away was turning yellow. Oh well. It just gave me more time to admire Sixth Street.

I've been taking "The Distant Land of My Father" to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Claremont on weekends to have some focused time to read it, and also get out of the heat. After almost three weeks, I'm three-quarters of the way through and am enjoying it.

On Sunday I ran into my friend Vince Turner there, held up the book and noted that it had been chosen by the Claremont: On the Same Page people for everyone in town to read.

Turner, his finger on the pulse of Claremont as always, took a more practical approach.

Instead of foisting a 400-page novel on a time-pressed public, he said, "They should just pick a magazine for everyone to leaf through."

Claremont: On the Same Newsstand?

Here's a great vicarious tour of downtown L.A. circa 1938 from Bo Caldwell's "The Distant Land of My Father" (p. 125), as the grandmother escorts the 7-year-old girl newly arrived from Shanghai around. This was all one paragraph but I've split it in half for easier reading:

"She took me to Olvera Street, the oldest street in the city, and we ate taquitos and held Mexican jumping beans in our palms. We shopped at Woolworth's and at the Broadway department store, where she bought me Bass Weejun loafers and Keds sneakers. We walked through Pershing Square and listened to soapbox preachers and browsed through the books at the Parasol Library. We bought strawberries and watermelon and just-baked peach pie at Grand Central Market, then rode Angels Flight, a small funicular railway that went up and down Bunker Hill.

"We went to Germain's Nursery on Hill Street and bought packets of California poppy seeds that Gran said we would plant in the back corner of her yard. We stopped at Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakers and bought Dutch Girl cookies and coconut macaroons and Saratoga potato chips that tumbled out of a metal chute as they were cooked. We ate lunch at Clifton's Cafeteria, or went to Philippe's for French dips and lemonade, where I drew patterns in the sawdust on the floor with the toe of my shoe."

Nice to see that about half the stuff she name-drops is still around -- of the 11 places, five still exist, and that will be six when Angels Flight is back in service. I have no idea what the Parasol Library was, btw.

If you haven't checked this blog for a few days, or are a first-timer, scroll down this page to the post from last week titled "Clifton's Cafeteria," which you may also find of interest.

Everyone in Claremont is supposed to be reading "Distant Land." Are you?

Today's column is about the Laemmle movie theater in Claremont. Scroll down on this blog a bit for Thursday's Laemmle post and click on "comments" -- they're all over the map and all the more fascinating for it. Feel free to add on there, especially after reading the column.

In recent years, numerous attempts at showing so-called art movies in the Inland Valley have been made. Circa 1997, there was a short-lived effort at the AMC 30 Ontario Mills. It had a name but I can't recall it: Cinema something-or-other? AMC Cinematheque?

(The AMC Select promotion, a more recent innovation, has hung in there longer, this week giving us "Transsiberian," "Brideshead Revisited" and "Henry Poole is Here.")

The Edwards Mountain Green in Upland went all-art in the summer of (I think) 1999 for something like a week, playing "The Red Violin," then closing for good and becoming a Michaels crafts store. That'll teach 'em.

Mary Noonan of Claremont phoned Friday to say the UA Theater at Montclair Plaza had one screen of art films for a spell. I hadn't heard that. And of course, several people said in the earlier blog thread about Laemmle that the old Village Theater showed quality films.

Of course, the best purveyor of indie films in the Inland Empire is a video store: Video Paradiso in Claremont. They have all the classics, new and old: Fellini, Antonioni, Godard, etc., etc. Check it out.

Any other comments or examples?

This week's restaurant: New York Pizza Company, 1013 W. Foothill Blvd., Upland.

NYPC was formerly located in an obscure part of West 11th Street in the Upland Sports Arena pay-to-play building and moved to Foothill and Mulberry, next to Philly's Best, a few months ago.

They have a huge array of pizzas with over 50 toppings to choose from, plus salads, pasta, subs and burgers. You order at the counter and they bring your order to your table. It's clean and comfortable, a very modern interior with corrugated metal accents, and with clocks giving the time in Italy, New York and Upland. One wall, perhaps 15 feet long, is covered with a photo mural of Times Square, with NYPC's sign Photoshopped in. Ha ha. By the way, can it be true that Times Square has two Sbarros in two blocks? Well, it IS Michael Scott's favorite N.Y. pizza parlor...

I've been to NYPC twice in recent weeks, plus a third visit in their old location a few years back. But I can't say I'm a fan. The first time was because a friend was working there. I went more recently to check out their new location and possibly blog about it, but a different restaurant that week ended up in this space.

In that visit, I had the pizza slice special (slice, salad and soda) and for whatever reason, the "pizza of the day," the odd but strangely compelling Baked Ziti Pizza, called to me. It was a slice with, yes, baked ziti pasta, sauce and ricotta cheese on top. It was as weird as it sounds, albeit quite filling.

I decided to go back last week, order a conventional slice and write about it. I got the slice-salad-soda special again, this time with a plain cheese slice ($7.55 with tax).

One thing in NYPC's favor, you get a lot of food for the money. The salad isn't bad and the slices are enormous wedges bigger than your head. That said, this doesn't seem like New York-style pizza to me. The crust is on the thick side, rather stiff, and it's impossible to fold a slice in half to eat it, as New Yorkers (and those who love them) like to do. You're just holding this giant triangle with two hands and moving it toward your mouth.

The sauce is rather bland, too, something I'd noticed on previous visits.

I'm a little surprised to be saying this because I like all kinds of pizza (while generally turning up my nose at Domino's, Little Caesar's and the like) and really like New York-style pizza. They do very good versions at San Biagio's in Upland and Anthony's Italian Kitchen in Rancho Cucamonga.

You may like NYPC's pizza -- people's taste in pizza varies considerably -- but if I go back, it will be to try a sub.

Fortune in my cookie at Pick Up Stix in Rancho Cucamonga today: "You will soon be the center of attention."

Thankfully, this didn't mean I tripped on my way out of the restaurant.

Do you mind if I offer a belated earthquake story? Hope not. I just heard this one a few days ago.

There's scaffolding around the tower of Pomona's stately brick Pilgrim Congregational Church, as you may have noticed if you've driven on Garey Avenue north of Holt in recent weeks. Repairs to the bricks and grillwork is the reason.

Well, there were workers on the scaffolding when the earthquake hit, parishioner Don Sturgis told me.

"One workman said that he looked up and saw the tower leaning over him. Another was on the tower roof and indicated that he was afraid that the roof would fall in," Sturgis said.

But they had nothing to worry about.

"These workers had no idea that the same general contractor for this current work, Mark Sauer Construction, was given a $1 million contract in 1993 to earthquake-retrofit the church structure and adjoining Pilgrim Hall that were built in 1911," Sturgis said.

That earlier work tied the walls together so that rather than the walls moving in separate directions, "the structure could move as a single unit," Sturgis explained. "This is exactly what happened (in the quake) -- the tower still stands and, except for some cracked plaster, no structural damage occurred to either building."

Whew. I'm sure the workers were glad to know it -- after the world, and their knees, stopped shaking.

Claremont's Laemmle 5 movie theater has been open a year and some change -- it debuted July 27, 2007 -- and I'm wondering who among you has been there and what you think of it.

I'm hoping to write a column about it in the very near future, possibly Sunday, and would like your feedback in advance on the theater's existence, pricing, mix of films, etc.

This is a tie-in to today's column on the John Lautner exhibit at the Hammer Museum. Lautner designed the former Henry's restaurant at Foohill and Garey in Pomona.

Henry's closed in 1971 and was demolished in the late 1980s after a stint as a (gasp) disco, but I know some of you remember it in its various incarnations.

"It was some of the most avant-garde architecture the Pomona Valley ever saw," Charles Phoenix told me last week.

Anyone want to weigh in?

Had a day off on Monday and went to Long Beach for lunch with my pal Steve Harvey of "Only in L.A." fame (subject of a future column) via Metrolink and the Blue Line, the only way to travel. After lunch we paid our respects at Acres of Books, the used bookstore that's closing, probably in mid-October (and subject of another future column). Discounts are now up to 30 percent but most of the best books have already walked out the doors.

On the train I read more of "The Distant Land of My Father," the novel everyone in Claremont is supposed to be reading, although I have yet to hear anyone around town mention it. (This book, you won't be surprised to hear, will also be the subject of a future column. No shortage of column topics here.)

Anyway. On the way back, I got off at the Seventh Street Metro station in downtown L.A., walked four blocks or so east to Broadway and took a little break at Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria.

Many of you will know Clifton's. It's the old-school eatery there since the 1930s and still chugging along; even though all its other outposts have closed, they've hunkered down here. Inside it's the same forest-like scene you remember or have read about, complete with a waterfall and redwood trees. If you've never been, you owe it to yourself to visit at least once in your life.

I've been there maybe a half-dozen times over the years, but I had my first actual meal there a couple of months ago when I was downtown for a Last Remaining Seats screening at the Orpheum, and truth be told, the food is only so-so. The setting more than makes up for any shortfall in the taste department, though. Plus they have all the comfort food items you could ask for, even Jell-O with fruit inside.

Usually I go in the middle of the afternoon and just get a cold drink and a slice of pie or maybe a fruit salad, something to relax with, and that's what I did Monday: a slice of cheesecake with chocolate, a bowl of orange slices and a lemon Ole. It all hit the spot, as did the kitsch. When you're in a restaurant with its very own waterfall, it's hard not to leave happy.

Pomona, the necktie. Dig the "educated doodles."

If you don't like that, try the Inglewood or the Costa Mesa.

Thanks to reader Mike Flores, who mailed me the print catalog, for the tip.

[Here's the (delayed) second installment in my summertime series of vacation column reprints for you staycationers. This piece appeared July 20, 2007. To explain one reference below, a reader named Pennie Frank had objected in a then-current column to being called "elderly." Well, this was funny at the time.]

Portland has no trouble staying weird

I spent last week in lovely Portland, Ore., and it's a good thing I wasn't there to beat the heat. While Pomona was a breezy 83 degrees, Portland was sizzling at an unseasonable 102.

Just imagine how hot 102 must feel to Oregon's main demographic: bearded, ponytailed men. Sandals and shorts can only do so much.

Hot weather notwithstanding, Portland is a very cool place. Some notes from the Rose City:

Fare categories on the streetcars: child, adult and "honored citizen." My parents, who drove down from Washington to make it a joint vacation with their No. 1 son, were amused at the designation. Personal to Pennie Frank: I suppose "honored citizen" is better than "elderly."

***

The streetcars, a modern addition, are marvelous, ranging over much of downtown and taking you there in clean, air conditioned splendor. Unless you leave the downtown core, they're free. Then there's a light rail line that covers even more territory, also for free. Another leg of the system is under construction.

The idea of all this is to discourage people from driving by offering a workable alternative.

Meanwhile, the Inland Valley, which lost its streetcars circa the 1940s, is begging for a single light-rail line that may arrive, at the soonest, in seven years. I might move to Portland if I didn't know it rains nine months out of the year.

***

Portland is one of the friendliest cities I've ever visited. Seemingly every time we looked at our map, someone stopped and asked if they could help us. Even a shaggy homeless man in a wheelchair smiled and offered directions, as if he were an official greeter. A restaurant server chatted at length about the city. A man on the streetcar suggested sights to see.

Of course, friendliness can become nosiness.

When my mom coughed once, a fellow light-rail passenger asked if she was OK and then, noting her unusual wrap-around sunglasses, asked blithely, "Is something wrong with your eyes?"

She raised her sunglasses, the better to glare with. (Unlike Ontario Mayor Paul Leon, she doesn't have death-beam eyes.)

***

Portland, it's said, has 28 microbreweries, more than any other city in America. Discouraging Portlanders from driving is probably a good policy.

***

Perhaps in keeping with the unofficial motto "Keep Portland Weird," everyone in the city, it seems, has a tattoo, the stranger the better.

One woman's bicep sported a detailed tattoo of a peacock's feathered "eye."

And a clerk at a gelato shop had the text of a poem of perhaps 10 lines wrapping around one of his forearms in ink. I like a man who carries his own reading material.

***

Speaking of reading material, Powell's Books, said to be the world's largest independent bookstore, was worth multiple visits, and got them. Four stories of used and new books -- not to mention millions of stories within those books. It was nerdvana.

***

There's no sales tax in Oregon, meaning that for anything you buy, the sticker price is exactly what you pay. I'm so used to mentally adding a dollar or two to every item as I stand in line that when I heard the actual total, it was like getting a discount.

***

Sights seen included the Chinese Cultural Garden, the Oregon Zoo, the arty Nob Hill district and Portlandia, which is second in size only to the Statue of Liberty among the nation's hammered-copper statues.

No, I don't know if Portlandia was hammered because she'd been hitting the microbreweries.

***

At the zoo, a display pointed out that goats aren't indigenous to Portland and are destroying native foliage. "Should the goats stay?" an explanatory sign read. "Many believe that the goats have rights. Do plants have rights? Whose rights are more important?"

I dunno. Do plants or goats have better lawyers?

***

At the airport I saw a man wearing a T-shirt whose back bore this circular philosophy: "Work to Eat/Eat to Live/Live to Bike/Bike to Work."

***

On my flight home, the pilot, after pointing out Lake Tahoe, announced over the intercom: "We'll be on the ground in Burbank in about half an hour." Up and down the rows, passengers sputtered: "Burbank? We're going to Ontario!"

Soon a flight attendant issued a reassuring announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to Ontario, not Burbank." A woman seated up front quipped: "Does the pilot know that?"

***

Upon unpacking, I found a government notice in my suitcase that my luggage had been opened and its contents searched. Do these indignities happen to plants or goats?

(David Allen writes Friday, Sunday and Wednesday, three planted goats.)

The past few years, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard (at Gower) has been hosting, of all things, film screenings.

You pay $10 and schlep to a grassy, graveless lawn, set up a picnic blanket or beach chair and watch a movie screened against the wall of a giant mausoleum.

Revival house? More like revival crypt. Friends of mine have gone off-and-on since Cinespia's start. It always seemed a little creepy to me -- not scary but bad taste and disrespectful. But the cemetery could use the money, apparently, and what the heck. Revival houses are few and far between these days.

So when a couple of friends invited me last Saturday, I went along. The movie was Orson Welles' amazing "Touch of Evil" and, you know, the whole thing was kinda fun.

Cinespia has a website if you'd like to know more. Upcoming movies: "Sixteen Candles" (tonight), "Phantasm," (Sunday), "Badlands" and "Rear Window" (next weekend).

This week's restaurant: Maria's Italian Deli, 202 W. Holt Blvd., Ontario.

Maria's opened this spring in a newly remodeled two-story building at Holt and Laurel, a couple of blocks west of Euclid, and it's become popular in the neighborhood as an alternative to the Mexican restaurants and hamburger stands in the immediate area.

I've eaten there a couple of times. The interior is long, narrow and a little bare, with a Van Gogh poster the only decoration, but the place is neat as a pin. My first visit I had a ham and mortadella with provolone ($6.50) and ate outside; the second time I had a Classic Italian Salame (salami, pepperoni and turkey) with provolone (also $6.50) and ate inside.

Outside is fun. There's a patio with six shaded tables, surrounded by a wrought iron fence, and from there you can enjoy the outdoors in relative comfort and watch the Holt Boulevard scene, such as it is. For instance, a guy walked by in a Brooklyn Dodgers jersey that read, on the back, "Cash 4 God" with a phone number. Inside is cool on a hot day, if sedate; I was the only customer for a late lunch.

The sandwiches weren't bad. In fact, they were better than expected, given the rather shaky help at the counter. If you're thinking an Italian deli should be boisterous and full of life, staffed by crusty, colorful experts at the art of sandwich-making, this isn't that.

The staff is pleasant, though. My second visit, the owner (who doesn't know me) said as I left: "Have a great day, okay? We really appreciate your business." And you know, she sounded as though she meant it.

Reader Mary Delgado writes:

"Just one question. Why doesn't Rancho have a National Night Out like Ontario, Upland, Claremont and La Verne? I live in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, and I am very surprised that it doesn't offer too much. I always have to go elsewhere for community events.

"These are some concerns from our neigborhood. Please make sure someone reads this email."

I don't know why Rancho doesn't participate in National Night Out, and as for a farmers market, there was talk of having one at Victoria Gardens but I don't think that ever happened. Your complaint about the family-oriented Cultural Center offerings was echoed in one of my columns a year or two ago.

Anyone else in Rancho feeling left out?

Btw, an "international festival celebrating cultures from around the world" is slated for 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Cultural Center, with "music, food and activities from all seven continents." Raising the question: What's the native music of Antarctica?

At last Thursday's Pomona Concert Band performance, the conductor explained the next number to the audience.

"We'll do a kind of unique Sousa march. It's for harp and concert band -- but we don't have a harp," he quipped. We all chuckled.

"Does anybody play the harp?" the conductor asked.

A hand or two rose.

He asked: "Did you bring your instrument?"

Did we print this in the newspaper? I don't remember it. Well, whether we did or not, here's the lineup, starting with the return of a much-loved, much-mocked mainstay on opening night:

Here's a note from reader Wes Ray:

"You wrote an column a few months ago about Upland not changing the Foothill Boulevard name to Route 66. Since that time my wife and I have conducted a loose survey of Foothill Boulevard from Central Avenue to Grove Avenue.

"We saw only one restaurant, of any size, we would call a sitdown restaurant only. That was Coco's at Euclid. We could have missed some minor sitdowns in the back of shopping centers, but if so they were unknown to us and we have lived in Upland since 1964."

Wes, I appreciate your legwork, and I can understand your frustration at the numerous fast-food chains along the street. The days of the grand old restaurants in Upland seem to have passed: The Arbor, the Stuft Shirt, Lord Charlie's, York's, the Sage Hen, Noble Inn, etc., etc.

However, things aren't as dire as you think. I can think of a bunch of sitdown restaurants along Foothill, although they may not be to your liking.

From memory, heading east from the city limits at Monte Vista:

New China, Joey's BBQ, Buffalo Inn, Spaggi's (which is one of the valley's finest restaurants), Jarritos, Pho Century, Athens Gyro House, Kishi, Sizzler (still there, I think), Sushimaru, Brandon's Diner, El Perico Ranchero and Thai Satay BBQ. Plus another three or four sushi bars whose names slip my mind.

I'm sure I'm leaving out a few more places where you order at your table rather than at a counter.

Still, Fastfood Boulevard does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

It was on Aug. 3, 1968 -- 40 years ago today -- that Montclair Plaza opened for a sneak preview, prior to an Aug. 5 opening.

That's the subject of today's column -- which you knew already, right?

Lots of you must have memories of the Plaza. Stores and restaurants you enjoyed over the years (Bob's Big Boy, the Hollander Cafeteria...). Shopping trips from childhood. Movies you saw back when the Plaza had a couple of theaters. Features of the mall you liked -- the big clock, for instance. If you're old enough, you might have been around to know what life was like before the mall, or what opening day was like.

So post away and we can create a sort of informal history of Montclair Plaza.

A fair-sized crowd turned out Thursday evening for the Charles Phoenix slide show at Fairplex's NHRA Museum. I was told that 60 or 70 people, or more than half, had reserved spots after seeing a mention in Wednesday's column, which was nice to hear. Nobody glared at me afterward so they must have had a good time.

Phoenix narrated vintage slides from his collection of various Pomona and Ontario landmarks. Among them: Tate Cadillac, Sears, Vince's Spaghetti, the Fox Theater, Betsy Ross, the Agitator Shop, the Valley Drive-In, Donahoo's Chicken and L.A. County Fair attractions such as the Fun Zone, the Flower and Garden Pavilion, the Clock Tower, the Garden Railroad, the Grandstand and the Monorail.

Ah, yes, the Monorail. It was built in 1962 -- "Richard Nixon rode on it," Phoenix said -- and removed in the 1990s. It hung from an overhead track and plied the fairgrounds. The original design was by sculptor John Svenson, of all people.

A success? Not exactly.

"They forgot one thing. There was no air conditioning," Phoenix said. "And the windows didn't open." As Quizno's likes to say: "Mmmm...toasty."

Anyone ever ride the fair's monorail? And do you know if the ski lift replaced it and follows the same route?

This week's restaurant: Wapango, 7881 Monet Ave., Rancho Cucamonga.

Wapango, an upscale, pan-Latin restaurant in Victoria Gardens, had a low-key opening July 7 before a grand opening this month as they work out the kinks.

A friend and I had dinner there Monday. Wapango is a Texas-based chain and this is its second California location, next door to Gyu-Kaku and near Fleming's. The ceiling is industrial-looking, the floor is bare concrete and the hanging fixtures, booths and walls are colorful and stylish. Very modern interior.

We were seated in a crescent-shaped booth with a screen behind it, orange plastic and brown wood in vertical slats. Kinda cool. Service was good because our waiter confided we were his only table.

The menu features various Mexican, Cuban and South American dishes in new combinations. I'd compare it to Border Grill in Santa Monica; it's not to that level but the comparison may be helpful.

My friend had spinach and black bean enchiladas with rice and slaw ($14) and I had the Wapango tropical salad ($16). There's a full bar as well. She had a Cazadores margarita ($11), which was too sweet; the waiter volunteered to exchange it for a Patron ($12), which was much better. Me, I had an iced tea.

My salad arrived on a plate roughly 12 by 12 inches and looked lovely: Romaine lettuce (not very much, frankly) topped with orange and mango slices, raspberries, strawberries and large grilled shrimp. I really liked it -- it was very fresh and flavorful -- and our waiter said he thinks it will become a favorite.

The enchiladas came on a large oblong platter and my friend thought they were all right, although the cream sauce was on the heavy side. (It was the only vegetarian dish on the menu, which seems awfully limited for 2008.)

Personally I thought the entrees were too large; I could eat only half my salad, taking the rest home. But that's how it is at a lot of restaurants anymore, and my friend thought my objection was silly. So take that for whatever it's worth.

No room for dessert, especially with the free rolls, served with tapenade and pico de gallo. I recommend Wapango, which I'd judge one of the VG's half-dozen best restaurants.