I haven’t done one of these “remember when” posts in a while, but with the opening this week of Don Marcos Mexican restaurant at 10276 Foothill Blvd., Rancho Cucamonga, this seems like a good time to recall the long-lived restaurant in this building: Socorro’s.

Socorro’s was established in 1969 at 9671 Foothill (at Archibald) and moved in 1981 a bit east to 10276, near Haven. It was a popular sit-down Mexican restaurant run by a woman whose first name (I believe) was Socorro. She closed the business in 2001, I think to retire.

The above dates are courtesy of the Ontario Library’s Model Colony History Room, where Kelly Zackmann looked through phone books and Criss-Cross Directories for me. The only caveat is because of a ’67-’83 gap, she couldn’t say for sure if anything was in 10276 prior to Socorro’s. Our guess is no, but we can’t say for sure.

Sad to say, I never ate there, only visiting a year or two ago to try the Whole Enchilada, which took Socorro’s place. Don Marcos, we can only hope, will be an improvement. Interesting that all three restaurants in this building have had Mexican cuisine. It’s obviously what the building is associated with in people’s minds.

Anyone want to reminisce about Socorro’s — the original location, the later location, the food, the ambience, the owner? To last 32 years, they must have been doing something right.