October 2009 Archives

Jay Phillips tends to chicken, ribs and links cooking in the restaurant's brick oven Wednesday. Below, the rib tip dinner.

This week's restaurant: Phillips BBQ, 11798 Central Ave. (at Francis), Chino.

Phillips is a big name for barbecue in L.A. and my column today is devoted to the chain's surprising arrival in Chino, in a strip mall in north Chino perhaps a mile or two south of Mission Boulevard and formerly home to Clark's BBQ.

If you've had Phillips' food in L.A., this seems to me to be a comparable experience, although I've only been to an L.A. location once, about six years ago. I've had two meals in Chino so far. (I paid for both, as per my policy.)

The rib tip dinner ($10.55) comes with two sides and two slices of white bread for mopping up the sauce. I got two meals out of it; also, two small stains on my shirt. The pulled pork sandwich ($3.52) has meat chopped so fine it's like a sloppy Joe; the sandwich had to be scarfed down quickly before the bun fell apart, although this was no chore. Both meals were delicious.

(My only problem with the sandwich was when I later realized I'd been charged 89 cents for my sandwich's side of cole slaw, which is supposed to come with. Even at that, my lunch, including a soda, was a mere $5.48 with tax. The same combo at the Dickey's chain costs $7.07 and, while acceptable, isn't nearly as good.)

This is the first Phillips location with a dining room. It's a little bare, but clean and bright, with new tables and chairs. All food comes in a takeout container. This isn't the full restaurant experience, like at Joey's or Lucille's, but the prices are cheaper and you can box up your own leftovers to take home just by closing the lid.

The menu has sandwiches, dinners, the standard sides, small and large trays for parties or events and individual desserts such as 7-Up cake, red velvet cake, peach cobbler and sweet potato pie.

One note about the prices: They're all odd. A rib dinner, for instance, is priced at $13.18, baby backs will run you $14.66 and a beef link sandwich is $9.37. Manager Jay Phillips says tax is included in all purchases, accounting for the creative pricing.

Candidly, I'm not a big barbecue guy, eating the stuff a couple of times per year. Some people, or at least some men, like arguing the finer points of various barbecue styles. I don't know one from another. So I'm no expert. Disregard my opinion if you like. But for whatever it's worth, Phillips' barbecue is very good, certainly the best I've had, and I will be eating a lot more of it with them in the neighborhood.

If you'd like a more knowledgeable recommendation, read Jonathan Gold's take here (but scroll down a bit to find it on the page).

For the record, The New Diner blog broke the news about Phillips' arrival in Chino. My bib is off to them.

A Halloween night party in Pomona is set for Saturday, with the goal of raising money for the Friends of the Fox organization to bring movies back to the Fox Theater.

I couldn't get more details late Wednesday, but my understanding is that the theater, now used mostly for concerts, isn't currently equipped to project films. (*Correction: It can project DVDs but doesn't have working film projectors.) I know the Friends group would like to offer occasional screenings.

I'll try to update this post on Thursday with more information. (*That update is essentially John Clifford's response in the comments section.)

Anyhow, the fundraiser, cleverly dubbed "Silver Scream," is a movie-themed Halloween costume party. It starts at 8 p.m. at the Acerogami, otherwise known as the Glass House Bar, at 228 W. 2nd St., Pomona, just west of Thomas Street.

Dress up as your favorite actor or movie character. Costumes are required for entry -- although I suspect they won't be too particular -- and the suggested donation is $10. Since it's a bar, entry is for those 21 and over.

Here's an architect's rendering of a portion of the under-construction senior apartments at Lemon Avenue and B Street in downtown Ontario.

The complex of 76 units will stand adjacent to the library, senior center and city hall, an especially prime location, not to mention only a block from the shops on Euclid Avenue. (If the seniors love Yangtze, the restaurant's entrance is less than a block away.)

Architect Dan Withee, of Torrance-based Withee Malcolm Architects, told me at the Oct. 9 ground-breaking that the design was "Wrightian," referring to Frank Lloyd Wright, clarifying that the arches and other elements are from Wright's Prairie style phase. In other words, no domes or falling water.

Well, the proof will be in the viewing, but the apartments have gotta have more visual interest than the parking lot they're replacing.

As noted in Sunday's column, and here on this blog Thursday, I attended Thursday's Metropolitan Transportation Authority meeting in downtown L.A. Of course I traveled by Metrolink, the MTA HQ being right there at Union Station.

The Gold Line-related portion of the meeting ended right after 2 p.m. Finally, lunch. I could've, and perhaps should've, eaten at the MTA cafeteria, but I decided to do something else that's hard to do on a Saturday, and that's try Pitfire Pizza.

It's at 2nd and Main, immediately south of the new LAPD HQ, southwest of the Caltrans HQ and near the LA Times and City Hall. Jonathan Gold likes it. There are locations in North Hollywood and Westwood too. I keep meaning to try it. But the downtown Pitfire doesn't open until 3 p.m. on weekends, thwarting any lunch plans on my usual outings.

So, Pitfire it was. My meal lived up to expectations. The day's special pizza, New Haven clam ($10.25), was a white pizza (no tomato sauce) with roasted garlic, breadcrumbs, parsley, a cheese I've forgotten (sorry), plus clams, obviously. At four slices, it was just the right size for one person, and very tasty.

Instead of returning directly to Union Station, I stopped at Philippe's for an iced tea and a cup of tapioca pudding. (I believe commenter Shirley Wofford has praised the tapioca.) Well, it was nothing to get excited about, but it was a change from pie, and a nice way to kill some time before the train home.

We won't be getting the Gold Line for untold years, but at least we have Metrolink.

CULTURE ALERT: W.S. Merwin, one of the world's greatest living poets and a Pulitzer winner, will give a free reading at 6:45 p.m. tonight at the Claremont McKenna Athenaeum, 385 E. 8th St., Claremont.

I attended a reading by Merwin as a college student in Illinois in 1984. A classmate urged me to go but I resisted at first, still married to the idea of watching "St. Elsewhere," as I'd never missed an episode.

My friend sensibly said, c'mon, the show is on every week but Merwin will never be here again.

I went, I enjoyed it and, my streak broken, I only watched "St. Elsewhere" one or two more times before giving up on it. I hope Denzel Washington can forgive me.

This week's restaurant: King Wrap, 373 W. Bonita Ave., Claremont.

With King Wrap as the latest Mediterranean place to hit the Village, following Pita Pit, Saca's, Yanni's and Casablanca, the pita must now be the official bread of downtown Claremont.

King Wrap, which occupies a narrow storefront between Quizno's and Taco Factory, opened a couple of months ago but isn't a total startup: It was formerly located in Rancho Cucamonga under the name Mama's Grill. Several readers here lamented its closing, leading the grill's mama (actually, the grill's daughter-in-law) to pen a message in response a few days ago.

I'd already been to King Wrap three times before her note, not realizing the connection to Mama's Grill. The new place is a smaller operation, a literal mom and pop, with four tables and a limited menu of wraps, sandwiches and salads. Nothing is more expensive than $6.99. (Mama's Grill seated 100.)

I've had a gyro and a chicken shawarma ($5.49 each) and a Caesar wrap ($6.49) and found them all tasty, unexceptional perhaps but solid examples of their type. And the price is right.

My only suggestion would be to offer combos that include a small salad and a drink. Nobody wants to order a $5.50 sandwich and a $6.50 salad, but when the tray is delivered with nothing but a cylindrical sandwich resting there in a wrapper, it looks lonely.

After writing the above, I had a fattoush salad (cucumbers, peppers, onions, parsley, toasted pita; $6.45) on Wednesday evening and noticed there's now a lunch special: kabab, hummus, rice and salad for $7.49. So there's a partial answer to my suggestion above.

Quibbles aside, in the often-pricey Village, King Wrap is a nice addition. I hope Mama settles in for a long stay.

I spent Thursday at the MTA HQ in L.A. to learn the fate of the Gold Line light-rail extension out our way.

The San Gabriel Valley got half of what it wanted: The segment from Pasadena east to Azusa can start construction in 2010 and begin operation in 2013 after the MTA board agreed to operate it in 2013 instead of 2017.

However, the MTA declined to request federal dough to extend the line from Azusa to Claremont, under the assumption that the project might edge aside its higher priorities on Wilshire Boulevard and downtown L.A.

I'll write more about this in Sunday's column. FYI, my presence at the meeting was why none of your comments were posted here until nearly 6 p.m., when I got to a computer.

And yes, I took public transit -- Metrolink -- to the meeting.

Lois Sicking of Upland showed me a BMW Mini E, a vehicle she was test-driving as an engineer with the state Air Resources Board. It's a zero-emission, all-electric car, much like the Mini Cooper in style but with no engine. We're on Second Street in Claremont near Starbucks.

The "gas" tank, with its "No Fuel" symbol, is where the car is plugged into standard household current for a recharge. Starting the car, which Sicking is doing below, involves pressing a button.

The car makes no noise. In fact, automakers are wondering if they should add a noise feature because pedestrians never hear the car coming. (I imagine one day we'll be buying ringtones for our cars.)

You can read more about the car in Friday's column.

In conversation with me recently, author and Ontario native Charles Phoenix was recalling the burger joints of his 1960s-1970s youth. I'll list them below; the descriptions are mine.

Burger Bandit: At 4th and Grove, this stand's mascot was a man in a burglar mask. Demolished (I think?).

Hamburger Ding-a-Ling: At D and Euclid, this restaurant's oddball concept was to have telephones at each booth, which customers would use to phone in their order. The food would be delivered to the table. Now demolished.

Burger Lane: At San Antonio and Holt. It's now Sammy Burger.

Burger Q*: On Mountain at G Street. The Q, Phoenix says, referred to a "queue," as in a line, as in, you line up for burgers. (*I inadvertently left this place off the list even though it did come up in our conversation. Because a couple of commenters asked about it, I'll retroactively add it here for completeness' sake.)

Andy's Burgers: At Holt and Sultana (I think?), this drive-in moved to Holt and Lemon circa 2004. There's a second one in Chino.

Before our conversation, Phoenix had dropped in at Andy's to chat with the staff and learned that it opened in 1969. That's 40 years ago.

If Andy's has survived four decades, Phoenix mused, that puts them ahead of all the competition.

"They would be the official hamburger of Ontario," Phoenix declared.

What do you think?

On Saturday I had two great meals in L.A.: lunch at Susan Feniger's Street and dinner at Jitlada.

Street, on Highland just north of Melrose, is a new restaurant by Feniger, the co-chef behind Border Grill and Ciudad. She's also a Claremont Colleges alumnus. Street is devoted to foodie versions of the world's street foods. Our table shared spinach varenyky (a Ukrainian dumpling), a half-size New Jerusalem bread salad, Hawaiian poke plate (ono fillet, Japanese style) and Egyptian basbousa cake, plus mango lassi to drink. We liked it all, and at lunchtime on a Saturday or Sunday, street parking is free. The meal came to $53 plus tip.

The only disappointment was that Street has an A from the Health Department. This is street food; the grade should be a C.

Jitlada, on Sunset in the Thai Town neighborhood, is another acclaimed restaurant. Besides the usual Thai options, there's a couple of pages of southern Thai dishes unknown to most of us, which is why there's such a buzz. Jitlada is in a minimall and there was a half-hour wait, but for a Saturday night, that's not bad.

We had fish cakes, a very good rice salad and, the clear winner, the crispy catfish and mango salad. Very good stuff indeed, and I'll have to go back to try some of the other dishes everyone raves about. The bill was about $38. The interior seems to have been furnished from someone's basement -- a Michelob lamp near framed portraits of Thailand's king and queen? -- but Jitlada is well worth a visit.

I can also endorse the movie "An Education," now playing at the ArcLight in Hollywood, and eventually to a theater near(ish) you.

When the Rhino Records store in Westwood closed in early 2006, I wrote a column to explain the history of the Rhino store in Claremont. Briefly, Mark Leviton, a friend of Rhino founder Richard Foos, opened the Claremont store in October 1974 under Foos' ownership.

Foos sold the Claremont store in 1976 and it continues as an independent operation today, with no connection to the record label of the same name, which was also founded by Foos.

At the time my piece appeared, Rhino's current proprietors weren't cognizant of the store's history. Based on the "about us" section of their website, they quickly forgot. Their motto "Independent since 1976" continues to appear on their website and on T-shirts. Oops. Since businesses tend to overestimate how long they've been around, not underestimate it, maybe Rhino is just being modest.

I recently spent an hour going through 1974 issues of the Claremont Courier on microfilm, hoping to find a feature about the store's launch.

Well, no such story seems to exist -- I went through the issues page by page from August through mid-November -- but I did find something: one lone ad for the store on Oct. 19, 1974. Hey, that's 35 years ago today!

So, while no one seems to know the date the store opened, this is as good a time as any to wish Rhino Records a happy 35th anniversary. Even if they don't know it.

Above is that ad at roughly original size, to the right is (why not?) the page it appeared on and at bottom is a current photo of the store's original location, what was then 269 W. 2nd St., a house between City Hall and the Pizza N Such building; Leviton told me the store occupied half of the space (he didn't remember which half).

Later it moved to Yale Avenue, first to what is now Viva Madrid and, in 1991, to the former Bentley's Market location. It remains there today, thriving as the only full-service indie music store in the Inland Valley. Even if it no longer sells cassettes and 8-tracks.

This week's restaurant: Super Chili Burger, 6090 Riverside Drive (at Magnolia), Chino.

I'd heard about this place from a reader's tip and decided to head down to Chino for a long lunch hour to check 'em out. It's a few blocks east of Central Avenue in a standard fast food building.

The menu has burgers, chili, tacos, burritos, fried chicken and gyros, plus eggs, omelettes and pancakes for breakfast. It's one of those burger places where you can get almost anything and is popular with students from the nearby junior high and high school. Oh, and I noticed that besides the three standard milkshake flavors, they also have pineapple.

Of course I ordered the namesake chili burger, the quarter-pound size, with onions, lettuce and tomato, in a combo with fries and a Coke ($5.97 with tax). A customer hanging out at the counter, a public defender named Bill, recognized me, as did the counterman, Jimmy. Believe it or not, this generally happens everywhere but restaurants.

Well, courtesy of employees Jimmy Alexandris and his brother, Nick, two cheerful, gregarious guys, I soon had the history of the family-run restaurant, founded circa 1987 by their parents, both Greek emigres. The whole family pitches in to operate the place and has watched the city change.

As for the food, I'm not a chili burger aficionado so I can't compare the Super Chili Burger version to the competition. I've been to Tommy's twice and got heartburn both times, which never happens to me. I did not get heartburn from Super Chili Burger. To me, that's a plus, but your personal belief system when it comes to chili may differ. In any event, my lunch wasn't a knockout, but it was messy, gooey and satisfying.

If nothing else, you might go just to meet the family.

This undated postcard image, presumably from the 1950s, is in the collection of the Ontario Public Library. This was downtown Cucamonga.

As Frank Zappa wrote in his autobiography:

"Cucamonga was a blotch on a map, represented by the intersection of Route 66 and Archibald Avenue. On those four corners we had an Italian restaurant, an Irish pub, a malt shop and a gas station.

"North, up Archibald, were an electrician's shop, a hardware store and the recording studio. Across the street was a Holy Roller church, and up the block from that was the grammar school."

His memory was pretty sharp. In 1965, the year Zappa left, this would be what you'd have found at or around this intersection, according to research by Kelly Zackmann of the Ontario City Library into phone books and criss-cross directories:

NW corner: Café Italiano (9690 Foothill), the Zappa-mentioned "Italian restaurant." Ancil Morris' Cucamonga Service Station was next door to the west and still stands, albeit closed and fenced off.

SW corner: Cucamonga Café (9671 Foothill), which is listed under ice cream in the phone book. Must be Zappa's "malt shop." Now it's The Deli and Carl's Liquor.

NE corner: Cucamonga Hardware (9710 Foothill) must be the "hardware shop."

SE corner: Ray Ford's Texaco station (9705 Foothill) was there, if apparently not operating by 1965. Nearby was The Tavern (9741 Foothill), which may be the "Irish pub" Zappa mentions. Was this the same pub known as Shanty Devlin's?

Zappa's studio was at 8040 Archibald, on the west side above Estacia Street and next to Citrus Electric ("electrician's shop") at 8036. South of them, below Estacia but above Foothill, were the Cucamonga Justice Court at 8076 and Cafe Italiano.

The "grammar school" Zappa mentions was Central Elementary, which is still there (7955 Archibald). Zackmann couldn't locate a Holy Roller-type church across the street from the studio via phone records. But then, why have a phone if you're going to speak in tongues?

If you've never been to The Deli, by the way, not only is the place worth it for the food, but one wall boasts a series of B&W and color photos of the intersection from various eras. Well worth a look.

Zappa maintained that when Archibald was widened in the mid-'60s, his studio was among the casualties. I think there's a drive-through dairy there now. Is the courthouse building still there? I don't know. There is some disagreement among old-timers as to whether the row of older buidlings on the west side above Foothill is original or not.

Feel free to add to or correct any of the information and suppositions above.

Or 21 piercings? Alta Loma's punk record shop marks its 21st anniversary with a 21 percent off sale Saturday and Sunday. Dr. Strange, which is now old enough to drink, is at 7136 Amethyst Ave. in the old part of town.

The store probably appropriated its name from everyone's favorite master of the mystic arts, the Marvel Comics character Dr. Strange.

The store is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. I anticipate Dr. Strange's 100th anniversary sale, when everything in the store is free.

Photo of Weiland Brewery's cheeseburger and garlic fries by Jeff Aragaki

Upland reader Jeff Aragaki writes:

"In your jaunts to downtown LA, have you eaten at a place called Weiland Brewery? There's two locations: one in JTown and one underground on Flower St. at 5th. If you have, did you try the garlic fries? They're actually garlic, parmesan cheese and parsley fries. To die for."

Good choice of words. Jeff continues:

"What I'm looking for is anywhere near us that has similar french fries. Any ideas?"

As I told Jeff, I haven't been to Weiland Brewery nor do I know of any garlic fry opportunities in the Inland Valley, other than the Gordon Biersch stand at Epicenter Stadium. There's a Biersch in Old Town Pasadena if you're willing to travel that far.

Angel's Place in La Verne serves "Greek fries" with oregano, parmesan and feta -- interesting, but no garlic.

Readers, can any of you help out Jeff with some local garlic fries?

Welcome to another mystery photo, this one from, well, you tell me. That's the whole point, to test your knowledge of your environs. Where can one find this chess-lovin' scene?

Leave a guess. To preserve the mystery, no comments, or at least no correct guesses, will be posted until after the contest ends Tuesday morning, when the answer will also be revealed. Wild guesses are encouraged. After all, they're fun.

Here's a link to the two previous quizzes.

* UPDATE: The photo was taken on the lawn outside Claremont City Hall, which virtually everyone who guessed got correctly. One guessed outside the Claremont Library, which is almost correct -- the library, which is across the street from City Hall, also has a couple of these tables, but I don't believe there's grass around them. Another reader points out similar tables in Fontana -- same maker, perhaps?

Unanswered question: Has anyone ever seen chess or checkers being played at these Claremont tables? I haven't.

Thanks for participating, everyone.

This week's restaurant: Viva Madrid, 225 Yale Ave. (at 2nd), Claremont.

One of the 909's most unique restaurants, Viva Madrid is the only Spanish tapas bar in this corner of the Empire. It's been operating since the late 1990s in a small arcade of shops near a bagel shop and Rhino Records.

A bunch of us went there to celebrate a birthday last week. The restaurant is cozy, seating under 50, all squeezed in, plus another dozen at the bar. Even on a Thursday night the place is full, with a half-hour to 45-minute wait, a testament to its popularity. It's a prime place for dates and celebrations. The close quarters add to the room's energy level.

The single room is heavy on ambiance with rustic wooden tables and chairs, Spanish tchothkes on the walls, a large chandelier and dim lighting. A flamenco guitarist played on a small platform near the ceiling. Three friends toasted a 60th birthday at the bar. The restaurant attracts a wide age range, from college students to seniors.

The heart of the menu is the tapas, 40 small plates from $1 to $9. Each has a few bites, good for sharing, but not with many people. While they could be considered appetizers, most diners make a meal of them.

The six of us shared 11 tapas: yellowfin tuna on toast, an empanada, salmon-wrapped asparagus, chicken croquettes, chorizo-stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped dates, barbacoa chicken, cheese and olives, beef with garlic and white wine, mussels and a basket of bread. We also had a seafood paella, which is a rice dish (double portion $32), and a creme brulee for dessert. Some had sangria ($15 per liter). The bill worked out to $27 per person, with the birthday honoree's money not accepted.

There were some mild complaints: The size of the tapas varies too much (why are some two pieces and others five?), the bread didn't taste fresh, the asparagus tasted canned, none of the dishes were especially complex or inventive.

Those cavils out of the way, most of the food was delicious. We all enjoyed our meal quite a bit, for the food, atmosphere and conviviality. Most of us are irregular but repeat customers, hitting the place for special occasions. There's no place in the region quite like Viva Madrid.

I say, viva Viva Madrid!

Front lawn at 7th and Indian Hill, Claremont.

A community reading program in Claremont centers on Steve Lopez's book "The Soloist" and is being promoted via yard signs around town -- although you could be forgiven for thinking the signs are promoting the author and L.A. Times columnist's electoral ambitions, given their front-lawn company.

"Is there a school board election going on in Claremont?" Lopez asked Sunday during an appearance at Claremont's Little Bridges Hall of Music, which was attended by more than 300 people.

A colleague at the Times lives in Claremont and, Lopez said, informed him: "Your name is on signs in lawns all over Claremont. There's an election going on. It looks like you're running for mayor or school board."

Lopez, who lives in L.A., said he asked about his electoral prospects and got no response.

Well! As a Claremont resident and fellow columnist, I would be pleased to welcome Lopez to town and even help usher him into office with my vote.

Is there a dogcatcher position available?

Books bought this month: "Keaton," Tom Dardis; "The Short Novels of John Steinbeck"; "The First Men in the Moon," H.G. Wells; "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Robert Louis Stevenson; "Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure," Richard A. Lupoff; "The Iliad," "The Odyssey," Homer; "Local Knowledge," B.H. Fairchild.

Books read this month: "Carson of Venus," Edgar Rice Burroughs; "One for the Road," Ray Bradbury; "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays," Ray Bradbury; "Ray Bradbury, An Illustrated Life," Jerry Weist; "Yestermorrow," Ray Bradbury; "Escape on Venus," Edgar Rice Burroughs.

I said last month that this month's reading list would be even more arcane and I wasn't kidding. Six books read, two by Edgar Rice Burroughs (creator of Tarzan) and four by or about Ray Bradbury. Feel free to stop reading this entry immediately.

As I may have mentioned before, I've been plowing through everything by Bradbury published since 1989, as well as assorted ephemera from previous years that had escaped my notice. Loved him as a boy, gave up reading him (but kept buying him) as an adult. In the past year I've gone through about 20 (!) books, with another 10 (groan) left. Can't finish 'em all in 2009, but I hope to finish another five.

Such is the price of fandom. Catching up on his output feels like something I should do in honor of his impact on my childhood, as well as because he's the writer I'm most likely to identify as my "favorite." He's 89 and can't have a lot of years left, and I would like to be able to say, if only to myself, that I've read all his work rather than that I gave up on him two decades ago.

This month I read a 2002 collection of stories (just okay), a 1975 collection of three plays (good), a 1991 collection of essays (good) and a 2002 coffee table book of photos, book jackets, paintings, drawings, etc., from his career (diverting, if you're a fan). In other words, I can't honestly recommend any of them. That said, some of the essays, the ones about urban planning (especially in L.A.) and what makes a compelling, walkable shopping district -- a public plaza, lots of chairs, late hours, certain types of shops -- were pretty interesting. Did you know he helped conceptualize Horton Plaza in San Diego?

The two Burroughs novels were numbers 3 and 4 in his five-book Venus series, the one starring Carson Napier, the pride of Pomona College. The plots wear a bit thin by the fourth book, in which Carson and his mate, Duare, keep blundering into new hostile tribes (three or four of 'em), are enslaved and separated but manage by coincidence and million-to-one chances to reunite. Still, the stories are breezy and ERB's dry humor comes to the rescue again and again.

A favorite passage from "Carson," when our hero approaches a palace door and a sentry gives him attitude: "I guess putting a man in front of a door anywhere in the universe must do something to him. The tremendous responsibility implicit in such a cosmic assignment seems to remove all responsibility for good manners. I have seldom known it to fail. When it does, they must immediately transfer the man to some other form of activity."

Next month: more Bradbury, more Burroughs, and at least one curveball.

I made a rare drive on Fontana's Foothill Boulevard one evening recently and noticed these new light poles on the south side of the street for several blocks along the western portion of the city. Snazzy, eh? I couldn't resist pulling over to snap a photo.

Yes, apparently I am a light pole geek. These may be the most ornate I've seen locally.

Amy Colbrunn of Fontana City Hall says the poles cost $5,000 apiece and were installed to improve the aesthetics of the old Route 66, similar to efforts in Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.

And by the way, if any local city has development potential, it's Fontana. Foothill has surprisingly vast swaths of open land and derelict buildings. So did Rancho Cucamonga, once upon a time...

There's nothing like a good urban legend. A post here about a weird mist in Chino Hills continues to draw a comment or two per month, with the total currently at 43!

So let me create another perennial blog post by noting the popular urban legend about a community of little people in one of the foothill communities in the San Gabriel Valley, or slightly east.

I've heard these stories and read them on the Internet over the years. Someone claims they were walking in the middle of nowhere and stumbled across a cluster of smaller-than-usual homes with small doors and windows. Or their friend's cousin saw it, or they saw it themselves but could never find it again.

They've heard those stories at the Padua HIlls Theater in upper Claremont. When I toured the place a few weeks back, two people told me young people have parked in the lot to go in search of this mythical community, whose location varies depending on who's telling the story.

Apparently there are rumored but nonexistent communities of little people all over the country. In SoCal, Long Beach, Downey and San Diego are frequently mentioned.

Anyone ever heard these stories locally or tried to investigate in person?

Faithful readers know the L.A. County Fair, which ends Sunday, is one of my favorite people places in the Inland Valley. Here are a few of the sillier things I saw this year.

This stand's extremely literal name could be the official theme of this year's fair, where even bacon could be found "smothered in chocolate."

Heck, even otherwise-healthy vegetables weren't safe. Do you think anyone put butter, mayo and salt on chocolate-covered corn?

Used to be that SoCal had lots of buildings shaped like the product they sold. Nice to see that look return, below, with a coffee stand shaped like a giant coffee pot.

Ah, the Ultimate Sushi Masker, just in time for Halloween. What would the Fair be without a misspelled sign or two? Whoever made this sign should have masked this error.

Unlike the real Fox Theater in Pomona, the miniature version at the Garden Railroad developed an enormous (scale-wise) cobweb. I love the Garden Railroad, btw.

Best of both worlds. Maybe the ice cream is served on a giant turkey leg.

Did you see anything this year that tickled your funnybone or otherwise delighted you?

Restaurant of the Week: Joey's BBQ, 9538 Foothill Blvd. (at Archibald), Rancho Cucamonga; also 1964 W. Foothill Blvd., Upland; 117 W. 2nd St., Pomona; and 3689 Riverside Drive, Chino.

In June Joey's, the Chino-based chain dating to the late 1970s, opened its fourth location, in the former George's Burgers building a bit west of Archibald on Foothill in Rancho Cucamonga. Unusually, Joey's retained the drive-thru, making it one of the few non-burger drive-thrus in the valley -- and the only one where you can get a $28.50 filet mignon.

Inside the restaurant recently at lunchtime, our server wore a headset so she could double on the drive-thru. Not much business there yet, under a dozen customers per day, she reported. I suppose one benefit of the drive-thru is that you could order ribs and feel like Fred Flintstone, except that your car probably won't tip over.

Other than that feature, and the slightly more fast-food feel to the place, this Joey's is pretty much like the others. The menu features beef and pork ribs, steak, chicken, sandwiches and other items. The barbecue is smoky in the Texas style, except for the tangier St. Louis-style pork ribs. The meat is cooked in a closed-pit barbecue, whereas larger chains use a faster, rotisserie-like process.

I've eaten at Joey's downtown Pomona location numerous times over the years, especially before concerts. The food is pretty reliable, although some carp about the prices, which for ribs start at $12. In a cute touch common to Joey's, each table has a miniature wooden steer with a pole from which you can hoist a Joey's flag when you need service.

Our table had pulled pork and turkey breast sandwiches ($12 each), which come with two sides. They were meaty sandwiches -- my friend took home half the turkey -- and tasty too. Our sides were a corn cobette, baked beans, cole slaw and sweet potato fries.

Almost any self-respecting valley resident has eaten at a Joey's at least once. Your thoughts?

Pomona graces the cover of a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Why? Why not? The cover image is a tapestry by Sir Edward Burne-Jones from the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Thanks to Jeff Keating of the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona for the cover scan.

Now, how does the Goddess of Pomona feel about health care reform? All I know is that she favors eating fruit.