June 2010 Archives

Complete this sentence, as many times as you like:

You know you've lived in the Inland Valley a long time if you remember when...

(* This post is getting such strong response, I'm going to leave it up top here an extra day.)

"I don't know if you've been to EPCOT before," reader Will Plunkett asks, "but there was a garden in the Canada section of the park, titled 'Victoria Gardens.' This is totally a rip-off of the Rancho shopping location, I'm sure, as I can't think of a single way the name Victoria relates to Canada at all." Tongue further in cheek, the Rancho Cucamonga resident adds: "And no Abercrombie & Fitch store or Sbarro there, either."

A garden without Abercrombie & Fitch or Sbarro? Pff. Here's Plunkett's photo; click on it for a larger view.

(I have been to EPCOT, actually, but that was years before our Victoria Gardens opened.)

A friend wonders: "Is $10 too much to indulge in three hours of chicken nugget bacchanalia?" Your call.

(This offer is exclusive to the Chino Hills Chick-fil-A, 3640 Grand Ave., which frequently advertises deals on its Facebook page.)

Nancy's Cafe, 9759 Arrow Route (at Archibald), Rancho Cucamonga

One of my favorite breakfast spots, Nancy's opened in 1994, faltered a couple of years ago due to a divorce and returned as good as ever in April 2009, the namesake Nancy back at the helm. It's open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days.

The strip center behind a Jack in the Box doesn't look like much, but Nancy's is a cozy place, cheery in both decor and service. Nancy's collection of pig-themed objects, some large, some tiny, are placed subtly throughout the restaurant. 1950s music plays constantly and employees occasionally sing.

For breakfast, Nancy's has all the standards. The pancakes are especially good. On a recent visit I got the two-egg breakfast with sausage, country potatoes and biscuits ($6.95). A very good meal, and the sausage is among the best I've had, plump and meaty.

I'd never had lunch at Nancy's, though, so I went in on Wednesday to try it out. Lunch is strictly burgers, sandwiches and salads. I got the turbo turkey melt ($8.95), which came on sourdough. My choice of sides was cole slaw, a decent version. The sandwich was filling and tasty; there's an attention to quality here. A tiny cup of jello was on the side.

Half a chocolate cake was perched on a domed pedestal on the counter a few feet away, but I managed to resist. In fact, my meal was so filling, I didn't even eat dinner. Thanks, Nancy's.

While on LATimes.com searching for "Pomona," I found a story, recently reprinted on its Daily Mirror L.A. history page, about a 1960 incident in which two brothers who attended Fremont Junior High hotwired a plane at Cable Airport, took off and fatally crashed into a recreation yard at Emerson Junior High. Read the story here.

Anyone remember this incident?

Reader Bob Terry found the business Claremont Glass and Mirror of Upland just where you'd expect: the 8500 block of Vineyard Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga.

A Reading Log interim report: While I typically finish four or five books per month, on my way to my goal of 50 for 2010, it's June 22 and my reading total this month stands at zero. Gulp.

It's not that I'm not reading. I'm midway through eight books, on four of them 50 pages or less from the end. I went to lunch today with 26 pages to go on a novel (Clifford D. Simak's "Why Call Them Back From Heaven?") and came back with 13 pages left. My progress is such that I can wrap up four, or even five, books by June 30. Can't I?

The fact remains that I haven't finished a book since May 31, which makes me slightly nervous. Will I meet my goal, or will my next Reading Log be illustrated by photo of a blank floor?

This is what passes for a nail-biter on The David Allen Blog. Well, I do what I can.

* Update: After dinner out with friends on Tuesday I had time to finish the Simak novel. OK, there'll be at least one book in my photo next month. Whew.

I walked on Yale Avenue past Claremont's Cheese Cave on Monday afternoon and saw that not only is the butcher-block paper down -- and all the poems -- but there were people inside. A sign outside said it was a private party and that the business would open at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

As recounted in Sunday's column, I saw the movie in its initial release in the summer of 1975 in my native Illinois. "Jaws," considered the first summer blockbuster, seemed to be everywhere, with direct and indirect tie-ins, spoofs, parodies, features about sharks, etc.

I bought the "Mr. Jaws" comedy 45 by Dickie Goodman. I checked out the "Jaws" soundtrack from the library. I also bought an iron-on transfer with a shark rising from the water, which was put on a sweatshirt that I wore proudly until the image faded away in the wash. Ah, childhood.

Did you see the movie back then? If you were a child, was it as popular on your playground as it was on mine? What do you remember about "Jaws"-mania, especially if you were in Southern California, i.e., close to real beaches?

And if you're interested in the book cited in Sunday's column, Patrick Jankiewicz' "Just When You Thought It Was Safe: A Jaws Companion," you can order a copy from Amazon here.

Antonino's, 7945 Vineyard Ave. (at Foothill), Rancho Cucamonga

A Rancho Cucamonga favorite, Antonino's has been part of the California Winery Center on the northeast corner of Foothill and Vineyard since the 1990s (although the original name, Chianti, had to be changed for copyright reasons). Antonino's recently moved a few yards within the center to make way for Fresh & Easy, offering a reason to give them another try. (Intriguingly, it's owned by the same man who owns Haandi Indian Restaurant, also in Rancho Cucamonga.)

Antonino's is fine-dining Italian and it's got the white tablecloths to prove it. My recollection of the old place is that it had a dated look and a pink and teal color scheme (or is that redundant?). The new interior is more inviting, with more windows and a fresher appearance. The atmosphere is sedate.

Service was friendly. We ordered clam linguine (technically, linguine con vongole) ($15) and salmon griglia ($18). My friend wasn't impressed by her salmon. My linguine came loaded with clams, both fresh and canned. I liked my dish a bit better than she did. One flub: the server, in reaching across the table to put down my dish, tipped it, spilling clam broth onto my pants. Sigh. Well, at least she was apologetic about it. The dish was more liquid than she'd realized, I think.

Overall, I'd say Antonino's is a nice local choice, inoffensive for business lunches or dinner with your parents, but your experience would be about the same at a Macaroni Grill, only less exciting. You could do worse, but you could also do better.

The first Hollywood Fringe Festival, from June 17 to 27, features theater, comedy, dance, visual arts, workshops and other events by emerging artists at a host of unusual venues. One highlight could be "52 Man Pickup," a one-woman performance piece by Desiree Burch, a Diamond Bar native who now lives in New York and has toured the U.K. Her show seems to have been well-reviewed in NYC, and Burch was named by New York Magazine as among "Ten New Comedians that Funny People Find Funny."

Her press rep contacted me and offered to set up an in-person interview, but time, and column inches, are scarce this week. Since Burch is interested in reaching the locals, however, I'm happy to give her a plug here.

You can read more about "52 Man Pickup," and watch a couple of short videos, here. The two performances are at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Fringe Central Theater of Arts, 1625 N. Las Palmas. Tickets are a mere $15.

This is what it's come to: Vandals are now tagging quarters. I found this in my change recently.

Nothing exotic, just an upper respiratory infection, says the doctor, but the antibiotics are kicking in and I'm back at my desk. Thanks for the good wishes.

Still out and headed for the doctor's.

I'm in the office after four days at home, other than forays for food and DayQuil. Probably won't be here a full day, but at least I'm here.

Did I miss any news in Upland the last few days? Just kidding.

* 1 p.m.: Having put in a half day, I'm going to lunch and then home to nap. I'll try for a full day on Tuesday...

I've been laid low by the flu the past couple of days. Restaurant of the Week will return next week, as will my column, which will be absent Sunday.

Books bought: "The Best Short Stories of Mark Twain," Mark Twain; "Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress," Candacy Taylor; "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)," Tom Vanderbilt; "Candide," Voltaire; "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass," Lewis Carroll; "The Good, the Bad and the Mad: Weird People in American History," E. Randall Floyd; "Millard Sheets, the Early Years (1926-1944)," Gordon McClelland; "This is Claremont," ed., Harold Davis.

Books read: "The World Jones Made," Philip K. Dick; "Just When You Thought It Was Safe: A Jaws Companion," Patrick Jankiewicz; "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Robert Louis Stevenson; "Dancing Under the Moon," Al Martinez; "Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell With the Rolling Stones," Robert Greenfield.

May was a big month: I read five books, not the standard four. It was also a big month because I gained eight, thanks in large part to gifts (three) and the emptying of a B&N gift card received 14 months ago (three more). Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of balance.

"The World Jones Made," Philip K. Dick's second novel, has been on my shelves since the '80s. Jonathan Lethem has called it "godawful." About a man who can see precisely one year into the future, it's not very good. My chronological march through the PKD canon is going poorly so far. (I didn't much like his first novel either.)

The "Jaws Companion" book, published last year, was written by an Upland resident who's a pal of mine. It contains everything you'd want to know about the novel, the movie, the three (!) sequels and the phenomenon. Unfortunately, it also contains about 10,000 things you won't care about. Some good stuff here, but the writing ranges from insightful to dreadful. (Sorry, Pat.) Still, this is aimed at fans, and if you're one, you should get it.

I bought "Dr. Jekyll" last fall at Moe's in Berkeley for a couple of bucks. I'd have guessed I read it as a boy after Stoker and Shelley, but nothing in it seemed familiar. Well, other than the whole concept, of course. This is where the whole downing-the-foul-liquid-in-the-beaker-and-transforming-horribly shtick started. Still effective.

"Dancing Under the Moon," the book of Al Martinez columns, was bought (for $1) at Book Baron in Anaheim before it closed in 2007. Martinez himself signed it last year during his stop in Pomona. Published in 1992, it's a genial set of columns by the former L.A. Times scribe. My favorite is about two elderly neighbors who pedal around their neighborhood.

The Stones book, "Exile on Main Street," was bought during Virgin Megastore's closing sale in 2009 for a song, ha ha. It chronicles the "Exile on Main Street" period and May seemed like a good time to read it, what with the album being rereleased. Focusing more on the band's personal lives than the music, and without their participation, the book was disappointing -- unlike the album.

In June, I'm reading the Twain story collection bought in May (see above), more Sherlock Holmes and a couple of other things (so far).

Comments on the above or on your own reading are, as always, solicited.

After creating a neighborhood-by-neighborhood map of the city of Los Angeles online, the L.A. Times is now doing the same for the rest of L.A. County.

The portion of the map designated Pomona Valley includes Pomona, Claremont and La Verne, with maps, demographics and school information for each. Click on the links above to see 'em.

The map also identifies an area around southwestern Pomona and north of Walnut as "Ramona, an unincorporated area with a population of 4,053" that allegedly includes Cal Poly and nearby land, some of which is actually within Pomona city limits. I've never heard of Ramona and neither has my colleague Joe Blackstock, who checked a midcentury map book that didn't use the term either.

But it's a useful project and mistakes will surely be cleaned up as readers react.

Favorite stat, about both Claremont and La Verne: "The percentage of white people is high for the county." No kidding!

St. Louis is kind of the Pomona of the Midwest: once great, now living in reduced circumstances, but still pretty cool. (They both have Fox theaters, although St. Louis' Fox is three times larger.) I was visiting my parents near there last week. A few highlights:

The Laumeier Sculpture Park features 105 acres of parkland with nature trails and sculptures. Admission and parking: free. This, um, eyecatching piece was a favorite. "Do Not Touch Sculpture"? Well, you're not supposed to touch your eyes anyway.

This picturesque used bookstore, the Book House, is in an 1865 house. Ted Drewes' frozen custard is a local tradition and a must-stop on Route 66.

The St. Louis Art Museum, in sprawling, 1,300-acre Forest Park, is just one of the cultural attractions in the city that's absolutely free; it's in this grand 1904 World's Fair building. (The crane in the background hints at the major expansion under way.)

And the city's new Busch Stadium downtown, opened in 2006, has a nice open feeling. That's the Gateway Arch in the background, obviously. The Cards beat the Brewers 8-0 that night, followed by a free fireworks show. No, the game itself wasn't free. There's a limit to even St. Louis' generosity.

I got back from St. Louis in time for the LCD Soundsystem show at the Pomona Fox on Saturday night. During the opening act, one lone guy in the balcony (see photo) made like Deney Terrio and danced the whole time, his view-obstructing silhouette amusing and annoying my friends and me.

During LCD's performance, plenty of people were on their feet. Great show -- you can read a review here and watch a video here -- and we were certainly impressed by the amateur dancer too. Not so much by his limited repertoire of moves as by his energy and enthusiasm. He looked to be about 60 and was on his feet dancing for most of two hours!

The first paper I picked up while visiting my parents near St. Louis, Mo., last week made me do a double-take. Was that woman on the front page who it looked like?

It was indeed: Pomona Unified's former superintendent, now U.S. Department of Education assistant secretary, Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana. She was visiting an underachieving middle school in St. Louis. Click on the thumbnail photo for a larger view.

Evidently it's impossible for me to escape the Inland Valley, even on vacation.

No posting this week due to vacation (yay!). As moderator I'll try to check in daily to approve your comments, if any, for publication. Columns will continue appearing as I wrote a week's worth in advance!

In the meantime, a public service announcement for the reading public (which presumably includes anyone reading this, right?). The Magic Door used bookstore in Pomona is celebrating its fifth anniversary all this month. How is it celebrating? With a 30 percent off sale.

Yep, 30 percent off for 30 days. I'm sorry I'll miss the first week of the sale but will definitely hit it when I get back. Don't buy anything you think I might want! Oh, OK, do what you like.

Magic Door is at 155 W. 2nd St., a half-block west of Garey Avenue; phone 472-2991.