September 2010 Archives

Fox Sports Bar and Grill, 333 S. Garey Ave. (at 3rd), Pomona

This bar and grill opened in August in the former El Merendero space on the corner of Third and Garey, right outside the Fox Theater. The bar has 25 TVs, plenty of natural light through the expansive windows, seating at the bar or at bar tables and female servers in striped referee uniforms. Not really my scene, so before a recent City Council meeting, a friend and I had dinner at one of the quieter outdoor tables along Garey.

I was dubious about the menu, which has burgers, a few salads, the usual appetizers and a couple of Mexican items, including something called fish and chip tacos. My recollection is that cheese was an ingredient on a couple of items that don't typically have cheese.

Skeptical about the expertise of the kitchen, I opted for a burger ($8), figuring that was a safe choice, and my friend had the sliders ($10). The burgers are Angus beef and mine was above average, dense and satisfying. The fries that came with it were fine.

I don't think I'd risk ordering a salad here, but you're probably safe with the sandwiches. It's good there's a moderately upscale sports bar downtown, and in a great location. I hope they do well.

Walking back to my car a couple of hours later, I saw about two dozen people inside watching football, plus another two or three on the sidewalk watching through the windows.

The Mission Promenade complex in downtown Pomona may be positioning itself to compete with the Miss Pomona pageant.

The Upland sculptor's 22-foot statue of an early California rancher, based on Pomona founder Ygnacio Palomares, has stood at the L.A. County Fair since 1953. My column today tells the story. You can read it by clicking below. Here's Svenson, 87, with his handiwork on Sept. 22 outside the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts.

A storefront at 2nd and Yale in the Village, previously occupied by a short-lived children's clothing store, now bears a sign promising Cocoa Bakery. A friend saw a man taping up the sign Monday evening. The interior is completely bare, so I wouldn't start lining up for bread or anything. The family-owned bakery has one other location, in La Puente.

The Village is already home to Some Crust Bakery and Le Pain Quotidien.

It was 110 degrees Monday in Ontario. In Upland, Nancy DeWitt put her thermometer in the sun, which is a meteorologocal no-no, and got an even more oppressive reading. At least it's a dry heat.

DeWitt reports: "My poor hubby works for The Gas Co and was out and about driving without air conditioning. Last week he worked in Pismo Beach and it was no problem."

How's the heat treating the rest of you?

Jerry Lee Lewis turns 75 on Wednesday, but he celebrated four days early with a concert at the Fox Pomona, billed as his 75th birthday party.

It was a wide-ranging audience, from teenagers to seniors, with plenty of younger rockabilly fans in western shirts, jeans with rolled-up cuffs or tattoos. A reported 700 people were in attendance.

After opening sets by Head Cat and the Reverend Horton Heat, Lewis' band took the stage (sans Lewis) to warm up with four songs.

At 10 p.m. and without fanfare, Lewis walked onstage carefully, clad in an untucked shirt, jeans and loafers, like he'd just wandered in from bingo night. He performed 11 songs. He got better as he went along, and his band gave him excellent support.

"Great Balls of Fire" ended with a nice bit of pounding on the high keys that drove the crowd nuts, a reaction that elicited a smile from the otherwise blank-looking Killer himself. Lewis quipped something that sounded like "I did the one, I might as well do the other," before launching into his other signature hit, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."

Near the end, he slowly rose, gingerly kicked (more accurately, pushed) the piano bench backward and pounded the ivories a few seconds while standing. He then impishly sat on the keyboard before shuffling offstage to a big ovation at 10:40. No encore.

How was he? Definitely diminished in energy, a shadow of his wild-man youth, not to mention his wild-man middle age. Lewis is four years younger than the Fox, but not in as good a shape. But even a shadow of Jerry Lee Lewis is pretty good. As a longtime admirer, I'd say he was worth my $32. (Even if that amounted to almost $1 per minute.) And it's cool to be able to say, "Jerry Lee Lewis? Yeah, I saw him once."

Now if the Fox could only get Chuck Berry...

Here's a more enthusiastic take from the L.A. Times. And below is a video of the last two songs -- YouTube, we love you.

A residence on Archibald Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga is flying his or her flags proudly, all four of them: U.S., Dallas Cowboys, Texas state and L.A. Angels. Finally, at the bottom, an acknowledgment of California! The expatriate Texan must not think much of the Texas Rangers.

Aruffo's Italian Cuisine, 126 Yale Ave. (at 2nd), Claremont

Sometimes restaurants become so familiar we sort of forget they're there. I see Aruffo's all the time and yet don't see it. Aruffo's opened in 1986 and it's near my house, but I'd only eaten there once, maybe 10 years ago, and my memory was of a solid but unspectacular lunch. Recently a friend who loves the place suggested it for lunch and I was happy for the excuse to renew my acquaintance.

And yet I couldn't pinpoint which street in the Village it's on, guessing Harvard but finding it one block over, on Yale. Oh, yeah, across from Some Crust. Aruffo's is quite pleasant inside, with lovely murals and vintage posters and an upscale feel. A delicious round loaf of herbed bread was delivered to our table. I had the salmon Caesar ($14.99, I think), which was topped with ocean-caught, not farm-raised, salmon. It was delicious too. My friend was likewise impressed by her arugula salad.

In other words, Aruffo's made a strong second impression.

This animatronic Tyrannosaurus is part of the "Jurassic Planet" exhibit at the L.A. County Fair. About 20 dinos, from various full-sized beasts to a few toddlers (if that's the right word, and I'm sure it isn't), move their heads, jaws, tails or puny arms. Entrance is free with Fair admission, and worth the time. Bonus: no calories.

Only nine days remaining for the Fair, which is closed Mondays and Tuesdays and ends Oct. 3.

Claremont reader Ron Scott saw this sight at his apartment complex recently. He found the young woman involved and asked how this happened. "She thought she had it in reverse," he reports.

Everybody in Claremont is supposed to be reading Marisa Silver's "The God of War," a 2005 coming-of-age story set at the Salton Sea. (its lead character is a 12-year-old boy named Ares, who was the god of war in Greek mythology.)

Friends of the Claremont Library is promoting this for its fourth annual "Claremont: On the Same Page" effort. Check here for a schedule of events relating to the book, including an appearance by Silver herself.

Signs around town, such as this one at Yale and Fourth, promote the effort. That's me holding the book (with its price sticker from Powell's Books in Portland).

Have you read "The God of War"? I finished it last week, and liked it.

The venerable downtown L.A. cafeteria, one of my favorite stops and perhaps one of yours too, has been sold -- but despite the end of almost 80 years of family ownership, it may not be such a bad thing. The new owner promises to keep the ambience and comfort food while making better use of the upstairs and restoring the exterior. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Read the L.A. Times story here -- and check out this amazing panorama of the interior.

Feel free to post a comment here about Clifton's.

A tray at Clifton's Cafeteria, shot in November 2009.

A couple of blog milestones passed recently without my mentioning them. First, Sept. 12 was this blog's third anniversary. Yep, we debuted in cyberspace on Sept. 12, 2007. This is the 1,088th post. Whew!

Meanwhile, uni-named reader David recently left the 5,000th published comment. (In full: "Sonic has a 'happy hour' every day. Half-priced drinks and slushes from 2pm-4pm." Truly epic, wasn't it?)

Thanks to all for reading and contributing!

In advance of tonight's Pomona City Council meeting, let me point out that a hand sanitizer was recently installed in the lobby of the Council Chambers. Either the place is awash in germs, or Pomona is trying to clean up city government, one palm at a time.

If they are, let's give them a hand -- or two.

Photo: Jennifer Cappuccio Maher

Photo: Jennifer Cappuccio Maher

This will be the last year for the L.A. County Fair's Giant Slide. After more than 40 years, the Fair standby will be dismantled after this year's Fair ends Oct. 3. Read about the slide in my Friday column and look at a photo gallery here.

Have you ever taken a ride on the slide?

Sonic Drive-In, 11370 4th St. (at Milliken), Rancho Cucamonga

Sonic Drive-In opened its first Inland Valley location in June across from Ontario Mills -- it's in Rancho Cucamonga, as only the south side of 4th Street is in Ontario -- and the place proved an immediate hit. There's a drive-thru, a drive-in with car hop service (!) and patio seating, but no indoor seating.

I went on a recent evening with a friend whose family is from Oklahoma, where Sonic is based. Sonic, Dairy Queen and Braum's ice cream are ubiquitous regional chains in Oklahoma and Texas, he says, comparing their popularity to In N Out here.

He's become a regular at this Sonic. I'd never been to one. (Our RC Now blog beat me there.)

We grabbed the only available drive-in slot. We got footlong Coney dogs with chili, mustard and onion as combos with tater tots rather than fries and cherry limeades ($5.69 for a medium combo, $6.19 for a large).

Ordering is done via speaker and perhaps 10 minutes later the food was delivered by a young man on in-line skates. Pleasant service.

The food was okay, nothing special, and the whole thing is, let's face it, a watered-down version of the "Happy Days" experience.

That said, even this pale version is fun, and the options (tater tots, Coney dogs, various limeades) are a break from the fast-food norm. And Sonic is open until midnight Monday to Thursday and until 1 a.m. Friday through Sunday.

Have you tried Sonic?

Photo of original clock tower from Charles Phoenix's "Cruising the Pomona Valley"

The L.A. County Fair's clock tower, erected in 1952, was taken out before the 2005 Fair due to termite damage and replaced by a temporary tower on stilts. This year's clock, in roughly the same spot but part of a Toyota sales area, is a stubbier version, almost invisible to passersby.

The expression "Meet me at the clock tower" has probably been retired. Visitors will have to arrange to meet somewhere else, or just wander around aimlessly.

It used to say "Newspaper," but this recycling container at Portland International Airport, shot during my summer vacation, seems to be missing some letters. Ever since, I've thought of myself as a news ape.

Seen in Hollywood recently, a club that evidently has an exclusive clientele: the owner.

Above, the former Home Savings branch at Sunset and Vine, Hollywood, shot during a recent visit.

In its September issue, Westways ran a nice piece on the Home Savings bank branches designed by Millard Sheets. Who was Sheets? He was born in Pomona, later lived in Claremont, taught at Scripps College, ran the Fine Arts Exhibition at the L.A. County Fair and, as the story points out, was part of the "California school" of artists who painted native subjects in the '30s and '40s. You can read it here.

On a related note, my Sunday column is about Sheets' son, Tony, and his stewardship of the fair's Millard Sheets Center for the Arts and of his father's legacy.

Arby's, 2250 N. Garey Ave. (at Arrow), Pomona

There's no need to review Arby's for the food, is there? I had the Arby's combo ($5.50 including tax), a roast beef sandwich, curly fries and soda. It was fine for what it was. My friends had various combos and were moderately satisfied. Really, we were there for the architecture.

This is the cool Arby's with the original Conestoga wagon-shaped building and the original ten-gallon hat sign, as recounted in my column (which you can read by clicking the "continue reading" link below). Can you believe there are fewer than 10 such Arby's left anywhere?

The cramped interior has three booths and one table. I dig the rock walls and giant window. The place to go is the patio out front, just feet from Garey Avenue. The patio tables are original (except for one modern interloper, probably a replacement). The tilted "umbrellas" are awesome. Even the trash receptacles, with a tray holder on top, look vintage.

For a decade, this Arby's and a companion on East Holt (no longer in business) were the only Arby's in the Inland Valley. Anyone have a fond, or even not so fond, Arby's story to share?

Pop singer Justin Bieber visited the Chick-fil-A off the 210 Freeway in Upland's Colonies Crossroads Center on Wednesday -- twice. The chicken purveyor announced the visits on its Facebook page. The relevant postings and comments:

Chick-fil-A Upland, Colonies Crossroads: Justin Bieber sighting at Chick-fil-A Upland last night, the girls went wild!!!

Mary Locke: No Way...well, anything is possible I guess. I met Wayne Brady there one day. He stopped on his way to Vegas. He thought Upland seemed like a nice town. :)

Don Jankiewicz: Well, what did he order?

Cecy Velasco: Hahaha ii work there and yes he was there it was pretty awesome. He went twice, once in the store around 3 and around 9 through the drive thru. Oh and Chad Michael Murry also went through the drive thru and ii helped him ;)

Veronica Beas: I'm so jealous, I work at that PetSmart and I was off at 3. I wanted nuggets when I was off but I was so tired I just went home. I'm so sad.

Samantha Noelle: I saw him at 9:30 at Yogiyo so he must have come after his dinner through the drive thru!

Veronica Beas: This is truly upsetting the 2 places that make the most money off of me LOL!

Jennifer Alonso: Are you seriuos!!!!!! We missed it! My girls are gonna be upset.

Janine Aldana: I smell something fishy @ chick-fil-a...

Chick-fil-A Upland, Colonies Crossroads: Nothing fishy at Chick-fil-A, just Chicken that is so good you have to eat it 2x in one day!!!!

Veronica Beas: Amen, I've even had 3x in one day! Mmm...

Fresh peach donut from the Donut Man in Glendora. I'm a fan of their fresh strawberry donuts and had never tried their fresh peach until buying this ($2.80) over Labor Day Weekend. It's just as good as the strawberry. Get it while you can -- it's seasonal.

The Ontario City Library will screen all three "Lord of the Rings" movies, in their director's cut versions, on three successive Thursdays. The festival is dubbed "LOTRthon 2."

(Fans should hope the sequel goes better than "LOTRthon 1," which was plagued by technical problems and, if memory serves, was unable to be completed.)

"Fellowship of the Ring" is this week, "The Two Towers" is Sept. 16 and "Return of the King" is Sept. 23. Admission is free but, since parental guidance is suggested, is limited to those 13 and up.

The movies screen from 4:15 to 8:45 p.m. The library advises: "Bring a pillow!" (The molded-plastic seats are not soft.)

Costco in Montclair thanks customers in advance for wearing multiple shirts and one shoe. Hmm.

"What if this wasn't a typo?" wonders my colleague Wendy Leung, who took the photo on a recent shopping expedition (in which she, and no doubt everyone else in the store, violated the rule).

She adds: "I guess the good news is, if you break a heel while shopping, you'd be all right. But if you're not one for wearing layers, you'd better carry an extra shirt in case they enforce this law."

The Royal Tahitian operated in Ontario from 1960 to 1967 at Whispering Lakes Golf Course. A history appears in my Sunday column.

At top is an undated postcard image; the reverse gives the address as 2525 E. Riverside Drive, the phone numbers as YUkon 4-4610 and NAtional 9-8487 and says, "Set Amidst 250 Acres of Tropical Plants and Lagoons." Above left is a 1965 ad from the phone book. Above right is a thumbnail image of the 1967 summer schedule; click on the image for larger view. Below is the James Brown portion of the ad. Ow! Good God. All these images are courtesy of the Ontario City Library's Model Colony History Room.

Below are photos shot Aug. 25 on my visit to the fenced-off building, which has been used as the golf course clubhouse since the late 1960s, until being closed and fenced off in April in preparation for demolition, which will occur any day now.

At top is an exterior view, looking north. Above is an interior view from within the pro shop, looking east. At left is the footbridge, a remnant of the Royal Tahitian days.

Did you ever visit the Royal Tahitian, or were you there later for golf, a wedding or a banquet? Leave your comments, please. The tiki gods demand it.

Wahoo's Fish Tacos, 11561 Foothill Blvd. (at Mayten), Rancho Cucamonga

I don't write about many chains here, but I'm not dogmatic about it; if it's a chain without many locations around the Inland Valley, I don't mind. Wahoo's fits that category. The shop in east Rancho Cucamonga, a block east of Milliken, is the only one near me (the store locator function on the Wahoo's website is giving me the "can't connect" message so I can't check for sure).

Wahoo's has a beach theme. The decor involves bare wooden booths, a faux grass hut, an "Endless Summer" movie poster and surf-gear stickers affixed to poles, booths and windows. So the vibe is relaxed, but you won't feel out of place if you're dressed in chinos instead of board shorts. The food is mostly fish tacos, burritos, bowls and salads.

I've eaten there a few times, most recently for lunch with a couple of friends. One had a carnitas burrito, which was loaded with pork and was proclaimed "scrumptious." The other had Baja rolls, which were like sushi cut rolls, except with a flour tortilla instead of rice, and had chicken, cream cheese and spinach; the verdict was "I'd order that again." (I didn't jot down the prices and they're not online, but you can see the menu here.)

I had a fish taco ($2.35) and a shrimp taco ($2.60). I liked 'em both. The shrimp taco had a pleasing coconut taste.

We also appreciated the self-serve lineup of four iced teas: plain, tropic green, passion fruit and mango. Service was unusually friendly for a quick-service restaurant; a server paused at our table to chat about the Baja rolls, one of her favorites.

It's been a while since I've tried Senor Baja, but I'd judge the fish tacos here better than Rubio's or Baja Fresh.

With the end of major combat operations in Iraq, many people are weighing in. Why not Mark Twain?

Reading Twain's "The Mysterious Stranger" over the weekend, I was struck by one passage from the circa-1905 story. Speaking is an omniscient character who is mocking mankind's follies when he turns to the subject of war:

"There has never been a just one, never an honorable one -- on the part of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The loud little handful -- as usual -- will shout for the war. The pulpit will -- warily and cautiously -- object -- at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonorable, and here is no necessity for it.'

"Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers -- as earlier -- but do not dare to say so.

"And now the whole nation -- pulpit and all -- will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."

Books bought: none.

Books read: "The Postman Always Rings Twice," James M. Cain; "No. 44, the Mysterious Stranger," Mark Twain; "Selected Shorter Writings of Mark Twain," Walter Blair, ed.; and "The Best Short Stories of Mark Twain," Lawrence Berkove, ed.

A couple of you thought I was too pokey last month in posting my July books list on Aug. 10. So here's my August list on Sept. 1. At the David Allen Blog, we aim to please (when it's convenient).

So: August. One crime noir classic by James M. Cain and three books by Twain, who is on his way to becoming my Ray Bradbury of 2010.

You may remember that I read 24 books by or about Mr. Bradbury last year, out of 58 total books read. This year I've read five by Twain and three each by A. Conan Doyle and Samuel Beckett. I suppose that ties Doyle and Beckett as my Edgar Rice Burroughs of 2010; ERB was my No. 2 guy last year (with five books).

Uh, anyway. "Postman," which has been made into a movie twice, is short, brutal and relentless, well worth reading. Bought that in 2009 used in Scottsdale, Ariz., and read it in one day on a Metrolink trip.

"Selected Shorter Writings," bought in 1985 for a college class so that we could read one or two stories, includes fiction and nonfiction to show the range of Twain's talent. It includes the editorially botched 1916 version of "The Mysterious Stranger."

When I got to that, I stopped and read "No. 44," a later draft of the same basic idea and almost totally different. Bought this used maybe five years ago somewhere. It's virtually a fantasy novel involving time travel, dream-selves, duplicate people and sorcery. Good, but strange, and not quite the masterpiece I'd been expecting. I finished that Friday.

Back to "Selected Shorter," whose hoax version of "Mysterious Stranger" proved more diverting than "No. 44." Hmm. I read that Saturday, polishing off a book I'd been reading since May.

The "Best Short Stories" collection, bought new in May, was excellent, featuring Twain's earlier comic tales and his later dark satires on greed and hypocrisy. The latter includes the masterful "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg." Likewise, I'd been reading this book for weeks and finished on Sunday.

Boom, boom, boom. Twain sets them up and I knock them down. I might even read another one or two by him before the year is out. (And another one or two by Doyle as well.) At this point, by the way, I'm at 38 books for the year, putting my 50-book goal within comfortable reach.

My plan for September: books with a G in the title. Good gravy, man, get a grip.

Now what are the rest of you reading?