December 2010 Archives

In an annual feature for the newspaper, I compile the most pithy, silly or colorful quotes from the news pages of the Daily Bulletin that year. You can read the 2010 version here.

I type up the quotes and explanatory copy as the year progresses. At the end of the year I winnow out half or more to get to a reasonable number, usually 18 to 20. This year, rather than toss the remainder, I'm -- why not? -- presenting the outtakes on my blog. Read 'em and weep ... or gape, chuckle or cheer.

"This was like the pager of 1915."

-- History buff Ryan Moore, referring to siren atop Upland's 1915 fire station, which sounded to call volunteer firefighters to a fire. Moore and his group, E Clampus Vitus's Billy Holcomb chapter, restored the long-unused siren for free as part of the rehabilitation of the station, which will be used as a fire museum.

"He is literally an evergreen. He continues to sell year after year."

-- Nick Croce, president of NJ Croce Co., a La Verne company which since 2000 has had the worldwide exclusive right to distribute Gumby bendable figures. Gumby is ever green, all right.

"I think she's going for the record. We're thinking she's like 112 in human years. It's that darn coffee."

-- Mary Cannevas of Rancho Cucamonga about her dachshund, Rosey, who was 16 years old. Rosey insists on a small serving of Costco coffee each morning with cream.

"So far, the feedback has been really appreciative of the fact it's been put into a written form and pictures tell a thousand words."

-- Upland Mayor John Pomierski on his state of the city address, which was mailed to residents as a brochure in May in lieu of the usual gala where the speech would be read.

"Although the bicyclist ran into me and was cited, I cooperated fully with the CHP because it was the right thing to do."

-- Chino Councilman Earl Elrod on June 30 after being sentenced to 24 months of probation and $710 in fines stemming from a Feb. 14 traffic collision in which Elrod's vehicle was struck by a bicyclist and the councilman left the scene of the accident. Highway Patrol officers went to his home but Elrod refused to answer the door or the telephone. He contacted the CHP the following day, too late for them to test him for sobriety.

"Many have never heard of Ontario or think it's in Canada. But Pasadena, it's known, which doesn't hurt us."

-- J. Derek Halvorson, president of Providence Christian College, about the small college's move west in August after five years in Ontario.

"It's time to declare this issue dead on arrival. Close the lid, pray over it and bury it."

-- Pomona resident Deborah Clifford, speaking to the City Council on Aug. 2 against contracting with the Sheriff's Department for law enforcement. The council voted 7-0 to abandon the idea.

"It was great. It was just kind of like 'Did I really do this?' Especially driving back, you see how far it is."

-- Joseph Machado, 13, the Upland teen who rode his bicycle nearly 3,000 miles to Washington, D.C., from June 5 to July 13 to raise money for children's charities. His parents followed him by car and they drove back home together.

"I don't try to fill his shoes. I try to fill his spirit."

-- Tony Sheets, son of Millard Sheets, the late muralist and watercolorist from Claremont, about his job as exhibit director of the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts at the L.A. County Fair. The elder Sheets ran the Fine Arts Exhibition, as it was then known, from 1931 to 1956.

"I worked very hard to put this together and I get no support from anybody. Not even something like 'you're doing a great job' or 'we know it's a lot of hard work.' But now that I don't want to do it...everybody wants to help out."

-- Sandy Coglietti, owner of the Village Grille in Claremont, about the monthly Cruise Night for classic cars downtown, an event she and her late husband founded in 1995. The October cruise might be the last.

"Our kids can't wait for Congress."

-- Beverly Speak, CEO and director of the Kids Come First Community Clinic in Ontario, which serves children whose parents don't have health insurance.

"We can't legislate courtesy."

-- Claremont Councilman Sam Pedroza, before council members April 27 rejected a proposal to ban smoking in some public places such as outdoor dining areas.

"He's asking voters to make the decision he's not willing to make. I'm curious why someone would do that."

-- Political scientist Douglas Johnson about Christopher Agrella, who was a candidate for seats on both the Montclair City Council and the Ontario-Montclair School District board in the November election. The offices were incompatible and Agrella, had he won both seats, would have had to give one up.

"I've worked in homicide for a long time. And few investigations, if any, touched me the way this one did."

-- Pomona police Detective Dan Kono, commenting June 14 on the arrest of a suspect in the 2006 slaying of 3-year-old Ethan Esparza, whose death in his front yard in a drive-by shooting galvanized the community. Kono was retiring later that week after 30 years.

"He's undoubtedly the best mayor we've ever had. All you have to do is look at the progress the city has made in the last decade and you'll see what Mark has accomplished."

-- Fontana Councilman Frank Scialdone, speaking of Mark Nuaimi, who resigned June 30 after eight years as mayor, and six years as a councilman, to become city manager of Yucca Valley.

"Don't get in the water if you don't have a boat."

-- Johnny Gonzalez of Ontario on Jan. 19, the second day of a four-day storm. Gonzalez was using his Jeep Wrangler to pull stalled cars out of the flooded intersection of Francis and Grove, where water was up to 3 feet deep.

"It (the marijuana initiative) doesn't provide much guidance on the form those taxes would take. Regular sales tax? Excise tax? What would the unit of the excise be? The joint? The ounce? The Cheech? The Chong?"

-- Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, on the voter initiative that would have legalized the possession and sale of marijuana in California. It failed in the November election.

A friend and I splurged on dinner Sunday at Red O, a high-profile new restaurant on Melrose Avenue in L.A. On the sidewalk, we passed a photographer chatting with the valets. Paparazzi? Wow. Don't think I've ever seen one, given that I don't frequent places a celebrity might be.

Disappointingly, he didn't even lift his camera. Hey, I could be Anthony Edwards! Or Jeff Zucker! Oh well. He was still there when we left. Was anyone famous inside, or was he just hoping there might be?

The meal, by the way, was very good: upscale takes on taquitos (with duck), shrimp cocktail and tamales, in a classy setting with pleasant service. Here's a blogger's very critical take, with multiple photos, and a verbal throwdown between chef Rick Bayless and critic Jonathan Gold.

Francisco Ramirez and Roberta Virgin at the counter of Roberta's Village Inn, 2326 D St., La Verne. Ramirez, the chef, bought the downtown coffee shop from Virgin at the beginning of 2010. A year later, business continues to do well and customers say the transition has been seamless. Read about the popular restaurant in my Wednesday column -- and feel free to add your comments below.

If you click on the "Continue reading" link below, you can find an informal history of the building, with some color about the Village Inn, sent to me by two members of the La Verne Historical Society.

James Rodriguez of Fontana looked out his window recently while on the 210 Freeway in Upland to find the CEO of Jack in the Box on his motorcycle. Rodriguez said the two of them both exited at Irwindale Avenue. He added: "I don't know how he did the front of the helmet to see out of."

To mark Boxing Day, here's an Anglophile's license plate, spotted recently in Claremont.

Rob Strauss did a piece for the Pasadena NPR affiliate (89.3) about the Ontario Nativity scenes, and it turned out well, despite using me as a source. You can read the text and listen to the audio here.

Photo: Will Lester/Daily Bulletin

The photo, from 2005, is of the star above Euclid Avenue, a local tradition going back to the 1950s. The Daily Bulletin has featured the Star and its history many times, but what follows is a new version by Megan Hutter, who wrote it for the Cooper Museum's newsletter. It was also featured in the San Antonio Heights newsletter. Hutter gave permission (through Ken and Pam McNeil) for the piece to appear here.

Click on the "Continue reading" tag to find her piece.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the Star below. And Merry Christmas.

Reader Bob Terry, a "Seinfeld" fan supreme, dropped by our newsroom last week to present me with my very own Festivus pole. It will not be re-gifted. The pole occupies a spot in my spillover cubicle of tchotchkes.

Festivus, a fictional holiday, was created in a 1997 episode of the series by curmudgeonly character Frank Costanza as a way to celebrate the Christmas season without all the pressure and commercialization.

Festivus decorations are a simple aluminum pole, no more. ("I find tinsel distracting," Costanza said in the episode.) The Festivus celebration involves a dinner, the ritual Airing of Grievances against family members and a post-dinner wrestling bout with the head of the household, an activity dubbed Feats of Strength.

Bob couldn't find aluminum for the homemade pole, but he improvised. What's with the paper, clipped to the pole's top? "That's for you to list your grievances," he told me.

Festivus, which has its own Wikipedia page, is celebrated on Dec. 23. Are you ready for Festivus? Thanks to Bob Terry, I am. Giddy-up.

The roots of Taco Bell can be found in San Bernardino. Journalist Gustavo Arellano did a photo essay for OC Weekly on Berdoo sites connected with the chain.

Photo: Tom Zasadzinski/Cal Poly Pomona

Caroline McKenzie, soprano, solos with the Los Angeles Master Chorale on "Glory, Glory, Glory to the Newborn King" on Sunday afternoon at Pomona's First Baptist Church (the city's answer to Disney Hall, the chorale's regular venue). Grant Gershon, at right, is the chorale's musical director.

The performance was cosponsored by Cal Poly Pomona, City Hall, Pomona Unified School District and other donors.

Were you there? More than 1,000 people were. Read more about the event in my Wednesday column.

Photo: John Valenzuela

On Rancho Cucamonga's Thoroughbred Lane, a tourist attraction at Christmastime because of the lavish decorations, a homeowner has posted a "Keep Off the Grass" sign in English, Spanish and Korean Chinese. They really, really want you to stay off their lawn.

Avocado House, 11618 Central Ave. (at Francis), Chino

An old house with a country feel on the northern tip of Chino was converted into a restaurant in February 2009. A couple of readers have recommended it, and I pass by it frequently, so on a recent Saturday a couple of friends and I met there for breakfast.

The property still has a couple of outbuildings, one of them a small house, plus an enormous avocado tree, a tree swing and a parking lot that's not large enough for the restaurant's popularity. They have seating on the wraparound porch and several tables in the homey interior, which has wood floors, a fireplace (with Christmas decorations on the mantle in our early December visit) and cupboards.

Very charming. I was a little surprised that ordering is done at a counter that fronts the kitchen rather than at your table, but the system must work for them. They bring the food out to you. Overall, service is competent but not quite as welcoming as you might think from the grandma's-house setting.

The food, however, was quite good. My friends had the garden omelet and the meat lovers omelet (each $8.50), canceling each other out I guess, but each ending up impressed. One bought a gift certificate on the way out. I had the country breakfast ($8) with two eggs, diced potatoes, sausage and toast. Mine was what you'd expect, although the potatoes were notable. I don't have any complaints, I just should've tested the kitchen with something more exotic.

My friends also got the avocado toast ($2.75), which is two slices of bread spread with a thick layer of avocado. They pronounced it delicious. I've never been an avocado fan, so I took their word for it. Pictured is the avocado toast and garden omelet.

Avocado House also does lunch. Some of the sandwiches and salads sound awfully tempting. Check the full menu here.

Devoted readers (with sterling memories) may recall that in July 2008, I wondered in this space what I might have meant by writing "Towne house" on my dry-erase board of ideas sometime previously. Readers posted their guesses. In the midst of that, I remembered. But I never quite got around to explaining.

What I meant was a house built circa 2004 on land left over from 210 Freeway construction in Claremont. This house popped up on Towne Avenue next to the eastbound offramp. All that separates the house from the freeway ramp is a picket fence, a walking path and a sound wall.

I found the house's construction there ironic, as a proposal for apartments a few yards northeast at Towne and Base Line, right next to the westbound offramp, drew such ire that it was dropped.

My attempts to photograph the Towne house proved problematic. On one weekend in May 2009 I shot photos that, upon later inspection, didn't give a good view. It was harder to get the freeway and the house in a photo than I'd imagined.

It was a year before I tried again. (Procrastinating was easier than parking and wandering around on foot near a freeway overpass on my personal time.) These photos worked out better but I set the whole project aside, unsure of the point.

Well, for anyone who still cares, here are a couple of those tardy photos, and this tardy explanation. And yes, "Towne house" is off my whiteboard.

Photo by Priscilla Fuchita

Eight tiny reindeer? In Chino, there's one giant reindeer.

"This could be the biggest reindeer in Chino or maybe in the IE. He stands over 15 feet tall and is over 8 feet long," reports reader Steve Burdi, who built the reindeer with his wife, Connie, over the course of a month.

Ginormas, as they call it, was erected Dec. 11 by the Burdis with help from Steve Kreft, Patrick Sullivan and Tony Dean and decorations by Lisa Dean and Stephanie Sullivan.

"My wife and I thought this would be a great Christmas gift for the families and children of Chino, as we have been residents of this great city for over 25 years," Steve Burdi says, "and also for neighboring cities to drive by and take pictures of our newest member to the Burdi family, Ginormas the Reindeer."

See him at 4073 Polk Court, Chino. If he flies off to help Santa, the neighborhood may shake.

Driving on Base Line in Rancho Cucamonga recently, I was startled to see a sign for a driving school that seemed to be named Baldy Driving. Hard not to take it personally. Hey, we drive the same as everyone else (poorly)!

A return visit to take a photo revealed the fine print invisible to motorists: the name is really Baldy View Driving.

View? Phew. All right, carry on.

It's been six months since our last quiz. Where does the time go? Take a guess as to where the above scene is located. The answer will be revealed tomorrow morning.

Btw, if you hadn't noticed, for the past few weeks comments have been posting here automatically, and it's too much trouble to change it back to make me the moderator, so you can now avail yourself of others' guesses if you choose, or avert your eyes if you prefer.

Here's a link to the 4th quiz.

* 5 p.m.: Your guesses were correct! The photo was taken at Vineyard and Airport Drive near Ontario Airport, looking northeast. I don't know why the empty sign has been allowed to rot there for so many years, but the vines do give it a sort of nature-reclaiming-its-own-after-a-nuclear-holocaust vibe, don't they?

Don Smart, seen here cutting the hair of Frank Flores, is retiring Sunday after more than 40 years of cutting hair, most of that time in Pomona's Sportsman's Barber Shop at 628 E. Holt Ave. Read about him in my Sunday column.

Most of the shop had been stripped of furnishings in preparation for its close when I visited Thursday, but besides the battered 1960 barber chair at left, I saw a vintage sign giving the prices.

Classy Cafe, 9135 Archibald Ave. (at 7th), Rancho Cucamonga

Ensconced in a business park, Classy Cafe doesn't get its name from its surroundings. Taking the former Angelina's Cafe space, the cafe offers breakfast and lunch, weekdays only, with an uncommon focus on quality ingredients. They bake their own bread daily, make their own soups and even roast their own meats for the sandwiches.

A friend and I dropped in for lunch recently. The bistro-style interior, with its bare concrete floor, is a bit underdone, but I like the script over the entrance: "Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what's for lunch. -- Orson Welles." It was a warm day so we ate outside at one of the umbrella-shaded tables.

They have deli and panini sandwiches and salads for lunch and omelets, sandwiches and bakery items for breakfast.

The daily special ($8.99) is half a sandwich, a cup of soup or a cup of pasta salad or potato salad, a soda and a small dessert. We opted for that. I had ham on onion-cheese bread and potato salad; he had turkey on wheat and the steak onion bleu cheese soup (which is more a list of ingredients than a name, isn't it?).

We were both impressed by the quality of the food and the freshness of the bread. Each lunch came with a small wedge from a blueberry muffin; that was the sweet treat.

The cafe is open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. You can view the menu on the cafe's website. Bread is sold by the loaf from $4.50 to $5. Despite what they seem to think, they're selling artisan bread, not "artesian."

Not only was Tuesday's groundbreaking in Claremont my first such ceremony on paved ground, I'd never attended one so close to a train station. I stepped out of the speech tent to grab a photo as a Metrolink train pulled into the depot a few yards away. Read about the event and the coming affordable-housing project in my Friday column.

An item in my column the other day, about being recognized as a repeat customer on only my second visit to a Chinatown-adjacent diner in L.A. (Nick's Cafe, for the curious), prompted a discussion Tuesday with a couple of readers in Claremont.

Was I a regular at any local restaurants? One suggested that my tastes are eclectic enough that I'm probably flitting from restaurant to restaurant too often to be much of a regular.

That's true. Even a lot of the places to which I've given a favorable nod to in this space I've never returned to. There's always something new to try.

But I do return to a few local mom and pop places frequently enough -- once a month or more -- to be a regular. Currently those are La Verne's Taste of Asia, Chino's Phillips BBQ and Flo's Airport Cafe, Pomona's Mix Bowl Cafe, Rancho Cucamonga's Nancy's Cafe and Upland's San Biagio's N.Y. Pizza.

Do you go anywhere where they know your name?

The slide show entertainer will be at the NHRA Museum in Pomona at 8 p.m. Saturday with his "Retro Holiday Slide Show." I think it's the first time the L.A. resident (and Ontario native) has done this holiday-themed show in the Inland Valley.

He'll be showing '50s and '60s Kodachrome slides of classic and kitschy New Year's, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas life and style.

"Marvel at the most politically incorrect New Year's Rose Parade floats, the Lamb Cake Contest on Easter Sunday, then explode with patriotic pride on July Fourth," says Phoenix in a press release. "Homemade trick-or-treat costumes will have you howling on Halloween before we trace the tragic life of a Thanksgiving turkey. Attend a kinky Christmas bondage party and see who gets the most outrageous toys on Christmas morning."

Tickets are $25 from Phoenix's website. The museum is at 1101 W. McKinley Ave., at Fairplex.

Holiday sweaters and plaid shirts are encouraged.

The Sizzler at 9588 Base Line Road in Rancho Cucamonga looks forlorn these days. A sign on the door reads "We are temporarily closed. Sorry for the inconvenience." Yes, this Sizzler has fizzled. (Fizzler?) RC will have to trek to Malibu for chicken.

"Do you know why Sizzler in Rancho closed?" reader Sharon B. asks. "We used to go there at least once a week for the salad bar. I know about 6 months or so ago they lost their liquor license, then a few months back, we walk up to the entrance door only to find a handwritten notebook paper note stating 'Temporarily closed, sorry for the inconvenience.' Well that was about 3 months ago. They are still closed. Any idea as to why they shut down?"

Not really, although obviously the location was ailing. My visit to the property left me thinking it really needs a makeover: faded paint, '80s look, cracked asphalt, weedy lot behind chain link in the back. Not very inviting.

I contacted Sizzler for an explanation and all they'd say is: "Please let your readers know the closure is temporary. The location is targeted to reopen in the future."

Normally a Sizzler wouldn't merit a mention here but this one opened circa 1982 (thanks to the Ontario Library for looking that up for me) and was one of the few sitdown restaurants in the community in the 1980s. So it has a place in the hearts of longtime residents.

Anyone want to share a memory of this Sizzler?

We quietly unveiled a change Thursday afternoon in how people can comment about stories on www.dailybulletin.com. You now have to have a Facebook account. This means most people will be using their real name, rather than spewing racist and scurrilous comments under a pseudonym. Read the FAQ about the change here.

Besides cleaning up what one wag dubbed "the devil's chalkboard," this will be good for our online traffic, as the previous commenting system was under the control of an outside vendor and none of the visits counted as page views for us. But clearly not everyone is going to be happy, and not just scurrilous racists. Not everyone is part of Facebook or, even if they are, wants to have to use Facebook to comment.

Meg at M-M-M-My Pomona has already made a strong argument against the system for reasons of open access.

You can send an e-mail to online (at) inlandnewspapers.com to praise or pan the change. Or you can comment here. I'll leave this post up top of my blog through Monday for visibility.

What do you think of the change?

* Gary Scott's media blog has also rounded up opinion on the change.

Guasti Homestyle Cafe, 13526 Central Ave. (at H), Chino

Some of you may remember when the Homestyle Cafe was in Guasti, the old winery village near Ontario Airport, and was beloved by truckers and families alike who liked the big portions and homey atmosphere. After its demise, the restaurant was bought by the Tole House Cafe people and reopened briefly as Guasti Cafe before having to move in 2007 due to pending redevelopment.

Now using both names, the cafe is 7 miles southwest in Chino, in a former pizza parlor with a sprawling layout, stone lions out front and a small chapel in back. The masonry building dates to 1923.

I don't know how many customers made the move, but on a recent visit, I recognized several employees from the previous location, including the longtime cashier and a couple of the servers. The manager is Tommy Hornbake, formerly of Ontario's Iron Skillet.

The menu is pretty similar to the old place, emphasizing breakfast staples but also adding soups, salads and sandwiches for lunch; weekday hours are 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and until 3 p.m. on weekends.

I've never been there for lunch but I've made it in for breakfast a couple of times. The pancake combo ($9) provides two pancakes, two sausages or bacon strips and two eggs. The eggs and sausage were fine; the pancakes are a foot in diameter and nearly an inch high in the center. I'm not a "big food" fan, but if you are, this is the meal for you.

They'll give you a pizza box in which to take home your uneaten pancake portion. That's my kitchen counter and takehome pancake-and-a-half at left. Plop the pancake on a plate, put a paper towel on top and zap it for 45 seconds or so. I got five meals (!) out of this one order: one in the restaurant and four at home. Not bad for the money, although I didn't feel like eating a pancake again for a couple of weeks.

After Westwood's National closed in 2008 and the Festival in 2009, without my ever having been there, I decided to catch movies at the Bruin and Village theaters, Westwood's two other vintage single-screen theaters, just in case. (There's also the Crest, where I saw "The Pursuit of Happyness" in 2006.) The Bruin and Village are now owned by the Regency chain, which vows to keep them going.

Early this year I saw "Invictus" (the Clint Eastwood rugby movie) at the Bruin (948 Broxton Ave.), and on Sunday I saw the latest Harry Potter movie at the Village (1036 Broxton), which is directly across the street. It's rare that my tastes, the mainstream fare at these theaters and my schedule all align.

The Bruin is nice enough, especially the wraparound marquee, but the Village is beautiful, and much larger than it seems from the exterior. I sat in the balcony. It was a pleasant spot from which to try to remember what happened in the last Potter movie and who all these Weasley family members were.

Cinema Treasures has pages on the history of the 1,300-seat Village, which opened in 1931 as a Fox theater (the same year as Pomona's), and the 700-seat Bruin, which opened in 1937.

Westwood also has the Regent, which from the exterior looks like a bland '60s theater (it opened in 1966) and hence less interesting, but I'll probably end up going there sometime too.

For you public transit buffs, I took Metrolink ($17 from Claremont) and availed myself of its free-transfer policy to ride the Purple Line subway to Wilshire/Western and then to ride the Metro Rapid 720 to Wilshire/Westwood, and then to repeat those steps on my way back to Union Station. The free transfers saved me the cost of a $6 transit day pass and public transit saved me from a $5 or $6 parking fee. Plus I could read the newspaper and part of a novel.

Books acquired: "Pudd'nhead Wilson," "A Tramp Abroad" and "The Gilded Age," Mark Twain; "I'll Mature When I'm Dead," Dave Barry.

Books read: "Life on the Mississippi," Mark Twain; "Marvel Comics in the 1960s: An Issue-By-Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon," Pierre Comtois; "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes," A. Conan Doyle; "Memos From Purgatory," Harlan Ellison.

Mmm-mmm, what a month of books all with an M in their title! That's just how it worked out -- mostly. They ranged from good to great. Or is that medium to marvelous?

One of Twain's greatest, "Life on the Mississippi" is a paean to the vanished age of riverboats and their pilots, told through a (largely hilarious) memoir about his days as a cub pilot and then through a riverboat journey he took 21 years later, after the Civil War and the use of tugboats and railroads to ship goods had made such travel quaint. "Life" is padded at times, but it's descriptive, informative, fond and, it goes without saying, very funny. I read this book in high school and liked it better this time.

Incidentally, the version I read this time, from Penguin, adds perhaps 10 percent to the page count by restoring bits of the original text cut from Twain's manuscript; the additions are okay, but you might be better off with, say, the Modern Library edition without the extra verbiage.

"Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes," the fourth of the nine books, evinces a slight slackening of invention on Doyle's part, with fewer memorable stories than in "Adventures." But it's still a must-read for Holmesians, and "The Final Problem," which inflates Holmes and his arch-nemesis to mythic status, is jaw-dropping. Marvel and DC comics, Ian Fleming and Sax Rohmer owe Doyle their livelihoods, not to mention royalties.

Speaking of which, there's "Marvel Comics in the 1960s," chronicling one of my personal passions (although the promised sequel about the 1970s, the era I discovered Marvel, will be even more welcome).

There are layout and repetition issues, and writer Comtois, a fretful sort, is constantly lamenting the passing of an era even before it passes. Some of his judgments seem wrong-headed too (the pedestrian Heck, Colletta, Tartaglione and "Sgt. Fury" have no bigger fan than him). But in these capsule reviews, Comtois again and again demonstrates that he gets what made Marvel great. On the all-important Kirby or Lee question, he sides with Lee, persuasively.

I closed out the month by reading "Memos From Purgatory." This memoir about going undercover with a teen gang and the criminal justice system in which he's trapped for 24 hours is vivid and harrowing, as Ellison almost goes out of his mind with fright (being cuffed to a man who killed a girl with a hammer didn't help).

Everything about Manhattan's notorious Tombs jail seems aimed at dehumanizing prisoners; Ellison observes, for instance, that only after a shower is he fingerprinted, forcing him to carry an inky reminder of his presumed guilt on his fingertips. A real departure for the fantasy writer, this is an amazing book, one that deserves to be better known.

As for how I came to own each book, "Marvel Comics" was bought this summer at Comics Factory in Pasadena, "Memoirs" was bought new in childhood (when I first read it), "Life" was bought earlier this decade at Brand Books in Glendale and "Memos" was bought at Bookfellows in Glendale perhaps five years ago (although I've owned the later Ace books edition since the 1980s, unread until now).

These constitute books 46 to 49 for me this year. With 50 easily within reach, my plan is to read three during December, to end the year at 52, and then perhaps get a head start on 2011.

Now, have you read any of the above? Probably not. Well, what are you reading?