More on the St. Charles Grill
The old St. Charles Grill restaurant in Pomona is the subject of Sunday's column (read it here). An earlier blog post prompted a few reader comments.
During my recent tour of the building, my eye was caught by vintage photos taped to the mirror behind the bar. (The blue at the corners is tape.)
One, reproduced above, was a fuller version of an exterior photo that appeared cropped and with less detail on my blog. I love the St. Charles sign. The smaller window sign at the right reads "Chicken Dinners" and I believe the one at the left says "Steak Dinners."
Below that is a fresh photo. Although the signs are gone, naturally, the exterior looks swankier today than it did whenever the photo was shot, perhaps after a remodeling somewhere along the line obscured some of the details.
The other piece on the mirror was a postcard, dated 1938, of the "annex," as the bar was apparently known. It would be the area under the "Cocktails" sign in the top photo. Both sides of the postcard are reproduced below. Note how the word "patronage" was mistakenly substituted for "patrons." But nobody's perfect.
The bar is largely intact, but there was too much clutter for a decent photo.
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About this blogger
A journalist for more than two decades, David Allen has been writing a column for the Daily Bulletin since 1997 and blogging since 2007.He lives in Claremont.
E-mail David here or read columns here.
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Thanks, David, for bringing the St Charles Grill back to memory. Friends and I sometimes enjoyed the food, drinks, and atmosphere there in the early 60s. I recall semi-dim lighting, a multitude of choices on the backbar, and a muted piano or small combo playing standards of the day. The place projected an atmosphere of class, and was always enjoyable. I never saw Lucy and Desi though.
LOUISIANA U and DASSAULT were probably not into child- trafficking at that point, but maybe his father was.
Who knows?
MISS ELLIOT sure was.
They were BLOOD STEALERS and CAPTAIN BLOODS with CAPTAIN CRAWL.
And now PROVE is proving it with CLINTON logs.
RICK is too.
DATIL and GED got a lot of "splainin'' to do.
[They're not the only ones. -- DA]
Nice piece. Who know such a wonderful place existed in P-town and those are some handsome photos. BTw, I re-subbed on Wed and they did charge my credit card. The automated emails tell me I should be receiving a confirmation of subscription processing and then.... only then will I get a paper delivered and the e-edition. At least it's progress.
[Keep me posted. I'm finding this saga fascinating. -- DA]
It's such a nice building.. just imagaine it could restored and remade... such as Cole's and Seven Grand in downtown LA.
[True, although the location, on the north edge of downtown, is a bit barren. -- DA]
I remember this place being used for weekend parties in the 80's. Good times!
You are right David.. that area is barren. I remember eating at GuaSalMex a few doors down and it was a sad little corner. Oh well.. that's Pomona....and it's frustrating.
Hi David,
If you look "patronage" up, you will find that, by definition, it is perfectly acceptable to use it as it was used on the postcard. This may not be a real common usage nowadays, but bear in mind the postcard is over 74 years old.
[Perhaps I wrote too hastily, Dennis. -- DA]