Remembering that roadside cutup, Burma-Shave

Sunday’s column (read it here) is about Burma-Shave, the shaving lotion whose roadside signs in verse were a sensation.

A few more jingles that I liked but didn’t fit into the column:

“The cannibals/took just one view/and said/he looks too nice/to stew.”

“She put/a bullet/thru his hat/but he’s had/closer shaves than that.”

“Broken romance/stated fully/She went wild/when he/went wooly.”

“He had the ring/He had the flat/But she felt his chin/And that/was that.”

“Said Farmer Brown/who’s bald/on top/Wish I could/rotate the crop.”

Wikipedia offers a history of Burma-Shave, with many jingles, here. And all the Burma-Shave jingles can be perused on the official Burma-Shave website.

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A note to readers

I’m taking a few days off, but columns written in advance will continue appearing, as will blog posts. Your comments, as usual, will continue popping up here as you post them (barring glitches). I’ll check in here as I can, but because I’ll be busy not working, don’t expect links to my columns, at least in a timely way, or much in the way of replies to your comments.

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Restaurant of the Week: Dripp

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Dripp, 13855 City Center Drive (at Grand), Shoppes at Chino Hills

Dripp, a new coffeehouse at the Shoppes center in Chino Hills that opened in November 2011, took the place of a Peets on a busy corner. In a surprise to me, this is a one-off coffeehouse, not a chain, although it certainly could become one. A lot of money was poured into the space to revamp it and install some complex drip coffee equipment.

The beans are roasted by high-end LA coffeehouse Intelligentsia. You’ll have to find someone else to explain or critique this aspect (the website uses such terms as “ambrosial coffees,” “flavor-enhancing methods” and “Japanese drip bar”) because I don’t drink coffee. But I visited recently with three friends and they were impressed.

What I can tell you about is the ice cream. Dripp has eight flavors of ice cream and eight types of cookies. The sandwiches ($4) are made to order and you can choose two different cookie types if you like.

I had peanut butter ice cream between two peanut butter chip chocolate cookies. As you can see, they put a spoon in it and that’s recommended for getting started. The cookies and the ice cream both were amazing. You can also get ice cream solo in one, two or three scoops, or the cookies by themselves.

The coffeehouse looks like hipster central: exposed piping, menus attached to pieces of distressed wood, ropes hanging from the ceiling, antiques, a loft upstairs with sofas and chairs. An annoying notice on the door reads “No Photography,” which is roundly ignored. There’s a shady patio outside.

But, wait: Dripp? At the Shoppes? As my local friend told me: “It’s Chino Hills. We can afford some extra letters.”

dripp

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Burma-Shave replica, Ontario

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The Hofer Ranch south of LA/Ontario International Airport displays an old-time Burma-Shave roadside jingle, which sold a brand of shaving lotion. The jingle is authentic but the signs are replicas, commissioned years ago by the late Paul Hofer Sr. The signs line Jurupa Avenue near Turner Avenue along the south end of the ranch.

You’re not supposed to stop, as it’s private property, but Paul Hofer Jr. gave me permission last fall to shoot photos. Here they are in sequence. And look for more about Burma-Shave in my Sunday column.

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Younger than that now?

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After receiving a document from the City of Pomona utility billing department (click on the image for a large view), reader Rubio R. Gonzalez writes: “I noticed that the seal in the left corner had a founding year of 1988. What a mistake! There must have been a confusion among the staff, considering that many city employees indeed do live in Diamond Bar which was founded in 1989. Pomona was actually incorporated in 1888.”

Hey, what’s 100 years between friends? Maybe Pomona has decided to lie about its age. We’ll know for sure if Pomona is confused if they celebrate 25 years of cityhood next year.

* Update: Assistant to the City Manager Mark Gluba says a vendor that handles utility billing incorrectly reproduced the city seal quite some time ago and no one, including utility customers, has noticed until now. The error will be corrected as soon as possible. Gluba adds: “Hope this solves the mystery and I assure that none of us, including the City, are getting any younger!”

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