Mod! Minit Man Car Wash

Posted on February 18, 2014 by David Allen

I’ve long admired this car wash at 1200 E. Holt Ave. in Pomona. That sign! As you can see, it’s bigger than even the red pickup truck. When you’re driving under the sign, it looks like a giant yellow tennis court overhead. The name is Minit Man. The vertical pylons, a common car wash touch in the 1960s-70s, add a futuristic touch. Have you ever washed your car there? I haven’t — I go to the do-it-yourself places — but maybe I should.

Charles Phoenix’s “Cruising the Pomona Valley 1930 Thru 1970” dates the car wash to 1960 and writes: “Decorated and identified with giant spikes, spires and flags, the wash and wax drive-thrus of the ’50s and ’60s celebrated the ritual of auto beautification and the constant parade of cars in sky-high style.”

This car wash is one of 10 notable midcentury Pomona Valley landmarks listed in the back of Alan Hess’ “Googie Redux,” the impetus for this series of blog posts.

Former F & E’s need some R & D

Posted on February 17, 2014 by David Allen

Most Fresh & Easy stores remain open after their September 2013 sale, but a handful closed, and some had closed last year as the chain struggled. Upland is home to one shuttered location, and Ontario to two.

The closed one in Upland — at Foothill and San Antonio, seen above — won’t come back as a grocery because a Sprouts market is going in next door into a former Office Max. (Upland also has an operating Fresh & Easy on Mountain and Eighth.)

The real-estate market has by and large turned empty Mervyns into Kohls, and Circuit Citys, Price Clubs and theaters into churches and gyms. It’s still trying to repurpose Borders stores (the one in Montclair now sells furniture) and closed Best Buys, like ones in Ontario and Chino Hills.

What to do with these empty 10,000-square-foot Fresh & Easy markets?

Suggesting I write about this, a friend came up with a list of potential uses that, coincidentally I’m sure, mirror my interests: “Used book stores, comic book shops, frozen custard joints, art house cinemas, pie shops, a lunch spot where all waitresses wear glasses, bowling alleys…” Be still my heart!

Any further ideas, fanciful or not, for these vacant spaces?

Column: Large reminder sign won’t let us forget Padua Avenue

Posted on February 16, 2014 by David Allen

Sunday’s column might have just been a blog post. Reader Ken Brock sent me a photo in November of the “Monte Vista Ave, Formerly Padua Ave” sign in Claremont and wondered why it was there. I dithered for a while on whether to use that as a simple blog post or to research his question for a column. I followed the latter course and am glad I did.

Column: IE Weekly finds no alternative but to shut down

Posted on February 13, 2014 by David Allen

Inland Empire Weekly, launched in 2006, has ceased publication. I pay tribute in Friday’s column. Above, the Glass House Record Shop in Pomona still has copies of recent issues.

(Wes Woods took the photo for me; when I visited the Arts Colony Thursday morning, any business that had copies wasn’t open yet. I could see copies through the windows at the record shop, New York Deli and dba 256. Sob!)

Restaurant of the Week: Dolce Cafe and Bakery

Posted on February 13, 2014 by David Allen

Dolce Cafe and Bakery, 8821 Central Ave. (at Arrow), Montclair; closed Mondays

This is a new one for this blog, a completely new Restaurant of the Week post about a restaurant I’ve posted about before. In this case, Dolce remodeled, added a bar and sharpened its focus, going from French-American bistro food to American gastropub. Hence, even though the owner is the same, the old review scarcely applies anymore.

I liked the old Dolce, but I like the new Dolce better. It’s still too vast, seating 150, but a wedge-shaped area that was only lightly used is now a bar, a smart move. Under the glass bartop lie rows of pennies, said to be $70 worth. The restaurant lighting is still too dim for me — it’s difficult to read anywhere but outdoors or in the cafe seating by the windows — but at least as a gastropub the atmospheric lighting is logical.

The menu is shorter and punchier. They do breakfast on weekends. A Florentine scrambler ($8) with bacon, English muffin and crisp potatoes was one of the finer Inland Valley breakfasts I’ve had. On another visit a yogurt parfait with fresh fruit ($5-ish) was okay, but I had expected more fruit and more than a thimbleful of granola.

At lunchtime, I’ve enjoyed a short rib Mac and Cheese grilled cheese ($12), with Korean short ribs and macaroni and cheese between sourdough, better than the Grilled Cheese Truck version.

On a visit with friends, we had two burgers, the not so classic ($10, bottom) and the classic ($7), the not-so having roasted tomato, red onion marmalade, fontina cheese and “bacon jam.” Both came on fresh-baked peppercorn buns. The burgers were a cut above, if a shade below Eureka’s level. The third got a decent ahi salad ($12). We did notice that vegetarian items are virtually nonexistent. Oh, and we shared an appetizer, cheesy tots ($6, below), a clear winner, as excellent as they look.

I’d say Dolce’s makeover was a good step. As before, items are prepared with an eye toward freshness, quality ingredients and creativity, but the menu and the setting seem to gel better this go-round. One of my new favorite restaurants. And they still have their bakery.

Column: ‘Jeopardy!’ champ may take answers from audience

Posted on February 12, 2014 by David Allen

Wednesday’s column shares that Ken Jennings will appear at Upland’s Carnegie building Friday evening. After that come items on cultural events, a Claremont official’s encounter with a deer, a weird crime and the Deja Vu club near Montclair. If it’s not immodest to say, I like my headline.

Two moments of Zen

Posted on February 11, 2014 by David Allen

One of the little-known public spaces in downtown L.A. is the Japanese rooftop garden at a hotel in Little Tokyo: formerly the New Otani and Kyoto Grand, now a DoubleTree (120 S. Los Angeles St). I read about the garden perhaps eight years ago and visit now and then, always feeling as if I’m in on a secret. It’s accessible to the public, either from the hotel’s lobby elevators or from Weller Court, the adjacent minimall.

I was there again on Sunday on a visit to Little Tokyo in which I followed the path laid out by the book “Walking L.A.” by Erin Mahoney. It was a good day for it because I wanted to catch the last day of the “Marvels and Monsters” comic book exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum, which is the first stop on the tour.

So, I took Metrolink and the Gold Line, visited the museum, saw some public art and the garden (above) and ate ramen in Weller Court.

My next stop was the Japanese American Community Cultural Center (244 S. San Pedro St.), which I’d never seen before. The guidebook led me to elevators that took me to the basement, where there is … a Japanese garden.

This is the James Irvine Garden, opened in 1979 and featuring a 170-foot stream. See below.

Two public Japanese gardens in downtown L.A.? I was humbled by my ignorance. I could see the DoubleTree from the Cultural Center garden and wondered if I might have been able to see the Cultural Center garden from the DoubleTree’s garden. I’ll have to go back sometime and check.

Incidentally, they are friendly folks at the Cultural Center. On my way out of the garden, a woman introduced herself as the CEO and president, handed me brochures and invited me to the opening of a ukelele (!) performance area in the coffee shop upstairs. I only popped my head in, as I had a train to catch, but it’s cool when a place is so welcoming.

Your two cents: ‘Is this…?’

Posted on February 10, 2014 by David Allen

For the Bulletin staff, having your phone number at the end of your story often means fielding calls from readers who think you’re the contact for that company, nonprofit or issue, even when the body of the story contains contact information. Evidently they just impatiently skip to the end. Stories about job fairs, for instance, always prompt one or more calls to the reporter from readers, to use the term loosely, who want a job.

In that spirit, I had this exchange with a caller recently.

Me, picking up: Newsroom, David Allen.

Caller: Is this Mel’s Drive-In?

Me.: …

Me: This is the Daily Bulletin newsroom.

Caller: This isn’t Mel’s Drive-In?

Me: This is the newspaper. Mel’s closed two or three years ago.

Caller: I was reading about Mel’s Drive-In on the Internet and your number was there.

Me: Yes, I work for a newspaper, and I wrote about Mel’s when it closed. That was three or four years ago.

Caller: Oh.

For the record, Mel’s closed in October 2010. And if you do a Google search for “Mel’s Drive-In Rancho Cucamonga,” my column is indeed one of the top results, under the headline: “Farewell to Mel’s Drive-In, which is driving out.” Which would seem to be a pretty good tipoff the restaurant isn’t there anymore, but maybe that’s just me.

Column: Betsy-Tacy writer embraced Claremont and her fans

Posted on February 9, 2014 by David Allen

Sunday’s column follows up Wednesday’s, on Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy children’s books, by recounting her years as a Claremont resident, from 1954 to her death in 1980, and gathering up stories from a couple of people who met her. They contacted me after my Jan. 1 column asking for information about her. I’m glad I did, because this whole thing worked beautifully.

Column: ‘True Blood’ batwings into Pomona for filming

Posted on February 6, 2014 by David Allen

The 500 block of West Second Street in Pomona was dressed up with shops for a scene for the HBO vampire drama “True Blood” that filmed Monday. That’s the first item in my Friday column, which also stops into an Ontario council meeting and presents some waitress banter from Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.

Photo above is by Sally Egan. If you know that block, you’ll recognize the Kitron Radio sign, which is permanent; the others were put up for the shoot. You can find more images at The Loft on 2nd, a blog kept by a loft dweller in that block, who shot photos and a video from an upper level, and at True-Blood.net, a fansite.

The David Allen Blog

Field notes, observations and assorted 909-sense from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin columnist

Monthly Archives: February 2014