Moving in

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Monday is our first day in our new office, 9616 Archibald Ave. in Rancho Cucamonga. Boxes are everywhere and people are getting oriented, getting their computers hooked up and unpacking.

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As with our old office, I managed to get two adjoining cubicles: one for storage and memorabilia, the other for work. At this point, they’re still virgin territory, a blank slate on which to write.

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We use laptops, technically, but for office use hook them to a standard keyboard and monitor. It may seem confusing, but it’s simpler to have various Internet windows on one screen and my column (or, for reporters, their story) on the other. This is the view from my chair.

If I turn around, though, there’s a window onto Archibald. Our old, bunker-like office infamously had no windows. Our new office is a clear win in that regard.

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We’ll have an open house in a few weeks once we’re settled in but before it goes to seed.

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Restaurant of the Week: Juancho’s, Upland

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Juancho’s Mexican Cuisine, 2440 W. Arrow Route (at Monte Vista), Upland

There’s a Juancho’s in Ontario, which I’ve heard is good, and now there’s a larger, nicer one on the border of Upland and Claremont, i.e., Upmont, in a center by the colleges and next door to Noodle World Jr.

I’ve been there for lunch twice and had a favorable impression both times.

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There’s a main dining room and a smaller bar area with a couple of booths and a couple of tables, separated from the main room by a faux-brick archway. While the dining room is kind of a big box, there are pleasant touches: heavy wood tables and chairs, faux plaster walls, slow ceiling fans and subtle lighting, plus some interesting tile murals.

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The first visit, a friend from the colleges got shredded beef flautas (pictured above), while I had an asada torta (pictured below), both ordered off the lunch menu and both $7. We both liked our food, and my friend was impressed that my torta didn’t fall apart in my hands.

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Maybe three weeks later, I returned on my own and got the Juancho’s burrito with carnitas, again off the lunch menu and priced at $7. This was good too. There are better burritos, but you’d have to drive two, three, maybe four miles to find them. Juancho’s has fancier furnishings than many Mexican restaurants too, akin to Tio’s Tacos.

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My only regret was I forgot to eat the orange slice.

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Notes on a move

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Having cleared off much of my main desk on Friday, on Monday afternoon (after writing much of Wednesday’s column, because deadlines never stop) I tackled my second cubicle, on which I keep various tchotchkes: commemorative items from local events, strange gifts and the like. See above.

Newsroom types call it Dave’s Museum and suggest I put up velvet ropes and charge admission. They also suggest I organize it, which I never made time to do.

And now I have to pack it or toss it. I’m doing a little of each. I tossed two military Meals Ready to Eat that someone gave me. I tossed a Debbie Acker real estate ad that described her as “a name you know and trust.” I tossed a couple of Mike Antonovich’s famous Christmas cards.

And, with some heartburn, I tossed all my Daily Bulletin reporter notebooks, the ones I take on assignment and use at my desk, going back to around 2002. All along we’ve been officially discouraged from saving notebooks, but I kept mine, and a couple of times they came in handy, including earlier this year, when I found my interview notes with Archie Wilson from years ago. (Shockingly, I found them within about one minute.)

By and large, though, the notebooks just take up space. Unless I have a change of heart and rescue them from the trash bin, they’re gone too.

But most of the tchotchkes will be moved. Including the ampersand. And the Festivus pole.

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Wall of ideas

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We’re cleaning out, packing up and moving our office, as noted in Sunday’s column. I’ve got two adjoining cubicles to deal with in the coming days. Among the items: these two whiteboards, on which I would note column ideas.

Most of the potential ideas above were scribbled down 5 or 10 years ago, and only a very few were ever written and erased, or semi-erased. The board below is newer and its ideas are more like a year old. Clearly a whiteboard is not the best place to write ideas if they’re going to remain there semi-permanently. What can I say, I do cover news, and stray ideas tend to fall by the wayside.

For a clean slate (literally) for the new office, I erased both boards. But by posting these photos, at least the ideas are here if I need them. That is, if I can read them, and then remember what they mean.

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Column: Glendora shop grabs ring for LA’s best doughnuts

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Friday’s column starts with word that LA Weekly chose Glendora’s Donut Man as the LA area’s best doughnut shop, the only nod to this entire part of the county, grumble, grumble. Then there’s a long item about “The Best American Comics 2015,” a new anthology edited by a writer in Claremont, with an accompanying book signing on Saturday. Lastly, a TV show mentions Pomona.

Above, Donut Man’s famous strawberry doughnut; below, its rare peach version, only available for a few weeks in late summer.

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Restaurant of the Week: Blaze Pizza

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Blaze Pizza, 7833 Monet Ave. (Victoria Gardens), Rancho Cucamonga

Fast-fired pizza specialist Blaze Pizza opened over the summer in Victoria Gardens, the sole local outlet for now. The chain is based in Pasadena. Because I wasn’t around for the opening specials, the company sent me two coupons for free pizzas, which a friend and I recently redeemed.

Blaze is on Monet, the street undergoing a hipsterification. The pizzeria is a good fit for the street, which is being designed to appeal to the younger crowd.

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The setting is casual and lively, with some high-top tables. Because of the high, open ceiling, the room is a little loud, which must be how the young people like it. Only semi-populated on a weeknight, the noise level didn’t impede conversation.

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Like Pieology, you can order a pre-designed pie or customize one from a long list of ingredients (but not long enough to include anchovies). And much like at Subway or Chipotle, you move down a line past ingredients that a series of employees will add at your request. You pay at the end of the line, your pizza is popped into an oven and your number will be called in about five minutes.

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We each ordered “signature” pizzas: The White Top for her (white cream sauce with mozzarella, applewood bacon, chopped garlic, oregano and arugula) and the Link In for me (Italian sausage, roasted red peppers, sauteed onions, mozzarella and red sauce), typically each $8.

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These were pretty good pies, about the right size for one person. “On a scale of 1 to 5, I’d say it was a 4 1/2,” my friend said. “Because I wish the crust was a little thicker.” I can appreciate that, although the thin crust is what allows it to be baked so fast. I liked Blaze and its crust better than Pieology’s. Neither compares with going to an actual pizzeria, but the experience is novel and you can be in and out in a lunch break. I would go back.

Oh, yeah, and we sprung for the S’mores dessert ($2.50), a sort of cookie filled with chocolate and marshmallow. You might want to try one.

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