I didn’t miss any columns, but I did spend a long weekend in Portland, Oregon, one of my favorite places. Here’s how it went, as chronicled in my Wednesday column.
Column: Portland was a cool (70 degrees) destination
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Monthly Archives: August 2022
Column: Old mall trashed by scavengers, squatters
A photographer and I get a tour of the long-shuttered Carousel Mall in San Bernardino, and it’s in terrible shape due to vandalism, metal theft and more. The mall has always been destined for demolition since its closing five years ago, but demolition is becoming an urgent necessity. This extra-long Sunday column and its sobering photo gallery can be viewed here.
Column: If you miss deli exhibit, you’ll be in a pickle
I visit LA’s Skirball Cultural Center for its exhibit “‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’: The Jewish Deli,” then repair to a Jewish deli for lunch, a day trip I recount in my Friday column.
Column: Readers share sharp opinions on Cal Poly’s pointy building
After I wrote about demolition of the CLA Building at Cal Poly Pomona, readers, including alums, weighed in with their opinions. A few liked the CLA; most hated it. “Glad it’s gone,” one said. I write about the reaction, including support for the building from an architecture critic, in my Wednesday column.
Column: After fire, cigar lounge vows to rise from ashes
Readers with long memories may recall a February 2020 column on a building in downtown Pomona last used for a restaurant, Benvenuti, that closed during Clinton’s first term and was vacant ever since. Since then the building was, wonder of wonders, renovated and reopened as a cigar lounge, said to be the largest in the state. And then, a fire (in the alley behind the business) did enough damage to close the business. I write about this highly unusual saga in my Sunday column.
Column: Retiring city manager praised: ‘He saved Norco’
I went to my first Norco City Council meeting, thinking I would write about the 45-day warehouse moratorium. Instead, that gets part of a sentence, as the retirement of the longtime city manager seemed like a better story. Andy Okoro rather improbably wound up in Norco after a childhood in Nigeria. He’s the focus of my Friday column.
Column: When Elvis died, they were all shook up
Elvis died 45 years ago Tuesday: Aug. 16, 1977. (Like 2022’s Aug. 16, it was a Tuesday.) I asked at the end of Sunday’s column where you were when you heard. People emailed with their stories. Not just IE people either; because that column ran in our sister paper in LA, the Daily News, people from LA got in touch as well. I share some of the response in my Wednesday column.
Column: Subways, buses are how he rolled in NYC
On vacation in New York, I bought a MetroCard transit pass and used the heck out of it over the next few days. Best $34 I ever spent. I also did a lot of walking and stair climbing. I talk about the experience, and recount some highlights (and one lowlight) from my trip, in my Sunday column. Have you been to New York? Did you love it, hate it or somewhere in between?
Column: In NYC, he goes for a double: two baseball games
While on vacation, I saw the Yankees, and two days later, I saw the Mets, upping my ballpark total to 14 (of 30). I write about the experience, including bringing along a transistor radio, in my Friday column.
Column: ‘Overwhelming’ support for secession, backer says
You’ve heard about the idea of San Bernardino County seceding from California? (Depending on where you live, perhaps you’ve thought: Good riddance.) After attending Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting in which it was decided that the measure would go before voters Nov. 8, I write about it in my back from vacation Wednesday column.