Column: De Anza blazed trail through Riverside 250 years ago

Juan Bautista de Anza rode through Riverside and crossed the Santa Ana River on March 20-21, 1774, 250 years ago last week. He was the first non-native to document a visit to the future Inland Empire. I visit sites associated with him, including a statue in Newman Park, for my Sunday column. I’d heard of De Anza, and you probably have too, but I hadn’t understood who he was or his significance until now.

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Column: His 60th birthday party takes the cake

It’s like a theme is developing regarding these columns: Two in a row about my birthday! This one’s about my party in Riverside that took place Sunday, which was fun. That’s followed by a reader who claims I don’t write often enough about Riverside — I can’t imagine anyone outside Riverside shares that view — and a brIEfly item, all in my Wednesday column.

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Column: In Riverside, a vibrant survey of Chicana pioneer’s art

Judithe Hernandez, an East L.A. woman who’s been making art for 50 years, is the subject of the first solo retrospective at The Cheech in Riverside. I interview her at her studio to learn about her life and career for my Wednesday column.

Side note: The museum offered to make her available on her next visit, which would be…March 14. Really? March 14? My 60th birthday? Sigh. Playing the birthday card, I instead got to interview her at her studio last Saturday. Everyone wins.

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Column: Rite Aid closures a tough pill to swallow

Rite Aid is closing 22 stores in California, including seven in the IE. (Or eight, if Needles is IE.) Plus, the figure “$2.5 million” is repeatedly invoked at a San Bernardino council meeting, it’s my 27th anniversary at the newspaper, two chances are coming up to meet me for my 60th birthday, and a Riverside judge’s ruling in a high-profile vandalism case is unusual. All this is in my Sunday column.

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Column: Home canning contest preserves kitchen tradition

Amateur cooks in the LA County Fair’s preserved foods competition dropped off their jams, jellies and marmalades on Saturday for judging. It’s one of the homiest parts of the fair, which will run May 3-27. I talked to a few entrants about their hobby, some of whom picked it up during the pandemic, for my Wednesday column. This is a column yours truly has wanted to write for years, but since the competition drop-off is two months before the fair’s start, this is the first year I thought of it in time!

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