Recently in Around Rancho Cucamonga Category

"Eak"? I hope this doesn't mean someone saw a mouse at the Sycamore Inn. But if they did, at least it's "prime." Photo by Gino Filippi.

Friday's column (read it here) is about Wednesday's dedication ceremony in Rancho Cucamonga for the completion of the Pacific Electric Trail. That was accomplished in part thanks to the new bridge over Foothill Boulevard, replacing the narrow, 1929 bridge that was removed last year.

The rendering above is what one side of the bridge will look like in a far future era when we're all using jetpacks. Note the cutouts of the states through which Route 66 passes, a nice touch.

In the photo below, I'm on the dirt embankment on the south side of Foothill after crossing the bridge, looking at the Illinois-themed imagery imprinted on the abutment. I'm writing down "windmill, hills, oak tree." Photographer Thomas Cordova snapped the picture because it looked like I was conducting an interview with empty air. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image of...nothing.

"Only in So Cal," remarks Rancho Cucamonga reader Bob Terry about his photo. It's his wife's car and their tree.

A Rastafarian ("Great Jah") was parked next to me in the shopping center at Haven and Base Line in Rancho Cucamonga at lunchtime Monday, mon.

Rancho Cucamonga is not only the friendliest city in the Inland Valley (according to my newspaper's unscientific reader survey) and a Tree City USA, it's also an official Playful City USA, as this sign on Haven Avenue at 4th Street spotted by reader Bob Terry reveals. Check out the Playful City website. Anyway, looks like somebody's jumping for joy.

I attended Wednesday's Rancho Cucamonga City Council meeting because our RC reporter, Wendy Leung, is on vacation. Somebody ought to be there, I though.

Turned out to be pretty interesting, as the council passed the final version of rules regarding protests in the community (which happen now and then), over the protests of a few and to the confusion of many, including yours truly. Read the column here, and comment below if you like.

Sunday's column (read it here) is about the national Wii bowling champions from Rancho Cucamonga's James L. Brulte Senior Center.

I went to Wednesday's RC council meeting because they would honor the team with plaques and I thought it would make a cute item. I interviewed three of the team members -- first two, and later a third -- in the lobby as they left the meeting. Also talked to two Senior Center employees who were also in the lobby. The fourth teammate seemed determined to stick it out in the meeting -- he had more staying power than me, at least -- so I left after an hour without speaking with him.

Anyway, the column item turned into a full-on essay, as sometimes happens. I wrote up some short items for the end but decided they would be anticlimactic and put 'em aside for next week.

One item, though, will be too old by then. It's probably too old now, for that matter. It won't appear in print, but I'll put it below.

VALLEY VIGNETTES:
* Two Pomona cops didn't bat an eye Monday night when approached by a man in a domino mask. Could be because he was their server at Mix Bowl Cafe, they were on dinner break at the restaurant and it was Halloween.

This house at Archibald and Feron in Rancho Cucamonga is often decorated. For Halloween, it's adorned with ghost-riding pumpkins, a panther-sized black cat and giant spiders.

It took only seven months, but Rancho Cucamonga recently replaced the directional sign that had no directional arrows at Archibald and Arrow. The previous version can be seen here. The sign was taken down within days of my February blog post and went back up again in late September. I hope no motorists have been driving aimlessly all this time.

There's no place to buy compact discs at Victoria Gardens (although there's a Best Buy across the street, if that counts). The closest thing to a record shop is this painted ad, artistically aged, for the nonexistent California Soul Records, which adorns a wall near the VG's sheriff's station a few yards north of Johnny Rockets.

This is one of many old signs at the open-air mall that add visual interest and mimic the idea of this being a real downtown with remnants of past businesses still visible. (A portion of another one, reading "Rugs," is at top left.) I doubt if most people get the joke, but I like it.

I also wish there were a California Soul Records for me to shop at.

In November 2009, Jack Lam, the city manager of Rancho Cucamonga, and his wife, Linda, both enthusiastic travelers, vacationed in Antarctica.

Before they left, I suggested they pack a newspaper for our "Daily Bulletin on Vacation" feature. They did so, as this photo shows. Although the scene appears to be full daylight, the sun went down minutes later. Dig the crazy penguins!

This photo appeared in the newspaper after their return and I'm presenting it here to mark Lam's retirement, effective today. (My column about Lam can be read here.)

When I saw Lam at the dedication of the Haven Avenue underpass shortly after his return, he quipped, "I was happy to go on assignment for you." Since the Lams will next be traveling to Kenya and Rwanda, we await their next "Bulletin on Vacation" contribution.

A Comedy Central sitcom, "Workaholics," is set at a fictional telemarketing firm, TelAmeriCorp., in nonfictional Rancho Cucamonga.

The stars, Adam DeVine and Anders Holm, recently produced a short spoof video for Fuel TV in which they mock-tout the attractions of Rancho Cucamonga, described as "conveniently located 38 miles east of Los Angeles." (The video must contain the single most unattractive angle for Victoria Gardens.)

Proving there's no hard feelings, the city's redevelopment agency posted the video on its website, despite the description by the Fuel TV host of Rancho Cucamonga as "an industrial working-class city." Uh, really?

Watch the video here.

"Rancho Cucamonga? It's Cucamongo!!" the duo exclaim at the end.

A Google search for Looney Tunes references to Cucamonga (how many people can consider something like this part of their job duties?) turned up a "Did You Know?" page about Rancho Cucamonga from a tree service directory, of all places. Here's the link.

I suspect all the "facts" aren't 100 percent accurate. The trivia note that Frank Zappa made Cucamonga "his part-time residence for much of the '60s and '70s" makes it sound like he had a summer home there, when in reality he lived there about a year circa '64. So caveat emptor -- but much of the other info sounds right.

Seen Thursday on Foothill Boulevard west of Hellman and east of Big Lots, a strawberry patch is being plowed under for a minimall. Whew! I'd been worried Rancho Cucamonga didn't have enough of those.

* The grower tells me that despite the sign and construction fence, the activity relates solely to the Hellman Avenue pipeline project a few yards away. OK, we can stand down.

Did you hear about the 1965 Volkswagen bus stolen in 1974, found in 2009 and recently returned to its owner in Spokane?

The Wall Street Journal's version, forwarded by reader Will Plunkett, notes that in its months of legal limbo, "The van sat in a Copart.com warehouse in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif."

Had dinner with a friend at Panda Express (hey, it wasn't my idea) in Rancho Cucamonga at Vineyard and Foothill, in the Albertsons center. We've been there before (also not my choice). It's a surprisingly popular place, one where people drift in and out all evening.

This time, on a warm January evening, the front door was propped open and the line of 10 or so people actually stretched out to the sidewalk.

A line out the door? At a Panda Express? Those two-item combos really pack 'em in.

Photo: Will Plunkett

"At the intersection Base Line and Milliken in RC, there's some construction going up, mainly a strange metal tower-thing," reports reader Will Plunkett. His next trip past, he shot a photo, lamenting that scaffolding had obscured what he called its "Martian Chronicles-style architecture."

Other readers have likewise asked about this tower cater-corner from Rancho Cucamonga's Central Park. Pat Longuevan has asked what the heck it is, while Diane Martin jokes, "I hope it's not another electronic billboard."

I can tell you exactly what it is: a cell phone tower that will be disguised as a clocktower. I wrote about it last August.

More fun, though, would be if you took guesses as to what it might be, the sillier or more cynical the better. (Diane Martin, above, had the right spirit.)

Longtime readers may recall a similar guessing game a decade ago in my column regarding the tile-clad cell tower rising across from Montclair Plaza. I dubbed it the Montclair Mystery Tower. Plunkett suggests we open the floor for ideas about the RC Mystery Tower, and I agree.

What do you think it is?

The Sizzler at 9588 Base Line Road in Rancho Cucamonga looks forlorn these days. A sign on the door reads "We are temporarily closed. Sorry for the inconvenience." Yes, this Sizzler has fizzled. (Fizzler?) RC will have to trek to Malibu for chicken.

"Do you know why Sizzler in Rancho closed?" reader Sharon B. asks. "We used to go there at least once a week for the salad bar. I know about 6 months or so ago they lost their liquor license, then a few months back, we walk up to the entrance door only to find a handwritten notebook paper note stating 'Temporarily closed, sorry for the inconvenience.' Well that was about 3 months ago. They are still closed. Any idea as to why they shut down?"

Not really, although obviously the location was ailing. My visit to the property left me thinking it really needs a makeover: faded paint, '80s look, cracked asphalt, weedy lot behind chain link in the back. Not very inviting.

I contacted Sizzler for an explanation and all they'd say is: "Please let your readers know the closure is temporary. The location is targeted to reopen in the future."

Normally a Sizzler wouldn't merit a mention here but this one opened circa 1982 (thanks to the Ontario Library for looking that up for me) and was one of the few sitdown restaurants in the community in the 1980s. So it has a place in the hearts of longtime residents.

Anyone want to share a memory of this Sizzler?

As an admirer of the band They Might Be Giants, whose fans shorten its name to TMBG, I was amazed to see this vanity plate. Quite a coup to get the perfect plate to express the sentiment that its owner likes They Might Be Giants. The frame, which notes the title of one of the band's best-known songs, is icing on the cake. Seen recently near a sushi bar in Rancho Cucamonga.

"The most expensive American-made mattress set on the market" is made by a Rancho Cucamonga company, according to a Wall Street Journal story. That would be the E.S. Kluft & Co.'s "hand-tufted, king-size Palais Royale mattress and box spring," which retails for (gulp) $33,000.

The head of the city of L.A.'s public housing agency is in hot water after evicting nine tenants in retaliation for their participation in a protest on his front lawn -- in Rancho Cucamonga.

The L.A. Times story on the dispute includes a photo taken by housing chief Rudolf Montiel through his RC window of the mob on his lawn. Nice to see the Times publish a photo from Rancho Cucamonga, even if it was shot by a city bureaucrat.

Oh, and you have to love the quote by L.A. Councilwoman Janice Hahn, reacting to the assertion by Montiel (who is paid $400,000 a year) that his family was virtually imprisoned in their home while the protest went on.

Hahn said: "The fact that Rudy and his family were imprisoned in their million-dollar home.... I don't know why that is so terrible, to be imprisoned in your own home. It's not like they had him held captive somewhere else."

I guess that qualifies as a compliment to the RC lifestyle.

No, U-Haul wasn't expecting drive-up service. Mel's Drive-In, the '50s diner inside an '08 shopping center across from Ontario Mills (but technically within Rancho Cucamonga), closed Sunday. On Tuesday, items from the drive-in were loaded and driven out. Read more about Mel's in my Wednesday column. I miss Mel's already.

The third annual Sons of Italy pasta dinner takes place from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Antonino's Ristorante, 7945 Vineyard Ave. in Rancho Cucamonga. The dinner is $10 per person, all-inclusive (salad, roll, pasta, beverage, dessert).

Attentive readers may remember yours truly being given four meatballs, twice the number as the mayor, in 2008, and three last year. This year, alas, it will be zero meatballs: I'll be out of town.

In 2011, I'm afraid the Sons of Italy may make me start over from scratch.

A cell tower disguised as a clock tower is coming to the shopping center at Base Line and Milliken in Rancho Cucamonga, as a recent Bulletin story recounts. (Click on the link at the end of this post to read it.) Some of us wonder if the clock will tell time or be purely decorative. R.C. has a mixed record on this score.

A clock tower at a jewelry store on the Rancho Cucamonga side of Fourth Street across from Ontario Mills has stationary hands. It always appears to be 4:55 p.m., even when it's, say, 1:53 p.m.

Meanwhile, a clock at the Rancho Cucamonga Town Square shopping center at Foothill and Haven purposely can't be seen from the street. Planners thought a working clock would be distracting, a rationale I never really understood on a street with billboards.

The clockface within the Town Square does work. As illustrated by these two examples, taken in July and March, respectively, the hands move, although the clock is about 90 minutes fast.

Meanwhile, a clock at the Chaffey Plaza center at Haven and Lemon shockingly fulfills its function 100 percent. Someone should get out there right away and disable it.

I watched Sunday morning as the old railroad bridge in Rancho Cucamonga was removed. (Click here for 28 photos by DB photographer Jennifer Cappuccio Maher.) I took a few photos myself, presented here.

The first shows the bridge being lifted. (That's Councilwoman Diane Williams at right taking photos!)

The second shows the bridge a few minutes later, being swung parallel to the road.

In the third, workers hurriedly build blocks for the bridge to temporarily rest on as the 165-ton structure is suspended above them. Yikes.

From there a trailer was slipped under the bridge and it was moved a few yards east to a turnout for dismantling. It was resting there Monday morning.

The final photo shows the crossing on Monday morning, looking east, mimicking the photo here from last Wednesday, only without the bridge this time. To quote John Lennon: "Above us only sky."

* My Wednesday column is about the bridge removal.

Sketch of Bible Storyland's proposed Hanging Gardens of Babylon restaurant

Bible Storyland, you say? It's the theme park that never happened. Planned for 220 acres at Foothill and Rochester in Cucamonga in 1961, it was the scheme of ex-Disney salesman Nat Winecoff, "Wizard of Oz" Tin Man actor Jack Haley and yo-yo magnate Donald Duncan. They needed $15 million to launch the Bible-based theme park and never got it after opposition from local clergy and, presumably, tepid response from investors to the strange concept.

I wrote a column about the whole thing in 2005 -- read it as the extended entry to this post -- and figured that was the end of it. Hardly.

Harvey Jordan, a San Fernando Valley man who became fascinated by the theme park after finding dozens of sketches and documents about it, is planning an exhibit on the park at the Victoria Gardens Cultural Center in August 2011. (He works ahead.) He's got a Bible Storyland website. And he's also financing a documentary.

His crew, consisting of a producer and a cameraman, interviewed me in a Daily Bulletin conference room last Monday, capably and at some length. I'll probably be edited down to a sentence fragment -- that is, if the documentary is even completed. Jordan hopes to have it done in time for the exhibit.

I'd suggest you keep your fingers crossed, except that 15 months is a long time to keep one's fingers crossed.

Rancho Cucamonga's Jack Benny statue was among the celebrity statuary featured in an L.A. Times piece Sunday by Steve Harvey (the former "Only in L.A." scribe). Yours truly is quoted. Read it here.

Here I am Saturday afternoon at the Archibald Library in Rancho Cucamonga interviewing Laura Trombley, author of "Mark Twain's Other Woman" and president of Pitzer College in Claremont, after her talk about Twain's later years. Library staff took the photo and forwarded it. Well, what the heck, here it is. (On a weekday I'd be dressed better, btw.)

With its dozens of fruit trees, the one-acre Quonset hut property in Rancho Cucamonga at Church and Ramona, which I visited a while back for a column, was like a trip back in time. This effect was heightened by the smudge pots scattered about the property, such as this one.

Smudge pots, or orchard heaters, were lighted at nights when a freeze was predicted. They blanketed a grove with warm, oily smoke to ward off a frost. These smudge pots are no longer used, of course, but it was neat to see them in their natural setting.

Knockers was the bar with the Hooters-sounding name on Foothill Boulevard in far western Rancho Cucamonga, adjacent to the old railroad bridge. It's the part of Rancho that seems like Upland, but isn't.

A reader recently e-mailed the following:

"I don't know if this is breaking news, not like storm watch or anything, but Knockers 'Restaurant' & Bar on Foothill in 'Cucaland' is empty. They had another location in Montclair on Arrow Route one block east of Central, but not sure what the deal is there."

From Raremaps.com comes this image of Etiwanda as it appeared circa 1882, shortly after the Chaffey brothers bought up everything. Note the very tiny "coming soon" sign for Victoria Gardens. (Just kidding.) At this writing, you can own the map for $375. Someone needs to buy it.

Or 21 piercings? Alta Loma's punk record shop marks its 21st anniversary with a 21 percent off sale Saturday and Sunday. Dr. Strange, which is now old enough to drink, is at 7136 Amethyst Ave. in the old part of town.

The store probably appropriated its name from everyone's favorite master of the mystic arts, the Marvel Comics character Dr. Strange.

The store is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. I anticipate Dr. Strange's 100th anniversary sale, when everything in the store is free.

A local character of the 1950s and early 1960s, Ethyl Fernbach was a housedress-wearing matron who played piano and sang the standards at Shanty Devlin's and later at Elegant Ethyl's, a bar behind the Red Griffin Inn, both in Cucamonga. She was the subject of one of my columns, which you can read as an extended entry below.

Anyway, she's been memorialized on the Find a Grave website. A woman named Kym Winkler read my column and set up the page using excerpts of my column. You can view the page here.

I haven't been to Disneyland in 20 years, and I've never been to California Adventure, but friends tell me there's a restaurant at California Adventure named Cocina Cucamonga. And here's a photo to prove it.

Next door is a tortilla-making tour sponsored by Mission Foods, which is based in Rancho Cucamonga and which hosts the restaurant, thus explaining the choice of name.

On the Mission Foods website in the "At a Glance" section, note that among the 19 plant locations is one in "Rancho CA." I guess you have to go to Anaheim for the "Cucamonga" part.

Photo by Marc Campos

My friend Lesley Tellez, a Rancho Cucamonga native who once interned at the Daily Bulletin before moving on to Texas, now lives in Mexico City, the city of 20 million people and untold numbers of swine flu viruses.

How's she doing? Fine, according to her blog. In fact, she made orange bread pudding with gooey raisin sauce.

Her posts are a nice antidote (the literary equivalent of Tamiflu?) to swine flu hysteria. From her main page, start with "Are We All Going to Die From Swine Flu?" on April 25 and work your way up.

David McNew/Getty Images

This photo of Rancho Cucamonga is from a Boston Globe slideshow titled "Scenes From the Recession," consisting of 35 photos from all over the world. Powerful stuff.

The caption for the above: "Storm clouds hover near unfinished home lots during a break between storms after the dwindling new home sales market brought construction to a halt at a new home development December 16, 2008 in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Home construction took its biggest dive in 24 years in November to reach a record low."

Photos 27 and 35 are from Riverside. Photos 26 and 30 have personal meaning for me as a newspaperman. You'll probably find your own favorites if you take the time to look.

Your Rancho Cucamonga business report:

* The Long's Drugs location at Haven and Base Line closed a couple of weeks ago, a victim of the chain's purchase by CVS, reports reader Marilyn Varney. Don't know what this means for other Long's in the valley, or whether all or any will reopen as a CVS.

* The long-closed Mobil (I think) station at Arrow and Vineyard is going to reopen as a Valero station. Just saw the banner on my lunch hour Monday. The station is half-hidden behind a berm of lawn at the corner and you'd hardly know there was a gas station there. Which may be one reason it failed.

While I was in the Victoria Gardens area Monday, I noticed that the Drexel Heritage furnishings store at Foothill and Day Creek is closed.

But in better news, construction is going on inside the empty Drexel store to turn the space into a Fresh & Easy market, the first in the city. Two other Fresh & Easy stores have been announced for Rancho, but in brand-new buildings, which means we probably won't see them for a while.

In related news from the neighborhood, the Starbucks on Foothill immediately east of the 15 Freeway, the one by the Catholic church, has closed.

This has been your Rancho Cucamonga business report.

Jack Benny's radio show made Cucamonga famous as part of the train station announcer's cry, "Train leaving on Track 5 for Anaheim, Azusa and Cuuuucamonga!" Supposedly -- according to an article on an Anaheim history website -- this line was first heard on his Jan. 7, 1945 broadcast and it became a running gag, continuing when Benny transitioned to TV.

The three tiny communities loved the attention. Benny was made honorary mayor of all three a year later. He visited Anaheim at least twice, in 1947 and again in 1963. He was made an honorary citizen of the three communities in 1965, in a ceremony held in Azusa.

But did he ever visit Cucamonga? I can't answer that. But it seems he did visit Etiwanda.

The accompanying photo was taken in either 1966 or 1967 at the Regina Winery. Gino Filippi, who sent it to me, said it was given to him by Mr. C. Boesen of Alta Loma. "The white-haired man opposite Mr. Benny is Tip Browne, GM of the Regina Grape Products Company. I think the event was a promotional event for the grand opening of the Regina Winery Restaurant, 'California's first winery restaurant.' "

Anaheim, Azusa and Etttttiwanda!

A store named Relax the Back opened in Rancho Cucamonga probably two years ago; I received a press release about it, thought it sounded interesting and jotted down the address on Foothill Boulevard. I did an Internet search to figure out precisely where, Foothill being a loooong street; the store, one of a chain, was in the Foothill Crossings center at Interstate 15, near Sears Grand.

For the next two years, I would periodically remember that I wanted to see what the store sold, yours truly being perpetually tight-shouldered from hunching over a keyboard most of the time. But I rarely go to the Victoria Gardens area, and when I do, it's usually on a tight schedule. Or the store's existence wouldn't cross my mind.

Finally, today, on a day off, I set out on a mission. I drove to the VG for some shopping and then, at last, went across the street to check out Relax the Back.

After some driving around, I found the store. It's empty. It's closed for good.

Serves me right for taking such a relaxed approach to the whole thing.

Rancho Cucamonga voters not only returned both incumbent council members to office, they kept Jim Frost as city treasurer.

Frost, a former mayor and the city's unofficial historian, with roots in Etiwanda going back to 1882, ran a characteristically low-key campaign, but he faced an energetic challenge by Ryan Orr for the largely ceremonial job.

Frost was openly worried. However, he crushed Orr, garnering 78 percent of the vote. I ran into Frost at Wednesday's council meeting and congratulated him.

"I was shooting for 80 percent," Frost quipped. "But oh well."

Passing by the Levi's store at Victoria Gardens recently, I couldn't help but notice the provocative window display, of which the four or so mannikins were the least interesting part.

At their feet, in two piles, were bundles of a single issue of the LA Times from Oct. 4. Its six-column, two-deck A1 headline:

On the temporary wall behind the mannikins was a map of the United States with one word across it: "Vote."

Whoa.

The message isn't necessarily partisan (but may be). I would interpret it like this: These are tough times. Elections matter. So does your vote.

Speaking of the economy, the display must have given the LAT a (brief) shot in the arm, since it includes 120 copies of the Sunday paper, at $1.50 each..

Tried eating lunch today at Pei Wei Asian Diner in Rancho Cucamonga (Foothill and Haven, in the Rancho Cucamonga Town Square) and found all the tables bunched together. A couple of workmen dismantling the place told me it's closed for good.

Nooooo!

Signs on the door direct customers to P.F. Chang's, Pei Wei's parent chain, or to the Pei Wei opening soon in Chino Hills. Another sign suggests that if you walk a few paces to Daphne's Greek and tell them you had intended to eat at Pei Wei, you'll get 10 percent off. Which I did.

I liked Pei Wei, even if they did drop scallops as one of the items (leaving chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or tofu) that you could order in various presentations. The beginning of the end?

City Manager Jack Lam was quite the fan. So was Bulletin sportswriter Clay Fowler, who lives in the adjacent apartments and professed to be "devastated."

Rather than intrude on Fowler during his grief, I asked Lam for his thoughts. He ate at Pei Wei frequently and even celebrated Chinese New Year there.

"I will miss the restaurant. It was a favorite haunt for those working at City Hall nearby. I liked several dishes but my favorite was the lemon pepper pork!" Lam said via e-mail. "Apparently the lunch crowd was good but the dinner crowd had thinned because of the economy."

Lam also forwarded a news story about P.F. Chang's troubles, which you can read by clicking below.

This newspaper launched a Rancho Cucamonga-themed blog named RC Now. It's having what you might call a soft opening, which is why you might not know about it yet.

The main blogger is my colleague Wendy Leung, with some kibitzing from colleague Canan Tasci, and there's some fun stuff there.

Even if you don't live or work in Rancho, I recommend the very funny posts Councilman on the Job Hunt Part 2, Children Say the Darndest Things, RC Day at the L.A. County Fair and Government Containment. You might also find the news about the Archibald Library remodeling and a possible Morton's Steakhouse of interest. (Those are two separate projects; Rancho isn't pioneering a library/steakhouse.)

Fortune in my cookie at Pick Up Stix in Rancho Cucamonga today: "You will soon be the center of attention."

Thankfully, this didn't mean I tripped on my way out of the restaurant.

Reader Mary Delgado writes:

"Just one question. Why doesn't Rancho have a National Night Out like Ontario, Upland, Claremont and La Verne? I live in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, and I am very surprised that it doesn't offer too much. I always have to go elsewhere for community events.

"These are some concerns from our neigborhood. Please make sure someone reads this email."

I don't know why Rancho doesn't participate in National Night Out, and as for a farmers market, there was talk of having one at Victoria Gardens but I don't think that ever happened. Your complaint about the family-oriented Cultural Center offerings was echoed in one of my columns a year or two ago.

Anyone else in Rancho feeling left out?

Btw, an "international festival celebrating cultures from around the world" is slated for 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Cultural Center, with "music, food and activities from all seven continents." Raising the question: What's the native music of Antarctica?

Actually, my attendance at Rancho Cucamonga council meetings is sporadic at best, but sometimes I surprise them by showing up. (Obviously not last night, since I'm still in New Orleans.)

The city attorney always gives me this shocked look, like "why are you bothering to come here?" Sometimes I sense a mild alarm that, if I'm there, something on the agenda must be ripe for mocking. And occasionally something is, although usually I'm only there because I have time to kill, or space to fill, or feel I need some Rancho material.

I'm rather fond of the Rancho Cucamonga council. There's often some banter among council members that works out well for a humor columnist. Also, the chambers are enormous and comfortable. In Pomona we're packed in like sardines.

What works against the Rancho council is that their meetings are always the same week (first and third of the month) as Pomona's (on Mondays) and Ontario's (on Tuesdays). By Wednesday, when Rancho meets, I'm burned out on council meetings.

Also, going to a third meeting in a week tends to tilt my columns too much toward government news. For those who like that sort of thing, good. For those who don't, it's annoying.

So, to strike a balance, I usually skip Rancho's meetings. Sorry, Rancho.

If you're curious about why I go to council meetings at all, or why I pick Ontario and Pomona to focus on, I'll post about that sometime next week.

Clearing out the in-box of my old d_allen e-mail before the account expires, here's a query from Richard Nunez of Pomona:

"A friend and I were talking about the upcoming Pomona Drags at the Fairplex. [No longer upcoming. -- DA]

"Then he said, Do you remember the Lions dragstrip? Yeah, sure do. Then he said, Do you remember the Fontana Drags? My mind went blank for just a moment. Yeah, I do. My folks would take us kids by there to hear them and see them race.

"OK, I was wondering if you can tell me when they started and when they stopped racing. It was on Foothill, I believe it was just past Vineyard going east on Foothill on the north side."

So the Fontana Drags were in Cucamonga? Hmm. Anybody able to shed some light on this?

* UPDATE: The dragstrip was in the present-day Village of Heritage neighborhood (see comments section for more) far, far east of Richard's memory. Sports Editor Lou Brewster gives extra details: "The strip ran north by east, east of East Avenue, by the San Sevaine flood control channel. The worst thing that happened there was a guy literally losing his head...Races usually ran on Sunday. It was part of a circuit that included Lions (Long Beach), Irwindale and Orange County."

Rancho Cucamonga's Victoria Gardens is bringing back "movies under the stars," an obviously successful program from last spring in which family friendly movies were shown on a temporary screen in the grassy area known as Chaffey Town Square. Admission is free and the whole thing is like a drive-in without the cars.

A movie will be shown each Tuesday from May 20 to June 17. All are PG. The lineup:

May 20: "Surf's Up"

May 27: "Bee Movie"

June 3: "Daddy Day Camp"

June 10: "Little Rascals"

June 17: "Shrek the Third"

"Surf's Up" may be the sleeper of the bunch; it wasn't that popular at the box office, perhaps due to penguin fatigue, but the people who saw it loved it, and the surfing scenes are said to be pretty impressive.

I saw "Cars" at the VG last year with friends and we had a good time. You're encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Each movie is preceded by games, activities and prizes. Movies begin at dusk, approximately 8 p.m.

One of the Inland Valley's more intriguing building conversions is the former Ponderosa steakhouse at Arrow and Haven in Rancho Cucamonga, which became Ponderosa Dental Office. Yep, they kept the Ponderosa name, pardner.

Reader Brian Hurst tell us a bit about it:

"It was the Ponderosa Steak House back in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Had a Western decor, leather booths, dark wood tables, pretty good steaks. Not on par with Black Angus, but a big step above the Sizzler. If you look at the design of the building, you can see it was a dinner/eating place. 'Food' for thought."

Anyone ever go into Ponderosa Dental? I wonder if any reminders other than the name out front remain.

I ate at a Ponderosa or two in the Midwest in that same era. I assume the chain was an authorized spinoff from the "Bonanza" TV series, which was set on a ranch named the Ponderosa, but never knew for sure.

Personally, I think Rancho Cucamonga's Ponderosa should stay a dental office but go back to serving steaks. It would be efficient. You could eat your meal normally, then sit in a chair and have your teeth cleaned.

Rancho Cucamonga's long-awaited Trader Joe's opened Friday. Joe's has had a smallish Upland store forever but no others in the valley.* The new one fills the empty Vons space in a shopping center on Haven just above the 210.

I met friends for lunch at Corky's in the same center. Just getting into the parking lot took effort, because of the crowds. I've never seen the center, or Corky's for that matter, so packed.

After lunch, we checked out Joe's. It's a 12,000-square-foot store, said to be midsize by Joe's standards, but clearly larger than the Upland store. The aisles are a bit wider and the refrigerated section looks three or four times larger. According to an employee, there wasn't more, or much more, product on display than in Upland, just more of each item.

In a cute touch, the checkout lanes are marked with street signs mimicking Rancho Cucamonga street names: Lemon, Vineyard, Archibald, Haven, Milliken, Day Creek, Base Line and Foothill.

The store seemed to be a hit on opening day and I'd say it's almost guaranteed to be a success. We don't know what took you so long, Trader Joe's, but we're glad you're here.

* Unless San Dimas counts, as two readers pointed out.

Out at Victoria Gardens on my lunch hour Monday, I thought I'd buy gas before the rain started.

I pulled up at the Chevron station near Richie's Diner, Del Taco and The Hat. Above each pump was a pleasant surprise: a reproduction of a vintage (1950s?) illustrated map of Route 66.

Various cities are pinpointed, with Cucamonga obviously inserted. Route 66 attractions depicted at the bottom of the map include "Joshua Tree," "Hoover Dam," "Grand Canyon," "Indian War Dance" (!), "Will Rogers Monument" and "Mississippi River."

The maps are a charming touch, and next time I'm in the area and need gas, that's where I'm going.

Referring to my comment in a recent column about "stuffed animals" at Rancho Cucamonga's Bass Pro Shops, longtime reader Mel Leets writes:

"Animals are now mounted on mannequins using the hot glue system to tailor-fit the skin to the type of animal mannequin. About the only thing they stuff anymore are turkeys."

Correction noted by this turkey.

(Always nice to hear from Mel, by the way. He's been commenting on my columns longer than just about anybody.)

Touring neighborhoods to see Christmas lights isn't my idea of entertainment, although I know a lot of people like that sort of thing. I'm not a Christmas-lights kind of guy, whether my own or anybody else's. I don't even put up a tree.

But an opportunity presented itself to see Thoroughbred Lane in Rancho Cucamonga the other night, courtesy of a Christmas party a couple of blocks from the street, and it was high time I checked out perhaps the valley's most decorated street.

A bunch of us walked Thoroughbred on foot, which I highly recommend, for pollution as well as exercise and aesthetic reasons. You're smart starting at the west, by the way, as traffic from the east, on Sapphire, is ridiculous.

So how were the lights?

Well, once past the letdown that only years of hype can engender, I had to admit the street's decorations were pretty impressive. A tropical-themed front yard, which included a sign reading "Happy Hula Days," was my favorite. Plenty of people went to a lot of effort and, fossil-fuel consumption aside, the effect is quite nice.

Although I was also impressed by the rare houses that did nothing, or nothing beyond a banner by the front door or a bow on a tree. In that neighborhood, that takes nerve.

Around the same time, Phil Godwin of Chino Hills e-mailed with another tip:

"If you want to see the coolest decorated house, go to Chino. South of Philadelphia on Monte Vista, the third house from the corner on the east side of the street. Park where you can see the whole front of the house. Tune your radio to 90.3 FM. The house must have 6 bazillion lights; they all blink in time to the music on the radio. There are three or four songs, all different. The owner went to a lot of trouble for this one. Really a neat visual."

I'll try to check it out, and you lights-fanciers can too.

Comment with any other must-see stops below.

Today's print column closes with a mentiion of Shanty Devlin's.

As described to me, Shanty Devlin's was a bar on the northeast corner of Archibald and Foothill in Cucamonga in the early 1960s. The owner was a San Bernardino man, Dick Devlin.

Perhaps the bar's best-known feature was a piano player known as Elegant Ethel. She may have been in her 80s. She was blind. And she knew her stuff. She played the old songs, like "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?" As Wayne Leavitt told me admiringly: "She would really bang on that piano."

On whatever the local radio station was in those days, Elegant Ethel would come on daily at noon to play a number. Her appearances were sponsored by First Trust Bank.

We're missing characters like Elegant Ethel these days. Or if we're not, and characters like her still exist, we don't know about them.

Anyone oldtimers want to add or correct details about Shanty Devlin's or Elegant Ethel?

U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral will speak at 9 a.m. today at a (closed) symposium at Etiwanda Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga for educators, sponsored by the Stock Market Game and attended by state education Superintendent Jack O'Connell. They'll hear how to teach students about saving and investing. Cabral will discuss the importance of financial education.

I'd be more interested if she were handing out free money. Attendees could have her sign their own currency, except her autograph is already on it, along with that of the Treasury Secretary. The position of treasurer, I learned, involves advising the secretary on currency and coinage and, get this, is even older than the Treasury Department itself.

Treasurer Cabral, you are so money.