Recently in Around Upland Category

If you've crossed the city limits into Upland, you've no doubt noticed their new markers. There are 10 at different points around town. They began going up a year ago and the final ones (which needed Caltrans approval due to freeway proximity) went up in the past few weeks.

The marker at the top is on Euclid Avenue at 7th Street; the one below is on Mountain Avenue at the 10 Freeway.

I may be writing a column about them soon. What are your thoughts? Do you like them or dislike them? How would you describe them?

They remind me of the monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey." But so far I haven't seen any primitive Uplanders worshiping it.

Wednesday's column (read it here) is on Monday's Upland City Council meeting, at least nominally. I managed to write 600 words or so before really even getting to any of the official business. Hope you enjoy it.

This exit sign on the westbound 10 Freeway is supposed to say Mountain. I can't tell what's up with the U, but there's either some paint or remnants of a previous letter or something making the U look sort of like an N. The first item of Friday's column is about the sign. Have you ever noticed the problem?

* Caltrans was out Friday morning to fix the sign. "It appears the 'u' flipped over and became an 'n,' " says spokeswoman Terri Kasinga. Mystery solved.

Upland City Manager Stephen Dunn shows off his office, or at least what will become his office once the paint is dry and he gets somewhere to sit. Read more about it in my Sunday column.

For Monday's council meeting I parked on East D Street near Upland's old City Hall/Police Station, an Art Deco gem built in the 1930s, and noticed anew the motto above the door.

City Hall moved a block away in 1969. (This building is now owned by the Scheu Companies.) If certain Upland officials had had to see this motto while walking into work every day, the city might be better off.

(Having the motto on the County Government Center might not be a bad idea either.)

The quote, by the way, is from Virgil.

Seen outside a downtown Upland antiques store Monday. I guess Snoopy is allowed on the furniture.

Proving once again that there's a local angle to everything, Elizabeth Taylor, who died Wednesday at age 79, once filmed a movie in the Inland Valley.

Specifically, "Sweet Bird of Youth," a made-for-TV movie from 1989 in which the 57-year-old Taylor costarred with Mark Harmon in an adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play. It was Taylor's last significant role.

Filming took place over two days, May 11 and 12, 1989, in downtown Upland, which stood in for a 1950s Florida town. Some 140 local extras were part of the production.

Were you one of them? Did any of you witness the filming or watch the movie? What did you see?

Tuesday brings the annual State of the City event for Upland.

The luncheon's centerpiece is newly appointed Mayor Ray Musser giving a speech with an update and a look ahead from City Hall for the year.

Any predictions?

Photo: Will Lester/Daily Bulletin

The photo, from 2005, is of the star above Euclid Avenue, a local tradition going back to the 1950s. The Daily Bulletin has featured the Star and its history many times, but what follows is a new version by Megan Hutter, who wrote it for the Cooper Museum's newsletter. It was also featured in the San Antonio Heights newsletter. Hutter gave permission (through Ken and Pam McNeil) for the piece to appear here.

Click on the "Continue reading" tag to find her piece.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the Star below. And Merry Christmas.

It was 110 degrees Monday in Ontario. In Upland, Nancy DeWitt put her thermometer in the sun, which is a meteorologocal no-no, and got an even more oppressive reading. At least it's a dry heat.

DeWitt reports: "My poor hubby works for The Gas Co and was out and about driving without air conditioning. Last week he worked in Pismo Beach and it was no problem."

How's the heat treating the rest of you?

Pop singer Justin Bieber visited the Chick-fil-A off the 210 Freeway in Upland's Colonies Crossroads Center on Wednesday -- twice. The chicken purveyor announced the visits on its Facebook page. The relevant postings and comments:

Chick-fil-A Upland, Colonies Crossroads: Justin Bieber sighting at Chick-fil-A Upland last night, the girls went wild!!!

Mary Locke: No Way...well, anything is possible I guess. I met Wayne Brady there one day. He stopped on his way to Vegas. He thought Upland seemed like a nice town. :)

Don Jankiewicz: Well, what did he order?

Cecy Velasco: Hahaha ii work there and yes he was there it was pretty awesome. He went twice, once in the store around 3 and around 9 through the drive thru. Oh and Chad Michael Murry also went through the drive thru and ii helped him ;)

Veronica Beas: I'm so jealous, I work at that PetSmart and I was off at 3. I wanted nuggets when I was off but I was so tired I just went home. I'm so sad.

Samantha Noelle: I saw him at 9:30 at Yogiyo so he must have come after his dinner through the drive thru!

Veronica Beas: This is truly upsetting the 2 places that make the most money off of me LOL!

Jennifer Alonso: Are you seriuos!!!!!! We missed it! My girls are gonna be upset.

Janine Aldana: I smell something fishy @ chick-fil-a...

Chick-fil-A Upland, Colonies Crossroads: Nothing fishy at Chick-fil-A, just Chicken that is so good you have to eat it 2x in one day!!!!

Veronica Beas: Amen, I've even had 3x in one day! Mmm...

Seen lying on the asphalt in an Upland restaurant parking lot Tuesday, this homeless sign now seems to be homeless itself.

Reader Ric Stevenson wonders if anyone remembers the Upland Inn, a restaurant and boarding house once owned by his aunt and uncle.

"The Inn was built around 1901 and was first used as a boarding house. In the '60s it became very popular as a fine family dining restaurant. As a kid I spent a lot of fun times there with my cousin and ate some great food," Stevenson writes.

Bill and Barbara Vallon, his aunt and uncle, owned it in the '60s. The inn, located on Ninth Street, burned down.

Anyone able to help?

A friend who knows A.J. Mendoza says he's a much better singer than he was on TV on Tuesday. One would hope so.

In the waiting room of my periodontist's office Wednesday in Upland, the name of a fellow patient, past 70, was called. As he stood, the young woman asked how he was. He replied with a smile: "Pretty good, for an old man."

I'll have to store that one away.

A news release from the Upland Public Library:

"UPLAND -- Race on in to the Upland Public Library to hear Dave Allen, Vice President Marketing and Sales, Auto Club Speedway talk about the history of the Auto Club Speedway. Mr. Allen will also be sharing his personal racing experiences from his early childhood karting days at Laguna Seca to Crew Chief of a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Team. Don't miss this opportunity to hear about a local racing venue and one of the most popular spectator sports in the world -- Automobile Racing.

"This free program will be presented in the Multipurpose Room of the Library on Saturday, January 16th, 2 - 3 p.m. The Upland Public Library is located at 450 N. Euclid Avenue in Upland. For more information about the Meet the Expert series contact the Library at 909-931-4205."

I'm tempted to attend just to meet my doppelganger, Mr. Dave Allen. But if we shook hands, would the universe explode?

Dave Allen (courtesy photo)

Candy Cane Lane is the nickname given to a stretch of Second Avenue south of Foothill Boulevard where most of the homes are decorated for the holidays. Its local fame has been supplanted by the more outrageous Thoroughbred Street decorations in Rancho Cucamonga.

More than 30 oversized and identical candy canes are displayed this year in front yards on Second. They start at F Street, a block north of Arrow Highway, and continue to Mesa Court, a block south of Foothill.

A reader named Alicia writes with a question about the Upland tradition -- which is in her neighborhood:

"I purchased one of the 1950s homes on "candy cane lane" on 2nd ave just south of Foothill in 2007. The previous owners lived in the home for 30 years, and could not tell me the history on it. I have been trying to find more information on the history of the Candycanes. If anyone can tell me, I'd appreciate it. I heard from a neighbor that there used to be a lollipop lane and something else? Any info would be great."

Can anyone fill her, and us, in? I'd also suggest she poll more neighbors.

Betty Peters bought this postcard at a collectors' show earlier in August and wonders when the photo might have been taken, and where. Euclid's a long avenue, after all, traveling from Chino through Ontario and Upland and into San Antonio Heights.

I know, it says it's a Daily Report photo, but we don't have any archives other than microfilm from those days.

My colleague Joe Blackstock can't immediately recall, in his joking words, "the great snowstorm of '45" or some other such meteorological event. But he says snow isn't uncommon in Upland's northern reaches, which is where I'd guess the photo was taken.

Tranquil scene, isn't it?

This weather report has been brought to you by the Jones Galoshes Co.

* UPDATE: See Gavin's response in the comments section for the apparent answer to this minor mystery. He's the Sherlock Holmes of local precipitation.

Reader Bob Terry writes: "Have you noticed the similarity in Union Bank's new 'U' logo and the one for Upland? Very similar and quite annoying. Didn't you originally state that Upland's 'U' looked a lot like United Airlines' logo?"

I did indeed, something like six years ago. Gad, what a memory some of you have.

Terry concludes philosophically: "I guess the poor letter 'U' can be 'U'sed only so many ways."

Sunset magazine's blog featured a writeup on Dee Marcellus Cole, a papier mache artist whose work (and whose self) is often seen in Pomona galleries. Check the photos of her garden here. Congrats, Dee!

Boomers is the name of the former Upland Family Fun Center, a fixture along 7th Street in Upland since 1972. The miniature golf course abuts the 10 Freeway, and the property also has go-karts, batting cages and a kiddie restaurant, the Boomers Cafe.

(The restaurant was Bullwinkle's until Boomers took over in 2002.)

In the 12 years I've been at the Bulletin, most of them spent commuting between Claremont and our Ontario office, I've driven past the golf course thousands of times. I've always secretly wanted to go there.

And so, a bunch of us from the newsroom went there on a recent Friday night, the day before my birthday, to celebrate by playing a round. I have very patient friends.

Turns out there are two 18-hole courses. We played the one with the school, the windmill, the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben, among other obstacles and features. It was a lot of fun, despite being breezy, dark and chilly. (Why couldn't my birthday be during a warmer month, or at least after springing forward?)

The other course has a Spanish Mission. Oooooh. I'll have to go back and play it sometime.

When we were playing the schoolhouse hole, in which you try to hit the ball through the open front door, a friend reminded me that the schoolhouse used to be painted the traditional red with white trim and have a peaked roof. A few years back, it was painted a softer color and the roof lopped off, for unknown reasons. Further evidence that nothing is sacred.

The Boomers main building, where you get your clubs, is a sprawling place with air hockey, arcade games (some of them very old and charming) and even indoor "cosmic" miniature golf. Another reason to go back.

Anyone have personal experiences with Boomers, Bullwinkle's or the Upland Family Fun Center? Please post away.

Spotted in Upland on Wednesday: a McDonald's 18-wheeler whose side panel consisted of a giant closeup photo of a Big Mac and the motorist-friendly phrase "merge at taste and quality."

On the rear of the truck was the loaded question "are we there yet?"

Is McDonald's at the intersection of taste and quality? Better keep driving, pal.

I almost never attend Upland council meetings, being rather busy following Ontario and Pomona politics. Yet there were two good reasons for me to attend Monday's Upland council meeting:

1) a controversial proposal for a social hall in a residential neighborhood and

2) the strong possibility that people would talk about Councilman Ray Musser's comment at the last meeting about the "nonwhite" people at the inauguration who were "well behaved."

Well, the first matter was withdrawn, it was announced at the meeting's start, so that the proposal could be rethought. This confirms my theory that any city meeting in Upland is likely to be half as interesting than one would hope.

Despite that loss, the meeting was pretty entertaining. I got a whole column out of it. Which confirms my other theory, which is that Upland is still more interesting than one might think.

Here's what's left of Upland's gazebo, as a city rehab project has taken the structure down to the frame. There will be more on this in Friday's column. I saw this scene on Tuesday after lunch at Caffe Allegro, shot the photo and went to City Hall to find out what's going on.

The gazebo went up in 1967 and stands in a roundabout at Ninth Street and Second Avenue, in the heart of downtown. It's used as a bandstand during the Thursday Night Market, the Lemon Festival and other events.

I liked the I Remember When sign in the foreground and included it in the photo. Feel free to remember when by leaving a comment.

This is old news, I'm afraid, but I only now heard about it: Old Baldy Brewing Co., 271 N. 2nd Ave. in downtown Upland, is out of business.

It's been a long time since I'd been there, but the bar, which opened circa 1994, became a mainstay of downtown. I first visited in '98 or so. Something of a dive, although less so than the Sea Cove used to be, Old Baldy had decent grub besides brewing its own beer, which was good enough to win some awards. The bar occasionally hosted bands or standup. Some co-workers saw rising band Abe Vigoda there a few months back.

A friend used to live in the apartments above the brewery, which was cause for envy, although he said it was no picnic trying to sleep anytime before 2 a.m.

Comments on Yelp shed some light on the bar's history. Its MySpace page indicates the place was taken over earlier this year by the former Margarita Beach owner, who planned to change the name to 2nd Avenue Saloon. I stopped by last night and saw by the sign in the window that the alcohol license transfer to that new name is pending.

(The street, btw, was about as devoid as life as I've seen it, although there is a bar virtually next door to Old Baldy named Dallison's that looked lively. I have a sneaking suspicion the D is a joke on the D'Uplanders banquet hall across the street.)

As we belatedly bid farewell to Old Baldy Brewing Co., anyone have any comments about or memories to share concerning its decor, its characters, its owners, etc.?

In Upland this week, I drove behind a car with the license plate GEDACLU.

Get a clue? Cute. Although it's also possible the driver is a proponent of not only the ACLU, but the General Educational Development degree.

At my doctor's office in Upland, the door leading from the waiting room to the inner sanctum is decorated with Halloween-themed caution tape that reads: "Caution: Enter at Your Own Risk."

As if going to the doctor weren't scary enough!

Taking Foothill Boulevard east the other day from Claremont, I noticed a few changes among Upland's restaurant lineup:

* Philly's Best has gone under, a display of unbrotherly love for cheesesteak fans. That's apparently a tough corner; the only previous occupant of that side of the building, B-Man's Teriyaki, didn't last as long as it should have either.

* Cherry on Top is coming to the former Winchell's. It's either ice cream or frozen yogurt, I couldn't tell. I kept getting green lights.

* The former Country Buffet (was that the name?) has gone through several names as a teppan grill and sushi bar. It's now Mora.

* East of Euclid, Sizzler is closed, replaced by an almost-identical operation. New name: Sizzlin. The two Zs are in red letters, just like Sizzler. "Steak-Seafood-Grill," the overline reads.

Some good, some bad, but on balance, Upland hasn't lost its sizzle.

Here's a note from reader Wes Ray:

"You wrote an column a few months ago about Upland not changing the Foothill Boulevard name to Route 66. Since that time my wife and I have conducted a loose survey of Foothill Boulevard from Central Avenue to Grove Avenue.

"We saw only one restaurant, of any size, we would call a sitdown restaurant only. That was Coco's at Euclid. We could have missed some minor sitdowns in the back of shopping centers, but if so they were unknown to us and we have lived in Upland since 1964."

Wes, I appreciate your legwork, and I can understand your frustration at the numerous fast-food chains along the street. The days of the grand old restaurants in Upland seem to have passed: The Arbor, the Stuft Shirt, Lord Charlie's, York's, the Sage Hen, Noble Inn, etc., etc.

However, things aren't as dire as you think. I can think of a bunch of sitdown restaurants along Foothill, although they may not be to your liking.

From memory, heading east from the city limits at Monte Vista:

New China, Joey's BBQ, Buffalo Inn, Spaggi's (which is one of the valley's finest restaurants), Jarritos, Pho Century, Athens Gyro House, Kishi, Sizzler (still there, I think), Sushimaru, Brandon's Diner, El Perico Ranchero and Thai Satay BBQ. Plus another three or four sushi bars whose names slip my mind.

I'm sure I'm leaving out a few more places where you order at your table rather than at a counter.

Still, Fastfood Boulevard does have a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Waiting to order lunch Tuesday in an Upland pizzeria, I ran into none other but the Dale brothers, proprietors of the Dale Brothers Brewery. I know Curt but hadn't met Andy.

Their Pomona Queen lager and other beers are brewed in Upland, sold at various local restaurants -- and at hip L.A. eateries Pizzeria Mozza and the Hungry Cat -- and served during Second Saturday Art Walks in Pomona.

At lunch, each brew-bro wore a career-appropriate T-shirt. Here's each brother and his shirt's slogan:

Andy: "As a matter of fact, I do smell like a brewery."

Curt: "Buy a man a beer and he'll waste an hour, teach him to brew and he'll waste a lifetime."

Heading south on Central Avenue from Foothill Boulevard on Sunday, I noticed that the late Mi Pueblo restaurant in Upland was half-demolished.

I'll admit upfront that I know absolutely nothing about Mi Pueblo. It's been closed for months, if not years, with a chain-link fence around the property. It's a large-sized, low-slung building on the east side of Central and may once have been popular. It's at 11th Street and Central.

I'll try to follow up with City Hall to see what's planned there. In the interim, anyone know anything about the place?

Passing by the corner of Euclid and Foothill in Upland the other day, I noticed a for-lease sign at Nickel! Nickel!, the video game arcade in the shopping center on the southwest corner, by Coco's.

In fact, the real-estate sign covered half the sign, rendering it merely: Nickel!

A peek into the empty storefront proved that, yes, the arcade is gone. It was part of a chain of 1980s-style arcades, with 1980s games. As I understand it, you paid an entry fee and from that point, all the games cost a nickel, or maybe three or four nickels, but still cheaper than modern pinball or arcade games. With Upland gone, the nearest location I'm aware of is Covina.

This is tough news. I thought the 1980s were making a comeback.

Anyone have any Upland Nickel! Nickel! memories or lore to share? How long was the place there? What games did you like? I seem to recall hearing that a world record was set there on some game or another.

* UPDATE: An ex-employee posted a detailed history of Nickel's decline and fall in the comments section. He calls the place "a dynasty that was founded upon a radical idea that a kid could go into an arcade and play outdated games with change his Mom gave him for cleaning his room or found triumphantly under a couch cushion."