Column: Redlands man reflects on working for Jimmy Carter

Journalist James Fallows was Carter’s head speechwriter from 1977-78. When the former president entered hospice care a month ago, I soon thought of the Redlands native, who’s had more extensive contact with Carter than anyone else from the Inland Empire. He spoke about his former boss on Thursday by phone from Washington, D.C., for my Sunday column.

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Column: Asistencia gets assist from Redlands Conservancy

Are you aware of the Asistencia in Redlands? It was a distant outpost of Mission San Gabriel in the early 19th century but came and went in the wink of an eye. The site was rebuilt in 1937 and, after nearly a century in the county’s hands, was given to a nonprofit in 2018. I visit, learn the slightly comical history of the site and share the results in my Wednesday column.

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Column: They really want to know: ‘Do you have a citrus tree?’

In Redlands, strangers apparently ask each other the above question as an ice-breaker. Author Deborah Fallows has a sweet story about it. Also, more about Mentone’s Paul Bunyan, 1909 pennies, Rancho Cucamonga’s former Gilberto’s Lounge and the expansion of Starbucks in Pomona, all in a Sunday column of holiday-weekend leftovers. Happy Labor Day!

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Column: Should Redlands change direction on Oriental Ave. name?

The city will research potential new names for the street after reaching out to the community, as we’ve reported. I visit to talk to the short street’s two businesses, whose owners support retaining the name as a nod to its history as site of the city’s long-gone Chinatown. One owner is Chinese American. She makes a good case, but I still think the name is a mistake. I write about the matter in Sunday’s column, my first reported from Redlands.

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Column: From Redlands to the Kennedy Center Honors

I know I said that if any more Joan Baez anecdotes came in following 3 1/2 columns on her in the past few months, I might pretend to have died in the meantime. But one more came in, and another hadn’t been used, and she was on national TV as a Kennedy Center Honors designee. So that seemed like enough to justify a partial column — in my mind, at least. Items from San Bernardino and Pomona round out my Wednesday column.

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