For Wednesday’s column, I round up a few extra facts about Bob’s Big Boy, present a bunch of Culture Corner items and end with a Valley Vignette about an unusual art show by people with dementia. Above, an example of the art with the display card; click on it for a bigger view.

In an annual ritual, I clean my desk and get a column out of what I find. In this case, that meant finally dealing with a small bag of crumpled, dirty newspaper pages from 1935 that a reader had “helpfully” donated and which had been put on my desk. Read all about it in Wednesday’s column.

As an addendum, a few items were written or half-written but didn’t make the cut for the column, and most of the notes, etc., were simply tossed because nothing of interest came to mind to say about them. And I didn’t get my desk cleared before the column was due either. So there’s still a slight mess. But things look much better, and there’s a psychological and organizational boost from that. Onward to 2018!

In an annual tradition, I look back at the year’s strangest local news stories with a summary of my favorites. Count down along with me in Sunday’s column.

Before 2018, I decided to wrap up a few loose ends from 2017, starting with interviewing a 1950s Ontario Daily Report paperboy whom I met in March. That and more items that languished make up Friday’s column.

In a rare case of one columnist following up on the work of another, I present the happy ending to a story Steve Lopez wrote in September about musician Don Preston, who now has a nice, affordable place to live after weeks of uncertainty in L.A. The story of Preston and his wife is told in my Christmas Eve column.

A tip led me to the wine section at Trader Joe’s, where there’s an Australian wine inspired by the co-founder of Ontario and Upland. Also, our dining out reviewer is retiring. I report on both of those items in Friday’s column.

Based on this recruitment ad on a bus bench in Pomona, the Riverside Sheriff’s Department seems to be a previously unknown fourth branch of the armed forces. Is their mission to help the public or subdue it?

Every spring, the state Finance Department releases population estimates for California’s cities and counties. I always find the numbers of interest to see where our cities stand on their own and in relation to each other. Usually one or two numbers surprise me because I’ve forgotten how large one city or another is.

Having given up on writing an item for my column on the population numbers, as I’ve done some years, I’m putting ’em here on my blog. In descending order:

Fontana 212,786
Rancho Cucamonga 177,324
Ontario 174,283
Pomona 155,306
Chino 88,026
Chino Hills 80,676
Upland 76,790
Montclair 39,122
Claremont 36,225
La Verne 33,174

Chino’s population increased 2.7 percent, highest in the valley, over the previous year. And note the big spread between Pomona and Chino.

You can look at all the numbers starting from the department website and downloading the spreadsheet.

Caltrans’ Yessica Jovel emailed June 1 to say: “We noticed your recent blog post regarding the ‘Corona na’ Freeway panel, and wanted to let you know that the issue has been fixed.” She sent along photographic proof for any naysayers who might otherwise say “nah.” Thanks for reading, Caltrans!

In an annual tradition, I count down the 10 most unusual local news stories of the year. My roundup appears in Friday’s column. Hope nothing really strange happens Dec. 30 or 31…