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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Column: Hello to new city manager; goodbye to ‘Downtown Pops’

I interview Pomona’s new city manager, only the second woman to have the job, and pay tribute to Larry Egan, an important figure downtown, whose memorial service I attended. Wednesday’s is an all-Pomona column, and probably my last for a while, as I really need to turn my attention again to San Bernardino and Riverside. But it was fun to be back on the beat. And my Starbucks column got people talking.

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Column: In jolt to downtown, this Starbucks is closing

The Starbucks at the Mission Promenade building in downtown Pomona is due to close Feb. 15. That was noted in passing in a column last week just to get that out there. I’d happened to be in the cafe when the manager made the announcement. As promised, here’s more. I worked from the cafe on Monday afternoon to watch the flow of traffic. There have been incidents with homeless people, yet the cafe attracts a cross-section of Pomona. I tell you more in my Wednesday column.

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Column: Pomona council OKs call for Gaza ceasefire

In an emotional but mostly respectful meeting with 40 speakers, the City Council in Pomona OK’d a resolution for a Gaza ceasefire. “We’re doing what we can,” one member says. Many cities have ducked the issue, saying the matter isn’t in their jurisdiction. Can’t blame them, but I respect how Pomona handled it. That’s the subject of my Wednesday column, along with three other Pomona tidbits at the end.

For what it’s worth, this column was cranked out in three hours Tuesday morning/early afternoon to meet our early deadlines (and a lunch engagement). Due to how interesting the outcome of the meeting was, how many people spoke and how quickly I had to write, I relied more than usual on my overall sense of the proceedings rather than my copious notes.

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Column: Riled about Gaza, not $600k payout to ex-city manager

At the City Council meeting Monday in Pomona, 15 people demanded the council take a stand about Gaza. Only one person brought up the local issue. Nevertheless, I delve into the payout to the former city manager. Also, I make my triumphant (?) return to a Pomona council meeting after four years away. That’s my slightly nostalgic Wednesday column.

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Column: ’60s garage band tribute rocks Pomona, reunites friends

The dA Center for the Arts in downtown Pomona is hosting possibly its most ambitious and well-attended exhibit ever, “Sounds of Pomona: Coming of Age in the Golden Era of Music, 1955-1975.” It’s a tribute to the city’s thriving music scene of the early rock era and its Latino-led bands who played at local dances. I’ve been to two of the events so far and they’ve been remarkably well-attended. I write about the effort in my Friday column.

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Column: Dry your eyes: Frantz Cleaners to keep cleaning

Unexpectedly, the buyers of the Frantz Cleaners property decided not to turn the buildings into offices but instead leased it to a Frantz employee to continue the business. That’s good news. Meanwhile, a Pomona reader is pleased to meet me, and Rancho Cucamonga’s Magic Lamp Inn is closed at least temporarily, its future uncertain. All that is in my Wednesday column.

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Column: LA County Fair was cooler (brrr!) than ever in 2023

With the switch to May from September, the LA County Fair is seeing a lot more long sleeves and jackets. Attendance was up over last year, a sign that fairgoers generally like the change. I write about that in my Sunday column, as well as how the fair has lowered its attendance count downwards pretty dramatically, and why, and what some of you had to say about Thummer upon the fair mascot’s 75th anniversary.

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