The mattress shop at Foothill and Archibald in Rancho Cucamonga finally expired after a so-called liquidation sale that dragged on for years, under more than one business name. Huh! That leads off Friday’s column, followed by a bunch of cultural notes and one explaining that I’m on vacation. If I’m posting this late, that’s because I’m more than a few time zones away. The photo above was shot Tuesday afternoon. The interior was vacant.
Ever been to Cask ‘n Cleaver? The Rancho Cucamonga steakhouse opened in July 1967, 50 years ago. Owners Chuck and Linda Keagle, who founded the restaurant when they were in their mid-20s and still operate it today, threw a party Saturday for past employees. I was there to observe for Wednesday’s column.
Rancho Cucamonga’s Rains House, built in 1860, almost fell to the wreckers in 1970. But then junior high teacher Maxine Strane stepped in, persuasively, and after a lot of effort, Rains House became a protected historic site. Strane’s memorial took place at Rains House on Saturday, attended by family, friends and former students. I write about it in Wednesday’s column.
In Wednesday’s column, Rancho Cucamonga’s new library director tells me her impressions of the city and library and offers a few intriguing ideas for the future. She’s a big reader too.
Photo by David Thomas at 19th and Carnelian, 2007
He’s sort of a local legend, although his name isn’t widely known. Certainly I don’t know it. He’s the streetcorner evangelist with a van and a megaphone. The Filipino-American has been operating in the Inland Valley for years, probably since the 1990s, often with his wife at his side.
Reader David Thomas saw him most recently last fall. He calls him “the Amen guy…because when we see him holding his religious signs, we’ll give a supportive honk and he’ll reply through the megaphone ‘Amen!'” The man had a 7-foot pole with multiple signs and drives what Thomas called a Jesus van based on its signage.
He saw the Amen Guy at Carnelian and 19th, heard he’s been seen at Haven and Lemon and recalled years ago seeing him at Arrow and Archibald. He asked if the man had ever been profiled in our newspaper, and I said not to my knowledge.
I had tried, in 2003, after a tip that he lived next to a drive-through dairy on Grove Avenue; the operator promised to pass along a message from me, but the man never got in touch. Perhaps he prefers not to have his story out there, or maybe he’s just shy.
I have not seen him in a decade or more, I don’t think, so it was nice to hear he’s still around and shouting. Have any of you seen him? Do you know anything about him?
A woman and her daughter were leaving Waba Grill in Rancho Cucamonga last Thursday and encountered this parked car “with three cute canines who appear to be trying out for a Subaru commercial,” reader Louise Shane, who passed along the photo, reports.
“The German Shepherd remained calm and quiet in the rear, the ‘driver’ Pit Bull appeared to be looking past the steering wheel to get a better look at my friend, and the ‘passenger’ was standing guard barking and barking, protecting the car and his/her car mates.”
As long as they don’t slip the car into neutral, everything’s cool.
A couple in Rancho Cucamonga are almost constantly at the bakery they opened just over a year ago. They unexpectedly got a reward when BuzzFeed named their little-known Cake Among Us Bakery & Donuts as the best donut shop in California. Their story is in my Friday column. Above, co-owner Scott McCaslin has just made some vegan pistachio doughnuts.
A former grove and Christmas tree farm in Rancho Cucamonga has been sold for housing. I have a brief history on that, followed by four Valley Vignettes and four newspaper-related items, all in Wednesday’s column.
Sunday’s column starts with news from Rancho Cucamonga, from the departure of its top librarian for Pasadena to development items and more. Then come five Culture Corner items, one of which involves an Ontario concert with which I’m participating, plus a Valley Vignette.
As a behind-the-scenes tidbit, some of these RC items, just as with some of the Chino Hills items Friday, were written weeks or even months ago. This is a year-end move to take some material that has been bumped from previous columns, or saved for future use, and clear it out.
Sunday’s column starts off with a (golf) slice of history concerning the lot just west of the Pacific Electric bridge in Rancho Cucamonga: It once had a miniature golf course, and before that, a trampoline park. Heh. After that comes more RC items, a Culture Corner and more.