Eateries past: September 2007 Archives

My column today on Cafe Montclair, the latest restaurant in the building that once housed the Plum Tree, the Majestic, Ginger's Place and, originally, Lizzy's, prompted a note from Bob House:

"Today's column about the new Montclair restaurant got me thinking about Valley restaurants and bars that are no more. Would readers find that an interesting thread? I nominate two from Claremont's past: Stinky's, a burger place on Foothill that lasted into the '60s, and The Midway, an iconic dive bar, also on Foothill, that made it into the '70s. The Midway is featured in Kem Nunn's first book, 'Pomona Queen.'"

Feel free to add to the list, readers.

Two further notes I left out of the column: The hostess at Cafe Montclair, who held the same job at Plum Tree, is Pia Jackson, whose family owned the fondly remembered Di Censo's Italian Restaurant in Upland. And Joanne Boyajian of the Ontario Library discovered there was a Tin Lizzy restaurant on Holt Avenue in Pomona from 1968 to 1970, of unknown relation to the Montclair Lizzy's, which also had a Tin Lizzy theme. Huh!

I wrote recently in my column about Inland Valley mom-and-pop restaurants where you can reliably get a slice of pie: Roady's in San Dimas, the Village Grille in Claremont and, most notably, Flo's Cafe in Chino, where two employees work full-time baking pies, cobblers and other goods for the two Flo's locations.

Co-owner Donna Hughes, who with her husband Paul bought Flo's from founder Flora Slack in 1976, told me post-publication that the bake shop was his idea: "My husband is a big sweet eater. He wanted to have desserts put in, so we did."

What of pie places past? Charles Bentley recalls a few: Chavens in Montclair, which was near the old Holiday Roller Rink east of Montclair Plaza, and the Pie Place in Ontario, on Mountain Avenue in the building now occupied by Home Kitchen.

Then there was Wag's on Ontario's Euclid Avenue and the Hollander Cafeteria at Montclair Plaza, Bentley says. I can add Katie McGuire Pies at Base Line and Archibald in Rancho Cucamonga, now occupied by Dairy Queen.

Any memories of pies past, readers?