Eateries past: February 2008 Archives

Heading south on Central Avenue from Foothill Boulevard on Sunday, I noticed that the late Mi Pueblo restaurant in Upland was half-demolished.

I'll admit upfront that I know absolutely nothing about Mi Pueblo. It's been closed for months, if not years, with a chain-link fence around the property. It's a large-sized, low-slung building on the east side of Central and may once have been popular. It's at 11th Street and Central.

I'll try to follow up with City Hall to see what's planned there. In the interim, anyone know anything about the place?

This was posted recently on the "things that aren't here anymore" thread, but let's give it its own blog entry. Take it away, Judi Guizado:

"I was telling my mom, Jeanette (Acuna) Holsten, about this thread, and she was wondering if anyone remembers one of the first drive-in restaurants in the '40s called Mona's Drive-In, on Holt near Campus in Ontario. Two of her aunts worked there as car hops, wearing short skirts and serving food wearing roller skates. She remembers it was owned by a man named Price Barrett."

Leaving aside the visual of "food wearing roller skates" -- sorry, Judi, I couldn't resist -- we may as well talk about drive-in restaurants.

I hadn't heard of Mona's, but I've written about McDonald's BBQ, a drive-in in Ontario on Holt at San Antonio in the 1940s. It was no relation to the McDonald brothers' operation in San Bernardino. Then there was Mel's at Holt and Palomares in Pomona, which opened in 1952, closed in 1995 and sold burgers initially for 18 cents. And let's not forget A&W on Holt near Mountain in Ontario, which closed in 2006.

Anyone want to share memories of any of these places, or others?