Monthly Archives: April 2011

John Longville punked me good. The former state assemblyman, Rialto mayor, and current trustee of the San Bernardino Valley College Board sent me an email reporting the sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers to the government of the Philippines. My … Continue reading →

Are we going to allow some lousy little bug to destroy what’s left of our Inland Empire citrus groves? Heck, no. We are going to fight the Asian Citrus Psyllid, and we are going to fight to win. “The best … Continue reading →

When the Fedco store on Mount Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino was about to close in 1999, I went to check out the fantastic savings. I bought a black Members Only jacket for $10 and thought it was the deal … Continue reading →

My former parents-in-law, may they rest in peace, were in Las Vegas once when their car broke down. My dad-in-law, the practical one, argued in favor of getting the car fixed there and driving home, while my mom-in-law, the wildly … Continue reading →

“Player,” a new movie making the rounds on the film festival circuit, was shot almost entirely in the Inland Empire. It’s a gritty drama with a terrific twist ending that tells the story of a Los Angeles gambler who falls … Continue reading →

Let me tell you about my Lucky Rock, and why it isn’t so lucky anymore. I was living in England in 1971, working on a master’s degree in English literature at Birmingham University. One day, while bicycling the 20-some miles … Continue reading →

Two forces began to transform San Bernardino, starting in the 1870s and continuing into the next decade — the citrus boom and the coming of the railroad. In just a few years the city would evolve from a Wild West … Continue reading →

‘This River’ (Counterpoint Press, $14.95) is the new memoir by James Brown, who lives in Lake Arrowhead and teaches at Cal State San Bernardino. The book is full of fine writing, from first page to last. Here’s my favorite passage. … Continue reading →

Inland Empire has the write stuff NOTE: This is an updated version of an article I wrote for the August 2010 issue of Inland Living magazine. If the pen is mightier than the sword, the Inland Empire has a standing … Continue reading →