A Koreatown settlement in Riverside in the early 1900s held fully one-third of the nation’s Korean immigrants, a UC Riverside professor says after extensive research. The settlement was founded by Ahn Chang-Ho, later a revered figure in Korean independence. I explore this facet of local history in Sunday’s column.
Monthly Archives: May 2021
Column: Check it out: mayor, writer recall girlhoods at library
In Riverside, the new Main Library is a real eye-catcher, set to open late next month. On Wednesday, Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson and writer Susan Straight met up there for a livestreamed chat to talk about books and their memories of the previous library. I was there to witness, and I write about it in Friday’s column. The tail end has a few other notes from the day I spent in Riverside and, for good measure, an item about Pomona.
Column: TV superhero fracas in SB has no Big Mac attack
A CW series, “Legends of Tomorrow,” airs an episode set in 1955 San Bernardino; I pay further homage to Metrolink/DTLA advocate Bob Herman; a Chino councilman dies; and two notable and lifelong Riverside library patrons will have a summit meeting of sorts at the new library. All of that makes up Wednesday’s column.
Column: Day trip to LA by transit brought back old feelings
Remember how I used to write now and then about taking public transit to LA and doing something interesting? Sunday’s column is one of those, and the first one in quite some time. I ate lunch at a new restaurant, went to a record store and got frozen custard, while reading newspapers and a novel. It was a nice day.
Column: A hot time in Palm Springs: art, food, kitsch
I write about a getaway to the desert playground (where it was 100 degrees) for Friday’s column. Do you go there? What do you think of it?
Column: After 45 years, Claremont mainstay to close
Barbara Cheatley is retiring after nearly 46 years at her namesake boutique and will close it by July 1. I visited Tuesday and turned around a column on this Claremont mainstay for my Wednesday column.
Column: Baez’ ’64 U of R show packed seats and stage alike
Information on Joan Baez’ Redlands years has continued to come in despite 2 1/2 previous columns on the subject, and I am helpless to ignore it. In my defense, I got 20 years of occasional columns out of Frank Zappa’s Cucamonga, Ontario and Pomona years. Also, I write about an angle unexplored before: her 1964 evening concert at University of Redlands. (The afternoon concert at Redlands High was a previous topic.) And so, Baez in Redlands makes up Sunday’s column.
Column: Local cities got name-checked in ‘Inlandia’ anthology
The “Inlandia” literary anthology was a recent column topic. In reading the book, a few amusing quotes jumped out at me. I collect ’em, with commentary, in Friday’s column.
It’s been a while since I wrote a column of fiction quotes about the region. A bunch more such quotes are saved up, and I’ll try to present those in the near future, now that this column lays some groundwork.
Column: Fully vaccinated, it was time to live a little
After waking up Monday fully vaccinated, i.e., two weeks after my second dose, I had three items on my docket. They were modest but meaningful acts I’d saved for that day. I write about that in my Wednesday column. Did you do, or do you plan to do, anything comparable?
Column: Mask protest coverage leads to unfiltered comments
I’m not sure when or if I’ve ever received as many emails on a pair of columns as I did on my two on the Temecula anti-masking movement. I excerpt comments pro and con and reply in Sunday’s column.