californians, tell me about the city of POMONA

The one time I was there was 1987 or something. The memories are dim, likely suppressed.

theres a good afghani restaurant w/ delicious afghani fries

the college bookstore is NOT as good as occidental's!

I grew up nearby in Upland.

Pomona sucks. although I used to spend a lot of time at their public library as a teen cuz they had a lot of PKD in the stacks.

and btw there were NO CLUBS and NO BANDS anywhere ever when I was growing up there in the 80s

theres a good afghani restaurant w/ delicious afghani fries

Hmm, wait...maybe I have been there more recently, then! I need Elvis Telecom to confirm.

(Shrimper Records reprazent what what)

Nearby Claremont was better cuz it had a) trees and b) Rhino Records.

my sister went to cal poly pomona, i remember it back then as just a smaller version of what's there now, a calm, slightly oppressive prefab community. A friend of mine went to devry and like, roomed with other devry students for a year, on the real I try to block those years out. there's gang problems of course.

i went to a few hiphop shows at the glass house there in the late 90s. but i can't remember much about the city at all

i think if you've seen one block of pomona you know 99% of the city.

yep - faceless suburban stripmall hellhole

I think Dan Quayle pointed out a Burger King there once

Oh god, of course, the Glass House -- why the hell did I think that was elsewhere. BRAIN NOT WORKING. (Been a distracted morning.)

Last show seen there -- VNV Nation. Show I wished I did see there -- Bauhaus, three years back. (Or the Pixies the year before.)

no wait Burger King was in nearby Norco

theres a good afghani restaurant w/ delicious afghani fries

no, that's in Claremont, where I grew up. Restaurant is called Walter's. It was the coffee-n-cigarettes joint for disaffected youf for a long time. Here follow some unorganied Claremont and Pomona thoughts.

Tom Waits was born in Pomona. The Claremont Colleges, one of which (Pomona) is referred to as "the Harvard of the west" (though its shirts say HARVARD - the Pomona of the East), have Claremont constantly thinking of itself as some sort of upper-middle-class bubble. (It's not that at all, actually - the east side of town south of Arrow Highway, nearly everything south of Arrow and most of town west of Indian Hill below First street is working class through and through, faux-adobe ranch homes instead of the by-now-priced-out-of-this-world two-story jobs you find from First through Foothill Blvd. But these smaller-in-number-but-higher-in-price old-growth houses are the homes which Claremont likes to think of as representative of itself. This is probably par for the course in most towns, but it rankles if you grew up in Claremont, or it does me, anyway). I spent the most of my youth south of Arrow - if I crossed the street, I'd be in Pomona - and I was raised to have a chip on my shoulder about it, even though my grandma may she rest in peace lived in one of the rich ppl houses on, ahem, Harvard Avenue. (When she got the house though it was practically free, Claremont was just an orange grove where silent film dudes liked to shoot on the cheap - she just held onto it all her life, I suspect my grandpa paid like 2000 dollars for it in 1940).

Christian Death was from Pomona, but Shakey Mo is unfortunately OTM about the scene there - Christian Death always claimed L.A. but that was garbage, they had to carpool out there like the rest of us. Ben Harper is from Claremont. Much of old Pomona is gone now but it hung on to its older identity for longer than much of the rest of America. The "one block of Pomona stands for the whole" bit above is quite offbase even today; there is much variation in architecture and in feel throughout the city. Finally, avoid Pomona's jail, as it serves a much worse breakfast than the Portland jail, and makes you sleep four to a cell no matter how crazy or high you are. In the Claremont jail you are likely to be the only person there, so it will at least be quiet.

oh Walter's! yeah that place is good. my dad always takes me there when I visit.

avoid Pomona's jail
will do!

what i remember most about pomona (aside from the bar that sold maraschino cherries soaked in grain alcohol) is the incredible number of tiny teenage girls with dyed black hair cut romulan-style. there were, like, hundreds of them. i sold out of youth small t-shirts, which are roughly the size of a washcloth.

although I used to spend a lot of time at their public library as a teen cuz they had a lot of PKD in the stacks.

no wait this was the Ontario Public Library, I am misremembering things

my last show seen at the Glass House:

Pavement w/ Royal Trux. Maybe between CR,CR and WZ?

Jen Herrema had a HUGE satin raiders jacket and beanie on despite it being about 92 degrees outside and maybe hotter inside. can't remember if the Raiders were back in Oakland yet or if the Irwindale plans were still being suggested.

Pomona: Alfredo Avina, 27, a Latino man, was shot multiple times in the 800 block of Hyde Avenue in Pomona at about 3:22 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10. According to Pomona Police Department, Avina was standing in his driveway when another man approached and shot him. He was declared dead at the scene by L.A. County fire personnel. Police said the motive is still unclear.

This was the first homicide reported this year in Pomona -- the fifth-largest city in L.A. County, according to the California Department of Finance.

Two more homicides, at least three hours apart from one another, followed Avina's death Sunday:

Jose Lopez, a 20-year-old Latino man, was stabbed inside his mobile home at 402 E. Foothill Blvd. at about 6:05 p.m. Lopez was treated by fire personnel, then airlifted to County-USC Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead the next day at 11:57 p.m. Shortly after, police arrested Sergio Guardado, a 27-year-old Latino man, on suspicion of murder. A weapon was recovered at the scene.

At 9:25 p.m., patrol officers were driving near the intersection of Orange Grove and Glen Avenues when they heard gunfire. Two men with handguns were seen running west on Orange Grove; a patrol officer then chased them on foot. Meanwhile, police dispatchers were receiving calls about a shooting in the 900 block of Ericksen Drive, which is off Orange Grove Avenue. Upon arrival, officers discovered Artugo Rodriguez, a 27-year-old Latino man, with gunshot wounds. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene. The search for the two men seen fleeing was called off after four hours.

On Monday, Police Chief Joe Romero told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin that the homicides were "disheartening." But he noted that it was unrealistic to think the city could have gone without a homicide for a year.

yeah, walter's. the fries are great, seriously.

at some point in the 80s Pomona led the nation in per-capita homicides but I remember hearing that New Orleans had surpassed it

also if you try the afghan fries at Walter's they are meaningless without the green chutney which is in a bottle on the table OK, it's my understanding that the high murder rate in Pomona was often attributed to shortages of the green chutney at Walter's

I saw many great shows at the Glasshouse. Also the parking lot at the Glasshouse was notorious for mass car break-ins.

But I do remember old Pomona, if that's where Munchies was. I only got to see two shows there: Superchunk touring for No Pocky For Kitty, and Further/Diskothi-Q (where the latter did a cover of Shadowland's "Indigo Blue", lol)

Also, I remember discovering MX-80 Sound there because Bob Durkee was the sound man and playing their album in between sets, and that guy has the best taste in rock music on the planet.

you were at the "Indigo Blue" who, holy hell, that was the classicest

I am still bitter that the music scene blew up AFTER I moved away (Shrimper founded in my last year of high school, everything else came after that). god what I would've given in high school to have seen some live music

the Shrimper live scene lasted about two or three years at Munchie's - did you not come home during the summers?

nope - I hated Upland (still do!), I never wanted to go back.

http://www.united-mutations.com/s/john_smothers.jpg
"Your pomona is very extinct..."

Upland gets props for having an excellent Tascam repair center in its downtown. I went there one day and the guy gave me such helpful advice. He also showed me off his ginormous autographed Stryper poster on the ceiling.

the place is/was called Suntronics.

what i remember most about pomona (aside from the bar that sold maraschino cherries soaked in grain alcohol) is the incredible number of tiny teenage girls with dyed black hair cut romulan-style. there were, like, hundreds of them. i sold out of youth small t-shirts, which are roughly the size of a washcloth.

-- lauren, Friday, February 15, 2008 7:33 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Upland gets props for having an excellent Tascam repair center in its downtown. I went there one day and the guy gave me such helpful advice. He also showed me off his ginormous autographed Stryper poster on the ceiling.

-- Mackro Mackro, Friday, February 15, 2008 10:01 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I think I could live here.

Upland Skatepark: never forget

the Pipeline, it was called

I seem to remember that place constantly going in and out of business due to insurance claims

closed in '88...?

cryingeagle.jpg

http://news.socalskateparks.com/data/upimages/pipelineclosed2.jpg

(and then re-opened again in '02 apparently? eh too hard to keep track)

seeing the pipeline from the window of a car going down arrow route = huge moment for me

my interest is piqued about these fries at walter's. i'm probably going to pomona next week -- my class is doing a project about "smart growth" planning/implementation in the IE, and my group was assigned to cover pomona.

wow dood the inland empire in general is the scene of some of the stupidest, most badly planned growth in the 20th wtf!

20th CENTURY

walter's is in Claremont but it's close enough

unless an endless tangle of smog-choked freeways punctuated by corporate stripmalls in the middle of a desert is someone's idea of "smart"

x-post

stop with this walters in claremont bullshit john, none of us believe you

seriously between Upland and Riverside there are places where you cannot see more than half a mile the smog is so thick. plus the omnipresent smell of cowshit.

one time i saw Friends Forever play there in front of this shit club called 51 Buckingham and a really angry random huge dude off the street punched the bassist in the face and like 9 cop cars came. Throughout this, a dude in his 50s on acid kept reminding me that this new rock music wasn't as good as The Stones' Sticky Fingers cause you know "the songs weren't there".

all the visitors are gonna go to Larry's Char Broiled on Holt and think they went to Walter's, don't blame me when the chef kicks your ass 'cause you asked for the Afghan fries

foghat plays there during the county fair.

the winternationals are held at the Pomona County Fairgrounds and the speed trials used to keep me up all night because we lived right down the street and the dragsters would be goin VROOM VROOM all night every night and all the while I would be secure in the knowledge that Walter's is in Claremont

I went to Webb, a boarding school in Claremont in the late 80s. Vague memories: smoking camel unfilters and playing chess at Jake's (was it?) coffee shop, Rhino records, strawberries, smog.

tell me more about foghat!

I have a friend who lives in Pomona who has a band called WCKR SPGT and he is like the coolest man ever to walk the earth.

I have a friend who lives in Pomona who has a band called WCKR SPGT and he is like the coolest man ever to walk the earthThe Milky Way.

fix

Agreed.

Pomona is the only suburb where I've seen prostitutes walk the streets. I remember watching a Cops segment shot right by where I used to live there. It's a depressing place, though walking through the antique stores on 2nd is a nice way to spend an afternoon. It used to be nice before the 80's, so I've heard (Lucy & Desi Arnaz spent their honeymoon there in the 40's).

my interest is piqued about these fries at walter's. i'm probably going to pomona next week -- my class is doing a project about "smart growth" planning/implementation in the IE, and my group was assigned to cover pomona.

-- get bent, Friday, February 15, 2008 2:49 PM

wow dood the inland empire in general is the scene of some of the stupidest, most badly planned growth in the 20th wtf!

-- Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, February 15, 2008 2:52 PM

well yes shakey mo, but now it's the 21st century! the whole thing about "growth" is that things change over time. a lot of time and money have been spent recently looking at ways to fix the stupid mistakes of the past.

that draft plan i linked to in the first post hasn't been put into action yet -- there are still meetings going on to hash out ideas and debate certain items -- but it's a good overview of where the city wants to go in the near future.

Show I wished I did see there -- Bauhaus, three years back. (Or the Pixies the year before.)

Both of these shows took place on the Thursday before Coachella.

and playing chess at Jake's (was it?) coffee shop

Nick's!

libcrypt do I know you? Mark and Joel aka Wckr Spgt are, like, my best friends.

No J0hn D., but I was a math grad & pals with Berit in WI and saw you & Mark play at the student union. Mark is indeed an inspirational man.

Both of these shows took place on the Thursday before Coachella.

Exactly.

After going to school in Claremont, I think the only things I ever intentionally went to Pomona for were thrift stores and Mexican fast food.

I went to Walter's twice, but I never got the fries. Why didn't anyone tell me!? But Walter's is in Claremont, and this is a thread about POMONA.

oh man though speaking of Pomona Juanita's on Indian Hill = best damn burritos and yes that includes El Merendero. Juanitas is like the gold standard of no-nonsense, no-frills, grab that burrito and get the fuck back in the car 'cause who wants to eat at the intersection of Indian Hill & San Bernardino burrito places.

Fuck this thread is makin me way homesick and I don't think Juanita's even has one thing I can eat any more, I went veg about six months after I left California

J0hn D., you recently did an in-store at Rhino, right?

I heard that Rhino was closing soon. Which is a shame.

I grew up in Chino and Chino Hills, right next to Pomona (but on the San Bernardino County side). We are actually responsible for the enduring odor of cows. Most of the dairies got bought out a few years ago (in order to develop more housing tracts), so the smell is not as bad as it used to be.

Anyhow, Pomona's reputation in the area is less than stellar, owing to the exceedingly crime-filled parts of it. The handful of times we had to go to Garey or Ganesha High, they seemed really sketchy. Kids from North Diamond Bar and the rich Phillips Ranch section of Pomona used to be assigned to those two high schools (although some of them, my roommate included, opted to go to one of the area private schools instead of going to Garey or Ganesha). The push to fix this problem eventually led to the construction of Diamond Ranch High (which I think is on the Pomona side, but might be in Diamond Bar), which is probably the most (or only) noteworthy architectural design in all of the 909.

Also for whatever reason, I have long believed that the In N Out in Pomona has the best chocolate shakes of all the In N Outs.

Is the Drive-In on Mission Blvd. in the Pomona city limits? Because that is also neat.

I went to Webb, a boarding school in Claremont in the late 80s. Vague memories: smoking camel unfilters and playing chess at Jake's (was it?) coffee shop, Rhino records, strawberries, smog.

Small world. I graduated from Webb in 1983. Vague memories: the Two-Bit Arcade on Foothill just W of Garey. Amazingly cheap vinyl at Stoutboy Records in the Village. The Mongolian BBQ restaurant on Foothill just E of Towne.

Anyway, I just ate at Walters a couple of weeks ago (and love love love the Afghan fries)

Pomona was the perpetual basket case of east LA County and still hasn't really recovered from when General Dynamics left town in the mid-80s. Downtown is at least somewhat interesting these days, but there's a long long way to go still.

Analog Haven on S. Main is a fantastic music shop
http://www.analoguehaven.com/

Also, Mike Davis' essay "Ozzie And Harriet In Hell" to thread. There's a much more expanded version of it in Ecology Of Fear, but it gives you the lowdown of Pomona.

yikes

3. Notes on a talk by Bill Fulton on Los Angeles, October 16, 1997

i took a class with him last year! cool guy.

I took the bar exam at the fairgrounds last year. The views of the mountains from all over Pomona were stellar.

Also - John McClain's friend, Cappy Roberts retired to Pomona.

Pomona fails the second hand smoke ban:
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_8235444

And a sampling of the enduring developers vs. planners vs. businesses war in Pomona. Part 597 of infinity
http://goddessofpomona.blogspot.com/2008/02/low-ball-offer-made-to-coates-bicycle.html