"All of those orange and lemon groves brought an incredible and memorable smell to the entire area. That is what I remember about summer nights in Claremont, but that strong but welcome aroma doesn’t exist here anymore, either."
- Sid Robinson, Sid's Side
Last week, David Allen had a post about local blogger Sid Robinson. Move over Marcel Proust, memory and sense tug strongly, even here in the digital world.
Robinson, who is a Claremont High School grad, recently wrote a piece about places and things he'd grown up with that have been demolished or redeveloped beyond recognition:
When the “new” Albertson’s opened on Towne and Foothill, we found ourselves venturing a mile east for some of our shopping. And in the same center sprang up a Value Fair, where you could find pretty much anything. All of those places – gone.
The other grocery store in town was the Stater Bros. on the southeast corner of Foothill and Indian Hill. There were tunnels that went under those streets so pedestrians wouldn’t have to cross in heavy traffic on the way to the old Claremont High School. I can barely remember when that was a campus, but I remember the previous iteration of shops that replaced the classrooms, as well as the Griswolds’ Restaurant. The old gym was known as “the Pavilion” before it became the Candlelight Pavilion, and we had quite a few dances and other events over there.
We've heard the tunnels are still under there someplace, sealed and covered up, though we've never seen proof of that. An occasional reader recently mentioned a taco restaurant at Central and Foothill that was pretty popular among high school aged kids. This would have been around the 1940's and 50's. Anyone ever hear of this place?
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