A Little Housekeeping

We've made a few changes and additions to the links list in the left-hand margin. First, we've moved the Claremont-specific links into a "Community Links" list.

Second, we've moved Gary Scott into the "News" links section because his posts are primarily related to journalism rather than local interest items. We did leave David Allen in the "Local Blogs" section because Allen's posts seem to have a good deal of local color sort of items.

Lastly, if you scroll down towards the bottom of the left-hand margin, you'll see we've added several Craigslist feeds specific to Claremont: "Jobs in Claremont," "Gigs," and "For Sale/Wanted." There's also a feed for "Free Stuff" in the San Gabriel Valley (there wasn't much free stuff in Claremont alone, so we had to go to a wider area).
As always with Craigslist, you'll want to perform your due dilligence in all cases.

We got the idea for the Craigslist feeds from Amanda Wray's Living in Monrovia blog, which is one of the better designed and written metro blogs around.

Changing Times

Dave Allen weighed in with his take on the Claremont Village Expansion and the ad campaign that has accompanied the new businesses and buildings west of Indian Hill Blvd.

Allen noted the ongoing debate in town on whether the attempt to update downtown Claremont into a mini-Pasadena is all good:

I like the Expansion myself, with reservations. The theater is a terrific addition, the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is becoming a hangout, the plaza has a neat fountain and there are now more restaurant choices and more to do at night.

Some of the chains are annoying, but as John Pixley has observed in the Claremont Courier, San Luis Obispo has many of the same chains, and more, yet manages to keep a healthy mix of local merchants.

Architecturally, the Expansion looks a little canned but it isn't bad. If its two-story frontage seems a bit pushy, maybe that points to how dull and empty the east side of Indian Hill looks: parking lots, the rear end of buildings and that godawful ziggurat at First Street.

Why does all this matter? Because the existing Village is the valley's most successful downtown. The streets are walkable, the shops are eclectic and there is a sense of place, even of magic.

But now that the Village has essentially expanded by one-third, this feels like a turning point for Claremont. Will the Village absorb the Expansion, or - gulp - vice versa?

One wonders if all the changes will be intended ones. We suspect that something of the town's character will change - perhaps for the better, perhaps not. We will undoubtedly be altered in some subtle ways, and the mom-and-pop feel of the Old Village may in time fade.

Other cities in the area, Monrovia for example, are experiencing this already as renovations and chain stores and restaurants drive up rents, shuttering older businesses.

We're reminded of some lines from the Richard Wilbur poem "The Beautiful Changes":

The beautiful changes as a forest is changed
By a chameleon's tuning his skin to it.....

Reader Question: Monrovia

We got this inquiry from a reader:

Hi,

Maybe you can answer this? When I was a kid, in the mountains above Monrovia was a village called Happy Jack. It was built by former Disney people, and it was all teeny little small scale winsome fantasy cottages.

NO ONE seems to know what I'm talking about, and I can't find anything about it on the web, which is how I found your claremont buzz log. Have you ever heard of Happy Jack?

Thanks

We've never hear of this place, but if you have, let us know and we'll pass it on.

Vision of Tomorrow?

Our correspondent Joslyn Jane wrote last week of some of the similarities and differences between Monrovia and Claremont. The Foothill Cities blog picked up on that and questioned Jane's take on things in Monrovia.

Monrovia's downtown renovations are a little farther along than Claremont's, and we couldn't help noticing Saturday's post on Living in Monrovia. Author Amanda Wray observed that a number of small boutique businesses had closed shop (or moved, as one of the comments to the post noted). Wray remarked in her post:

I know that with improvements come eventual price hikes, because the neighborhood is nicer and more desirable, but I hope, and pray, that we won't become like Old Town Pasadena, and lose too many more of our mom-and-pop stores.

We hope that Village West doesn't lead to the same sort of unintended consequences in the original Claremont Village. One ought to tread lightly in these sorts of redevelopment; progress isn't always forward.

Local Blogs

Living in Monrovia is a nicely done blog by graphic designer Amanda Wray. The blog features quality photos and has recently started a profile series of local merchants.

Monrovia, like Claremont, sits along the old Route 66, and will also have a Metro Gold Line station. Its population, a little over 39,000, is also similar to Claremont's 35,000. And Monrovia's downtown area is a lot like Claremont's Village, with several good restaurants--Caffe Opera and Cafe Mundial come to mine--and mom-and-pop shops.

Unlike Claremont or Sierra Madre or Glendora, Monrovia doesn't seem to harbor the sort of of contentious local politics that can make Claremont elections seem like bloodsport. Monrovia must have its innies and outies, but they seem to get along much better than folks here. I guess we could learn a lot by looking to towns Monrovia or La Verne which seem to cruise happily along.