Town Calendar

Now that the city election is over, the Claremont 400 have slunk back to their burrows to lick their wounds and heal up until their next opportunity to make fools of themselves. In the meantime, the rest of us can settle back into our regular lives and enjoy some of the finer things in town:


BILL GATES IS IN THE HOUSE

If your PC crashed recently, taking with it that bloviating blog post you slaved away at all night, you can voice your frustrations directly to the man whose company gave us MS-DOS and Windows. Bill Gates comes to the campuses of Harvey Mudd College and Pomona College today.

Gates will meet with groups of students during the day and will speak at Bridges Auditorium at 5pm. The Pomona College website has all the details:

In "A Conversation with Bill Gates," he will discuss a wide range of subjects with Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College, and then take questions from students. This event is co-sponsored by the Harvey Mudd College Annenberg Speakers Series and the Pomona College Distinguished Speakers Series.

Tickets for Pomona College students, faculty and staff (one ticket per ID) are now sold out from Bridges Box Office, which is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Limited general admission tickets may be available to the general public, from the Bridges Auditorium Box Office, as of March 1. There is no cost to attend the event, which will also be streamed live on Pomona’s web.

You can watch the webcast here.


FRIDAY FILMS

Vince Turner over at Claremont Community College has invited the community over to his newest event, Friday Night Flicks in the Claremont Village Expansion:

Date: Wed, March 9, 2011 11:32:49 AM
Subject: Friday Night Flicks
From: Vincent Turner

Friday Night! 7 pm!

Flicks!

We're starting Friday night flicks at The Center!

We are beginning with four interesting video lectures showing advancements in technology and how they will affect film making.

If you like watching cool stuff, this is for you. We'll have the chance to discuss these.

Come enjoy yourselves!

101 North Indian Hill Blvd
Building C2 Suite 203

We don't hand out degrees! Because the learning never stops!

--
Vince Turner
(909) 477-1747

FAREWELLS AND NEW BEGINNINGS

Claremont Mayor Linda Elderkin (photo, right) chose to not run for reelection this year, and the City will bid her a fond farewell Thursday, March 17.

That evening, at 6:30pm in the City Council chambers at 225 W. Second St., Elderkin will step down and the three winning candidates from Tuesday's election - Sam Pedroza, Opanyi Nasiali, and Joseph Lyons - will be sworn in. Expect Pedroza to be named mayor and council member Larry Schroeder to be named mayor pro tem.

Come on out on the 17th and see how you like your new council.


AN EARLY 4TH OF JULY

Plenty of fireworks will be on display Saturday, March 19, when the National Socialist Movement (yes, those guys) arrive in Claremont's Memorial Park for a rally and march of some sort. A counter demonstration is also planned.

Here's what the City's website says:

City Response to March 19 Demonstrations

The City of Claremont is aware of the rally and march being planned by the National Socialist Movement and counter rally at Memorial Park scheduled for March 19, 2011. The Claremont Police Department has prepared a tactical plan and is in contact with the organizers. The Claremont Police Department has scheduled additional officers for the day and will be assisted by neighboring police agencies if necessary.

The City of Claremont is respectful of every organization's right to demonstrate and encourages the peaceful expression of differing viewpoints.

The City has a Committee on Human Relations to address and respond to citizen's concerns on issues of diversity. Citizens wishing to contact the Committee on Human Relations to may call (909) 399-5356.

Around Claremont and Beyond

CCF Gallery Show

The Claremont Community Foundation Gallery's featured artist for February is Ward McAfee. CCF is holding a reception tonight from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. The CCF Gallery is located at 205 Yale Ave. in the Claremont Village (that's also the Claremont Chamber of Commerce office, if you were wondering).

For more information, call (909) 626-0222.

We were sorry we missed last month's artist, photographer Micki McAulay. There was a reception and lecture by McAulay on January 28. The event was hosted by Foothill Financial Advisors and the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation, which provides aid to single mothers with children who are stricken by catastrophic illnesses. Realtor Laura Dandoy and Wine Styles also provided support for the event.


CAN YOU GIVE THEM A SECOND?



If you're looking for something to do tonight, head on down to the Claremont Village for the Friday Art Walk. Our friends at Claremont Community College, who sponsor the 5 Second Film Festival, sent us a reminder that they'll be represented at the Art Walk and that they also have an office in the Village Expansion.

The Third Annual 5 Second Festival is currently accepting submissions, if you're so inclined. The festival comes to town Thursday, April 28, at the Claremont 5 Laemmle Theatres. Claremont, home of the long-winded, including yours truly, is woefully lacking in brevity, so we'll take as much as we can get, if that makes any sense.

Here's the note from CCC:

DATE: Thu, February 3, 2011 10:31:27 AM
SUBJECT: Friday Night Artwalk
FROM: Claremont Community College
TO: Claremont Buzz

While in Claremont enjoying this Friday evening, please stop by our center to participate in fun (lots) and food (a little bit!)

We are participating in First Friday ArtWalk along with other happening venues. Stop by anytime starting at 5:30.

Come see the going-ons for the 5 Second Film Festival.

You know where we are. (Upstairs next to Chico's)

You can view all of the venues at www.artwalkclaremont.com.

RAVELERS HIT THE ROAD

If you're around the central coast on Presidents Day weekend and are feeling a little homesick, go on over to the Cambria Pines Lodge. The Ravelers will play at the Cambria Pines Lodge's lounge on February 20:

Hey Now!

The Ravelers figure you might be wondering what to do for President's Day weekend coming up in a few weeks.

Well now...Cindy is having her 50th birthday party at the Cambria Pines Lodge, and she is having The Ravelers play in the lounge. It just so happens that it is drummer Rob's b-day, too...so he gets to have his "birthday gig" in paradise! The Ravelers have played at the Cambria Pines Lodge a few times over the years, and we absolutely love the central coast of California this time of year.

We highly suggest getting a room with your love interest at one of the really romantic hotels nearby and joining us on Sunday for some fun. Monday is President's Day, so hopefully you can take advantage of a long weekend on the beautiful central coast of California.

• Sunday, February 20- Birthday Party in Cambria, come on up!!!
  
  Cambria Pines Lodge
  2905 Burton Dr
  Cambria, CA 93428
  (800)445-6868
  
  The Ravelers play at 8:30 pm.
  

Cambria Pine Lodge web site: http://www.cambriapineslodge.com/
Other local hotels: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g32148-Cambria_California-Hotels.html

You can see some photos from our previous roadtrips to Cambria on our Facebook site, just click here.

We love shopping in Downtown Cambria...


















All the Best from your pals...

Hai, Pat, Martie, Rob

Village Event for Scripps and CMC Students

We don't usually do product placements in here, but we received notice of an event that might be of interest to students at 2 of the 5Cs.

Tonight from 9pm to 11pm, the American Apparel store at the southwest corner of Indian Hill Blvd. and First St. is hosting a college night for students from Claremont McKenna and Scripps Colleges. They're offering 30% off all store merchandise, as well as $10 coupons to first 40 customers.

For details, click to enlarge

First St. Accident

We heard about an accident involving an SUV and a pedestrian on First St. in front of the Village Expansion parking structure yesterday and noticed that the Courier's Tony Krickl had a post about the matter on his blog.

Krickl reported that yesterday morning a vehicle driven by Brenda Monahan, the owner of Three French Hens, accelerated onto the sidewalk on the south side of the street and struck the pedestrian. The pedestrian, whose name was not given, was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital but didn't survive.

This Weekend in Claremont

RAVELER-PALOOZA CONTINUES

Yet more Raveler spam in our in-box yesterday. They'll be back at the Doubletree Hotel on Foothill Blvd. for the Claremont Kiwanis Club's Route 66 beach party fundraiser:

Hey Now!

The Ravelers had a great time in Chino Hills last night...great to see you all!

This Friday night will be a great opportunity for you to help raise money for various organizations around the valley through the Claremont Kiwanis Club. This will be a very fun night with dinner, silent auction, casino games, a fundraising duck race...and musical fun with The Ravelers in the courtyard on the patio stage we love so much...


Friday, August 20
Kiwanis Club Fundraiser-Route 66 Beach Party!!!

Doubletree Hotel Claremont
555 West Foothill Boulevard
Claremont, CA 91711

Tickets are available from any Claremont Kiwanian and are $25 for dinner and all the fun. For more information, call 909-621-2996 or 909-626-1147.

The fun starts at 6:30 pm

Click here for an article about this fundraising event.

See you soon!

Hai, Pat, Martie, Rob
The Ravelers

(Now on Facebook)

Here's a photo of some Ravelers fans from Wednesday night's concert in Chino Hills:















These kids in Chino Hills have been rockin' it up for years...we have watched them grow-up having fun,and they continued the fun Wednesday.

FRIDAY NIGHTS LIVE!

Friday Nights Live continues with music at various locations throughout the Claremont Village and Village Expansion. Three bands will be playing tonight:

Aug 20th

Claremont Voodoo Society - Chamber of Commerce (Blues / Folk Rock )
Hank's Cadillac - The Public Plaza (Country)
Slinker - City Hall (Pop Rock)

Read more...

MEET THE PRESS

Another local band, Sugar Mountain Mama Serenade, will take the stage at The Press Restaurant tonight, part of a weekend lineup there that includes Wreck n' Sow on Saturday and the weekly acoustic jam on Sunday:

The Press Restaurant
129 Harvard Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 625-4808


Friday, August 20th, 10pm
Sugar Mountain Mama Serenade

Saturday, August 21st, 10pm
Wreck 'n' Sow

Sunday, August 22nd, 9pm
Sunday Night Acoustic Jam

FMC SATURDAY


The band Santa Fe's Round Mountain, which consists of the brothers Bobby and Char Rothschild, will be onstage at the Claremont Folk Music Center 7:30pm Saturday.

The Daily Bulletin's Diana Sholley has a preview:

Each brother plays a different set of instruments - often two at a time. "We're a two-man singing folk orchestra," Char said.

Char is left-handed and plays guitar, dobro and gaida (Bulgarian bagpipe). He also plays trumpet and accordion - simultaneously.

Robby, a righty, plays cajon, kora (West African harp) bouzouki and djembe.

Round Mountain will play with Frank Fairchild. Admission $12. Call or visit the FMC for more information.

Folk Music Center & Museum
220 Yale Avenue
Claremont CA 91711
(909) 624-2928

Chop House Update

Here's an update to our post from Saturday:

Daily Bulletin reporter Wes Woods II covered the Forks Chop House closure in today's paper. The article said the restaurant was unable to reopen following a December 2008 kitchen fire because its insurance company apparently denied the restaurant's business interruption claim, which would have reimbursed the owners for the business they otherwise would have transacted.

The Forks' landlord, Jeved Management, apparently wasn't able to hold the restaurant's space during the lengthy period the owners were trying to settle their insurance claim. Woods' article said:

The restaurant didn't have enough money to reopen because its insurance company refused to pay business interruption fees, co-owner Mark Bollinger said.

Restaurant officials didn't provide information about how much money is owed to them.

"In the meantime, the landlord came to us and said `I can't wait for an insurance settlement,"' Bollinger said. "`I'll have to pull the plug and get someone else.' "

Jeved Management, incidentally, is owned by the Tessier family, which also owns Arteco Partners, the developer that restored the Fox Theatre in Pomona, as well as the Padua Hills Theatre, and the Claremont Packing House where Forks was located. Jeved filed a lawsuit against Forks in Pomona Superior Court last year, possibly in connection with a lease dispute. It appeared to have resolved fairly quickly, according to the court's information:

Case Number: KC056128
JEVED MANAGEMENT INC. VS MICHAEL A. BOLLINGER

Filing Date: 06/25/2009
Case Type: ED/Commercial (not Drugs/Evict) (General Jurisdiction)
Status: Dismissed - Other 09/14/2009

-----------------------------------------
Future Hearings
None

-----------------------------------------
Parties

BOLLINGER MICHAEL A. - Defendant
JEVED MANAGEMENT INC. - Plaintiff
TESSIER VICTOR G. ESQ. - Attorney for Plaintiff
THREE FORKS STEAK HOUSE - Deft's DBA

-----------------------------------------
Documents Filed (Filing dates listed in descending order)

09/14/2009 Ord of Disml with prejudice
Filed by Attorney for Plaintiff

09/02/2009 OSC-Failure to File Proof of Serv
Filed by Clerk

06/26/2009 Notice-Case Management Conference
Filed by Clerk

06/25/2009 Complaint Filed


-----------------------------------------
Proceedings Held
None

Today's Bulletin article makes it sound as if Bollinger's claim now includes the entire value of the business, not just the income loss they suffered. Bollinger was also quoted as saying that the Forks' owners have retained an unnamed Claremont law firm to represent them.

We suspect that, if a bad faith suit with any merits is in the works, the law firm the Forks retained could be Shernoff Bidart Echeverria, which in 1979 was responsible for a landmark case called Egan v. Mutual of Omaha that allowed consumers to sue their insurance companies for wrongfully denied claims and to be compensated for emotional distress and punitive damages in addition to the value of the underlying claim. (Translation: mucho mas dinero.)

Shernoff's website explains that Egan created the whole practice area of bad faith litigation. If we were in the Forks' shoes, we'd sure want that firm representing us. SBE is not just the best in the business; they invented the business.

Around Town

WEDNESDAY NIGHT FAMILY FESTIVAL (LITE) RETURNS

The summer Claremont Family Festival has returned to the Claremont Village Expansion, albeit in a truncated form. The festival goes from 5pm to 9pm every Wednesday through the end of August in the Claremont Village Expansion.

If you were around last summer, you'll remember that the festival originally had a market area and kid's play area along First St. in front of the Claremont Packing House, a crafts area and very small petting zoo on Oberlin Ave., and a food section on Second St. between Oberlin and Indian Hill Blvd.

When it first opened, the crowds were good. That original large turnout must have been mostly due to the curiosity factor because, by the end of summer, the First St. section was gone, and there were markedly fewer people walking about. This year the Oberlin section has apparently been eliminated, too.

There's still music, though. The festival's website says that tonight David Correa and Cascada, a group that plays "nouveau flamenco and world fusion," will provide the entertainment.

The festival's website tells us this about the weekly event:

FAMILY FUN FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Experience an evening of fun for the whole family! Sponsor Volunteer Network International and beneficiary project Xela Aid present the Celebrate Claremont Family Festival featuring musical acts, taste-tempting entrees and specialty finger foods, fresh and certified organic produce, the quality wares of local merchants, gift-perfect local arts and craft items, health and wellness goods and services, products and new technologies for green living, information from local non-profit organizations, children’s learning activities and attractions including pottery making, bounce house, petting zoo, climbing wall and much more. Photo Gallery

HALF-PRICE WINE AT THE PRESS

The Press Restaurant has bottles of wine for half-price every Wednesday beginning at 11am. So, if you're looking to get yourself half-witted, come on over to the Press for a bottle or three. The Press is located at 129 Harvard Ave. in the Claremont Village.

The Press has happy hour on weekdays from 3pm to 6pm, and until 1am on Thursdays. They also have live entertainment. Here's what's on tap for this week:

Thursday, July 15th
Baldy Mountain Jazz Band

Friday, July 16th
Halloween In The Heat - The Zombie Band

Saturday, July 17th
Nick Campbell & The Bluefields with Foxxglove

ELECTRONICA DUMP

Shed your unwanted electronic goods on July 24 from 9am to 3pm. The City of Claremont has arranged to for a free e-waste dump at the Claremont Center at 425 Auto Center Drive, off Indian Hill Blvd. and just south of the 10 Freeway.

The City's website says:

The City of Claremont has partnered with RVM Management and Global E-Recyclers in an effort to collect electronic waste by offering a Free E-Waste Collection Event on Saturday, July 24, 2010 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the Claremont Center located at 436 Auto Center Drive. The event is open to the general public and businesses. Please see the attached flyer for a list of acceptable items. Any questions should be directed to Global E-Recyclers at (562) 321-9310.

Fountain Still Down

A reader wrote in a couple weeks ago to ask what was wrong with the fountain in the Claremont Village Expansion plaza in front of the Laemmle Theatre. The fountain has been dry since April due to some problems with the pump system. A pump part failed, causing some flooding in the vault housing the equipment.

The City is working on getting the system fixed, and City Manager Jeff Parker's April 28 public report said the City expected the repairs to take few weeks. Here's Parker's blurb on the fountain work:

PLAZA FOUNTAIN REPAIRS

The Plaza fountain will be out of service for approximately 2-3 weeks while repairs are being made. A water valve broke in the control vault, flooding the room. Although water valve failure of this type is very unusual, modifications will be made to prevent this from occurring again in the future.

Parker had an update on May 22, saying the City expected the repair work to be completed by early June. Parker said a part had to be custom-ordered and that slowed the repairs. As of yesterday, the fountain was still dry, so there may have been a further delay.

Wednesday Night Family Fest Begins Tonight

The Daily Bulletin's Wes Woods has an article about the Claremont Family Festival (a.k.a., Claremont Wednesdays). The weekly street fest begins tonight in the Claremont Village Expansion at 5pm an runs through the end of October. Woods tells us:

Organic produce, arts and crafts, health and wellness products as well as other items will be sold at the festival while music - which tonight will be performed by Big Papa & the TCB - will be performed on the Second Street Stage.

The festival runs from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Village on Second Street west of Indian Hill; Oberlin Avenue between First and Second streets; and First Street between Oberlin and Cornell.

At the same time, a green market will be taking place at the Packing House.

Woods' article also says that an organization called Volunteer Network International and its "beneficiary project Xela Aid" have organized the festival, along with the City and the Claremont Chamber of Commerce. Woods says there will be 100 vendor booths.

The Claremont Family Festival has an official website, complete with printable coupons that you can redeem with vendors tonight. If you want 50% off a donut boat from Tina's Tiny Donuts, make sure to print out your coupon and take it with you tonight.

The City's website has more info:

Claremont Wednesdays!

Experience an evening of fun for the whole family at Claremont Wednesdays launching on April 29. There will be live music, taste-tempting entrées and specialty finger foods, fresh certified organic produce, quality wares and services of local merchants, gift-perfect local arts and craft items, wellness services, products and new technologies for green living. Plus, there's a whole street of fun for children of all ages, featuring a climbing wall, bouncers, and petting zoo.

Date: Wednesdays, April 29 through October 28
Time: 5 pm to 8 pm
Where: Claremont Village (First Street, Oberlin, and Second Street), North of the 10 fwy. on Indian Hill Blvd.

Valuable coupons and special offers at www.claremontwednesdays.org.

Listings about Festival musical entertainment can be found weekly at www.claremontcalendar.com.

Volunteer Network International (www.vnetint.org) and beneficiary project Xela Aid (www.xelaaid.org) is presenting the Celebrate Claremont Family Festival in partnership with the City of Claremont and the Claremont Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, call (951) 733-2588.

Inauguration Day

Although we generally stay away from national politics, given the historic nature of today's inauguration, we're going to take a break from the our ongoing exploration (sigmoidoscopy?) into the minutiae of our humble town to catch some of the goings on in Washington, DC.

If you're not watching today's events on a big screen somewhere, you can listen to live coverage from 3am to 8pm on 89.9FM KCRW's website and get a bit of a local angle to things. NPR will cover the inauguration ceremonies, the oath of office, and the new president's speech between 7am and 11am.

If you're taking the day off, you can always check out WineStyles' Inauguration Tasting Ball between 11am and 8pm. They promise "tastings of wines, light appetizers and specials on wines by the glass ($4.40) and bottles!!!" - that's three, count 'em, three exclamation points! WineStyles is located at 201 N. Indian Hill Blvd. in the Claremont Village Expansion.

Finally, we didn't realize it, but apparently we've elected a president of Irish descent. We were listening to American Public Media's show "Marketplace" yesterday, and, during a story about the views of some Europeans about the President-elect, we caught a bit of a song by an Irish band called The Corrigan Brothers (née Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys).

The song's called "There's No One as Irish as Barack [pronounced "BEAR-ack," with a rolled R. -ed.] O'Bama":

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
From the old Blarney Stone to the green Hill of Tara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

David Allen on the Local Food Scene

We're sorry to have missed this one -

Last month, the Bulletin's David Allen visited the new La Parolaccia restaurant on Indian Hill Blvd. in the Claremont Village Expansion and had a brief review:

They have a selection of pizzas cooked in a wood-burning oven, some with unusual ingredients such as eggplant, smoked salmon, yellow squash and goat cheese. Pastas include ravioli, linguine and fettucine, often with pesto, olive oil or other non-marinara treatments.

We had the Napoletana pizza ($12.50) with tomato sauce, mozzarella, capers, black olives and anchovies, and the linguine con i frutti di mare ($18.50), with fresh seafood. The latter was essentially a bowl of seafood (scallops, shrimp, clams, etc.) with a dollop of linguine and was quite good. The pizza, after I got past my unrealistic expectations that it would be as creative as Pizzeria Mozza's in L.A., proved quite good as well, thin and crisp.

We haven't had a chance to try La Parolaccia, which opened a few months ago, but we can't help but notice how crowded it is every time we pass by. We've sampled a bit of their pizza or two at Winestyles, the wine bar located next-door to La Parolaccia but it was difficult to get a read on them because they had been sitting out on hors d'oeurvre trays for a little while and were cut into small squares.

Still as Allen noted, the menu does look interesting, and the place seems to be bustling with customers and energy. The restaurant, which also a Long Beach location, describes itself on its website:

La Parolaccia, in Italian, literally means "The Bad Language." In Italy, the Osteria was a modest place where friends would gather to enjoy good homemade food, great wine, and very often some "bad language" would be used. At La Parolaccia Osteria, we still serve homemade food, great wine, and occasionally bad language is heard, but strictly Italiano.

Lunch: Mon-Sun 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Dinner: Mon-Sun 4:00 p.m to 10:00 p.m.

201 N. Indian Hill
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 624-1516

CMA Alive and Well

We received word from a reliable source that the Claremont Museum of Art's website problems were just due to some technical problems that had nothing at all to do with the restaurant fire in the Packing House.

Even better, the museum's Permanent Collection, current exhibits, museum store, and offices are all okay, just a little smoked out. (Hey, who hasn't been?)

We've been more than a little lax on our coverage of CMA events lately, and we'll try to fix that.

_________________________________


CMA's free Family Art Day series continues on January 18th:

Sunday, January 18, 2009, 12 – 4 p.m.
(rescheduled from September, 2009)
Family Art Day: Kaleidoscopes

Free and open to the public.

Ever wonder how a kaleidoscope makes all those beautiful images when you look into it? Join us for Family Art Day and learn the secret as artist Mike Lardi teaches children and parents how to make their very own kaleidoscope. This is an activity you really don’t want to miss!

The CMA two ongoing exhibits, Multiverse and Passerby Museum have been extended to February 1, 2009, so you can still get over there to see them if you haven't had a chance. Here's some information from the CMA website:

Multiverse
Through February 1, 2009


Multiverse refers to the hypothesis that all of physical reality actually exists within a set of multiple, parallel universes, of which our universe is merely one part. The possibility of many universes raises a myriad of scientific, philosophical and theological questions that have been explored in various branches of theoretical
science, disciplines of thought and fiction. Multiverse will explore these issues artistically in a dynamic exhibition featuring photographic installations, mixed media sculptures, video projections, a light box installation, and sculpture from paper, among other media.

Artists continually create a visual vocabulary for themselves that parallels and portrays an idealized, imagined or fantasized reality. Nature and its mysteries provide endless departure points for fictitious imagery that is recognizable enough to have relevance, yet abstract enough to interrupt familiarity and probe deeper into our psyches. From chimera to corporeality, Multiverse delves into alternative outcomes for the universe we believe exists in singularity. “This exhibition represents the Museum’s interest in ideas that connect the arts and artists to
contemporary thinking and points-of-view,” said CMA Director William Moreno. “Exploring these provocative ideas creates an opportunity for interdisciplinary discourse.”

Participating artists include Sebastiaan Bremer (New York), Jedediah Caesar (Los Angeles), Emilie Halpern (Los Angeles), Violet Hopkins (Los Angeles), Emre Hüner (Istanbul, Turkey), Miler Lagos (Bogotá, Colombia), Nancy Macko (Claremont), Carter Mull (Los Angeles), Diana Thater (Los Angeles), Fred Tomaselli (New York),and Kerry Tribe (Los Angeles). Multiverse artists will engage in an email exchange with local scholars, discussing particular areas of science, psychology or the discipline of his/her choice, which will then be incorporated into the exhibition. Multiverse is curated by Pilar Tompkins.

Passerby Museum
Through February 1, 2009


The Passerby Museum makes its Southern California debut in Claremont! Created in 2002 by María Alós and Nicolás Dumit Estévez in New York City, the Passerby Museum is an itinerant institution dedicated to presenting temporary exhibitions in different cities. The museum draws its collection from donations from people who visit,work or live where it is in operation at any given time, including about 400 objects recently collected at two locations in Claremont.


The Passerby Museum has been presented in Madrid, Spain, Puebla, México, Kitchener, Canada, New York, New York and twice in México City, Mexico and Havana, Cuba. At each location, visitors were asked to donate any random object from their life to the Passerby Museum’s “collection.” The only requirement is that the object fit into a sandwich bag. Its collection – which currently holds about 3,000 objects – has been exhibited to the public in two occasions, last time in 2006, bringing more than 32,000 visitors to the Galería del Ayuntamiento (Puebla) in less than a month and a half. The installation will include each of the approximately 3,000 items collected at all of the locations so far, including the approximately 400 items collected in Claremont.

Claremont Museum of Art
536 W. 1st St.
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 621-3200

Nick Q. Responds - UPDATED

We received a couple responses to yesterday's post about the letter in the November 12th edition of the Claremont Courier from one Laura Jaoui, who claimed that she had received no response to two calls she made inquiring about leasing space in the Claremont Village Expansion.

Jaoui's letter was followed by a response, again in the Courier, on November 22nd from Jonathan Tolkin at the Tolkin Group, the Village Expansion developer.

One person who contacted us yesterday was interested enough to take some photos of the empty shop space at the Expansion, that area west of Indian Hill and between Bonita Ave. and First St. Our other respondent was Nick Quackenbos, the project's listing realtor.

In the interest of both conserving valuable blog space and maximizing irony, we've combined the photos with Quackenbos' email.

Is Nick being sarcastic in his note to us? Sexist? We can't tell:

DATE: Wednesday, December 3, 2008 5:43 PM
SUBJECT: Claremont Village Expansion
FROM: "Nick Quackenbos"
TO: Claremont Buzz
Cc: pweinberger@claremont-courier.com, jtolkin@tolkingroup.com

Click to Enlarge

Gentlemen:

I have noted with interest your comments regarding the response to Ms. Jaoui’s letter to the Editor of the Courier, Mr. Tolkin’s response to her calls and my supposed lack of response. I state unequivocally that my office has never received a call from Ms. Jaoui: it is only in our self-interest—financially, if for no other reason—to return all calls. Each is a potential lease, a potential deal, potential income. We don’t let things like that slide by.

Now, please read the letter below, sent to Ms. Jaoui on November 19. To date, no response. Interesting. Also, to date, no response to Mr. Tolkin’s letter to the Courier. Even more interesting. Perhaps if you are able to contact the lady you could encourage her to follow through, as we have. As I say in my letter to her, perhaps she has useful ideas which we would love to hear.

We will appreciate your help with this matter.

Sincerely,

Nicholas C. Quackenbos,

November 19, 2008

Ms. Laura J. Jaoui
[Address redacted]
Claremont, CA 91711

Dear Ms. Jaoui:

I read you letter to the Courier concerning the Claremont Village Expansion and the lack of communication from the Developer. I can only presume that your calls were made during the earlier stages or the wrap-up stage of the project and in the flurry of that activity your messages were mislaid.

In any event, I am now the listing broker for the project. I would be pleased to review with you its current status, show you the available spaces and, most importantly, listen to your ideas on what might help make this a better development. It is often input from observers such as you—I’m presuming you are outside of the real estate industry—which give us insights that we do not have or gloss over.

Please call to arrange a meeting or to at least have a chat on the phone.

Sincerely,

Nicholas C. Quackenbos, Broker
Quackenbos-Bell Commercial Real Estate

[Italics added -ed.]

UPDATED - 6:44A

The Daily Bulletin's David Allen has a post on his blog about another Village Expansion (Village West) closing. Allen writes that Cold Stone Creamery closed this past weekend:

Cold Stone Creamery in Claremont's westside-of-Indian-Hill development (the name for which nobody can agree on) closed Sunday, the latest in a string of failures there that includes children's clothing store Chloe and Hunter and women's clothier Peyton Grey.

(Tally for Men, meanwhile, has had a "going out of business" sale since last spring. It's like a hammy death scene that goes on and on.)

Allen remarked that he was glad to see that if only one ice cream parlor could survive, he was glad it was Bert and Rocky's. Amen to that, David.

Tolkin Responds to Courier Reader

A couple weeks ago we wrote about some of the criticisms the City of Claremont and the Claremont Chamber of Commerce have received regarding the way they have marketed Claremont. One Claremont Courier reader, Laura Jaoui, complained about the lack of response she'd received from the Claremont Village Expansion leasing people (Quackenbos-Bell and Nick Quackenbos, presumably).

Jaoui's letter prompted a response in last Saturday's Courier from Jonathan Tolkin at the Tolkin Group, the company that built and runs the Village Expansion. Tolkin wrote that he'd heard about Jaoui's letter and seemed to want to make amends:

Tolkin Group takes great efforts to return all telephone calls and email inquiries, and most importantly to carefully and diligently pursue all leasing inquiries. I would appreciate your being kind enough to pass along my contact information to Ms. Jaoui so that she can contact me, as Ms. Jaoui's phone number appears to be unpublished.

Maybe Tolkin might want to think about finding a different leasing agent, since that seems to have been one of the problems. Quackenbos may be a fine person if you're one of his fellow Claremont Rotarians, but if he or his business are costing the City prospective new businesses, we'd be better off looking elsewhere to find a leasing agent who has the time to return calls.

Village Expansion Talk

The issue of the branding of Claremont has been much in the local news lately.

In the last week or so, there's been a spate of letters and an opinion piece in the Claremont Courier commenting on the City's possible branding initiative. On November 12th, the Courier had a letter from former Claremont resident and frequent visitor Carrie Young. Young argued that the City needs to look outside Claremont to find advertising talent with "major branding experience." Young also suggested the City not try to do their branding initiative on the cheap.

In the same issue of the Courier, reader Laura Jaoui indicated that the people responsible for leasing in Village West leave much to be desired. (Hey, Nick Quackenbos! Aren't those your signs we see in all those empty shop spaces in the Village Expansion?) Jaoui also thought we might want to rethink the mix of businesses in the expansion. Here's some of what Jaoui had to say:

I read that some retailers are leaving the Claremont Village West. I was not surprised. As a former apparel importer and wholesaler, I phoned the developer twice to inquire about leasing space and never received a return call.

I also felt that the exuberance for high end retailers was misplaced since much disposable income in Claremont was garnered from debt such as home equity loans and the like. I think that Claremont could forgo perusing (and paying) for consultants if the town focused on inviting youth oriented retailers to the vacant stores in the Village West. I can imagine a Buffalo Exchange store, a store like Wacko on Melrose Ave. in L.A., a sushi business that is not high end, but is affordable, such as you find in other college towns, a fine cheese store like the Cheese Store in Beverly Hills, and maybe a trendy high end clothing boutique a la Fred Segal’s.

And yesterday, the Courier had a letter from reader Margaret Kreidler, who thought that rather than spend money on branding Claremont, we need to target a younger demographic:

Don’t spend money on slogans, get a few college students (pay them if you need to), maybe a few high schoolers and listen to them. My college students come home, want to go out with friends, but where? Heroes—older crowd. Village Grille—closes early. Pizza n’Such—older. Walters? All the new ones in Village West—expensive and older crowds. The new pub—actually great, but crowded and lots of “olders” tend to stake out the tables reading, and visiting for so long that others give up. We need more like that, though.

Meanwhile, Claremont business owner Chas Seward had an Op-Ed piece last Saturday, November 15th, responding to Carrie Young's letter urging the branding initiative. To Seward's thinking, it doesn't make much sense to toss money down the marketing drain at a time when the economy has gone into the toilet. Seward also writes that the larger new retailers in the Village need to step up and help with some of the marketing costs:

There are people in Claremont who did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday and have wonderful, creative suggestions just like Ms. Young. Unfortunately, they usually require dollars to execute. The sad reality is that there are no major retailers in the Claremont Village willing to support a sustained marketing effort and it has fallen on the underfunded City staffers to become makeshift marketers, along with a small group of volunteer merchants. Chico's, American Apparel and Laemmle — marquee brands lured by the City— have left it to the "mom & pops" to come up with the marketing bucks.

Ms. Young is now in favor of spending taxpayer's money on high-priced consultants to perform a branding study and tell us about our "essence" while Village merchants are out purchasing 'for lease' signs. The City helped build a new shopping precinct in the West Village and the mistakes it has made are well documented. Throwing money at a branding campaign during the economic meltdown is ill-advised and not necessary. It should have been done before the Village expansion opened, along with an ad campaign, strategic signage, and agreements from the new major retailers to spend advertising dollars. Now Ms. Young recommends entrusting this same administration to re-brand Claremont. Wait six months and the Village will have re-branded itself.

Transportation Friday

We've got more transportation news today, beginning with the Claremont Trolley, which began service yesterday. The free, trackless trolley will run three days per week, Thursdays through Saturdays, from 11am to 11pm and will now cost an estimated $1,290,596 for the three-year trial, up from the original estimate of $887,000. The city is estimating the trolley will average 15 riders per hour.

The trolley is being paid for with money Claremont receives from state transportation bond money, even though it has been described by city officials as an economic development project rather than as a transportation project (it supposedly encourages shoppers in different areas of the Claremont Village and Village Expansion).

The Daily Bulletin's Wes Woods II covered the trolley unveiling:

CLAREMONT - City officials and residents on Thursday celebrated the Claremont Village Trolley with a barbershop quartet, christening and free cake and punch.

"I think having a trolley will make the downtown attractive" to those who live outside Claremont, said resident Ping Chang, 42, who rode the trolley for the first time with her 4-year-old daughter, Tiffany.

For Community Services Director Scott Carrol, this is exactly what he believes will happen, as the trolley "promotes economic development in the Village," he said.

To welcome the start of the free trolley service on Thursday morning, Mayor Ellen Taylor spoke to city officials and residents at the Claremont Depot on First Street.

The event was the culmination of events that started with the City Council's approval in January of using transportation money to fund the new service for three years.

The Bulletin's David Allen also had a column on the trolley. Allen seemed skeptical of the project's success, and the column's headline is "Not All Aboard 'Trolley.'" Allen also managed to fit quotes from a current and a former Claremont mayor into the piece:

....Mayor Taylor is already a fan.

"It's very cute," Taylor said. "Very Claremont."

And also very Victoria Gardens, I told her.[SNOB ALERT - CI ed.]

"Do they have one?" Taylor asked. "I never go there."

The "trolley" was about to depart for its third trip. I climbed aboard. It has arched windows, wooden slat seats and straps for anyone who stands. But it also has tires and a bus driver.

A few passersby gave us curious looks. At Bonita and Yale, two women jumped up and down and took photos. Outside the Back Abbey pub on Oberlin, an employee watched quizzically before giving us a wave.

I rarely walk along First, so it was educational to learn the Peyton Grey clothing store is gone. With Chloe & Hunter, that's two recent closures in the Village Square. Oh, if only they could have hung on until the "trolley" started!

Moments later the vehicle was back at the depot, disgorging a columnist. I say, disgorging a columnist.

Former mayor Karen Rosenthal, who rode the faux trolley earlier, was lingering.

"I don't know who's going to ride it," Rosenthal admitted. "Maybe if you park in the Metrolink lot. But if you park in the Village, you could walk three blocks to the trolley, or you could walk three blocks to where you want to be.

"The ones who'll ride it," she added conspiratorially, "are the people who really need to be walking."

Queen Ellen (left) also received a mention in LA Times writer Steve Hymon's Bottleneck Blog. Hymon caught Taylor's opinion piece against LA County's Measure R, the proposed half-cent sales tax increase that would fund transportation projects. Hymon spoke with Her Highness:

I also spoke to Claremont Mayor Ellen Taylor earlier today. She recently wrote a scathing opinion piece against Measure R that ran in the papers in the San Gabriel Valley. She doesn't believe the Gold Line Foothill Extension receives enough funds in the spending plan to get it to Claremont and Montclair -- the plan guarantees it $735 million -- and, equally important, she doesn't believe the money that the Gold Line is promised would arrive in any kind of timely fashion.

I posed this traffic question to her: What's it like in the Valley these days? Her answer:

It's miserable. I’ve lived in Claremont for 30 years and traffic has gotten much worse -- to the point that we don’t go into L.A. anymore. That’s not good for me. I like a full life where you experience stuff. We’ll go to a concert on Sunday afternoon [in Los Angeles] rather than Saturday night because it’s easier to get in and out...

We’re like the bologna in the bread here. And they keep building. You take the 210 east and all you see is roofs and they’re building them without building the infrastructure.

That's a fascinating quote. Why? In early 2007, Times columnist Steve Lopez wrote a piece about how bad Westside traffic is, with quotes from one resident saying they too no longer tried to attend cultural events in downtown L.A. (The Lopez column led to the creation of the Bottleneck Blog). Taylor is essentially saying the same thing, but from the other side of Los Angeles County.

Claremont Laemmle Disappoints Art Film Crowd

Fans of foreign and art films have been disappointed by the Laemmle Claremont 5 theatres in the Claremont Village Expansion.

Prior to the Laemmle's opening last summer, cinemaphiles had thought that the new theatre would save them a trip into Los Angeles or Pasadena to see the latest indie film. Most people seemed to understand that a mix of mainstream Hollywood movies and art films would be needed for the Laemmle to attract enough crowds to be successful, and that's pretty much how things went at first.

However, lately the Claremont 5's menu has been much more run-of-the-mill, as Claremont Courier reader Jeanne Audrey Powers complained in a letter last Wednesday:

What is this with the Laemmle Theatre Company these days? This week, as I read the names of each of the films being shown, I realized that every single one of them is ALSO being shown in the nearby megatheatres, and one doesn't even need to go to Pasadena to see them!

Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen wrote about the films the Claremont 5 has screened, and he also interviewed the theatre chain's president Greg Laemmle, who explained the market forces behind the lack of arty fare at the theatres:

Programming art films isn't as simple as people think, Laemmle said.

For one thing, without a breakout hit like "The Queen" or "Brokeback Mountain," the art-film market has been suffering of late. Low-budget movies come and go, not gaining much traction.

Without money or momentum, studios aren't releasing many prints.

That's hurting the Claremont 5 because distributors want their films at Laemmle's main Pasadena location, the Playhouse 7, an art-film hotspot, and aren't making prints available for the Claremont 5, Laemmle said.

To fill the gap, he's booking Hollywood product. He didn't sound thrilled to have played "Mamma Mia!" but defended the Batman sequel as one of the best-reviewed movies of the year. Ditto with "Tropic Thunder."

"We try to play the better Hollywood films. A lot of people want to see those films," Laemmle said.

Another problem with the Claremont 5 is that demand for art films is not as high as in other venues. For example, Laemmle noted that the French movie "Tell No One," which has been one of the best-reviewed films of 2008, only lasted three weeks in Claremont but in other locations drew enough to last more then twice as long.

If you've been to the Claremont 5, you may have noticed the same thing as the moviegoers David Allen interviewed for his column: Unless you go on opening day for some of these films, the theatres aren't very crowded at all. Without an audience to support the art films, you're likely to end up with more mundane choices.

Claremont Is: Nuttiness You Can Savor

David Allen has a column today talking about last week's grand opening for the year-old Claremont Village Expansion.

If the timing seems strange, you're not alone. Allen shares your confusion:

PEOPLE CALL it the mall, or the Village Expansion, or Village West.

And now a new name has surfaced for Claremont's expanded downtown: Village Square.

That name was promoted last Friday at the formal opening of the development, which is bordered by Indian Hill Boulevard, Oberlin Avenue and First and Second streets and has a small hotel, restaurants, shops and a movie theater.

If the timing seems puzzling, that's because the first businesses opened in summer 2007. And yet no ribbon-cutting ceremony had taken place. How did we stand the suspense?

And so we gathered in the civic square near the Laemmle theater and Le Pain Quotidien for speeches, a stilt walker and free food.

This is the fourth ceremony I've attended related to the Expansion, my favorite being the one where they unveiled the sidewalks. As I've said before, Claremont will celebrate the opening of an envelope.

This sort of silliness is exactly what Claremont loves to do. Don't forget that we had two centennial celebrations twenty years apart, one in 1987 and another in 2007, so that Judy Wright could preside over her own town 100th birthday back when she was still mayor.

All you have to do to see the absurdity of this self-important town government is go over to the northeast corner of First St. and Oberlin and take a look at the commemorative plaque from September, 2003, that marks the "Village Expansion Infrastructure".

Yes, only in Claremont would officials erect a bronze monument to sewers and underground utilities. The plaque lists the two main architects of this Claremontian nuttiness:

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