Congrats and thanks for your “Rosemead” story reaching more audiences with a film version! “Both Hang and Chong were raised to believe the proper way to respect another family’s pain was to give them privacy and spare them the social embarrassment of public suffering”—so tragically understandable.
You’re out in my childhood area-ish - I spent elementary school - high school in La Verne CA. I identified as an Angelino, rooted for the Dodgers, Lakers and Raiders, could theoretically be in Santa Monica or Hollywood in under an hour but rarely left our eastern San Gabriel Valley towns.
We’d go to Monterey Park or Arcadia on Sunday for my one weekly dose of Cantonese culture but it was chain restaurant heavy eating lunch at high school or grabbing a meal after basketball practice or the football game.
Claremont downtown (and to a much lesser extent, La Verne) will have the walkable neighborhood you’re looking for. And Nambah Coffee company on D Street in La Verne is my recommendation but that might be a drive from Upland - a place I never went except for to play basketball
The chain restaurants are some of the oldest places around here and it's kind of interesting to see what history they might hold. Thanks for the recommendations! I've been going to a boba place because they have AC and outlets.
It's funny, when I've visited the Inland Empire and Orange County, they always remind me of the Orange County, Florida, I grew up in, with the cookie cutter neighborhoods (I grew up near an "Avalon Park" that had street names like "Wild Tamarind Blvd"), the bountiful parking, and the same chain restaurants everywhere. And at the same time, Orlando has started to feel like a AAA East Coast version of Southern California, with all the people who continue to move down there, the congestion, and theme parks.
The most I know about John's Incredible Pizza is from the commercials that used to run when I stream KTLA, emphasizing how family friendly they are, and the kid's cooking competition that the KTLA morning show has promoted. I always saw it as another Chuck E. Cheese, but for Southern California. Either way, it would make a fun curveball of a place to write about, haha.
Congrats and thanks for your “Rosemead” story reaching more audiences with a film version! “Both Hang and Chong were raised to believe the proper way to respect another family’s pain was to give them privacy and spare them the social embarrassment of public suffering”—so tragically understandable.
Thanks Marilyn! It was a difficult story to report, and an even more difficult story to make into a film, but I'm glad they persevered
You’re out in my childhood area-ish - I spent elementary school - high school in La Verne CA. I identified as an Angelino, rooted for the Dodgers, Lakers and Raiders, could theoretically be in Santa Monica or Hollywood in under an hour but rarely left our eastern San Gabriel Valley towns.
We’d go to Monterey Park or Arcadia on Sunday for my one weekly dose of Cantonese culture but it was chain restaurant heavy eating lunch at high school or grabbing a meal after basketball practice or the football game.
Claremont downtown (and to a much lesser extent, La Verne) will have the walkable neighborhood you’re looking for. And Nambah Coffee company on D Street in La Verne is my recommendation but that might be a drive from Upland - a place I never went except for to play basketball
The chain restaurants are some of the oldest places around here and it's kind of interesting to see what history they might hold. Thanks for the recommendations! I've been going to a boba place because they have AC and outlets.
It's funny, when I've visited the Inland Empire and Orange County, they always remind me of the Orange County, Florida, I grew up in, with the cookie cutter neighborhoods (I grew up near an "Avalon Park" that had street names like "Wild Tamarind Blvd"), the bountiful parking, and the same chain restaurants everywhere. And at the same time, Orlando has started to feel like a AAA East Coast version of Southern California, with all the people who continue to move down there, the congestion, and theme parks.
The most I know about John's Incredible Pizza is from the commercials that used to run when I stream KTLA, emphasizing how family friendly they are, and the kid's cooking competition that the KTLA morning show has promoted. I always saw it as another Chuck E. Cheese, but for Southern California. Either way, it would make a fun curveball of a place to write about, haha.