Readers share Inland Empire stories about tigers, mini golf and Nordy Bars
In the hurly-burly of producing a newspaper column, sometimes I forget that it’s OK to pause for a day, sift through your responses, present the best here and in doing so, employ fun phrases like “hurly-burly.”
Let me rectify all of that today by sharing what you’ve had to say about recent columns, some of which are no longer quite so recent.
Tilting at windmills
Miniature golf, a hugely popular activity in the 1970s, has become scarce in these parts. I wrote June 14 about the closure, at least for now, of the Upland amusement park Boomers, which had two 18-hole courses.
Reader David Chubrick alerted me to the known remaining miniature golf layouts. In Riverside, there’s Castle Park, an amusement park with two courses, and GLO Mini Golf inside the Galleria at Tyler Mall. In Colton, there’s Fiesta Village. He didn’t bring it up, but there’s also Mulligan Family Fun Center in Murrieta.
Could that be it: four places in all of the Inland Empire?
Miniature golf certainly has shrunk.
Tigers and monkeys
San Bernardino’s old KFXM-AM and its 1960s-’70s tiger mascot, charmingly named Ed GRrrrrr, was a topic in my column July 26.
Attentive readers will recall that a station executive supplemented the cartoon tiger in the station newsletter and the plush toy tigers around the office with an actual Bengal tiger that he kept at home in Riverside, caged. That tiger, named Jocko, was transported to promotional events, at least until he got a little too large.
“The DJs from that time have many Jocko stories. Many of them involve how much raw meat it took to feed him, and how much cleanup was involved after him,” said Mike Kunert, who has interviewed several of that era’s disc jockeys.
After Jocko was fully grown and fully frightening, executives considered replacing him with a monkey, Kunert told me. The prospective mascot was brought into the studio in a cage by a trainer, who warned disc jockeys not to open the cage door.
Of course the warning was catnip to the prankish DJs, one of whom opened the cage, Kunert related.
“The monkey launched like a rocket across the room onto the curtains. Keep in mind when a rocket launches, it leaves a huge plume of exhaust behind it. The monkey did the same thing,” Kunert said. “By the time they got it back in the cage, the studio was nearly destroyed.”
Monkey see, monkey do-do.
More KFXM
An unnamed reader admits he’s holding a grudge against the long-defunct station: “Still mad at KFXM. In 1976 I was the 100th caller and they said I won a Rolling Stones album and when I showed up to get the album they gave me a Bay City Rollers album. They said they misplaced the Rolling Stones album. I broke the record right in front of them.”
Like the Stones, he couldn’t get any satisfaction.
Apples for our teachers
In my Aug. 14 column I shared what I recalled about each of my elementary school teachers, kindergarten through sixth grade. Reader Glenn Olsen of Riverside was inspired to compile an inventory of all of his teachers in Seattle from 1954-61, including a first-grade teacher who made students sing out “Good morning, Mrs. Morrison!” one by one to her each morning — ugh.
In later life, he came to admire the rest of his teachers, who along with his Cub Scout den mothers and Boy Scout troop leaders “cared greatly about us and worked hard to guide us toward becoming responsible adults.”
“School definitely leaves an impression,” observed reader Julia Parra. She met Al Parra, a future Ontario police officer, and her future husband, in kindergarten — aww — at Ontario’s Del Norte School. One incident from kindergarten is seared into her memory.
“Our teacher, Miss Gensmer, doubled over with an appendicitis attack in front of the class,” said Julia, who recalls being frightened by the sight of her teacher in pain and in tears.
Young Al stood up and declared, “I’ll go get the principal!”
(Said Julia: “Al showed signs of being a first responder even then.”)
She continued: “Our class was quickly ushered outside to the playground, while Mr. Talman, the principal, drove off with Miss Gensmer in the front seat of his Volkswagen. She waved good-bye to us, with a smile on her face!”
Smiling bravely for her young charges to keep from worrying them. No wonder we love our teachers. Other than Mrs. Morrison.
Tennis, anyone?
Consequences of my Aug. 2 column on the closing of the Claremont Club encompassed a cacophony of caterwauling. Sorry. But once you composed yourselves, you composed emails. The most informative was from Chris Griffith, a 20-year member from Upland.
“Something you didn’t mention was that this was a premier tennis training and tournament spot for junior tennis. With 27 tennis courts, there isn’t a similar facility around short of Indian Wells or Carson,” Griffith said.
“The Club also stepped up and let the University of La Verne women’s team finish out their final years there when they turned the La Verne courts into a parking lot,” Griffith continued. “Further, they were set to film a movie about the life of Serena Williams there just before the pandemic hit.”
That would have been a ball, but it’ll be in someone else’s court now.
Nordy Bars
Claremont reader Sue Selters was surprised that in two columns about Nordstrom closing its Montclair and Riverside stores (Aug. 12 and 28), no loyal customers brought up Nordy Bars. Not even her sister, a former employee in Riverside who was quoted in my first column and who used to give out the snack bars as gifts. “They were just delicious,” Selters said.
From what I can see online, Nordstrom may have phased out Nordy Bars in the 1980s, but they still have their fans. Recipes can be found online, such as at https://abountifulkitchen.com/nordy-bars/, where they are described as “a rich mix of chocolate, butterscotch, marshmallow and nuts.”
Lordy, Nordy.
See you Sunday
…for a column on a different subject. In the meantime, be safe, wear your mask, wash your hands and, if you must go out, try to avoid the hurly-burly.
David Allen writes Friday, Sunday and Wednesday, a rich mix of nuts and days. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, visit insidesocal.com/davidallen, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.
