Pomona is the new Austin. Could Fontana be the next Portland?

I grew up Pomona. There I said it. I guess it’s a hard thing for me to say because I had a love/hate relationship with P Town. In the 1980s growing up, it turned into a semi-ghost town after General Dynamics lost a Defense Department missile contract. Half the city was unemployed. It was not a fun place to grown up. Zero culture. Zero community. Tons of crime. All my friends at school lived in “posh” Diamond Bar or Phillips Ranch, which were places I would have needed a car to get to.

In 7th grade I had decided that I would basically give up on going to Catholic school as boredom and depression took over. I spent most of my 7th grade years ditching school and hanging out at the train station trainspotting and riding my bike around the old abandoned shops of downtown Pomona.

What I consider now to be a life-saving move, Mom moved us from Pomona to Orange County in 1990. I often wonder what I would have turned out like had we stayed in Pomona and I would have been “demoted” to the Pomona public school system.

Last weekend I was in downtown Pomona to watch my brother’s band play (more on this later) and I was shocked. Here, in the very place where I had spent years of my life ditching school and hanging out alone was an indie sort of Mecca.

I had previously known that the old Thrifty drug store had been turned into The Glass House concert venue and that there were some old buildings that had turned into bars or clubs. But what it has turned into is amazing. Indie record shops selling indie records – on vinyl. Arty cafes, a Starbucks (of course), a “bistro,” vintage clothing stores and get this – a store that specializes in Moog synthesizers! It reminded me of Austin a bit.

Where the hell was all this when I was growing up? It’s really amazing to me how the exact place where I escaped as a child; a place that was as polar opposite from cool and trendy has turned into “indie” hot spot. Over the years I have seen great shows at the Glass House, Pavement, Weezer, Modest Mouse, Promise Ring… and I still trip out on the whole thing. I guess life comes full circle sometimes.

Pomona Punks hang out across from the old Southern Pacfic depot.

Are kids buying records and CDs again? What happened to downloading?

The Emily Strange Store. Even stranger, it's in Pomona.

No need to fly to Soho in London, get your Fred Perry and Ben Sherman gear right here.

Where was the Moog store when I was in a band? WHERE?

French food - WTF?