Opinion

“I woke early and made a pot of good coffee. Outside, bright sunshine mingled with storm clouds. The lake was blue again, magnificent, massive, and soothing. The condo had three east-facing balconies, each with a 180-degree view of the lake. I stepped outside on the top floor to take it in. Deep breaths. Gratitude. My quasi-spiritual moment was interrupted when I noticed a set of very large bear tracks in the fresh snow below, trailed by a smaller set. I alerted the kids. They were a little shaken. It seemed dad’s weekslong nagging about ursine etiquette suddenly made sense.”

“The point here is we are not necessarily obligated to jump aboard the seasonally trendy self-improvement bandwagon. Do you feel okay? Do your kids mostly like you? Are you north of bankrupt? If you answered yes to some or all of these, well then, you deserve a pat on the back and cocktail. It ain’t easy staying afloat, especially in Southern California. No need to get all nervous about your station or waistline. Take a gap year.”

“As has been previously noted, the holidays have been a bit of a whirlwind around here. Lucky for me my wife Lisa is a perennial holiday superstar, and has once again made our home beautiful and festive. So, as I contemplate my annual year-end gratitude list, I must again start with my blind luck in marrying up. Way up. How Lisa maintains her joyful outlook and saintlike kindness with me around all the time is a profound mystery. She’s the engine that makes our life happen. I’m so grateful she kept me around another year.”

“By permitting the public to use the ski lifts and access the restaurant and go skiing, but forbidding anyone to hike up to an untouched Mt. Baldy (and neighboring mountains) it seems like the Forest Service just hasn’t thought this through. We need a more pragmatic approach how to protect the burned soil and enforce the closures while minimizing damage to local businesses and the livelihood of Mt. Baldy residents.”

“I never saw a bear in the nearly three years I lived in Tahoe. They seemed to want nothing to do with humans back then. They were certainly around; we reported on sightings and reminded folks to keep their exterior trash bins locked up, especially during fall when our ursine friends were bulking up for their winter nap. But while their potential for mayhem was certainly respected and well established, aside from a few knocked over trash cans or the occasional midday stroll across State Route 28 they were regarded as peaceful symbols of the nearby wilderness, almost loveable mascots. But that was 30 years ago. Tahoe has changed.”

“I want to be the guy in the ad strolling down a wintery city sidewalk, bundled up and smiling, with an armful of beautifully wrapped packages. But, I’m the sweaty guy in his pajamas hunched over his laptop in the wee hours illuminated by the sickly glow, overcompensating again for falling short on holiday cheer and gratitude, frantically filling my Amazon cart with kids’ gifts. I’m that guy.”

“The first time I saw Eddie Neville was at a party in Glendora in 1982. My punk band Human Therapy was playing, and he and his group, Red Brigade, walked in like they owned the place. From a faraway land called Ontario, they were dressed to the nines with spiked hair, engineer boots, torn jeans, leather jackets, and studded wristbands. I was in awe.”

By John Neiuber | Special to the Courier The Claremont Courier has been chronicling the culture of Claremont for going on 117 years, and I am fortunate to have been granted access to the newspaper’s archives. In 2022, when I was researching the 100th anniversary of the Claremont Chamber of Commerce for this column — […]

“The etymology of the moniker ‘deviled eggs’ has to do with 18th century Europeans’ laughably low bar for spicy food. Apparently mustard and pepper were exotic flavors back then, hence the ‘deviled’ bit. I’ve also learned some modern religious Southern Americans prefer not to conjure the antichrist during the holidays, and refer to them as ‘angel eggs’ as a safeguard. Never can be too careful I guess.”

“‘This hue and cry about, we can’t lose our movie theater, it kind of rings false,’ said Laemmle Theatres President and CEO Greg Laemmle. And who could argue? Claremont audiences still haven’t returned to the Claremont 5 at anywhere near pre-pandemic levels, no doubt due in part to the comparatively opulent AMC Dine-In Montclair Place 12 theater, which opened in 2021. ‘ … well, if that’s the case and the people in the community prefer to spend their money in Montclair to see movies, then … does Claremont need a movie theater?’ Ah, the $1.2 million question …”

Part II: the Wall Street empire strikes back By Donald Gould | Special to the Courier This is the second in a three-part series of reflections on changes in the investment industry in the 25 years since I started Gould Asset Management in Claremont. In part one of this series, I described how core investment […]

“When you’re young and work in a restaurant, your co-workers become family. There’s something about the physically demanding, high stress environment that brings people together. I had co-workers who were not so secretly in love with one another, others who were rivals, some were destined for greatness, others tragic ends.”

“Many on the left will want to blame someone, but today I’m not feeling like there is anyone to blame. Kamala Harris couldn’t have made her position and her character any clearer. Neither could Donald Trump. There is much that both sides don’t want to see or understand about the other. The people have spoken; the Republicans won and now we have to figure out how to move forward, how to live with one another, how to find what’s good in one another, how to be the United States.”