Lots of people go out of their way to NOT be associated with the name Pomona (most typically Phillips Ranchers). But an afternoon spent perusing the yellow pages as I waited for my car to be fixed reveals that: there are some folks claiming Pomona when they don't even have to.
The Pomona Box Company, for instance, is not located in the City of Pomona, but in LaHabra. Pomona Feed & Fuel and the Pomona Open Door? Both in Montclair. The Pomona Pregnancy Counseling Center is in Upland and the Pomona Print Shop is in Rancho. I respect that these business owners are bucking popular wisdom and wearing the Pomona name with pride. And let's not forget that there is a whole college brave enough to represent Pomona, while not actually having to live in Pomona or shop at the Garey Avenue Stater Bros. Tho I've always halfway expected Pomona College to petition for a name change.
The flip side of the coin? Not as many businesses as you might think are claiming Claremont while not actually being located in Claremont. Most of the guilty parties are, I'm sad to say, located in Pomona:
Claremont West Suites is in Pomona (Pomona is west of Claremont after all). Claremont Auto Care and Claremont Auto Body are also located within Pomona City limits. Claremont Care Center? Pomona. Claremont Community Care Clinic and Claremont Dental Center? Pomona, Pomona. In short, if you want to fix your car or straighten your teeth or care for the community, you're gonna have to do it in Pomona.
The biggest suprise to me was that the Claremont Tattoo Studio is NOT in Pomona. But it's not in Claremont either. The Claremont Tattoo Studio is in
...Rancho Cucamonga. I'm sure there's a story there somewhere.
5 comments:
I suspect that most of those cases are like Pomona College: started in one place and moved to another place, for whatever reason. Obviously, changing a business name costs thousands of dollars, so Pomona/Claremont/whatever they remain.
Not that Pomona College doesn't have thousands of dollars. I'm just imagining what they'd change their name to... something New Englandy, to prove that they're the equal of Amherst and Williams, no doubt.
I once talked to the owner of Claremont Tattoo about the name. He said he had tried to open in Claremont and was blocked. So when he opened in Rancho Cucamonga instead, he named his shop Claremont Tattoo in revenge.
Now that's needling!
Here's another one: Pomona Tattoo is not located in Pomona. It's located in the Indoor Swap Meet. The swap meet address is Pomona but the LA/SB county line runs through the building. The tattoo use was not permitted in Pomona so they located in the SB county end of the building.
As a Pomona College student who was raised in Pomona,CA, I'm glad to say that it looks like Pomona won't be changing it's name to anything resembling New England anytime soon.
Or even to Claremont College.
Pomona-Pitzer Athletics just sounds amazing and wouldn't be worth changing.
Plus, it helps keep the rivalry with Claremont McKenna alive and well.
Pomona Feed & Fuel is actually in the City of Pomona (91766), but also the county of San Bernardino. It's in an unincorporated area, no man's land. The original location was more obviously in the City of Pomona but that was a very long time ago (turn of the century).
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