goddess of pomona: Donahoo's

Showing posts with label Donahoo's. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

On Top of Ponoma, the Reprise

Next week will be the two year anniversary of my writing this blog. To celebrate - and give myself a well-earned break- I'll be republishing some of my favorite older posts. This one first appeared in June of 2006:

My five year old son Mr. Big doesn't call it Pomona, he says Ponoma. I quizzed his best friend Madison yesterday and she says Ponoma too. This must be a common mispronunciation on the part of Pomona toddlers, since both Madison and Mr. Big say the classic "ppssghetti" as well. If Big got lost and told someone he was from Ponoma, would they ship him up north to wine-country Sonoma?

Mr. Big often refers to Claremont as "a Place called Claremont," which cracks me up. It reminds me of those pretentious names developers give housing tracts, or better yet trailer home parks, like "The Hills at Crest Ridge" or "The Place at Claremont." Mr. Big doesn't spell yet, but I bet if he did, he would put an "e" at the end of Claremont too, in the spirit of "shoppe" as opposed to just "shop." When I asked him why he likes Claremont so much, he told me, "Because I like to give it big slobbery kisses." Ahh, the next generation of Pomona-challenged.

I've been waiting for the right post to use this photo of Pomona's very own Donahoo's. I suppose this post is as good as any, seeing as I couldn't find any photos of trailer home parks with unfittingly swanky names.

Here's a list of Pomona's 12 trailer home parks, which I lifted from Web BePomona.com:

1. Valley Center (boring)
1111 Price Ave

2. Foothill Village Mobile Home Park (pretty basic)
301 E Foothill Blvd

3. Foothill Mobile Park (an alternative for folks who either don't want to live in, or have been kicked out of, the homey village above), 402 Foothill

4. Crest Mobile Manor (there's the swank factor)
3727 Equation Rd

5. Pomona Islander Mobile Home Park (tropical living at it's finest)
3667 Valley Blvd

6. Westland Estates Mobile Home Park (bigtime swank)
1401 W 9th St

7. Thunderbird Mobile Home Park (I like it)
1761 E Mission Blvd

8. Hi Fi Mobile Home Plaza (I'm thinking this one must be noisy)
1010 W Holt Ave

9. Western Mobile Gardens (tres boring)
1737 W Holt Ave

10. Park Vista Estates of Pomona (wow)
1601 S Garey Ave

11. Las Brisas Estate (sounds downright glamorous, and on Holt no less)
1054 W Holt Ave

12. Big's Mobile Home Park Inc (my personal favorite, plus it's incorporated)
1461 W Mission Blvd

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Donahoo's Donawhere?

Did you know that Pomona is not the only city where you can find a Donahoo's?

Donawhat? Yes, it's true, a Donahoo's can also be found in Ontario, and Riverside. The Riverside location even features the same funky rooster. In Riverside, the rooster sits on their roof, as opposed to Pomona where he is proudly perched up high on their sign. The only location to get a glowing review by the local bbq and greasy spoon reviewer was our very own Pomona location. Pomona was noted for chicken that was crunchier, spicier and cooked longer than the other two locations.

David Allen's column this week nominated the Pomona Donahoo's chicken to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World:

"Wonders here, too!
By David Allen, Columnist
Dated 7-10-07

NO WONDER: Well, the new Seven Wonders of the World have been announced, and immediately the choices - including the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum and Machu Picchu - proved controversial.

Especially at my desk.

Where is the Inland Valley in all this?

Sure, the Taj Mahal is beautiful. But do you mean to tell me it's more inspiring than the fiberglass steer watching over Sunny's Food Mart in Upland?

Or take the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. Compare it to the Donahoo's Chicken rooster in Pomona, which perches high above the street and is visible from blocks away. Honestly, which one makes your pulse beat a little faster?

(When author Charles Phoenix spoke in March at the Pomona Library, he said of the Donahoo poultry: "It's practically the Statue of Liberty of Pomona.")

So that's two down. Any other nominations for the Seven Wonders of the Inland Valley, readers? Send 'em to the addresses at the end of this column, and feel free to bolster your case with a photo."

You can read David Allen's whole column here. By popular demand, I've also added a link to his column on my sidebar.

I would have to agree with the idea that the Donahoo's Chicken rooster is the Statute of Liberty of Pomona. But this got me worried about whether the Donahoo's Chicken rooster is protected as an historic landmark. I believe it would be, because it is located within the Lincoln Park Historic District, but does anyone know for sure?

Felix the Cat, off the Harbor Freeway near U.S.C., did not have historic status until this past Thursday when preservationists finally prevailed against developers backed by quite a political force. The Times covered the victory here. Felix got lucky. Roosters, on the other hand, don't usually have nine lives, much less one whole one. Let's hope the Donahoo's Chicken rooster is an exception.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

On Top of Ponoma

My son doesn't call it Pomona, he says Ponoma. I quizzed his best friend Madison yesterday and she says Ponoma too. I'm thinking this must be a pretty common mispronunciation on the part of Pomona toddlers, since both Madison and Mr. Big say the classic "pssghetti" too. If he got lost and told someone he was from Ponoma, would they realize he was saying Pomona or would he be shipped up north to wine-country Sonoma?

Mr. Big often refers to Claremont as "a Place called Claremont," which cracks me up. It reminds me of those pretentious names developers give new housing tracts, or better yet trailer home parks, like "The Hills at Crest Ridge" or The Place at Claremont." Mr. Big doesn't spell yet, but I bet if he did, he would put an e at the end of Claremont too, in the spirit of "shoppe" as opposed to just "shop." When I asked him why he likes Claremont so much, he said, "Because I like to give it big slobbery kisses." Ahh, the next generation of Pomona-challenged.

I think my favorite part of doing this blog is finding the photos to accompany the posts. Come July I should have a working digital camera, but for now I rely on public domain photos to make the site look pretty. I've been waiting for the right post to use this photo of Pomona's very own Donahoo's. I suppose this post is as good as any, seeing as I couldn't find any photos of Pomona trailer home parks with unfittingly swanky names.