h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm now living on the edge of the Spokane-based Inland Empire, but I used to be a Southern Californian. It's my dim memory that the SoCal Inland Empire includes some substantial population centers -- San Bernardino and (to a lesser extent) Riverside. Have the seceded now, leaving the Inland Empire to the pissant bedroom communities?

No, they're still there, they're just...not really worth mentioning.

San Bernardino and Riverside are basically just highly populous pissant bedroom communities.

Of course, you could say much the same about Los Angeles itself

Sort of, but there are one or two worthwhile things there. Like, um...geez...tough one...oh! There's a really good sushi place on Sunset. But most of the rest--pfft!

Well, there's also Original Tommys. I can't think of a lot else, though, and I'm darned glad I escaped.

You haven't ever been to Fatburger, have you? WOW!

Yeah, I've been to Fatburger. I wasn't impressed. Your mileage may vary, I guess.

It really depends on which one you go to, I think. The local one here is far better than most of the other LA locations I've been to, or the one in Vegas, for that matter.

What a shame, the best positive thing we could talk about in the area is the local fast-food chains.

Heh. I've lived (watch the progression) in Van Nuys, Granada Hills, Simi, then got really tired of the San Diego Fwy (this was before the relatively recent improvements to the Hollywood fwy, and others) and tried to live in West Covina (speaking of pissant Inland Empire towns!) ... I quickly lost all sanity, though I do miss some of the parties at UCR ... so I managed to get into Berkley and became an engineer and moved to New Mexico ... a state with much cleaner air and so much less going on, local news stories frequently describe people's pets in great detail that have wandered off and probably got eaten by coyotes (some things are the same). It's so refreshingly slow and relaxed out here - you either get used to it or have a psychotic episode, depending on how adapted you really are to driving the 405 ...

You know what I miss the most about SF Valley, and LA in general? Strangely enough, it's In-n-Out Burger. Mmmmmmm... double-double ... milkshake ... Sad, isn't it? We finally got the first Carl's Jr. this State has ever seen just two months ago. They built it not 3 miles from my house. It makes me think of the ol' In-n-Out on Wilshire ... or the one in SF Mission ... or the one in Santa Monica has fond memories too ... damn. This is pathetic. Think I'll cook myself some burgers tonight instead of the enchiladas I was going to make. Oh, that reminds me ... out here in New Mexico, the Mexican food is slightly different ... they use green chile on everything out here, and now I'm addicted to it. It's also more fattening, much cheaper (even than those places downtown), and well ... if you thought LA's Mexican would give you gastro-intestinal disorders, I have one thing to say: HA!

- JD

Oh yeah, In-n-Out is definitely worth missing. I'm just happy I don't live in LA at all. It's good to keep something as variously tiresome and fascinating as LA at arm's length, if you ask me.

To use a very tired cliché, it's a nice place to visit...blah blah blah.

West Covina doesn't qualify as a Inland Empire pissant town, because, technically, it's in LA County. But if you used to hang at UCR, I'm sure you got your fill.

When I was living out of the state for a few years, I did miss those In-n-Out burgers. Especially when your next best option is Zippy's (if you ever find yourself in Hawaii, avoid at all costs). In fact, I was wondering what I was going to have for dinner tonight...I think I'll stop by the one in Fontana on my way to work.

As far as LA is concerned, the IE is just about perfectly situated. We get all the good LA local tv and radio stations, and only a fraction of the traffic problems. Excpet for the occasional Kings game, I have no real reason to venture there.

It is suprising to see what has changed in the past 5 years, since the last post in this thread.

The Inland Empire is rapidly expanding in population, primarily becase every place west is basically full. We are now hitting a population of 3,000,000. Traffic is getting worse, and we now have more bedroom communities and shopping malls. However, we are still centrally located...

Indeed. A press release that hit the news yesterday announced that the San Bernardino/Riverside area (ie. the IE) will be named the 6th "Best Place for Doing Business in America." The list favors smaller towns, because one of the primary factors is job growth by percentage. Last year the magazine published a separate list that weighed significant population centers... and if they published that one again this year, the IE would top the list.

http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~2825457,00.html