I have found myself in a quaint, queer location to live for the next five months or so. Glendora, the town where Laura grew up, refers to itself as the pride of the foothills. Located about 30 - 200 minutes from LA (depending on traffic), smack bang in the bible belt of California and with the mountains to the north, it is somewhat similar to the town of Spectre in the movie Big Fish. People are happy and friendly and the little town is perfect. Why would anyone ever want to leave?
My final sentences are said with the same sort of sentiment Donald Horne used when he referred to Australia as "the lucky country". Glendora is very nice but there is a whole world out there that seems to be passed by and many appear content to not journey outside of the Orange County. It also appears to be the town that the Democrats forgot. From speaking to people to seeing bumper stickers, there is a lot more NObama going on than PrObama. Yesterday i saw a car with an "OMG" (Obama must go) sticker beside another which was peeling and clearly someone had tried to pull off. The remnants read "Romney 2012" and i saw this as a nice metaphor of the difficulty it is to take away the stain of the Conservative parties once you let it stick to you once.
The people are friendly, very friendly, and it is often a happy experience to go for a drive, go to the shops or stop off anywhere in general as someone is likely to strike up a conversation and just be downright pleasant. There is a clear style, at least with the boys. There is a big emphasis on trucks and guns with beer and women probably coming a close third and fourth. The So-Cal goatee is ever present and you are likely to find tattoos on people although not of the neck variety (which i often came across in San Jose). Most of all, a Dodgers hat or shirt is assured.
Driving can be a real treat and not just because of the wide, open streets and lack of roundabouts. In the last week, i know two people who have seen bears when they are out driving. And not up in the mountains or something but both on roads which i have to use every day to get to work. Why, more often than not over the past two weeks i have gone past peacocks when driving to work! The cute little downtown section (which consists of a single street) is also a very nice area to drive down, have lunch or have a lot of beers at T Phillips. The quaintness is often reiterated in small ways by things you do not expect to see. Driving along near where we are staying, we have found lemonade stalls on weekends run by little girls with help from their parents. 50cents for a cup with free re-fills they tell us. This kind of old school charm is irresistible to me and naturally, we left a little tip.
Glendora is somewhat well known for several reasons. These are the things that i find queer. It is a bit more than a simple, small town and it is interesting that such a small, quiet town can have numerous claims to fame. Firstly, Route 66 dissects the town. The famous West to East freeway which no doubt brings in tourists, business and provides names for businesses (from bars to car washes to discount stores!). On this famous Route lies an equally famous store called Donut Man. It is a small, delicious establishment with famous donuts containing peaches and strawberries. It is claimed that Elvis frequented the store (or at least his minders) and it probably assisted in his downfall.
There is also a castle in Glendora. A crazed man apparently resides there and always wanted to live in a castle. So, when he came into enough money, that is exactly what he built for himself. It takes up a huge block of a corner and school children supposedly go on "field trips" (excursions) there. As mentioned earlier, Glendora is in the bible belt of California and there are many, many churches and places of worship found throughout the area. As well as this, there are a lot of schools given the relatively small area.
Speaking of schools... as i mentioned, Glendora is dissected by Route 66 which is also a bit of a socio-economic dissection with (generally) the nicer part of town to one side. There are many rich areas and a lot of money floating around. So much so that most all of the 16 year old school kids drive around in BMWs, Audis or other cars which i could only dream about getting behind the wheel of as a teenager! A privileged life, that is for sure!
Something which i find pretty astonishing is that, no matter what time of day you leave your house, you are bound to find heaps of people exercising. People running, biking, walking.. .they are everywhere! And it makes me feel like people are often self conscious but also healthy, i suppose. Surely a pro outweighing a con. The exercise apparel stores must make an absolute killing in the area and although i have not gone to a gym, i can only imagine most people have two or three memberships.
Glendora has been good to me and i hope it continues to be. The people are great although i can see a tendency of people getting "stuck". However i suppose this is similar everywhere else in the world. People can definitely make a life for themselves here but it is not something i see myself doing down the track. The people, events and weather make it enjoyable to be here. Without Laura i would definitely not have stayed here as my penchant for bigger cities is an insatiable beast of desire, but i am glad i did. It is good to get new perspectives, meet new friends and understand what makes these places tick.
To Glendora, on a temporary basis, i give a big tick.
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