Inland Empire history Archives - The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

Padua Hills and Ramona Bowl linked through shared cultural legacy

HSJC Newsroom — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 20:56:40 +0000

Just before taking the stage as keynote speaker at the third Inland Empire People’s History Conference, historian Matt Garcia shared an update on a project that continues to evolve. Although his research focuses on the past, the story he’s uncovering keeps expanding.
Garcia, a Dartmouth College professor who grew up in Upland, has spent years studying the Padua Hills Theatre in the foothills of Claremont. The venue was home to the Mexican Players, a troupe that performed from the 1930s through the 1970s, introducing largely White audiences to traditional Mexican music, dance and culture. The theater became one of Southern California’s most popular tourist attractions during its heyday.
Now Garcia’s attention has broadened beyond Padua Hills. He is incorporating the Ramona Bowl, located between Hemet and San Jacinto, into his research. The historic amphitheater has been the home of the “Ramona” pageant for more than a century.
According to Garcia, the connection between the two institutions runs deeper than many people realize.
Speaking during the June 6 conference at Pomona College, Garcia explained that many performers from Padua Hills sought opportunities in Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s. While a few landed small roles, most found themselves limited to stereotypical characters and struggled to advance their careers.
Some eventually left the entertainment industry altogether. Others found a new creative home in Hemet, where they became involved with the “Ramona” pageant, a production centered on Native American and Mexican American life in 19th-century California.
One of those performers was Mauricio “Maurice” Jara. A former member of the Mexican Players, Jara appeared in the 1956 film “Giant,” starring James Dean and Rock Hudson. Despite that notable credit, he was often cast in minor roles that reflected Hollywood’s limited opportunities for Latino actors at the time.
In 1952, Jara made history when he became the first non-White actor to portray Alessandro, the Native American lead in “Ramona.”
“Before, every actor who played Alessandro was White,” Garcia noted.
Jara later brought his wife, Hilda Ramirez Jara, another Padua Hills veteran, to Hemet. Beginning in the 1960s, the couple helped direct the pageant and remained involved for decades.
“They brought that Padua spirit to Hemet,” Garcia said.
Garcia contrasted their contributions with the earlier “Mission Play,” staged at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse until the Great Depression. In that production, White actors frequently portrayed Mexican American characters using brownface makeup.
The historian is currently researching a book that explores these interconnected stories. Its working title is “So Close to Hollywood: Reimagining Latino and Indigenous Performance in the Entertainment Capital of the World.”
Readers may remember Garcia from his earlier book, “A World of Its Own,” which examined Inland Empire and San Gabriel Valley history through the experiences of Latino communities. His conference presentation marked the 25th anniversary of that publication.
His latest project extends beyond writing.
Garcia is helping arrange for decades of Ramona Bowl records, photographs and historical materials to be scanned and digitized through the Honnold Library at the Claremont Colleges. The effort will preserve the collection while making it more accessible to researchers and pageant organizers.
“I got money from Dartmouth to digitize the archives of Ramona Bowl,” Garcia said. “It’s sat there for 100 years in a non-climate-controlled space.”
Another project is also taking shape. Garcia revealed that filmmaker Tatti Ribeiro has agreed to direct a short documentary about the Mexican Players, drawing from his research and newly discovered film footage. The production is receiving assistance from the company founded by Garcia’s cousin, actress Jessica Alba.
Garcia hopes to complete his research in 2027 and publish the book the following year.
For Inland Empire history enthusiasts, the pairing of Claremont’s Padua Hills Theatre and Hemet’s Ramona Bowl offers a fascinating look at how two seemingly distant landmarks helped shape the cultural experiences of generations of performers.
A Fair Shake
A recent column about the Inland Empire’s shortage of frozen custard sparked a friendly debate.
When I suggested that Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers might rival Shake Shack, I suspected Rancho Cucamonga City Council member Kristine Scott would disagree. As it turns out, she definitely did.
Scott played a key role in helping bring the first Inland Empire Shake Shack to Victoria Gardens in 2023 and has visited locations on both coasts.
When she saw herself mentioned in the column, her response was immediate.
“Oh, it’s on,” Scott joked. “Them’s fighting words.”
The two of us met last week at Freddy’s in Norco, chosen as neutral territory. While I entered with an open mind, Scott made it clear she remained firmly on Team Shake Shack.
Still, after trying Freddy’s signature cheeseburger, she offered praise for the restaurant’s thin-patty approach and admitted she wished she had ordered the double.
“The burger is good, I’ll give you credit,” she said. “But not better than Shake Shack.”
She also gave favorable marks to Freddy’s shoestring fries, saying they ranked above In-N-Out’s offering, though still behind Shake Shack’s crinkle-cut version.
The frozen custard was another story.
Scott ordered a chocolate shake topped with whipped cream and a cherry but found the flavor underwhelming.
“It doesn’t even taste like chocolate,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, I was perfectly content with a simple vanilla custard mixed with Butterfinger pieces.
The discussion eventually shifted beyond burgers and custard.
Scott said she would like to see Rancho Cucamonga land two additional restaurant chains: Peet’s Coffee and Miguel’s Jr.
The latter seems particularly surprising given Miguel’s Inland Empire roots and its existing presence throughout Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties.
As for the burger debate, the verdict remains unsettled.
“I appreciate you opening my eyes to Freddy’s,” Scott said. “Now I’ll have to go to Shake Shack to make sure I made the right choice.”

The post Padua Hills and Ramona Bowl linked through shared cultural legacy appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Jimmy Carter stopped in Inland Empire before and after presidency

Contributed — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 03:00:00 +0000

By David Allen | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Jimmy Carter never appears to have visited the Inland Empire as president (1977-1981). But Carter, whose services were Thursday at Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral, slipped in at least four times before and after his presidency.

And not to play golf or give lucrative speeches. He didn’t do either.

Carter flew into Ontario International Airport while campaigning in 1976 before heading to the L.A. County Fair in Pomona. In the 1980s he visited a famed woodworker in Alta Loma and gave a speech in Redlands for a relatively paltry $14,000.

Riverside? Never. Ten presidents have visited the Mission Inn, but not Carter. Which is too bad. As a woodworker, he might have admired the Taft Chair.

In fact, his only visit to Riverside County was in 1988. On a stopover between Hawaii and Georgia, he stayed overnight at the La Quinta Resort, the Desert Sun reported, where he lodged in the El Presidente suite.

(My secret theory is that Carter thought he was booking a room at the budget-priced La Quinta Inn chain.)

For digging up Carter-related local stories for me, my thanks to library staffers Patty Edwards in Ontario and Ruth McCormick in Riverside, both the doyennes of their facilities’ history rooms.

Let’s take the stops in chronological order.

On Sept. 25, 1976, when Carter was campaigning for the presidency, his plane — nicknamed Peanut One — landed at Ontario International Airport. A crowd of 1,500 turned out to see him.

People lined up six deep along a chain-link fence. Some held homemade signs. One read “Give ’em love, Jimmy,” a play on Harry Truman’s “Give ’em hell, Harry.”

According to an Ontario Daily Report story, “Carter was greeted by a Boy Scout color guard, a band and drill team from San Gorgonio High School in San Bernardino and flowers from Miss Ontario Motor Speedway and Miss Expo 81.”

Jimmy Carter reaches for hands in a campaign stop at Ontario International Airport on Sept. 25, 1976. “People were excited at the chance to greet him,” a photographer recalls. (Photo by Jim Edwards, Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Wearing a suit and tie, Carter spoke for 10 minutes, then stepped to the chest-high fence to shake hands that reached over to him. A photo shows Carter beaming and voters looking awestruck.

Jim Edwards photographed the stop for The Press-Enterprise.

“It was exciting,” Edwards, who retired in 2013 after a 42-year career, told me Tuesday. “He’d won the nomination. People were excited at the chance to greet him.”

From the airport, Carter traveled to the L.A. County Fair in Pomona, where he walked through crowds, “shook hands with hundreds” and watched square dancing, the Daily Report wrote.

The Georgian spoke to the crowd from the square dancing platform before leaving for his next stop in East L.A. All part of the campaign do-si-do.

Carter won the presidency a few weeks later. He doesn’t appear to have visited the IE during his presidency. He did have a local on his staff, though: Jim Fallows, a Redlands native who was his chief speechwriter from 1976 to 1978.

Early in his post-presidency, Carter and woodworker Sam Maloof became friends. Maloof, whose work is in the Smithsonian, made rocking chairs, tables, cradles and other pieces of furniture in his Rancho Cucamonga workshop in limited numbers.

Their relationship is worth its own column. For now, let’s just note that on Dec. 11, 1984, Carter made a personal visit while on his way to Los Angeles.

He toured Maloof’s workshop and home, which Maloof had built with custom features in wood and which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

“Well, everything’s just a work of art,” Carter, wearing a suit and tie, told Maloof, according to an account the next day in the Daily Report.

Carter then sat down with Sam and Alfreda Maloof and their children for a homecooked meal, like any guest. A photo of the scene is on display at the Maloof Foundation, the nonprofit that opens the home and gardens for tours.

Almost four years after leaving the White House, Jimmy Carter sat down for dinner in Rancho Cucamonga with Sam Maloof, to Carter’s left; Alfreda Maloof, standing; and other family members in the Maloof home. (Courtesy Maloof Foundation)

“The table and chairs are all in our dining room,” Jim Rawitsch, the foundation’s executive director, told me Wednesday. “We also have the casserole dish that’s in the photo. That’s how we know that Alfreda served former President Carter a casserole.”

Rawitsch said Carter visited a second time, date unknown. The two men stayed in touch until Maloof’s death in 2009.

Carter’s last known visit to the IE came on April 15, 1989, when he spoke at the University of Redlands’ Memorial Chapel. An audience of 1,500 — the same 1,500 who saw him at ONT 13 years earlier? — listened as he talked about foreign policy and took their questions for an hour, according to an account the next morning in The Press-Enterprise.

At his press conference beforehand, one remark stands out.

After Carter said he would advise President Ronald Reagan against pardoning Iran-Contra figures Oliver North and John Poindexter, a reporter noted that former President Richard Nixon earlier that week had offered the opposite advice.

Said Carter: “President Nixon is much more of an expert on pardons than I am.”

Let’s return to Jim Fallows, the Redlander who led the Carter speechwriting team at age 27 and now is based in Washington, D.C., as a political journalist.

James Fallows’ official White House portrait from March 1977, when the Redlands native was head speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter. (Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
James Fallows’ official White House portrait from March 1977, when the Redlands native was head speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter. (Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
We spoke in March 2023 after it was announced that his former boss was foregoing medical intervention and going into hospice care.

“He has invented the role of ‘former president’: home builder, peace advocate, disease fighter, election monitor,” Fallows told me then.

I asked Fallows by email Wednesday for his thoughts on the scene as Carter lay in state in the Capitol rotunda, where thousands of Americans lined up to pay their respects. He sees parallels between 1977 and today.

People are braving the D.C. cold to see him, just as Carter and his wife opted to leave their limousine to walk Pennsylvania Avenue on his sub-freezing Inauguration Day.

And just as Carter “seemed to bridge cultural, regional, racial and generational divides” in 1976, so has his passing, Fallows said, in which he has been praised by high government officials of both parties, religious leaders of all stripes and ordinary Americans.

“These ceremonies were a reminder,” Fallows told me, “of the breadth of Carter’s vision of America.”

The post Jimmy Carter stopped in Inland Empire before and after presidency appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.