Weird Information

The Sycamore Inn has always been recognized for its excellent meals, and its history with the surrounding area as far back as the 1850's when It was first built by a local character named Uncle Billy....His real name was William Rubottom. His first Inn was called "The Mountain View Inn"....Being a good host he developed a good rapport with the local settlers, especially John and Maria Merced Rains, the owners of Cucamonga and the Rains Ranch.

In 1862, after a very serious fight in the upstairs Kitchen area John Rains was murdered....Some of more prominent locals felt that his wife Maria was some how involved, but that was never proven, and thankfully to Uncle Billy, some how he prevented a lynch Mob from hanging her....He is said to have fed them all quite well and gotten them all drunk, so that they forgot all about hanging Maria....Maria again would be mentioned in another murder, when Ramon Carrilo, her husbands Rancho manager, was shot as they rode past the Inn in 1864....To this day, both Murders remain unsolved.

Chino and the surrounding county area of San Bernardino, have been a center of dairy farming, serving the considerable demands for milk products in Southern California and much of the southwestern United States......It is also well-known as the sites of three major California state prisons: the California Institution for Men, the California Institution for Women, and the California Youth Authority.....I put in an application at the Chino Men's prison after my return to the area from my third tour of Vietnam....And Since I served with the Shore Patrol while in the service, I figured I would have a good chance of getting a job....Wrong!....I was disqualified when asked the question "If you witnessed a prisoner escaping and trying to get over the wall what would you do?"....I response, I would shoot the guy.....Wrong answer....I guess they were looking for something like I would sound the alarm and call for reinforcements.....In The Shore Patrol, we were taught to shoot first and ask questions later after all of the bullets had stopped flying.