Life In Rancho Cucamonga California

Life or actually the population grew slowly in this area, although it was populated by Indians and Spanish Missionaries since the late 1700's. The Valley was first seen by White men and there guides in the early 1800's as they crossed over the then unnamed Cajon Pass. One of the things one of the guides noted was that the whole valley area seemed to covered by a brown smoke of some sort. It was actually the fields being burned by the Indians, but not realizing it, there were the first to observe smog.

In the 1830's the Mormons expanded into the IE settling and building the present day San Bernardino. LA, already a thriving Spanish community was to the west and the Mormons knew that they needed a route west through the area. They were the first to build a dirt trail west through was is now Bear Gulch. They needed a place for overnight accomodations and the Sycamore Inn was built in 1848.

In the late 1890's several attacks by Indians took place on the route, and usually they were after the money box, which led the then US Marshall based out of LA, to conclude that the attacks were actually staged by the Mormons out of San Bernardino who were eager to attain gold in any way possible as offerings to the main Church in Sal Lake city. But I digress. That is a subject for the San Bernardino page.

In the early 1900's Portuguese and Italians came to the area bringing with them there Orange and lemon trees and wine grapes, all the way from the old countries. Over the years the Vintners flourished and the Orange groves thrived in the local Mediterranean climate that was almost like there own.

In the 1920's and early 30's Prohibition forced the vintners underground. too proud to destroy there crops they actually managed to get wavers from the federal government to grow their crops as cultural gifts. No one ever checked how many wine crops there were, but occasionally the Feds would raid one of the winners and destroy all of the fermenting barrels. The government actually paid the vintners for there losses. Once probation was repealed the wineries reopened to a already thirsty public.

By the 1950's when I was growing up there were about 3600 people in the entire Cucamonga, Etiwanda Alta Loma area. When I was a teenager and could drive, I and my friends would go to as many of the local wineries as possible and taste the wines and sample the cheeses and crackers. We could visit 5 different wineries, get a buzz on, all for free.

In 1968, an episode of combat was filming at the then bleak and desolate corner of Foothill and Haven at the old crumbling Virginia Dare Winery. they allowed us to stop on Foothill and watch the filming. I remember in the one scene which actually was the final part of the show where Vic Marrow is crashing through one of the gates blowing the hell out of everything in a tank and just as he crashes through the wall, a Greyhound bus drives by on Foothill. They had to leave it in, they had destroyed all of the props. today when I watch combat I always hope they show that episode, but it has been a while since I have seen it.

By the late 70's and early 90's the population rush was on. Today the city has an estimated population of 165,000 and is expected to continue to grow till the population levels out at 240,000. It has a solid community plan and is home to several international companies.

gdh