Main Street pedestrian mall Slideshow: Out & About This past weekend saw us out and about downtown on both Friday and Saturday. On Friday evening, downtown was relatively busy as a special screening of “Gone With the Wind” brought a sold-out audience to the newly-restored Fox Performing Arts Center. The showing included appearances from 4…
As mentioned before, Eighth Street — now University Avenue — in Riverside’s eastside was once the city’s “motel row.” In many ways, with several motels, hotels and eateries remaining, it still serves that purpose today. One of the earliest major chain motels to pop up on the stretch between downtown and UC Riverside was the…
Les Richter, former head of the now defunct Riverside International Raceway, passed away this weekend in Riverside. He was 79. Les Richter(NASCAR.com) RIR logo Post-1969 track configuration(wikipedia) 1970sRichard Petty, Bobby Allison Winston Cup Series 1982Winston Cup Series @1990RIR control tower(AP) Probably no one else is more responsible for putting both Riverside International Raceway on the…
1950sTown & Country 1960sSage & Sand 1960sCaravan Inn 2010Courtyard by Marriott Prior to the building of the 60 Freeway through Riverside in the early 1960s, the main highway heading into downtown from the east was Eighth Street. Visitors traveling between Palm Springs and Los Angeles could grab some rest at any one of the half-dozen…
This past weekend, we stumbled upon a bit of retail archeology when we noticed the false-front of a now-shuttered Mervyn’s had been removed to reveal the zig-zag roofline of the building’s original occupant — The Treasury. (The removal is part of refurbishing the former Mervyn’s space for an incoming Kohl’s, expected to open in September…
Harvest House Cafeteria3535 Tyler Mall Riverside, Calif. 92503We invite you to visit other Harvest House locations throughout the United States and Canada This October will mark the 40th anniversary of the Tyler Mall in Riverside. Previously, we did an overview of how the mall came into existence and how it came to be as it’s…
Metro Museum 001 by Van K. Varbel Flickr – Raincross Square photo pool Got a great photo of downtown Riverside or the city in general? Add it to the Raincross Square photo pool. Or view what others have uploaded.
Scattered around downtown Riverside one will find a few remaining commercial “add-on” oddities from the post-war years. Here are two of the more obvious ones we’ve noticed. 2010Tenth Street First up is this house located on Tenth Street. We’re not sure of the original home’s date, but city permits show an addition valued at approximately…
20101908 Seth Thomas clock Earlier this month, the 102-year-old Seth Thomas pedestal clock, which was damaged last year during the refurbishing of the pedestrian mall, made its way back to downtown Riverside. Though the clock itself dates back to 1908, it didn’t appear in Riverside until the 1920s when it was planted outside a jeweler’s…
2010Simple Simon’s Bakery & Bistro 2010Closed Simple Simon’s, one of downtown’s most popular eateries, caught fire around 2 a.m. this past Friday, causing what the owners hope will be only a temporary closure. Initial reports point to an electrical fire as the possible cause, with damage estimates of roughly $175,000. No major damage was reported…
