About This Site

2024 UPDATE: After remaining dormant since June 2014, RaincrossSquare.com has been resurrected (May 2024). Initially, the site will serve as an archive of content produced from 2003-2014, with some repackaging and minor updates (plus a few corrections as noted in the respective posts). Some functions — such as photo galleries and various text/photo links — may not be available initially, with plans to restore when possible in the near future.

Going forward, the site will again begin producing limited content, primarily from the context of local history. Plans include revisiting some pages of our book, Riverside — Then & Now (Arcadia Publishing), and see what has changed — or in many cases, has not changed — in the years since being published in October 2009 (think along the lines of Then & Then & Now). We may also revisit past posts/topics that deserve major or moderate updates in an entirely new post — and maybe even from/with a new perspective.

Welcome

What began in late 2000 as www.orange-empire.com — a site primarily intended as a photographic journey around Inland Southern California — eventually morphed into www.raincrosssquare.com, an informal website created in mid-2006 with an emphasis on downtown Riverside and local history for the city of Riverside.

In 2008, www.orange-empire.com was discontinued and some of the content was merged into www.raincrosssquare.com. The merged website remained focused on downtown Riverside but was expanded to include more of Riverside in general as well as occasional tidbits from around the region. (Note: This site no longer owns the www.orange-empire.com domain name.)

In May 2012, RaincrossSquare.com was relaunched using the WordPress content management system. With the new, more robust CMS came a new design and additional features, including expanded sharing options and better photo gallery treatment and management.

In May 2024, RaincrossSquare.com was again relaunched after being offline for about two years and essentially having been dormant without any new content since June 2014. The relaunched site continues to use the WordPress CMS with a new look using the Kadence WP theme template package.

Who is?

Your host, Glenn Edward Freeman, is a native of Riverside with a keen interest in urban planning, architecture, and local history — the seeds of which were planted at an early age as a kid trudging up Mt. Rubidoux overlooking downtown and the city below. Subsequent visits to the downtown pedestrian mall and the historic Mission Inn as well as venturing into the city’s abundant orange groves, would later feed the seeds.

Glenn is a graduate of Riverside’s La Sierra High School and attended Riverside Community College and UC Riverside, receiving Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees respectively. Over the years, he has taken several courses in the Land Use and Environmental Planning certificate program at UC Riverside Extension. During the 2000s, Glenn worked for nearly 12 years with the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper, primarily in the main Riverside newsroom as associate website editor and producer.

In 2009, Glenn published a local history photo book: Riverside — Then & Now (Arcadia Publishing). He continues researching, compiling, posting, and photographing tidbits about Riverside (as well as contemplating follow up books).

In February 2012, Glenn was invited to join the Board of Directors for Old Riverside Foundation and in December 2012, he was elected to the Board of Directors for the Riverside Historical Society.

In early 2015, Glenn relocated to Seattle, Washington, causing this site to mostly go dormant.

2024 UPDATE: Glenn returned to Riverside in late 2021. In early 2024, he re-joined the board of the Riverside Historical Society. And in May 2024, RaincrossSquare.com was resurrected and repackaged — initially serving as an archive of sorts for content produced between 2003 and 2014.

Thanks!

We hope you enjoy RaincrossSquare.com and also hope it inspires your own memories (be sure to leave comments!). And we’re always looking for old photos. So please, if you have any you wish to share — or simply have suggestions, ideas or even corrections and/or critiques (we don’t claim to always be the expert!) — please feel free to reach out via the CONTACT page.

Finally, this site is truly indebted to other local historians, both past and present, known and unknown. In particular, Steve Lech and the late Joan Hall, Esther Klotz, and Tom Patterson have provided a wealth of local historical accounts and anecdotes. Be sure to check out the following links (one | two | three) for theirs and other related books. We’re also greatly indebted to the Local History section of the Riverside Public Library as well as the online archives of the Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper (via GenealogyBank).

Note: All viewpoints expressed on this site, including comments, are the opinions of the respective authors only and do not reflect the views of other authors, employers, or third-party off-site links. This site is not affiliated with the City of Riverside nor its convention center.