Tuesday, August 21, 2007
They've all been bulldozed
It seems like almost all the Orange groves in the Inland Empire have been bulldozed to make room for all the housing tracts. It's such a shame that they are gone. I have such fond memories of walking to Midland Elementary school, in Sunymead through the groves, ambushing friends, beaning them in the head with Oranges and Grapefruit. Sunnymead used to have alot of groves. Oranges, Grapefruit, Lemons, and Limes. It's such a shame that everyone of them is gone. Now I live in Beaumont, some cherry, plum, apple, and peach orchards still exist but they are quickly being bulldozed also to make room for more housing tracts. A few months ago I was driving through San Timoteo Canyon on the way home from work, and I saw a couple posing for a photo by an Orange tree like it was something special. I guess now it is special since almost all of the groves are gone in the Inland Empire. What once was a Citrus Empire is now an Empire of just alike housing tracts. I just have my memories.
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2 comments:
The summer that I was starting 10th grade at Yucaipa High, we returned to find NO ORANGE GROVES. They took them all down and replaced them with Chapman Heights. I was so mad, because I loved the way the blossoms smelled. Funny thing is, I guess Chapman Heights is having a lot of foundation problems. Serves em' right.
Oh, and if you want to read a cool book about the orange groves and some other really neat stories from the IE, check out Inlandia. Very neat book, Im 3/4 of the way through it.
Oh, and Mr Dowling, over off the 60, he never plans to let them take his orchards. They are developing around him, but not on top of him.
I remember watching the bulldozer's make huge piles of the orange trees across the street and then in the middle of the night they burned them. My walk to Gage Middle School in Riverside took me past acres of orange groves that we played in from kindergarten until 8th grade when the houses came. I remember beaning, and being beaned, by many an orange. We'd have orange fights in those groves from sunrise to sunet. To this day I am an EXPERT at peeling even the most stubborn orange. Picking ripe sweet ones too.
Last month, while visiting Riverside, I drove around in the the area's I grew-up in and found myself experiencing a variety of maudlin type moods.
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