PASSPORT FILES
  • About
    • Contact Me
    • Site Organization
    • Travel History
    • Travel Style
    • Site Updates
  • Travel Afar
    • Best Of... >
      • 2014 World Travels
      • Videos
    • Africa >
      • Egypt
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Tanzania
    • Asia >
      • East Asia >
        • China
        • Hong Kong
        • Japan
        • Macau
        • South Korea
        • Taiwan
      • Indian Sub-Continent >
        • Bangladesh
        • India
        • Maldives
        • Nepal
        • Sri Lanka
      • Southeast Asia >
        • Brunei
        • Cambodia
        • Indonesia
        • Laos
        • Malaysia
        • Myanmar
        • Philippines
        • Singapore
        • Thailand
    • Europe >
      • Balkans >
        • Bosnia and Herzegovina
        • Bulgaria
        • Croatia
        • Moldova
        • Montenegro
        • Romania
        • Serbia
      • Central Europe >
        • Austria
        • Germany
        • Czech Republic
        • Hungary
        • Slovakia
        • Slovenia
        • Switzerland
      • Eastern Europe >
        • Kazakhstan
        • Russia
        • Ukraine
      • Nordic >
        • Iceland
      • Western Europe >
        • Belgium
        • France
        • Ireland
        • Italy
        • Netherlands
        • Spain
        • United Kingdom
    • Middle East >
      • Israel
      • Jordan
      • Qatar
      • United Arab Emirates
    • North America >
      • Canada
      • Cuba >
        • Trinidad
        • Cuba Videos
        • Havana
        • Cienfuegos
      • Mexico
      • Panama
      • Puerto Rico
      • United States >
        • New England >
          • Connecticut
          • Maine
          • Massachusetts
          • New Hampshire
          • Rhode Island
          • Vermont
        • Mid-Atlantic >
          • Delaware
          • Maryland
          • New Jersey >
            • Morristown
          • New York >
            • Lake Placid
            • Westchester - LI
          • Pennsylvania >
            • Pittsburgh
            • The "T" >
              • Upper Susquehanna
              • Poconos
              • Lancaster County
          • Washington DC
        • South >
          • Alabama
          • Arkansas
          • Florida
          • Georgia
          • Kentucky
          • Louisiana
          • Mississippi
          • North Carolina >
            • Cameron Indoor
          • South Carolina
          • Tennessee
          • Virginia
          • West Virginia
        • Midwest >
          • Illinois
          • Indiana
          • Iowa
          • Michigan
          • Minnesota
          • Missouri
          • Ohio
          • Wisconsin
        • Central Plains >
          • Idaho
          • Kansas
          • Montana
          • Nebraska
          • North Dakota
          • South Dakota
          • Wyoming
        • Southwest >
          • Arizona >
            • Phoenix
          • Colorado
          • New Mexico
          • Oklahoma
          • Texas
          • Utah
        • West Coast >
          • Alaska
          • California
          • Hawaii
          • Nevada
          • Oregon
          • Washington
    • Oceania >
      • Australia
      • Fiji
      • New Zealand
    • South America >
      • Argentina
      • Chile
      • Colombia
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
      • Uruguay
  • Travel Local
    • U.S.A.
    • Hong Kong >
      • Essentials
      • Attractions >
        • HK Free
      • Coffee
      • Cooked Food Centre >
        • Best Cooked Food Centres
      • Culture
      • Dining
      • Districts
      • Expat and Colonialism
      • HK Skyline
      • Nature
    • Philadelphia >
      • Quintessential Philly >
        • Philly Dining
      • Murals
      • Americas Birthplace >
        • Philadelphia Campaign
      • Beer Gardens
      • Cheesesteaks
      • Coffee
      • Catch All >
        • Festivities
        • Brew Pubs
        • Mummers
        • Pope Francis Visit
      • Neighborhoods >
        • University City
        • Spruce Hill
        • City Hall
        • Chinatown
        • Old City
        • Society Hill
        • Washington Square
        • Rittenhouse
        • The Parkway >
          • Mormon Temple
        • Callowhill
        • Northern Liberties
        • Queens Village
        • Passyunk
        • Graduate Hospital
        • Fairmount
        • Fishtown
        • Brewerytown
        • Fairmount & Wissahickon Valley Parks
        • West Philadelphia
        • Manayunk >
          • Manayunk Bars
        • Roxborough
        • Penns Landing
        • East Falls
        • Chestnut Hill
        • Germantown
        • Stadiums
        • Northeast
    • Philadelphia Suburbs >
      • Bucks County >
        • Warrington
      • Chester County
      • Delaware County
      • Montgomery County
    • Singapore >
      • Singapore Layover
      • Central
      • Coffee
      • Dining
      • Hawker Centers
      • Kopitiam
      • Suburbicity
    • Thailand
  • Know How
    • Travel Around the World
    • How To...
    • Travel Adventures
    • Travel Tips
    • Useful Links
  • Know Why
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Adventures

the  inland  empire

california
The Inland Empire's name is misleading in one major sense - it's no empire.  Empires have a central palace or mansion from which all life radiates.  If a city or metropolitan area is an "empire" then its commercial business districts with office buildings, city hall's, libraries, restaurants, bars, museums, sports stadiums, etc. would be it's palace.  The Inland Empire doesn't have any of that.  The Inland Empire is a collection of towns thrown together, not thrown around central hub, that seems to lack any cultural or historical shared experiences to bring everyone together.   There's this strange sense of openness. 

What to do in The Inland Empire?  A search of local activities and "Best ofs..." turns up a pretty disappointing list:  The #2 Sports Bar:  Applebee's.  The #3 Breakfast Spot:  Denny's.  Come on Inland Empire.  There's more here than that.  Not much.  But there is more.

The LA Metropolitan area, consisting of LA and Orange counties, has 13.3M people making it the second largest metropolitan area in the US.  The Inland Empire, consisting of San Bernadino and Riverside Counties, is its own metropolitan area of 4.5M people.  It is 13th largest metropolitan area in the US.  How many Americans know that? Without a sports team, without a downtown core and skyline, most Americans have no idea what or even where the Inland Empire is.  To put this in perspective it would be like if people hadn't ever heard of Phoenix, San Francisco, Boston or Atlanta.   Which is crazy.

I'm always amazed when I travel through China and India of the cities with populations over 1,000,000 that I've never heard of.  Both countries have sprawling metropolises that get crowded out by Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta.  It's hard to believe that a place like that could exist in the U.S.  California and the Inland Empire is similar, only instead of a 1M person threshold a 100K threshold is more appropriate.  The Inland Empire alone has eleven cities with a population over 100,000: 
  • Riverside: 322,424
  • San Bernadino: 216,108
  • Fontana: 207,460
  • Moreno Valley: 204,198
  • Rancho Cucamonga: 175,236
  • Ontario: 171,214
  • Corona: 164,226
  • Temecula: 112,011
  • Murrieta: 109,830
  • Rialto: 103,132
  • Jurupa Valley: 100,314
Pennsylvania has three cities (Philadelphia: 1.6M, Pittsburgh: 304,391, and Allentown: 120,207) with populations over 100,000.  Riverside is larger than Pittsburgh.  The Inland Empire with 4.4M people has 2M more people than the Pittsburgh metropolitan area and still no one has heard of it.

Would anyone actually visit Riverside over Pittsburgh? I'll go ahead and say no.  Pittsburgh has much more to see, do, eat, and drink. Riverside has a large Spanish Mission Church and a block away is the Mission Inn - site of Richard Nixon's wedding.  It's hosted nearly every President over the years and is an opulent hotel. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
San Bernandino is the Inland Empire city I'm most familiar with.  It has more of a city feel than Riverside although there's patches of nothingness around the city's airport. San Bernandino is the first town west of the desert and effectively served as a welcoming point for travelers heading to Los Angeles along Route 66. The McDonald Brothers opened there first hamburger barbecue joint along Route 66.  Today he location is an un-official McDonald's museum holding all sorts of memorabilia and knick knacks. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
A Historical Tour of San Bernardino
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Redlands is a nice small town just east of San Bernandino.  Augie's Coffee is a great place to stop for a morning caffeine fix.  It's in a commercial area with a decent Main Street. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
I struggled with exploring and finding things to do in the Inland Empire. Despite the proliferation of restaurant chains and big box stores, there's a burgeoning movement for microbreweries. Brewers have taken advantage of all the warehouses and use the unrented open spaces to brew beer.  The microbreweries all kind of look the same in that they are in warehouse districts away from a commercial thoroughfare but the beer mostly tasted good and it is a pretty cool environment. 

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture