What are the boundaries of the Inland Empire? That was the somewhat philosophical question my colleague Nikie Johnson asked readers. More than 1,442 of you responded for her recent article, which crunched the numbers and quoted thoughtful responses.
Since the Inland Empire is my beat — or is that playground? — her informal survey was of particular interest to me. I wanted to know how my interpretation stacked up with everyone else’s.
Boundaries for San Bernardino County or Riverside County are, of course, established by government agencies and exist on maps. “Inland Empire” is a made-up term and what areas it applies to has been argued over for a century.
In 1913, Riverside County interests began using the phrase to refer to their county exclusively. A headline in the Riverside Press about a state bond issue read: “Good Roads Will Aid in Developing Immense Inland Empire in Riverside County.”
San Bernardino County interests said: Hold my beer. By 1920 they were claiming the phrase as their own. The Sun “wrote as though the Empire’s area was coterminous with its own circulation area,” as history columnist Tom Patterson once put it.
Patterson wrote that for The Press-Enterprise in 1992. His own view was that, “despite differing claims,” the Inland Empire was “roughly the northwest corner of Riverside County and the southwest corner of San Bernardino County.”
Best of both worlds, eh? But his was not the last word on the Inland Empire.
“As originally envisioned, it was basically the area from about Ontario to Redlands, and San Bernardino to Corona. That’s it,” Steve Lech, a RivCo historian and co-author of our Back in the Day history columns, told me by email.
“In the early 1990s” — in other words, after Patterson’s 1992 column — “I began seeing the economic development folks enlarge it to include all of Riverside and San Bernardino counties,” Lech continued. “That isn’t correct, but their constant use of the incorrect term over 30 years has basically made it so, at least in many people’s minds. C’est la vie!”
This more expansive version of the IE was the one I knew and the one I had adopted as a latecomer. It certainly saves labor and space to type “Inland Empire” instead of “Riverside County and San Bernardino County.”
As Lech suggested, perhaps “Inland Empire” now means the entirety of both counties, not just the most heavily populated chunk.
Or does it?
“Only 1% of survey respondents said yes to everything in the two counties,” Nikie Johnson, the reporter, told me. She was surprised too.
What grabbed me about the survey was that almost everyone who answered believes that they, personally, live in the IE, but they weren’t so sure about anyone else.
Some Riverside County residents didn’t think San Bernardino County was IE, and likewise, some San Bernardino County residents were convinced Riverside County wasn’t IE. Some things haven’t changed in a century.
Or as Johnson put it, summarizing the gist of the answers for me: “I’m in the IE, and the farther you are from me, the less likely you are in the IE.”
Given the Inland Empire’s reputation, I might have thought people would snobbishly say, “You people are in the IE, not me.” But it was the opposite: People were quick to identify with the IE and claim it as theirs. Isn’t that something?
I was also intrigued by where eastern Los Angeles County fell in all this. Are Pomona and Claremont, both just over the border from San Bernardino County, part of the Inland Empire?
I was surprised how many respondents from all over said yes: 40% for Pomona and 37% for Claremont. And for people who live in those cities or neighboring ones, the answers were even more affirmative: 55% for Claremont, 52% for Pomona, even 44% for La Verne.
Compare those results to the percentage who think Riverside County’s Palm Springs is in the IE: 25%. I’d have thought Palm Springs, that far eastern outpost of civilization, was a lock. Similarly, the high desert’s Victorville got only 26%.
Again, this was no scientific poll, just a survey of people who subscribe to our newspapers or follow us on social media — in other words, the region’s most discerning and erudite citizens. Still, the results were curious and charming. And they displayed a welcome dose of pride in the IE.
It’s got me reflecting on my own role in the columnist slot.
Until a couple of years ago, my territory for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin didn’t extend east of the 15 Freeway. Now that my columns also run in The Press-Enterprise and The Sun, I’d guess that up to 80% of my readers are east of the 15.
Let that sink in a moment. (Personally, I’m still trying to absorb all its implications.)
Much as Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money is, I’ve gotta go where the readers are, while trying not to exclude anyone.
The way I see it, anything in San Bernardino or Riverside counties is fair game. And eastern L.A. County remains part of my coverage zone because it’s always been in the Bulletin’s zone.
Even if I am looking east toward San Bernardino and Riverside much of the time, the survey results seem to validate my inclusion of Pomona and Claremont. Because it turns out that an awful lot of readers think of those cities not as alien territory, but as part of the Inland Empire. That’s wonderful.
We are a big tent. Not even the Santa Anas can rip it away.
brIEfly
One last thing about our IE survey. I was going to say that since the Inland Empire has no official boundaries, there’s no wrong answer for what it encompasses. But scratch that. Some answers were objectively wrong: Tehachapi in Los Angeles County? Yorba Linda in Orange County? Fallbrook in San Diego County? Come on, people.
David Allen writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, which may also be objectively wrong. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.
"make up" - Google News
January 09, 2022 at 11:45PM
https://ift.tt/3zG70Zo
What cities make up the Inland Empire? Survey holds surprises - Press-Enterprise
"make up" - Google News
https://ift.tt/361OGde
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "What cities make up the Inland Empire? Survey holds surprises - Press-Enterprise"
Post a Comment