Captured moments in time
AT OMAHA JACK’ S, BEER SPEAKS FOR IT

By JOHN WEEKS

I LOVE going into antique shops. In fact, it’s hard to get me out again. I always find the shoebox full of old postcards, and I get stuck there. You have to drag me away.

I’ve been collecting vintage Inland Empire postcards for 40 years. I own more than a thousand of them. To me they are little works of art. And they tell us stories, too. Intriguing stories about our past. They even give us inspiration for the future. Let me explain why I say that.

The Inland Empire once was an earthly paradise, with stately neighborhoods, palm-lined boulevards and endless citrus orchards and vineyards. It was a land of fabled beauty that drew people from around the country. One example: A 1931 visitor from Connecticut sent home a postcard showing an Easter morning crowd on Mount Rubidoux in Riverside.

On the back she wrote, “This certainly is God’s Country. Beautiful Air and Sunshine and Wonderful Scenery and drives.”

High praise indeed. And here’s the point. Isn’t it possible that any place with an idyllic past can be inspired by that past to dream of achieving an idyllic future? I believe the answer is yes.

I’ve compiled 200 of my favorite old postcards in a book, “Inland Empire,” which was recently released by Arcadia Publishing. Let me tell you, I had great fun putting it together, and I think readers will have a lot of fun looking through it.

There’s a postcard from the first National Orange Show in San Bernardino in 1911. Another San Bernardino postcard shows the world’s first McDonald’s drive- in on its opening night in 1948.

There are terrific old shots of the Mission Inn in Riverside, and the original Sanitarium in Loma Linda. One postcard shows an old nudist retreat on Euclid Avenue in Ontario.

The postcards show people as well as places. For example, a 1959 postcard from the Ramona Pageant in Hemet shows a young Raquel Welch in the starring role. Another postcard shows Roy Rogers welcoming visitors to his Apple Valley Inn.

The book has a whole section on the mountains. One postcard, from 1955, shows a bathing beauty on skis, enjoying the sunshine and snow near Lake Arrowhead. The caption says it’s a “typical midwinter scene” in the San Bernardino Mountains.

The deserts are represented, too. We see Lucille Ball’s old house in Palm Springs, an early-day camel race at the Date Festival in Indio, and shots of the Salton Sea when it was still a freshwater oasis crowded with funseekers.

The 200 postcards in the book offer a scenic grand tour of our whole region. And, like I said, they offer plenty of evidence that the Inland Empire was, and is, an amazing place.

The author John Weeks is features editor and columnist for The Sun newspaper in San Bernardino and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario.

Writing under his full name, John Howard Weeks, he is author of the new book “Inland Empire” (Arcadia Publishing, $19.99), available at local bookstores and gift shops, from online booksellers, or from the publisher at www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888) 313-2665. Weeks will speak and sign copies of his book at several upcoming events:

Nov. 1: Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Citrus Plaza Shopping Center, 27460 Lugonia Ave., Redlands; Noon to 3 p.m.; (909) 793-4945 Nov. 6: San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society, Christian R. Harris Memorial Hall, Eighth and D streets, San Bernardino; 7 p.m.; (909) 887-0567

Nov. 12: Norman F. Feldheym Central Library, 555 W. Sixth St., San Bernardino; 6 p.m.; (909) 381-8236

Nov. 19: John M. Pfau Library, Cal State San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway; 6:30 p.m.; (909) 537-5000

Jan. 26: Redlands Historical Society, A.K. Smiley Public Library, 125W. Vine St., Redlands; 7 p.m.; (909) 798-7565