How 'Our Town' Became 'Their Town'

An old friend I hadn't heard from since high school called up to say he might be in town soon. He hasn't been here since he left in '71.

"Boy, I miss Redlands," he said enthusiastically. "I've got such great memories. Remember how we used to walk from my house through the orange groves to the river wash? We'd shoot our BB guns and eat fruit all the way there and back."

I sure did remember. But I had to tell him that not only was his old house gone, but that all the orange trees were as well. New tract houses had replaced them. There was no place for a kid to shoot a BB gun anymore; the neighbors would have the police airplane circling in five minutes. Terrorists, you know.

"Oh..." Well then, I was thinking while I'm there I could stop in at that great men's store downtown. I could use a new suit. They have such wonderful service."

"You mean Gairs?" I replied. "They closed long ago. You can't get a suit in downtown Redlands anymore."

My friend seemed disappointed. "Gee, that's too bad. I always loved Downtown. Did they ever fix up that beautiful old hotel, the La..."

"Posada," I finished. "Nope, they tore that down when they built the mall."

"There's a mall downtown now?" He asked incredulously.

"Well, it's sort of...vacant. It was never big enough to attract major stores, so people shopped elsewhere."

"So, maybe we could just go get some lunch," he pondered. " How about Burger Bar?"

"Gone."

"Muscle Mikes?"

"Gone."

"Pizza Chalet?"

"Gone."

"MJ's?"

"Gone."

"But certainly Griswold's is still there, right?"

"Gone."

"How about the coffee shop at Sages?"

The coffee shop, as well as Sages, is gone, too, I explained.

"Jeez, what's left?" He was sounding exasperated.

"Well, we've got a Red Robin now, a Dave's Barbeque, a Macaroni Grill, half a dozen Starbucks.."

"No thanks. I can go those places back home where I live... or any place else for that matter. Maybe we'll just skip lunch and drive around town. How's the high school doing these days?"

"Which one? We've got two and a third on the way," I said.

"Wow... just how big is Redlands now?"

I told him the town had close to 90 thousand people; roughly three times the number we had when we were in school together.

"With all that growth, the hardware stores and the nursery must really be going great guns."

Then I told him that Carlson's and H&E were gone, as was Dangermonds nursery, thanks to Home Depot and Lowe's.

He was starting to catch on. "I guess that means the office supply store, Serr's is gone. You've got an Office Depot now, no doubt? How about Redlands Camera? Surely they..."

"Gone."

I was going to try and explain what a "Donut Hole" was, but my old friend politely ended the conversation by saying it was great talking to me and he had to go.

Some memories are best left undisturbed, I suppose.