Congratulations to Riverside Community Players for the launch of their 100th anniversary season with the premiere of 'On Golden Pond' last weekend. (Charlotte McKenzie)
Sunday Gazette: September 15, 2024
Hello Riverside, and Happy Sunday! It's time to pull out our jackets and sweatshirts for a full-week of temperatures back in the 70s. If you need help staying warm, we do have limited quantities of our official Raincross Crewneck remaining in stock.
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Thank you to the Subscribers who became paid Supporters this week: Kristel Araujo and JD Wire. Your ongoing financial support is vital to our success in serving Riverside with the news it deserves!
Carlson Bark Park is named in honor of Carl J. Carlson, a prominent figure in Riverside County scouting, and was created from a space formed by a bridge move.
Photo from Santa Ana River Bridge, which opened June 1923, looking toward St. Francis Fountain. The road into Riverside curves to the left around the base of the mountain. (Author’s Collection)
Driving into Riverside from the west, the traveler crosses the Mission Bridge near the base of Mount Rubidoux. Almost immediately to the right is a small park of less than two acres. Today, that park is known as Carlson Bark Park. What is the story behind this miniature park?
The early bridges built over the Santa Ana River came from Rubidoux (today Jurupa Valley) and aimed at the base of Mount Rubidoux and at the St. Francis Fountain (built 1916).
A flood control project that widened the usable portion of the river necessitated lengthening the bridge over the Santa Ana River. At that time, the bridge was moved slightly to the north, eliminating the curve of Buena Vista Drive around Mount Rubidoux's base before crossing over the river. The new bridge opened in 1958.
Each week, we will introduce a new neighbor. This is not a who's who list. These are regular Riversiders doing exceptional things.
Dr. Bullock and friends at ribbon-cutting ceremony. (Dr. Bullock
You don’t have to be FROM here to be from here. Dr. Jungmiwha Bullock Nelson moved to Riverside in 2020, leaving Los Angeles after 20 years for a little quiet and some space to expand her multiple ventures and projects. In 2023, she purchased and reinvigorated the Downtowne Bookstore, which has been downtown Riverside’s only independent and woman-owned bookstore since 1979. What was a dusty novelty tucked behind the MIssion Inn Annex has, under Dr. Bullock become a viable book retailer and popular destination, as well as an emergent hub for community events.
Dr. Bullock brings her experience as a businesswoman and socialpreneur, socio/political scientist, philanthropist and activist to the city and she has built countless local connections. As a certified Riverside Master Gardener and Master Composter, she volunteers hundreds of hours to care for our local environment, from building out a 2 acre Monarch sanctuary in the County, to developing sustainable gardens and programs for schools, parks, and community organizations, and more. She has planted seeds in her little shop to further educate the community on horticulture and sustainability, and in the walkway leading to the bookstore we get to marvel at her green thumb. Visit the Downtowne Bookstore Instagram for information on book clubs, literary and fine art events, topical discussion groups and some spooky storytelling events coming up very soon in the newly restored basement. Please support local and pay the store a visit.
A prompt to encourage your practice of creativity this week from Riversider and local author Larry Burns.
Do you need a low stress way to include seven minutes of creative contemplation into your week? Consider this your helpful nudge towards a slightly more creative life. If it helps, come back every week for a quick hit of creative contemplation. Each week I’ll share a new nudge. It will include a Thing (T), a Place (P), and a Sense(S) for your focus, a TPS creative nudge.
Welcome back, fellow creatives! Last week, we wrestled with the clingy, crinkly world of plastic wrap, transforming frustration into a playground for our imaginations. Did you create a textured masterpiece that captured the essence of its unique surface, or perhaps wrap everyday objects in a symphony of colors and textures? Maybe you even unleashed your inner dancer, embracing the playful restrictions of a plastic wrap costume. Whatever you made, I hope it found a good home or at least made its way into the correct recycling bin.
This week, we're stretching our creative muscles with another unassuming object. I find them when I don't need them and can't seem to track one down when I do: a rubber band. These infinitely elastic loops, highly versatile and multifunctional (like you), are this week's springboard into several minutes of creative, tactile exploration. I bet you have a few in a kitchen drawer…maybe even a ball of them you've been collecting since college!
