David Allen

Whenever he isn’t busy interviewing an interesting local character or reviewing a new restaurant, long-time Inland Valley Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen likes to come to a coffee shop in downtown Pomona to write or read as he sips on a hot drink. It’s a block away from Second Street, in the heart of Pomona’s old center, with buildings that go back to the late 19th century. In the mid-sixties, renowned Pomona architect Millard Sheets was tasked with reinventing this section of town into a nine-block pedestrian shopping area with planters, fountains and new landscape designs. The new vision was beautiful but short-lived. “By the eighties, it was already starting to fall apart as people went instead to the new mall,” says David. After having stayed a ghost town for years afterwards, downtown Pomona is alive again thanks to local artists who host public events and exhibits in many of its old buildings. The area is now comprised of a dozen downtown blocks —what’s known as the Pomona Arts Colony. “The city got people living and working down here,” says David, “as part of a long tradition for the arts and crafts in this city.”