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San Francisco Chronicle
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Why I traveled hundreds of miles to this disappearing California wine region
For a long time, my only association with the city of Rancho Cucamonga was as the setting of the defunct Comedy Central series 'Workaholics.' If you've seen the show, which follows a trio of stoners who flit between their office-park telemarketing job and subdivision rental home, you might find it impossible to believe that this San Bernardino County city could have any connection to wine. But Rancho Cucamonga and the surrounding Cucamonga Valley is in fact an essential landmark on the map of California wine. Once the epicenter of the state's early wine industry, it fell victim to urbanization in the mid-20th century until its vineyards all but disappeared. The Cucamonga Valley's rise, fall and, now, possible redemption is the subject of a major story I published on Wednesday. I hope you'll give it a read. In today's newsletter I want to explain how I came to write about this beleaguered southern California wine region, hundreds of miles outside of the Chronicle's typical coverage zone. I started hearing mutterings of Cucamonga (and not just on the 'Workaholics' subreddit) a few years ago. Winemaker Abe Schoener, formerly of the Scholium Project, told me he was relocating from Napa to Los Angeles for the express purpose of working with Cucamonga Valley vineyards like Lopez Ranch. When I visited Raj Parr at his winery vineyard in Cambria, he poured me wines from his Scythian Wine Co., a brand he created just for Cucamonga vineyards. Suddenly, I noticed, a lot of producers were making Cucamonga wine: In addition to Parr and Schoener, there's Scar of the Sea, A Tribute to Grace, Herrmann York, Carol Shelton and Municipal Winemakers. And I'd read Frances Dinkelspiel's excellent book 'Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California,' which devotes an entire section to the salacious early history of wine in Cucamonga, where the battle for control of one revered vineyard resulted in five murders. Probably, somewhere, there was a story there, but I didn't know enough about Cucamonga to really know what the story was — certainly not enough to convince my editor to send me down there. Sure, it's got an interesting past, but what was the news hook? Former Chronicle wine editor Jon Bonné had written an article about Cucamonga in 2014, depicting the area as the wine-region equivalent of a ghost town. It seemed like this was a story for the history books, not today's paper. But then last fall I got a call from Erik Castro, a talented Bay Area photographer who has shot many wine stories for the Chronicle over the years. (He also made all the photos for Bonné's book 'The New California Wine.') Erik had been spending time down there with Schoener, documenting the 2024 harvest at Lopez Ranch and vinification at Schoener's urban winery in Los Angeles. He provided me with a key piece of information: Lopez — the largest remaining vineyard in the Cucamonga Valley, planted in 1919 — had been sold to a plastics manufacturer and was slated for development. Just as it was gaining renown with these up-and-coming winemakers, it was going to vanish. There was the hook. In March, I drove down and spent a day with Schoener, treading through the sandy soil at Lopez, whose gargantuan, leafless vines resembled tumbleweeds swaying in the wind. We visited the vineyard that he calls Maglite — because it's next to the flashlight factory — where scattered, century-old vines blended into the scraggly landscape. (It's known to others as the Francis Road Vineyard.) If there hadn't been a small crew pruning that day, I wouldn't have clocked it as a vineyard at all. I understood why Erik's photojournalist eye had been drawn to this place, with its unexpected, incongruous visuals. This place has none of the typical wine-region romance. The Cucamonga Valley is a seemingly endless expanse of logistics hubs and chain retail. It's home to the largest Amazon warehouse in the U.S. And yet the few hundred acres of vines that improbably survive, remnants of the Cucamonga Valley's former glory, are hiding in plain sight. Still, I didn't really get the full picture until I returned in May, clocking a single-day roundtrip from SFO to Ontario International Airport, to spend the day with Domenic Galleano. The owner of the valley's last commercial winery, Galleano has made it his life's mission to save the last of the region's vineyard acreage — and maybe, I learned, even expand it. To write about wine is to write about a sense of place. This story is about the potential erasure of a place: the transformation of a slice of earth from something distinctive and extraordinary — a wine paradise unlike any other — into something colorless. This is a common American tale, unfolding in small towns, suburbs and cities across the country. The question becomes whether anyone is interested in preserving the local color. In the Cucamonga Valley, a few people are. This story is about them.
Los Angeles Times
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Adam Devine
Adam Devine ('Workaholics,' 'Pitch Perfect'), who reprises his role as youth pastor Kelvin Gemstone on the HBO televangelist comedy 'The Righteous Gemstones' for a fourth and final season that begins airing (and streaming on Max) Sunday, won't share many details about how the Danny McBride–created series ends, besides that it goes out big. 'It ends with a bang,' Devine said in a recent interview with The Times. 'And I think people are really going to love it.' He's far less reticent when it comes to talking about things like the basketball-themed birthday party in the works for his son (he and wife Chloe Bridges welcomed their first child in February 2024), which 'Gemstones' co-star would make the best weekend wingman in the City of Angels ('Obviously it's going to have to be Danny,' he said. 'Danny knows how to have a good time') and his ideal Sunday itinerary in L.A., which starts with table pancakes and ends with a scroll through whatever garbage his Instagram algorithm is serving up. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity. 9 a.m.: Snap into some table pancakes at Blu Jam CafeI would take a leisurely morning, get up, do my stretches — really limber myself up for the big day that I'm about to have — and then we're hitting the town. I think I'd probably go to the Blu Jam Cafe on Melrose [Avenue]. It's this cute little spot, and there's usually a line, especially on Sundays. But you can walk up and down Melrose and do some shopping while you wait for your table. I try to eat a little healthy, so I always get the protein scramble. But then I'm a naughty boy and I'll order blueberry pancakes for the table as well so everyone can have a pancake. But most of the time it's just me and my wife, so it's basically a stack of pancakes for the two of us, which is a perfect scenario. Maybe I'll have a mimosa or two. 10:30 a.m.: Grab some hot nuts at the Original Farmers MarketThen I love going to the Original Farmers Market and just walking around. When I first got to L.A. [from Iowa at 18], I didn't know what to do or where to go, and people said just go to the Grove and walk around. And that's how I found the Farmers Market. I thought I'd discovered this hidden jewel and was like, 'Does anyone know about this place?' Then I walked in, and yeah, people know about this place. I love all the little old little stands. I like getting habanero pistachios [from the Magic Nut & Candy Co.] so I'll do that and then walk around with my hot nuts. I had my first-ever celebrity spotting here. He was the limo driver in the movie 'Blank Check,' and he was at that tiny little bar in the middle [Bar 326] drinking a beer. I don't even know the guy's name, but it floored me to see someone that I'd seen in the movies. I wanted to sit next to him and order a beer, but I was only 18 years old, so I couldn't do that. So I was just eating hot nuts from afar staring at the limo driver from 'Blank Check,' and he could have been George Clooney to me. Noon: Make for a matinee at the GroveI'd [hang at the Farmers Market] for maybe an hour or so and then catch a matinee at [AMC the Grove 14]. Even though it's a big theater chain. I love the Grove, and I love that theater. It's one of those places where my wife and I have been going for years, and it was one of the first movie theaters I went to when I first came to L.A. — that and the ArcLight, RIP. The last movie I saw [at the Grove] was 'Gladiator II.' 3 p.m.: Enjoy a date with Ms. Pac-ManThen I might go to Barcade in Highland Park. It's sort of for my generation — the older millennials — who actually did go to arcades in the malls. Now we get to play all these old arcade games we remember from our childhood and have a couple beers while we do it. Embarrassingly, [the game I'm really good at] is 'Ms. Pac-Man.' It's the nerdiest game to play, but I'll go and spend 50 cents and play for an hour. And all my friends are like, 'Do you want to do something else or go anywhere else?' And I'm like, 'I'm good right here.' In fact, I'm such a dork about 'Ms. Pac-Man' that I have a tabletop version at my house, but when I go to Barcade I'll still play. Don't tell my wife, but Ms. Pac-Man is my mistress. 5 p.m.: Dip into a French dipThen I probably would go to Philippe the Original downtown. The straight [classic beef] French dip and the potato salad are my one-two punch. I get such a kick out of seeing the guys who have worked there for 40 years. It just goes to show how good they are to their people [and] what a good work environment it must be. They've worked at the same place for 40 years and they can still find happiness doing the same job they've done forever. It always just puts a smile on my face. 7 p.m.: Catch a Clippers gameI'd either stick around downtown — maybe there would be a Dodger game going on — or make the long drive over to the Intuit Dome and catch a Los Angeles Clippers game. Their stadium is really impressive; I've been four or five times already this season, and you just walk in and [the cameras] scan your face. Then you can go to the little store and you just grab a popcorn and a soda and walk right out. And it scans your face [and charges your credit card]. At first I was like, 'Oh, my God! I am so famous that they recognized me!' And then I realized my face was up on the screen. And [the biometric ticketing and concessions] allows you to spend more time in your seat watching the game. This is a Lakers town, and I know that. But I bet on the Clippers maybe 15 years ago now, and I'm still riding with them. And I'll ride with them forever. I had season tickets for about eight years, and I loved it. But then I just was out of town so much working that I couldn't end up going to so many games. My [favorite] Clipper of all time would have to be Blake Griffin. When he joined, it turned the Clippers from a garbage basketball team into the Lob City days, which were the most fun. It was Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, and it was suddenly a show. And it was a better show than what the Lakers were doing at that time, so it was exciting to be a Clippers fan. Now we have Kawhi [Leonard] and James Harden, and it's a different type of show. And, honestly, it might be better basketball. But I miss those lobs. 9:30 p.m.: End the night where the career beganI think I would probably try to end my night at the Hollywood Improv comedy club. That was my first job when I moved to L.A. when I was just a kid. I would answer phones during the day, and at night, I would be the door guy. When I left — because my comedy and acting career was taking off — they told me I had been the worst door guy in what was then their 35-year history. I was 20, but I looked like I was 15. And my voice hadn't dropped yet. Anytime there were hecklers or someone was drunk and rowdy, instead of telling them to leave, I would have to go get someone else to tell them to leave. But working there really was my big break because I got to see the best comedians in the world every night. And then the manager, Reeta Piazza, told me I should start carrying a change of outfits in case a comic didn't show. I did, and when a comic was running late, they'd ask me if I could kill five or 10 minutes. Eventually I started to kind of garner attention, and I got [invited to become one of the New Faces of Comedy at] the Montreal Comedy Festival because they'd seen me there. And then I got the attention of Comedy Central, which led to me getting my show 'Workaholics.' [Before that,] we might try to squeeze in some sushi at Yamashiro. As kitschy as it is, it's got great views of the city, and the sushi is pretty good as well. 11 p.m.: Surf the Instagram algorithmI wish I would say that I just crack open the L.A. Times and get my news in or do anything useful [before bedtime], but I probably would just stare at Instagram and watch my algorithm feed me more garbage. [It's] a little embarrassing [because] it's all either babies giving their dads a little side eye or teenagers trying to fight their teachers, because my algorithm is all over the place.
