On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
BillinGlendaleCA
Redlands was founded during the Southern California land boom of the 1880’s and became a popular destination for LA city dwellers as it was the eastern terminus of the Red Car. The area was home to and made wealthy by the local orange production. I stopped by Redlands a couple of years ago on a trip to Joshua Tree to photograph the University of Redlands since I thought it would make a good subject for infrared shots(one shot was featured on these pages in August 2019). What prompted my return to Redlands was the outdoor art exhibit in the Orange Street Alley featuring umbrellas.
The Administration Building at the University of Redlands.
The chapel at the University of Redlands. The university was founded as a religious school and while it is not longer religiously affiliated, the chapel remains and is a centerpiece of the campus.
Orange Alley with it’s umbrellas.
The umbrellas of Orange Alley.
Oranges were central to the development of Redlands and are featured along the downtown streets.
One of the late 19th century structures in downtown Redlands.
The Lincoln Shrine, the largest monument to Abraham Lincoln west of the Mississippi.
The Smiley Library that houses Redlands’ central library.
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Baud
Neat.
Paul in St. Augustine
Love the face in the Lincoln Shrine.
Nina
My father grew up in Redlands, in a lovely house on Sunset Drive looking across the valley to the mountains. I hadn’t realized I remembered that much about the town itself until I saw your pictures.
I have a deep visceral memory of walking out of that library with our stacks of books with my grandmother. There is even a smell to accompany it, dry, a hint of cigarette smoke and some sweet flower I never knew the name of. Walking in the shade as long as possible to avoid the fierce sun.
Thank you for sharing.
opiejeanne
@Nina:
That sweet flower was possibly jasmine.
I loved Redlands. We lived in Riverside for 23 years and toyed for years with the idea of moving there but couldn’t quite bring ourselves to tie our lives to that much mortgage, at least not for the type of house we wanted.
opiejeanne
Bill, in that last shot of the library, I imagine that’s a late spring day and I can smell the heat. In the morning, by 10am you would know just about how hot it was going to be by the smell of it.
Nina
And suddenly I have an explanation for why my father loved jasmine tea. Thank you, opiejeanne
Steve in the ATL
Nice! A former coworker in Atlanta moved out there to work at U of R and lived it. Her photos were terrible compared to yours!
opiejeanne
@Nina: That whole part of the world was planted with star jasmine, and other varieties, and in the late spring the scent was everywhere on warm evenings. I grew up in the San Gabriel valley, and my HS had big planters of the stuff. People mistakenly called it mock orange, which is a whole other plant.
Betty
What a lovely place. Beautiful shots showing it off.
stinger
What interesting buildings, and public art! I, too, saw a face in the Lincoln building! (Not Lincoln’s.)
Mary G
Love the photos of Orange Alley. My parents went to Big Bear every summer for a few years, trading churches for vacation. I would go along kicking and screaming, because giving up prime beach weeks for a hot, dry, and dusty pine forest with a weird slimy body of water with no waves in it for swimming was a bad deal.
There was a great diner in Redlands we often stopped at on the way, and on our last trip my mom and I were sitting in the car in its parking lot when the news radio informed us that Nixon had resigned. I was gleeful and my mom was not, so we fought all the way up the mountain. Good times.
Steve from Mendocino
Nice set of pictures, Bill.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Thanks.
@Paul in St. Augustine: Hmmm, hadn’t noticed it.
@Nina: Glad you like them. I went to a debate institute while I was in high school at the University of Redlands during the summer, it does get rather warm.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: I’m going to head back some day, there are quite a few nice Victorian houses there.
Were you looking for something like Kimberly Crest as a new house? //
@opiejeanne: Not Spring, around Halloween, I shot in downtown Redlands the same day as I shot the fall color in Oak Glen.
@Steve in the ATL: Thanks, I do a bit of processing after I take them.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty: Thanks. I’ll be returning there.
@stinger: Thanks much.
@Mary G: The photo looking up at the umbrellas has had some “work” done, the original has a portion of a building and powerlines, I removed them in Photoshop. Big Bear would kind of suck in the Summer compared to the beach.
@Steve from Mendocino: Happy you enjoyed them.
JustRuss
Grew up in SoCal, knew of Redlands but never visited. My brother lives a few miles away, might check it out next time I visit him.
way2blue
Love the photo of umbrella alley. But what’s with the sad one in the front right?
BigJimSlade
I like how the umbrellas have a cartoon look against the blue sky – such strong, but simple, colors.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JustRuss: It’s worth a visit, there’s quite a few old Victorians south of downtown and the Kimberly Crest mansion(Kimberly Clark paper products family) that’s in the hills to the east and is now a public park. I’ll hit those spots on my next visit.
@way2blue: Do you mean the front left? There’s one that needs a bit of maintenance there, you can see it if you look carefully at the alley shot as well.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
I attended my cousin’s daughter’s graduation from U of Redlands c. 2016 in mid-May (IIRC) and while the campus and town were pretty (and clearly, an expensive area), my main memory is of the HEAT. Not somewhere I would want to live. I need to be closer to the coast.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I went there for debate institute in the Summer, it was very hot.
Sam Wibatt
Nice shots! And nostalgic. U of R is my alma mater, graduated more than 30 years ago.
And yes, the heat in summer is beastly there. I spent my summers back at home, much further north.