Thank you for posting and sharing Nancy!!!!

Wonderful memory and history... Thank you

Sorry to hear this Vlad. My husband is also from NJ and the stories he told when we first met shocked me having been so sheltered. He used to regale our sons with stories of street fights and carrying a knife too. He became a gentle soul and can tell you are too from your contributions here. Wishing you well.

Thanks for sharing Nancy. My mother grew up in the Riverside/ Moreno Valley area and told me stories of all the citrus groves that used to cover the hillsides. I’m not that old but do remember driving to visit my grandparents in the 1980’s and seeing many groves along the 60 freeway between the 10/60 split and the 215 freeway. Now it’s car dealerships, a sketchers distribution center and an Amazon warehouse. No more rows of citrus or farmhouses. I only live an hour away in the Coachella Valley and to this day when I drive through that corridor with my kids in the car I say to them “I remember when this all used to be citrus groves as far as the eye could see.” I get that blank stare as my kids lift their heads from their iPhones and kindles and look around at the houses and industrial warehouses like I’m crazy. Thanks for sharing your story, it brought me back to my childhood.

Evan

Thanks Nancy I am older to. My school was very violent to. We had police officers at every hall corner. I would site each officer and walk from corner to corner safely. There were no citrus in my borderline zon5b/6a garden before I became zone 6b

Steve

Haha Evan! Maybe when there are no longer cars in SoCal your kids will be able to tell their grandkids about the dealerships along the 60. (Hey I used to work at Loma Linda Med Ctr btw).

Fortunately or unfortunately my sons are in their 30's/40's and they too remember. They lived through the 80's when all the groves in Corona were being ripped to shreds. One of them kept a photo scrap book done in black and white of about 10 years of change in Corona and it's a bittersweet work of art. It's my grandkids who have to look at them funny when they talk about the way things were.

I said I'd never talk like my mom did about the past and here I am! All I know is I love citrus.

Nancy just beautiful, even still it looks like a little slice of paradise. I bet that it was still a beautiful walk and the size of that trunk amazing!!! You must so miss those day's of the past . The days of the past will live with you forever as it was just yesterday in your dreams and in your thoughts . Gorgeous Nancy thankyou soooooo much for sharing .

Brian

I was in Riverside CA a while back. The citrus plantings have really changed from the old days. Now the majority of trees left growing are at the California Citrus State Park, and UCR, the industry has moved on. However, the original Mother Navel Orange tree that started the whole industry is still growing strong.

Citrus greening sadly was discovered in Riverside County in July 2017 in a backyard grapefruit tree. Since then many citrus have been destroyed. There was a beautiful nursery in Bloomington with 20 acres of citrus that was just destroyed last month because it was in the quarantine zone. I just visited my kids in Irvine CA (Orange County where they live borders Riverside County). All of the nurseries in Irvine, Tustin and Orange could not have citrus as they were also in quarantine zones. But two cities that are right next to them Newport and San Juan Capistrano could sell. It's a sad, sad wicked disease.

I was born and raised in a small town outside of San Bernardino called Devore and now I live in North San Bernardino city. It's been a huge change with warehouses and McMansions replacing vineyards and citrus groves. Progress I guess. There is still plenty of old citrus sprinkled around and backyard trees are everywhere.