Pomona College - Local Atmosphere

College Prowler Take

Well, now you’ve heard it from the horses’ mouths, and contrary to aphorism, feel free to look in these horses’ mouths, and even to count their teeth, because they’re not selling you a load of bull. Claremont just isn’t cut out to be a college town. There isn’t anything to do except walk around and buy overpriced doo-dads, which (i.e., the doo-dads) your grandmother might find appealing (not to cast aspersions on your grandmother’s taste), but which (i.e., the doo-dads again) will likely leave you unimpressed. LA is great, but only if you have a car. Public transit to LA just doesn’t cut it for evening excursions. The Inland Empire (the area surrounding Claremont) is pretty trashy, and except for a few dive bars, doesn’t have much to offer in the way of activities. Oh yeah. There is a flea market in the Inland Empire, but why anyone would want to buy fleas is beyond me ...

Claremont is far more of a retirement community than it is a college town; you will exhaust its entertainment potential in about a day. Los Angeles is a cultural mecca (well, at least a cultural hub) and boasts tons of museums (if you can, check out the Museum of Jurassic Technology), stores, beaches, clubs, and bars, and you’ll have a difficult time running out of things to do there. The other colleges provide a nice break from Pomona, but aren’t, when you get right down to it, really different enough from Pomona to constitute an off-campus experience. Prepare to be absorbed by the giant social black hole that is Pomona College.

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Students Speak Out

Anonymous says:

People should visit LA. (Like... People should visit LA. (Like anyone’s going to go to Pomona and not go to LA.) They should go to the La Brea tar pits. They should go to the Norton Simon in Pasadena which is more interesting and ‘do-able’ than LACMA. They should go to the Getty when, and only when, the garden is in bloom. They should see Venice Beach. They should just drive around through LA and ponder its weirdness. They should also go to Joshua Tree and hike, rock climb, get dehydrated, and call it a spiritual experience or whatever. 12345 Local Atmosphere Report

Anonymous says:

The other four colleges of the... The other four colleges of the Claremont Consortium are all within walking distance and drastically expand the social horizons of what would otherwise be an exceptionally small social group. The town of Claremont that immediately surrounds the colleges does not have much to offer students other than a few good places to eat. Fortunately, the college is near the mountains and a network of hiking/mountain-biking trails that provide plenty of opportunities for recreation if you like those types of activities. Also, the colleges are close enough to LA if that is more your style, as long as you don’t mind fighting the infamous Inland Empire traffic. 12345 Local Atmosphere Report

Anonymous says:

Now that you are living in... Now that you are living in Claremont, this will be a good time to expand your porcelain kitten collection. 12345 Local Atmosphere Report

Anonymous says:

The atmosphere is sunny and sleepy... The atmosphere is sunny and sleepy in Claremont. It’s an upper-class retirement community. Thank goodness we have the other Claremont Colleges with which to socialize. It’s fun to go to Bert and Rocky’s ice cream place, and to browse the tiny shops in Claremont, but everything is too expensive to buy. 12345 Local Atmosphere Report

Anonymous says:

The town sucks! Most of it isn’t... The town sucks! Most of it isn’t geared to college students, despite the fact that we have a significant presence in the town. There’s nothing to do at all. You need a car to seek any kind of off-campus entertainment. 12345 Local Atmosphere Report

Facts

Did You Know?

5 Fun Facts about Claremont:

• Claremont’s median income is $66,547, much of which, judging by the average age of the inhabitants, must consist of retirement pensions.

• Acclaimed pop-artist Ben Harper’s extended family runs an acoustic music store in the Village, and every now and then, Ben will drop in and “kick it.”

• Tired of the kitschy Claremont atmosphere? Just enter the festively-muraled alleyway beside Heroes Bar and you’ll find Nick’s Café, the closest thing Claremont has to subculture. It’s frequented by Celtic-Goth kids, mostly the jobless, 20-something, estranged children of wealthy Claremont residents.

• Claremont is far from a bastion of public art, but you can find a marble statue in the center of town that resembles a caveman playing a lyre, while some more modern fellow looks over his shoulder and a kid and a cat climb in a tree. There are many childrens’ handprints on the back of the statue. The statue was sculpted, on site, a few years back, and the process was one of the major attractions in Claremont for a while.

• Famed rapper Snoop Dogg lives in northern Claremont, and although you may not like his music, he is a solid member of the community. Last year, he volunteer-coached a local sports team.

Famous People from Claremont/Inland Empire:
Sammy Hagar
Ben Harper
Tommy Lee
Steve McQueen
Demi Moore

Local Slang:
“Fo’ Shizzle!” – Actually a variant of “For Sheezy,” which means “for sure,” as in “I’m going to ace that test fo’ shizzle!” Remember, Snoop makes his home in Claremont. (He, at least as far as pop culture is concerned, is the progenitor of this particular phrase, and the entire trend of taking the first consonant of a word, dropping the rest, and adding “-izzle.” Try it, and amaze your friends and families alike. E.g., Hey mo-fizzle! Get on up off my shizzle before I kizzle your izzle!)

“Bra,” as in “what’s kickin’, Bra” – No, not an over-the-shoulder boulder-holder, but rather a SoCal version of “bro,” which is, of course, a popular truncation of “brother.”

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