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.”