Palm trees stand silhouetted against a brilliant sunset in Hawarden Hills. (Rosalyn Anderson) Have a photo that captures the spirit of Riverside? Share it with us and help celebrate the beauty of our community!
Monday Gazette: December 23, 2025
Hello Riverside, and Happy Tuesday! Today marks National Christmas Movie Marathon Day, the perfect excuse to queue up your favorite holiday classics at home. Gazette readers have shared their marathon must-haves: A Very Brady Christmas, White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, Polar Express, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Love Actually, and The Holiday. Now's the time to grab the hot cocoa and cozy blankets for your own festive film fest.
The Gazette's 2-person newsroom is on a publishing break through holidays. Regular publishing will resume on Monday, January 5, 2026.
Justin Pardee, Gazette founder and publisher, and Amy López, content manager, take a holiday break. Regular publishing resumes January 5, 2026. (Titus Pardee)
The Raincross Gazette staff is off on an end-of-year break; this will be the last regular issue of The Gazette until we return.
We have new content and newsletters prepared for you throughout our break, but we will not be returning to regular reporting work until Monday, January 5.
This has been an incredible year for The Raincross Gazette. Our subscriber base nearly doubled to over 12,000 readers. Our paid supporting readers increased by nearly 60% to 640 paid members. And most importantly, we published just over 250 original stories to keep you informed and connected to this city we love.
We are very excited about the year to come.
As always, we love to hear from you and welcome your suggestions for our coverage – please email tips@raincrossgazette.com with your ideas.
What we know about our city determines what we believe about it, and what we believe about our city determines its future. Thank you for supporting this work.
A year of momentum brings progress on exhibitions, historic sites, and digital presence as the museum looks toward its 2027 downtown reopening.
Museum of Riverside staff on second floor of Main Museum. (Courtesy of MoR)
The Museum of Riverside hit a milestone Thursday with progress on multiple fronts — from its downtown renovation to digital upgrades — while maintaining record-breaking community engagement.
Why it matters: Riverside's main museum remains closed for renovation until 2027, but behind-the-scenes work is transforming how the institution will serve the community when it reopens.
By the numbers: • 200,000 artifacts and specimens in collection • 25,000 people attended programs this year (a record) • 850 students toured museum sites • 85 volunteers keep operations running
What's happening: The downtown site renovation launched in June with three major exhibitions planned for the 2027 reopening: • I M / MIGRATION exploring Riverside's diverse communities (second floor) • Fast 'n' Fresh on the Inland Empire's fast-food industry legacy (first floor) • Unpacking Our Stories featuring permanent collection highlights (two-story wall)
What's next: Heritage House remains open to visitors now. The Harada House Interpretive Center moved into its next design phase with K+R Design, plus a new documentary is in production with Holden Films.
The bottom line: A redesigned website launched this fall at museumofriverside.org, making it easier to track progress and explore events as the museum builds toward its next century.
Travel + Leisure featured Riverside's Mission Inn Festival of Lights as one of the best holiday light displays in the U.S., highlighting the historic hotel's 5 million lights, animated shows, and free admission that draws visitors through January 6.
Riverside is selling 298 auditorium chairs from the César Chávez Community Center for $35 each as part of facility upgrades, with purchases available starting January 6 through an online reservation system.
A UC Riverside study reveals the Great Recession caused Americans who lost homes or jobs to identify with lower social classes, particularly among those who experienced foreclosure.
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