Golden hour descends on Riverside as seen from the timber bridge atop Mt. Rubidoux. (Luke López) Have a photo that captures the spirit of Riverside? Share it with us and help celebrate the beauty of our community!
Sunday Gazette: May 17, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Sunday! Do you have old photos tucked away somewhere, the kind that capture a moment you still think about? We'd love to help you dust them off and share them with the community. Whether it's a night out at Spanky's with your best friends, a Festival of Lights photo from decades past, or a snapshot from some corner of Riverside history that only you remember, we want to hear the story behind it.
Send us your vintage photos and the memory that goes with them right here. We'll be sharing them with the community in the weeks ahead.
See you tomorrow!
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Thank you to the Subscribers who became paid supporters this week: Tom Bergen, Helga Forster, Peggy Littleworth, and Heidi Swinehart. Your ongoing financial support is vital to our success in serving Riverside with the news it deserves!
When Magnolia Avenue Was Riverside's Showcase of Homes
The horticulturists and entrepreneurs who settled the boulevard in Riverside's citrus heyday left behind a neighborhood and a legacy.
Casa Grande. (Author's Collection)
By 1895, Riverside was considered the wealthiest city per capita in the United States. Most of this wealth came from the growing citrus industry spearheaded by the development of the navel orange. Many of the orange growers built grand homes throughout the city on their citrus acreage. One area where several of these horticulturists were located was near and along the newly laid-out showcase street, Magnolia Avenue. Most of these houses were built away from the street, with trees and shrubs hiding the structures from view. Most of the early photographs and postcards of Magnolia Avenue do not show any of the homes, as they were set back from the street. In the 1893 Riverside Directory, 30 property owners along Magnolia Avenue were listed as horticulturists. Another four were in the citrus packing and shipping industry, and one was an official with the Riverside Water Company. Two more were bankers, handling the capital of these early entrepreneurs.
The first settler to build his home on Magnolia Avenue was George Crawford. Crawford arrived in Riverside in 1875 from Ontario, Canada, one of several family members who relocated from Canada. He built his home in the summer of 1876 on his property at 391 Magnolia. His home was described as one of the best in the area and a showplace for visitors. Situated on twenty acres with a thousand orange trees and a smaller number of lemons, the house was set on a spacious lawn with a semi-circular drive between the road and the house.
Unfortunately, a fire in the early morning of December 18, 1903, destroyed the house. While the family frantically attempted to rescue possessions and put out the fire, the streetcar along Magnolia Avenue came by. The conductor, motorman, and passengers "turned in and worked like beavers, getting furniture out of the house." The family must have rebuilt, as George Crawford passed away in this home on Magnolia Avenue on June 23, 1909. In addition to his occupation as a horticulturist, he served for several years as a director of the Riverside Water Company.
Neighbor of the Week is a series profiling the hidden heroes of Riverside, doing incredible works of service throughout our different neighborhoods.
Darren Conkerite at the counter of Back to the Grind, the beloved University Avenue coffee house he co-founded in 1996. (Brenda Flowers)
Darren Conkerite has spent nearly three decades building something that Riverside didn't know it needed until he opened the doors. A Riverside City College alum who later earned a business degree from Cal State San Bernardino, Darren spent nearly a decade working for the Golden Cheese Company in Corona before a different kind of vision took hold. By 1988, he was spending time in downtown Riverside, drawn to the Mission Inn corridor and the Fox Theater neighborhood. What he saw was a city with character but few places to simply gather. In 1996, he and his partner opened Back to the Grind on University Avenue — one of the first coffee houses in Riverside — and have been at it ever since.
From the beginning, Darren's idea of a coffee shop was bigger than coffee. He opened early and stayed open late, often until midnight in the early years, seven days a week. He made room for open mic nights, book clubs, game groups, and community organizations of every kind — political events, nonprofit meetings, baby showers. The shop became a proving ground for the idea that a neighborhood place could be genuinely useful to its community, not just a spot to grab a drink. That philosophy, more than any single program or event, is what Darren credits for Back to the Grind's staying power.
Now in his fourth decade as a small business owner, Darren still comes in most days. He's known for remembering regulars' orders, for keeping the space open to artists and causes that don't have anywhere else to go, and for the kind of quiet consistency that turns a coffee shop into a landmark. Back to the Grind recently added a 50-seat venue downstairs, hosting magic shows and mentalist performances on a regular schedule — another experiment in what a community space can be.
This week, as Riverside spring tries on every outfit in the closet, we’re turning our attention to a small wall-mounted mood enhancer: the thermostat. Here’s my take on the current season. Heater in the morning. Air conditioning by late afternoon. The thermostat is there for us when weather and our own fashion sense let us down.
A thermostat is simple enough. Keep a space at a comfortable and consistent temperature. The thermostat, credited to Warren S. Johnson (1883), was created because people disliked manually managing temperature 24/7. That fact makes me wonder about how much of my creative energy gets spent managing “my climate” instead of making things?
Creative life has a preferred temperature too. When a creative deadline looms, that’s when I decide I can’t do anything until I’ve put together the right playlist, the right amount of natural light, the right amount of hydration. With a little effort, I can remove the creative output altogether and just recalibrate my artistic thermostat all day.
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