San Bernardino now, staying downtown. It’s the 2nd biggest city in the Inland Empire (or IE for short), a cluster of cities with a population around 4.5 million, and is the inland part of the Los Angeles-Riverside-Anaheim megalopolis that sprawls across Southern California.
It’s remarkable that despite being home to such a large population, the IE is pretty much an unknown (to me, at least) Other than David Lynch’s film Inland Empire, and an essay by Joan Didion, I can’t think of TV shows or books set in the IE, compared to LA and even the OC. I had really only heard vaguely of Ontario, and only because it shares the name with the Canadian province.
Downtown San Bernardino is in a literal desert (the IE is much drier and hotter since it’s far away from the coast) and it’s a food desert, too: the nearest grocery store is a 20 minute walk from where I’m staying, but there are plenty of fast food restaurants and convenience stores nearby. Getting fresh fruit wasn’t easy or cheap.
It’s also clear the city is a shell of its former self. Downtown is full of boarded up storefronts, and the sidewalks are deserted. Oddly, the roads are full, and Starbucks is doing great. But it has a drive through.
I’m very tired and sore; more to come tomorrow when I start the walk, and hopefully I’m feeling normal by then.
Also please feel free to comment! Do you know of appearances of the IE in pop culture? Please share!
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