A visit to charming Claremont

My friend Patrice and I went to Claremont for an easy-going Christmas shopping day in December. Places not to miss are Stamp Your Heart Out on Harvard (say hello to Joan), Espiritu on 2nd street, and Barbara Cheatley's (near Starbuck's on Yale) all in the quaint, uptown area. Joan or her staff can also direct you to other fun shops or you can meander up and down the "college streets" on your own. There is a new shopping area a few blocks west of Yale with the Claremont Art Museum gift shop and a number of artists' studios. One in particular was great! A decorated mannequin was standing in the upstairs hallway by the yarn store with a sign that said "Beautiful Crap," so of course we had to check it out. Karen Green is the BC artist and has some wonderful collage pieces in her studio and an alphabet collage display not to be missed. Check the new blog link to meet her and see her work. Claremont was a nice departure from crowded mall shopping and the stores have unique items, ranging from cute to Day of the Dead, and there are a number of places to eat or just have a coffee and relax. I highly recommend a trip to this area -- traffic is OK if you go between rush hours, or on weekends. Just off the 10 freeway, take Indian Hill up the hill and you'll see signs for the downtown shopping area. Yale and Harvard run parallel to Indian Hill, so make a right when you cross the railroad tracks and you'll see them. It took us about 35 minutes from Placentia to reach Claremont at 10 am and the same to return at about 3:30 pm on a Thursday. Be sure to sign up for Joan's email list for updates on Claremont activities and store events.