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On my visit Wednesday to Riverside’s tiny Newman Park, the Juan Bautista de Anza statue was getting a power wash.
The real 18th century explorer might have wished for such a luxury after another day on the trail. But in this case, his 1940 likeness was getting promised repairs.
The curving relief wall behind him had already been cleaned and polished, with years of hard water stains caused by the park’s sprinklers sanded off.
The improvement is dramatic. The panoramic scene of the expedition heading westward is much sharper, with outlines newly visible.
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Damian Moreno discusses the 1940 relief wall at the Juan Bautista de Anza monument Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Riverside with project manager Jennifer Mermilliod. Repairs to the 1940 monument are underway. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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Damian Moreno discusses the 1940 relief wall at the Juan Bautista de Anza monument Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Riverside with project manager Jennifer Mermilliod. Repairs to the 1940 monument are underway. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
“I can see it so much better now because of the cleaning,” marveled Jennifer Mermilliod, the project manager, as we stood in the park.
It’s a privately funded effort by Beautify Riverside. The goal is to improve the monument, located at 14th and Market streets, that in the 1940s was a huge source of pride for Riversiders but gradually became neglected.
The monument, a WPA project, paid tribute to the explorer who in 1774 was the first outsider to visit the area as he sought a route to supply California’s missions.
It’s been the subject of a couple of previous columns. The lagging fundraising got a major boost when a former resident, businessman Fritz Duda, contributed $100,000 and also pledged to match up to $100,00 in local donations. In other words, every $1 donated becomes $2.
Beautify Riverside has raised $50,000.
“We have two months left to raise the other $50,000,” co-chair Philip Falcone, a city council member, informed us.
Donations may be made to the Riverside Arts Council, 3700 6th St., Riverside, CA 92501 with “Beautify Riverside” in the memo line.
The plan is to take out the grass, install native landscaping and walking paths, remove the incongruous athletic monuments and install interpretive plaques about de Anza, Riverside’s 1940s obsession with him and the perspective of Native Americans.
But Duda’s $100,000 outright donation is enough to fund the statue and relief wall repair. The Spectra Co., a historic restoration specialist based in Pomona, is doing the work under Mermilliod’s guidance.
Work began Oct. 27 and should continue through November, with possible delays due to the predicted storm.
Cracks and missing chunks from the pedestal and wall will be repaired, with the color matched as closely as possible, Mermilliod said.
Both edges of the relief wall have severe cracking, as does the statue’s pedestal, but Spectra can repair them and stop the deterioration, she said.
The statue itself is in good shape. And after Wednesday’s power wash, de Anza looked a bit brighter.
But you know what happens whenever you wash your car or your statue. It rains.
Peace out
Speaking of Riverside history, the Peace Tower is among the most-photographed features on Riverside’s Mount Rubidoux. Erected in December 1925, the tower is nearing its centennial.
An exhibit on its creation and history, “On Peace and Friendship,” opens Sunday (Nov. 16) at the Mission Inn Museum’s new space, 3598 Main St., with a reception from 1-4 p.m. See you there?
Riverside (cont’d)
Last week saw me at two events in the city, neither of which I had space to write about. Rather than let my notes go to waste, I’ll stick with today’s Riverside theme and keep typing.
Fairmount Forward
A Nov. 3 community meeting at the Armory was about a master plan for Fairmount Park, the city’s largest, at 280 acres, and best-used. I go to the park myself now and then for a walk.
“It’s a beautiful park. We don’t want to make drastic changes,” Pam Galera, the city’s parks and recreation director, told us. “But we feel making a few improvements will help.”
Among them: a new bandshell, a two-level parking structure by the tennis courts, a “river walk” feature along Market Street on the park’s eastern edge and terraced steps between Lake Evans and the boathouse.
What might be most disruptive would be changes to the interior roads and to the entry off Market. A consultant called the entry “confusing.” He is correct.
While the addition of pickleball courts and upgrades to the Armory are funded, other elements are quite a ways off. A chart labeled “probable costs of construction” listed items that, in total, approach $36 million, for which there is currently no funding source, Galera acknowledged.
With a plan in place, she said, funding can be sought from city coffers, grants, donors and naming rights.
Fairmount Forward, as the draft plan is named, will head to the Park and Recreation Commission and the Cultural Heritage Board for review.
’60 Miles East’
An exhibit at the Riverside Art Museum has an unusual focus: the city’s punk music scene of the 1990s.
Titled “60 Miles East,” the show pays homage to such venues as UC Riverside’s The Barn, Spanky’s Cafe and Corona’s Showcase Theater, where young people assembled to hear local bands.
Lovingly presented are concert posters, band T-shirts, concert photos by exhibit co-curator Zach Cordner and a small collection of show flyers, many of which have small hand-drawn maps to the location.
The show’s reception Nov. 6 was packed and ultimately saw a reported 1,200 people. Many were veterans of the scene, now middle-aged, and not typical RAM visitors.
Travis Barker, the Blink-182 drummer who spent the late 1990s in Riverside and who is married to a Kardashian, contributed memorabilia and attended, a nice gesture of solidarity.
The scene encompassed punk, ska, reggae and metal. Although well-known bands occasionally performed here, Riverside is far enough from L.A. to have felt like a world apart.
That distance led to the exhibit title, “60 Miles East.” Said co-curator Ken Crawford: “When you’re at the 60/10 interchange in downtown L.A., the first sign says ’60 Miles to Riverside.’”
brIEfly
Beverly Wingate, who died Nov. 6 at 94, was woodworker Sam Maloof’s second wife. But the longtime Riversider was a founding member of California Citrus State Historic Park, the Mission Inn Foundation and the Riverside Land Conservancy. She envisioned and co-designed the water-wise Maloof Discovery Garden on the Alta Loma grounds. Her life, son Todd said, was “always in service of the greater community.”
David Allen lives to serve Friday, Sunday and Wednesday. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, and follow davidallencolumnist on Facebook or Instagram, @davidallen909 on X or @davidallen909.bsky.social on Bluesky.
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