Land of Lincoln comes to Pomona via Hollywood

THEY'VE BEEN filming a movie around Pomona in recent days, a Hollywood production titled "The Curse of Downers Grove." I showed up Friday morning in the genteel Lincoln Park neighborhood to inquire and learned the title from a location manager.

"Downers Grove?" I asked. "Shouldn't they be filming this in Illinois?" Victoria Howard was impressed that I knew Downers Grove is a town in Illinois - specifically, a leafy suburb of 50,000 west of Chicago - but as a native of the Land of Lincoln, Illinois trivia comes as easily to me as Pomona trivia.

Howard, whose independent company Film Pomona is finding success luring commercials, TV and now movie filming to Pomona, said the movie began production here on March 10 and will be around town off and on through April 1, for a total of 25 days of local filming. Locations used include homes at 394 Columbia, 380 and 396 Jefferson, a vacant storefront at 1505 S. Garey Ave. (remade into a gym), the Tune Tech garage at 402 W. Holt and the bluff known as Inspiration Point at Ganesha Park.

"It is almost all filmed here. There are only three locations in L.A.," Howard said. "Pomona has that Anytown, USA look. That's what they're looking for."

The Internet Movie Database described the plot like this: "A thriller set at a high school gripped by an apparent curse that claims the life of one student every year, and the student who thinks she's the next victim." Actors include Bella Heathcote ("Dark Shadows") and Lucas Till ("X-Men: First Class"), and the screenwriter is Bret Easton Ellis ("American Psycho").

Homeowners have been paid for use of their homes and put up in local hotels. Productions crews are staying in hotels too. They've also been patronizing Donahoo's, only blocks from the Lincoln Park locations, for fried chicken. (Donahoo's alone might entice them back for extra days of filming.)

With Howard's help, and a change in union rules that puts Pomona within the L.A. zone for overtime purposes, the city has seen an increase in filming in recent months: scenes for the pilot of a TV drama, "The Bridge," and commercials for Progressive, Corona, Dodge and T-Mobile. (A 2011 movie filmed in part in Pomona, "The Politics of Love," sank without a trace, although it's available on Netflix.)

About the only problem the "Downers Grove" production has encountered, Howard said, is that an alley behind the South Garey storefront was too tidy for the filmmakers' taste. "It was too clean. They had to dirty it up," she said. A downtown Pomona artist, known as Erns, was hired to paint temporary graffiti.

VALLEY VIGNETTES:

A comic book store, named A Shop Called Quest, has opened in Claremont at 101 N. Indian Hill Blvd. It's a sister location to a store in Redlands and prominently displays graphic novels and independent comics alongside superhero fare.

Tamales and Tacos, a new restaurant, has taken the place of the former Red Hill BBQ at Grove and Foothill in Rancho Cucamonga.

Julie Steinbach of Claremont reported her wallet lost at the Music Center in downtown L.A. before a play, left her contact information at Lost and Found and was phoned during dinner that her wallet was safe. She was struck less by getting back her wallet (which she had dropped in the parking garage) than by the optimistic attitude at Lost and Found: "Oh, you'll get it back. People here turn things in."

Post-Academy Awards, Nancy O'Dell of "Entertainment Tonight" reported that scenes from "Argo" were filmed at the old airport in Ontario, Canada. Well, as reader Brian U. points out, she had the Ontario part right.

ON MY blog last week: our monthly books discussion, a photo of the Buca di Beppo restaurant's Pope Room, a visit to I Like Pie and the going-away sign in the window of Raku in Claremont, a shop about which I hope to write more soon. But don't delay in visiting insidesocal.com/davidallen.

THE MOVIE "Street Kings" was mentioned here last month after a reader said there was an Upland reference in the dialogue. Patient reader Don J. then had to remind me that he'd sent me information on it in 2008, namely, that the LAPD internal affairs investigator played by Hugh Laurie is said to live in Upland. Don, who lives in Upland himself, attended a press screening of "Street Kings" before its release and asked director David Ayer whether the choice of Upland was deliberate.

"Yeah, Upland's famous for having a lot of cops live there," Ayer said. "Go Upland!"

David Allen writes deliberately Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at david.allen@inlandnewspapers.com or 909-483-9339, check out facebook.com/davidallencolumnist and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.