Located on the southeast corner of Grove Avenue and Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga, Red Hill BBQ was opened in 1997 by Diane Price-Cooper and her husband Wendell. / photo by Rhiannon Mim

by Susan Acker
photography by Rhiannon Mim

The aroma of hickory smoke barbecue wafts through the vents of my car as I pull into the Red Hill BBQ parking lot. Warren Price, the owner’s son, is busy barbecuing meat near the tiny building that holds the restaurant—almost the size of a large fruit stand. Plumes of smoke drift toward the sky as he cooks.

As I push through the door covered with flyers and handmade signs, I feel like I am entering another world—a small restaurant somewhere in Texas. A steer head mounted on one wall is decorated with a Dallas Cowboys baseball cap. It almost looks like it is guarding the restaurant.

In the corner behind the cash register, a photo of Tom Selleck looks out at the restaurant from a picture frame. The red tile floor is rustic and worn. An old black typewriter and vintage metal lunch boxes are displayed on a wall. A table set up along the north wall, just under the menu board, is filled with flyers. Picture frames hang on the south wall in an alcove just past the entrance.

The smell of baked beans and pulled pork smothered in sweet barbecue sauce fills the air. Diane Price-Cooper waves from the counter. “I’ll be right there,” she says with a smile so warm I feel as though I already know her. As she weaves her way around the counter, she says we should talk inside, and she sits down at the table covered with a red-checkered tablecloth, moving her chair in as though we are old friends sitting to enjoy a good meal together. Price-Cooper, a former model-turned-housewife, is now known primarily as “the barbecue lady.”

“The best part of my business is the customers,” she says. Originally from Louisiana, Price-Cooper moved to California with her late husband more than 20 years ago. After moving across the country, Price-Cooper says she felt lonely and wanted to meet people. “I loved to entertain,” Price-Cooper says. She says she cooked for everyone who came to her house. Her husband, Wendell Price, told her she was a great cook and encouraged her to open her first restaurant: the Black Tie Barbecue, in Ontario. After many years of success, Price-Cooper opened Red Hill BBQ with her husband. Red Hill combines her Louisiana cooking style and his Texas barbecue know-how successfully, serving the community of Upland for nearly 15 years.

She and her husband worked side-by-side with one of her sons until her husband passed away four years ago. After he passed away, Price-Cooper says her family really “stepped up to the plate.” Her business continued to stay a family operated restaurant. Her cousins moved to California from Texas, and her sister came to help her too. Her cousin Elton Lacour puts it simply: “I came four years ago just to help the family.” Lacour says the restaurant has an old feel that reminds customers of their pasts. He says Price is energetic and a great boss who really cares for her customers.

When Price-Cooper mentions her children Jonathan, Bre’Elle and Warren, her extended family or her customers, her face lights up, and it is evident that she speaks from the heart. When her husband became ill, she was grateful to her family members for their support, but also grateful for the support of her customers.

After her husband was diagnosed with cancer, Price-Cooper was unable to attend an event she was catering and sent her son in her place. The customer who had set up the event asked Warren Price why his mother was not there, and when he told her that his father had been diagnosed with cancer, she helped the Price family get in touch with surgeons at City of Hope in Duarte. “I thank God for that lady who referred me to those surgeons,” Price-Cooper says.

Warren Price, who grew up working at the restaurant, says he loves what he does. “It’s pretty much imbedded in me,” he says. “It’s good working with family. You can trust everybody.”

Glen Holmes, who is not part of the family, but works at Red Hill doing a little bit of everything, says he loves working for Price-Cooper. “She’s a very loving, giving person. She’s a good person to be around. They treat me like one of them.”

Price-Cooper, who says she is from the “old school,” tries to keep the atmosphere and food authentic. On the counter next to the fountain soda machine is an orange plastic cooler with a hand-written sign that reads, “Southern lemon iced tea.” The tea is sweet with just the right touch of lemon, a nice change from the usual sodas found at restaurants. Along the wall above the counter are signs for dishes like hush puppies and black-eyed peas. There is even a line on the menu that gives the price for a whole smoked pig that, according to Price, is one of the more popular menu choices for weddings, parties and graduation celebrations.

Red Hill BBQ also offers a selection of meals for just $3.99. And all of the meat is smoked using wood, not charcoal. Though the food is spectacular, Price-Cooper humbly says it is not her cooking that keeps her customers coming, but rather the customer service offered at her restaurant. She says the best compliment she can receive is hearing someone say “mmmmmmm” when they eat her food. “I have some really faithful customers,” she says.

Although the economy has affected business, things are still looking up for Diane and her family. She says that customers still come faithfully on weekends even if they are not able to afford to stop by during the week.

“It’s keeping my doors open,” she says.

And her customers are not only faithful visitors, but they are faithful when it comes to spreading the word. “I can’t pay for advertising like that,” she says.

“Whether it be the ambiance or the end product, nothing else in the area compares to it,” Rod Rexrode, a customer of 10 years says. Rexrode is just one among many faithful customers who come to Red Hill for the great food, but also for the friendly service and down home, welcoming Southern feel.

Warren Price, son of owner Diane Price-Cooper, usually spends several hours in front of the restaurant smoking all of the meat being served, including pork ribs and chicken. When Price is not helping out at the restaurant, he helps with Red Hill BBQ’s catering events. / photo by Rhiannon Mim

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Piper Super Cub plane owner George Petterson has had numerous hangars at the airport since June of 1960. Since retiring, Petterson enjoys spending time at the airport, cleaning his plane and conversing with other pilots stationed at Brackett. / photo by Leah Heagy

by Susan Acker
photography by Leah Heagy

Kent McCord remembers what it used to be like 50 years ago. Before the landing strip was paved, and when reflectors along the runway had to be lit by a car’s headlights at night so pilots could see to land.

“It was just a heck of a place to have been around,” he says, reflecting fondly on his days of pumping gas at Brackett Field when he was a teenager in the ‘50s.

McCord, an actor, and the former national vice president of the Screen Actor’s Guild, says he has not been back to the small airport for a while, but he thinks about old times every year when he and his wife drive out for the annual Los Angeles County Fair across the street from it.

Brackett Field, which sits on 276 acres of open land in the southeast corner of the city of La Verne, is one of five Los Angeles County-owned general aviation airports, and plays an integral role in the local community as well as with the county and state. Richard Smith, chief of the Aviation Division in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, says Brackett Field plays an “enormous role” in many different ways. Brackett Field is used not only by general aviation pilots, but also by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Pomona Police Department, Mount San Antonio College and the Civil Air Patrol. The County Aviation Commission, a volunteer group of aviation-oriented individuals, who are appointed by the County Board of Supervisors, advises the Aviation Division on airport-related matters.

Brackett Field, named after Frank Parkhurst Brackett, one of the original professors at Pomona College who started working at the college in the late 1800s, has a long, celebrated history. In 1911, Calbraith Perry, “C.P.,” Rogers landed his Wright Flyer Biplane nicknamed the “Vin Fiz,” after the carbonated soda produced by the sponsor of the first across the United States flight, near what are now two parallel runways. Brackett Field originally consisted of a dirt strip cut out of a field in the late ‘30s. The original runway was 2,600 feet of dirt and there was a school for student pilots from Pomona College. Later, the Civil Air Patrol used Brackett Field during World War II, and in 1957 the county took over the airport and has owned it since that time.

Brackett Field, also known as POC—its airport identification code—has a control tower, two parallel east-west runways, and has 125,000 take-offs and landings, or operations, per year. It is the second-busiest airport owned by Los Angeles County, according to Patrick Di Leva, airport project coordinator for the county. Brackett is second in activity to county-owned Whiteman Airpark in Pacoima.

“Everything that happens in aviation typically starts at an airport like Brackett,” Smith says. “Students-in-training are the key to everything.”

McCord, who received payment for his work at Brackett in the form of flying time, has many fond memories of his time at Brackett Field. “We had a dog named Sylvester and he used to be the first passenger of everyone who got their license.”

Jared Fox-Tuck, the airport manager, has worked at Brackett for close to three years with American Airports, the company with whom the county contracts to provide day-to-day operations management at its airports. He says there is a strong sense of community, not only among pilots, but local community members who come out to support the airport and watch the airplanes.

“I’ll walk outside, and there’s always a kid,” Fox-Tuck says. “They really love to come out to the airport; it’s a great motivator.”

“It’s fun for the kids just to see the planes,” says Covina resident Sheri Colina, as she and her children watch the airplanes at the monthly airplane display and car show at Brackett. “It’s something different to do.” As an airplane taxies by, 6-year-old Ian watches and points. Anya, although only 2, seems to enjoy the shade of the tree in the park-like area on the east side of the terminal.

Fox-Tuck says that many local citizens come out every morning to watch the airplanes. Some of those enjoy their time at the airport’s restaurant, Norm’s Hangar, owned by Kathy Touche, a former University of La Verne student. Her father, Norm Nissen, started Norm’s in 1983.

“Some guys come in three or four times a day,” Touche says of her regular customers. She adds that they come for breakfast, lunch and back for pie. Outside on the patio, Touche says that one of the best things about Brackett is the location.

“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it everyone?” she asks her customers with her arms spread. There is a unanimous, emphatic “yes” from everyone on the patio. “La Verne deserves this,” she says.

Pilots like George Petterson and Hal Clark have been flying out of the small general aviation airport for years and cannot stop singing its praises. Petterson, a self-proclaimed “airport bum,” says, “I started when it was a dirt strip when I was going to Mt. SAC.”

Petterson, who lives in Covina, keeps a Piper Super Cub in a hangar on the north side of the field at Brackett. Clark, who worked in the aeronautical industry, keeps his planes in a hangar on the south side of the airport facing the mountains.

“I kind of live out here,” Clark says. “I hardly miss a day out here.”

Like others at the airport, Clark is warm and inviting, offering a seat to look at the mountains from his hangar. The clean, crisp air and clear view—unobstructed by smog that often plagues the surrounding area—is enticing. Such a magnificent view is available in an area that often may be overlooked because of its location between a golf course to the south, the Fairplex to the east, and an industrial park to the north.

But Brackett does not just boast a great view and friendly atmosphere. It also offers a central location to La Verne and surrounding cities.

“It’s an integral part of the state’s and county’s emergency preparedness plans,” Smith says. Tom Short, senior pilot with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, says La Verne benefits greatly by having a county helicopter in its city. “If La Verne had a major incident which required help, we would respond.” The Los Angeles County Fire Department came to Brackett in November of 2007. “It really is a perfect location,” says Anthony Marrone, chief of air operations for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Although the County Fire Department is there for parts of the East San Gabriel Valley that do not include the city of La Verne because of its city-operated fire department, citizens do benefit by having a County Fire Department close by.

Brackett Field is just one of several down-home, county-owned airports. El Monte Airport, Whiteman Airpark, Compton/Woodley Airport and General William J. Fox Airfield are the other county airports. But Brackett offers something special. With a history that started with one of the first airplanes, Brackett Field and the city of La Verne are still flying high into the 21st century.

“It was a great place to have been a part of,” McCord says.

Los Angeles resident Tim Flint, who flew in with three friends for the monthly airplane display, sums it up best. “There are a lot of airports around the L.A. area,” he says, “but this is just comfortable. It seems complete.”

An aerial shot of Brakett Field Airport from the mid-1960s shows the airport with just one runway and little development. George Petterson, who provided the photograph, owned Brackett Aircraft Service Inc. that built the first 40 tee hangars at the airport. / photograph courtesy of George Petterson

Brackett Airport, located in La Verne, offers flight schools, hangars for planes, a restaurant with a view of the planes taking off and landing and a pilot supply shop. The airport had only one runway until the 1980s, when airport traffic increased. The airport is located on the border of San Dimas, next to Bonelli Park. / photo by Leah Heagy

Brackett Airport flight schools offers classes for students both young and old wanting to receive pilots licenses. / photo by Leah Heagy

Hal Clark spends most of his time in his home away from home, a hangar on the south side of Brackett Field. / photo by Leah Heagy

George Petterson is one of many pilots who store planes at Brackett Airport. Petterson received his pilot license in 1953, and went on to receive several others, including his commercial license. / photo by Leah Heagy

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John’s Pilot Supplies, located in Brackett Airport, has been open since 1982. The owner, John Alago, runs the shop alone, and offers a variety of supplies and gifts for pilots and visitors of the airport. / photo by Leah Heagy

by Susan Acker
photography by Leah Heagy

For the pilot who has everything, how about a stationery set made of flying charts? What about an “I’d rather be flying” keychain gift-wrapped in a can? At John Alago’s pilot supply store the possibilities are limitless. John Alago loves airplanes, boats, scuba diving and people, and he has turned his love of flying and his love of people into John’s Pilot Supplies, a business that he has run out of La Verne’s Brackett Field Airport since 1982.

Walk through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors of the terminal and there is something unique about this 1950s building. What is most eye-catching is the shop to the left of the terminal entrance. Flight jackets hang against the glass wall and model airplanes hang from the ceiling of the store. John’s Pilot Supplies is not like other pilot supply shops. From flying pigs to model P-47 Thunderbolts to airplane tires, Alago sells it all. He makes sure that he stocks what pilots need.

Alago walks along the south wall of the shop and points to various products that fill the shelves. “It’s mostly special stuff for airplanes,” he says. “Tires, hydraulics; you can’t use car hydraulics on a plane.” Since products pilots need and want typically are not stocked on the shelves of the local Target, Alago makes sure he meets his customers’ needs. He carries flight charts, flight manuals, pilot test prep books, books of aeronautical terms, protractors used for navigation, special lights, and just about everything else needed by pilots and aviation enthusiasts.

“John is great at remembering individuals, and he’s a fun guy who’s happy to be providing such a great service to the airport and the aviation community,” says Airport Manager Jared Fox-Tuck. “To be able to run over to his shop and grab something is extremely beneficial to the airport and to pilots in the Southern California area. He’s really an attribute to the airport. I’m always happy to see John when I come in.”

Alago made up his mind a long time ago that he was going to follow his passions, and he did just that when he bought his airplane. But Alago is a practical man and says he bought the plane to help him with one of his former businesses. He owned two gas stations, one of which was in Parker, Ariz. He used his plane to fly back and forth from California to Arizona so that he could check on his gas station.

Alago has a history of seeing needs and meeting them. In 1982, he saw a need for a pilot supply store at Brackett Field that carried products specifically for pilots.

“This is how I opened this place,” Alago says. “I got rid of the gas stations and jumped into this here. I did everything. I never did stand around and let grass grow under my feet.”

Alago began flying in 1950, but he ran out of money. In the Korean War, he was a paratrooper. “I jumped out of really good airplanes,” Alago says with a chuckle. “That’s the closest I could get to the airplanes because I couldn’t get in the Air Force.”

After the military, Alago spent three years at Mount San Antonio College and then worked for Los Angeles County driving trucks and operating heavy machinery. Not long after he started working for the county, he saw a need.

“I always get into unusual businesses,” he says as he recalls Jimmy John’s, the lettering and embroidery business he owned and operated for more than 12 years. “I hope I can find it,” Alago says as he shifts through papers in his filing cabinet. “Here it is,” he says as he sets the yellowed telephone directory ad for his former business on the counter. He later added scuba diving to his business.

“John has been one of the stability points of the airport,” Fox-Tuck says. “What John adds to the airport, it’s more than just pilot supplies. It’s a consistency of knowing that John’s there. People come from airports all around to pick up pilot supplies and aircraft parts. If John doesn’t carry something, he’s willing to find it for you. He’s got a lot of collector’s items and gifts that other pilot shops don’t have.”

Alago carries toys because he knows that eventually the pilots who shop in his store will have children.

“Pilots, you know, sooner or later they’re going to get married and I’m going to get them right here with the toys,” Alago chuckles as he points to the vast display of everything from authentic balsa wood model airplanes to battery-powered toy planes and die-cast model planes. “We don’t carry bears and dolls,” he says with a smile. No, this store is strictly airplanes. And the key chains with cloth tags at the front counter say it all with short messages like “Remove before flight,” and “I love flying.”

John and Marie Wheeler of Glendora visited the shop on a Saturday morning after finishing breakfast at the airport’s restaurant, Norm’s Hangar. They stopped in to look at what Alago had that was related to World War II.

“I’ve always been a WWII history buff,” John Wheeler says. John and Marie Wheeler said they enjoyed the atmosphere of the store and that they will be coming back.

Alago recognizes that his services are important to those at the airport and to those who come from other areas. “I’d like to get another day off, but people don’t like when I close Sundays,” he says smiling. He runs his store Tuesday through Sunday. “If you don’t like what you’re doing, you’re not going to do well. I like the airplane business. I like being here. I’m getting too old to start something else. If I sell it, what am I going to do? Go home and watch the tube?”

Airplane oil filters, clothing patches and balsa wood model airplanes are just some of what John Alago sells at his pilot supply store. Most of what he offers is geared toward the interest of pilots and aviation enthusiasts. / photo by Leah Heagy

photo by Leah Heagy

photo by Leah Heagy

photo by Leah Heagy

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Susan Acker, Editor in Chief

My sister Margo and I piled into the station wagon, holding a green bean casserole and pumpkin pie on our laps. We were ready to go, heading from our home in Temple City to Grandma and Grandpa’s house in La Verne for Christmas.

Grandma always seemed to know when we would arrive because she was always waiting in the driveway. My sister and I would jump out of the car and run to give her a hug. Their home always looked the same. The rosebushes in the front yard and the trees at the curb with the orange and red leaves falling to the ground meant it was that time of year.

Before we knew it, the moment had arrived – it was time to go outside! Mom gave us the okay and we flew out the door, running to the sidewalk. Suddenly, there he was – Santa Claus, in all his glory – on the La Verne fire truck. We were so excited we could hardly stand it. He threw us candy and waved to us, smiling his usual jovial smile.

For me, La Verne is a place with fond memories of visiting my grandparents for the holidays and on weekends. It is where we would get to see our cousins who came to visit from far-away Northern California. It is a place where everyone came together. La Verne is also the place I met Clover for the first time.

As we drove to my grandparents’ house one day, something seemed different. Mom did not pull up to the front of their house. Instead, she parked in front of a neighbor’s house. Margo and I had no idea why we were there. When we walked inside, I saw him. He was the size of a large hamster, with charcoal grey fur and white paws and a tuft of white fur on his little chest. And we were going to take him home. Clover, our cat, named for the day he was born, St. Patrick’s Day, was another of my favorite memories of La Verne.

But my favorite memories are the long walks Margo and I used to take with Grandma and Grandpa around their neighborhood. Grandpa used to tell us about the orange groves that used to be where all of the houses are. Margo and I collected leaves on the ground as we walked. It was always so beautiful.

Although those memories are a part of my past, I am making new ones in La Verne. This year, during the University of La Verne’s Homecoming Weekend, Mom and Dad and I walked through the street fair in Old Town La Verne. And this is where so many of my new friends are. I never thought I would come back to a city I grew to love so much as a child. It’s funny how life does that. The good things in life always have a way of coming around again.

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