Foothill Retail Corridor

Norms (I don’t know why they don’t use an apostrophe, but they don’t) opened Aug 23 in Claremont at the very busy intersection of Interstate 10 and Indian Hill. The restaurant has excellent freeway visibility with an approximately 50 foot “googie saw tooth” sign (in the middle of the picture above). For more about Norms “googie” architecture, check out their website at http://normsrestaurants.com/googie.html.

I stopped by there on a Saturday morning and there was quite a crowd inside and waiting for a table outside. I heard one patron say the wait was 30 minutes.

Norms Restaurant was started in 1949 by Norm Roybark near Hollywood & Vine in Hollywood. Today there are 18 locations all in Southern California. As their slogan says, “We never close.” The chain is still owned by the Roybark family.

Norms Under Construction

In my previous post I listed Los Angeles regional closures and layoffs. While that post indicates a Los Angeles region that is still suffering major job losses, a closer look at the cities that comprise the Foothill Retail Corridor (“FRC”) presents a healthier job situation overall, but with a wide disparity within the FRC communities.

Comparatively, the FRC has a lower unemployment rate (9.3%) than Los Angeles County (13.4%) and California (12.8%), but is closer to the national average of 9.7%. However, the cities that comprise the FRC range from a very low 4.1% in Sierra Madre to a high of 14.5% in Azusa.

Please note that these numbers are from the government and they may not add due to rounding. And, I have no idea how the city of Bradbury can have an employment base of 500 with all 500 employed and still achieve an unemployment rate of 8.1%! As they say, close enough for government work.

Monthly Labor Force Data - July 2010

CDP is “Census Designated Place” – a recognized community that was unincorporated at the time of the 2000 Census.

Source: California Economic Development Department