Temecula Journal: Old Town

entrance to Temecula's Old Town (photo: Francis Levy)

On an authenticity scale Temecula's Old Town, with its gated archway dated 1859, is a little more kin than kind. It rates higher than Sacramento's which is Disney-like, with its souvenir emporia, and less than say Key West's whose legendary depredations still convey a lived-in homey feeling. In Temecula you can partake of chocolate covered bacon at the Sweet Shop and listen to music at the O. T. B. C. or Old Town Blues Club. You can hit Old Town Antique Furnishings. A white-columned structure houses Yoga on top, La Pointe Wealth Management below and a Mexican restaurant called Espadin offering "Mezcal Cocina." The Infiniti Boutique advertising "'Its never too late to play dress-up" is located in the white stucco Hotel Palomar. Old Town even has its own process server, an outfit appropriately named, Rascals. There are empty storefronts which look like they could be either the start of a rash of vacancies or renovations and a kindly waiter at Mad Madeline's reassures you he'll save you a rack if you simply call in when they start serving ribs at 6.  A life-sized sculpture of St Nick is standing out in front of the Thomas Kinkade Gallery. Old Town is California's answer to Dodge, minus the hitching posts and horses, which are really a thing of the past.