Hope From Pomona

For a few years I have, when failing to bring my lunch, walked down Garey Avenue to AJ's ice Cream & Deli.  It's a nothing fancy hole in the wall of a place.  For those preferring to dine in, there's a table inside and a table out on the side walk right across from the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.
I think it's a Mom and Son operation.  For several months I've expected it to go the way of many small businesses and close up shop.  I'm always pleasantly surprised to find the place still in business.  I guess it and Scraps The Cat have a lot in common.  At any rate --
Today I stopped by for a sandwich.  The sandwich menu is reduced to tuna, turkey and ham.  Not so the quality of the sandwich, though.  For turkey you also get cheese, tomato, avocado, jalapenos, lettuce and onion on whole wheat or white.  All for four dollars.  Apparently the mom and son failed to receive the memo saying cut down on quality and for Pete's sake stop being friendly.  Yeah, a couple of display cases are empty and the drink selection is down to Arizona tea and Snapple.  You select your chips, should you want any, from a cardboard box on the counter.  They still sell raspados and tortas and, yes, ice cream.

While waiting for A or J to make my sandwich I shared my pleasure that the place was still open.
"Yeah," A or J replied.  "Last year was really rough.  But now we are seeing some definite changes.  Things are really looking up."
Wasn't it the deceased brother of Joan Baez who wrote a book called "Been Down So Long It All Looks Up To Me"?
In Pomona at the AJ's Ice Cream & Deli establishment things are taking a turn for the better.
That's good news for all of us.
As AJ's Ice Cream & Deli goes, so we hope goes the rest of the economy.
And the sandwich was really good.