I stayed at the Comfort Inn during my son’s recent graduation from Pomona College in Claremont, California. All the local hotels including the posh Casa 425 in the haughty Claremont “village” were fully booked.  Baby Boomer parents and attending alumni along with their highly intelligent sons and daughters clogged the many fine dining establishments near campus and talked foodie talk and global economics while waiting for their Belgian microbrews and perfectly rare Back Abbey burgers. The suburban swank of Claremont is a sharp contrast to the ethnic/ Hispanic buzz of Pomona, sort of like the aged gouda cheese on my burger. As I drove to my hotel on South Garey Avenue in Pomona, it was a little like crossing the border into Tijuana. Dont get me wrong, I liked the more authentic environs and  lower middle class neighborhoods mixed with Mexican restaurants, bakeries, hair parlors and tire shops.  The Comfort Inn Pomona is a bastion of safety, security and working air conditioning. They say they took a 100 year old winery and converted it to the present well kept property. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any barrels or left over bottles of wine. The rooms are very decent, even spacious. The staff is kind. The complimentary breakfast forgettable. Who really need a sausage patty and a stale bagel when you have authentic taquerias and panaderias all around you? To be fair, it gets a little spicier at nite and on weekends, and I did see two guys wearing bandanas spray painting traffic signs with what appeared to be gang symbols on my way to the CVS right next door.  I dont think they were Pitzer College students doing an art project or working on their final thesis but I could be wrong. I also dont think they were interested in my large bag of Cheetos and Flaming Doritos, but I would have been willing to share. Regardless, the price was right at the Comfort Inn and I would stay there again. It took me only 10-15 minutes to get to Claremont where the bandanas were conveniently replaced by mortar boards and sad/happy just graduating college kids.