Page 80 - 2025-2026 Travel Guide to California

MEET GOCAL:
HOME TO THE OTHER ONTARIO
A Southern California Hub for Unexpected Experiences
B Y C A R O L Y N B . H E L L E R
BEER, BITES AND
SCENIC SIGHTS
Greater Ontario,
California
Visitor Information
GO-CAL.org
A landmark service station along an
early cross-country highway. A
brewery specializing in sour beer. A
cycling trail that follows the world’s largest
interurban electric railway.
If you’re drawn to unexpected experi-
ences like these, consider visiting GOCAL
also known as Greater Ontario, California,
nestled between Los Angeles, San Diego,
and Palm Springs.
CONCERT AT TOYOTA ARENA, above; Guest Room
at Aloft Ontario-Rancho Cucamonga, below;
Friends shopping in GOCAL, opposite top;
Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion Car Show, opposite
center; Shopping at Ontario Mills, opposite bottom.
Ontario in California
In 1882, George and William B. Chaffey
purchased over 6,200 acres in Southern
California to create a new city. The Chaffey
brothers, both engineers, built a water
system and founded an agricultural college,
establishing the region’s citrus industry.
They named the city Ontario after their
Canadian homeland.
Road-Trippers’ Landmarks
Not long after Ontario was established,
the United States began replacing its
stagecoach routes with a fledgling
highway system. Route 66, the historic
long-distance roadway that opened in
1926, travels through Rancho Cucamonga,
one of two cities that make up GOCAL, en
route between Chicago and Los Angeles.
To celebrate this early era of American
auto travel, visit their local landmark.
Built as a Richfield gas station in 1915, the
sunny yellow Cucamonga Service Station
has been restored to its 1930s appearance
and now houses a small museum of local
history.
Route 66 wasn’t the only historic
highway to pass through GOCAL. While
lesser-known than the famous “Mother
Road,” the Pikes Peak Ocean-to-Ocean
Highway traveled farther. First envisioned
in 1912, the PPOO was one of the earliest
cross-country highways in the United
States, traversing the nation’s center from
New York to Los Angeles. It brought
motorists through Ontario on the present-
day Holt Boulevard.
78 2025-26 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA