• What Is a Wildomarian?

Thou art thyself, though not a Wildomarian.

What's a Wildomarian? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man.

(apologies to W. Shakespeare)

I’ve lived in SoCal my entire life. I was born in Riverside and spent my spent early years in the IE. My dad owned a motorsports dealership in Corona and that’s where I first heard the word:

 Wildomar 

I had to have been 18 at the time (1983ish), and one customer, that stood out, came from Wildomar. I remember asking him where Wildomar was, and he really didn’t like having to deal with a kid (me) asking such stupid questions.  He grunted out that it was "near Lake Elsinore."

This was a serious man, though he dressed like he’d just got done plowing the north forty. He’d been one of my dad’s steady customers for a few years. Always bought ATVs from us, back when they only had three wheels. 

Mr. Wildomar

One year he thought he had an agreement that:

the first of the new model would go to him and his family

(he’d get at least three at a time if I’m remembering correctly). 

Who knows what happened, but something soured the deal. Though he did get his ATVs when he came for them, he was incensed that someone else got one the day before. He vowed to never do business with my dad again, and took his business elsewhere. That’s the last any of us heard from him, and it helped forge my opinion of what a Wildomarian was. A Wildomarian was/is a no nonsense person.

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Today I met another

 Wildomarian 

with the same kind of ‘no nonsense’ grounding. 

I stopped by the flower man on Grand and while getting flowers for my wife, told him about my new blog and asked if I could profile him in it. He lowered his eyes a bit, shook his head slightly and said “No thank you.”

I was a little taken aback as he continued. He told me he’s busy enough already, and that he doesn't believe in such things (either advertising or the internet in general, not sure). He was nice, and told me it was nothing personal. He then mentioned something about the city and codes, in somewhat unflattering tones, about having enough parking spaces or not (he’s on a dirt lot) I didn't push him.

Out of respect for him, I've left out the name of his business here, 

but my wife likes the flowers just the same. 

If anyone has need of some very reasonably priced flowers,
he’s pretty easy to spot.