Kim Jarrell Johnson Livres

The Wineville Chicken Coop Murders a horrible 1928 national news story that inspired the 2008 movie The Changeling from director Clint Eastwood are only the most infamous despicable deeds that have bloodstained the rural countryside between Riverside City and the San Bernardino County line. Jurupa Valley has been a region of dark doings and scandalous misdeeds for generations. The city of Jurupa Valley was formed in 2011 from the area's smaller communities, including Wineville (renamed Mira Loma to escape the shame), Pedley and Rubidoux. Buried in its landscape are salacious sagas of unchecked bootlegging, payday orgies and gruesome murders. Author Kim Jarrell Johnson digs deep to disinter the unsavory stories that have traditionally marked her home city as a resting place of enduring infamy.

The vibrant and beloved community of Eastvale was once an agrarian paradise. Developed initially as ranchlands, this area tucked along the Santa Ana River was transformed by industrious farmers who produced alfalfa and other crops, raised poultry and eventually thrived as dairymen. Eastvale's latest agents of change, however, weren't cattlemen or farmers but real estate agents. Indeed, land developers saw the same potential in Eastvale as the initial ranchers did. Beginning in the 1990s, developers created charming homes and planned neighborhoods for former city dwellers eager to live in Riverside County. Despite the changes, the bucolic ambiance of the bygone era remains. Authors Loren P. Meissner and Kim Jarrell Johnson recount the dynamic changes, important people and exciting events that created Eastvale.