Joe Baca: “this year we celebrate California's 150th anniversary of the state's admission to the union. The 42nd Congressional…”

“this year we celebrate California's 150th anniversary of the state's admission to the union. The 42nd Congressional district of California has undergone many changes over the years. For many years San Bernardino was the gateway to the Los Angeles Basin, situated on flat land where the route through the twisting, windy Cajon Pass took passengers on the Santa Fe Railroad and motorists on U.S. 66 from the hot and dusty high desert to the greener, tree-lined basin. There were orange groves around the little railroad towns and vineyards to the west; this was an agricultural zone until World War II, when Henry J. Kaiser built the West Coast's first major steel mill between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific lines in Fontana, just west of San Bernardino. In the 1950's Ray Kroc traveled to California upon hearing about the McDonald's hamburger stand in San Bernardino running eight Multimixers at a time. Kroc had never seen so many people served so fast. Kroc pitched the idea of opening up several restaurants to Dick and Mac McDonald. Today the restaurant is an international chain. In the 1990's the region weathered military base closures and realignments, as well as aerospace firm downsizing. But we have rebuilt, and today the Inland Empire has a thriving economy and is projected to be one of the fastest-growing areas in the United States.”