47 Things to Do

The “Claremont bubble” is about to burst.

We’re talking about the notion that students here tend to stay near campus and don’t take full advantage of all the opportunities that the Los Angeles Basin has to offer.

In his inaugural address, President David Oxtoby called on the College to build a stronger connection to Southern California. “We need to know our region better, and Los Angeles needs to know Pomona better,” he said. Oxtoby asked students, faculty and staff to come up with a list of 47 things every Pomona student should do in the Los Angeles area before he or she graduates.

A committee of three students—Kenisha Dilliard ’05, Allison Don ’05 and Alex Jakle ’06—pored over ideas and asked the Pomona community for input. Politics Professor David Menefee-Libey served as an adviser. Alumni fired off 200 e-mails with suggestions. “The best responses probably came from alumni who live in the Los Angeles area,’’ says Jakle.

The committee tried to strike a balance between “things that had to be on the list or there was going to be a complete uproar” and more cultured choices such as the Disney Concert Hall, according to Jakle. His own picks reflect that balance. He lobbied for the Huntington Library and Gardens, but he also wanted In-N-Out Burger on the list. “I really believe that if you’re going to be in L.A. for four years, you have to eat at In-N-Out,” he says.

So here, in no particular order, are 47 things every Sagehen should do in order to complete his or her Southern California experience before—or, for that matter, after—graduating from Pomona College. See the entire list.