Where ‘All’ Began Sammy Hagar’s roots are firmly planted in the Inland Empire
They say, “If you remember the ’ s, you weren’t there,” but newly minted Hollywood Walk of Fame honoree Sammy Hagar not only remembers the ’ s, but the ’ s as well. As someone who grew up in that same era in Hagar’s hood, the former hometown of America’s biggest steel mill west of the Mississippi and birthplace of the Hells Angels — Fontana — I can attest to the veracity of Hagar’s crystalclear total recall.
Now a bustling metropolis (well, bustling mostly with logistic centers aka shipping warehouses,) back in the ’ s Fontana had a population of just under , and Kaiser Steel had a payroll of about that same number. It was more “Deer Hunter” than “Surf ’s Up,” with a richly diverse blue-collar working-class hamlet of transplanted Rust Belt Slovenians, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians as well as Dust Bowl refugees, Black people and Latinos.
The story of the “Red Rocker” Hagar, is the story of a West Coast artist, who may go south to make great tequila, or north to vibe with the ’ s and ’ s Bay Area hipsters or swing west to join the boys from Pasadena in Van Halen, but his soul is Pacific Ocean Blue.
Most important of all, Hagar — whose career not only includes stints in great bands like Montrose and Van Halen and a successful restaurant chain and tequila brand — has roots planted in the soil that once featured bounteous citrus groves, almond and peach orchards and sprawling grape vineyards. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has ample, sharply recollected fond memories of his Fontana (aka Fontucky) youth and his musical coming of age there.
“I loved growing up in Fontana,” says the seemingly eternally ebullient Hagar. “If you think about it, it’s got an incredible location: an hour to the mountains, to Joshua Tree, to the beach, to Hollywood. My friends and I used to pool our gas money and head out to all those places. I loved the mountains in the summer and the desert in the