Loren Feldman lives in New York and spends time in Los Angeles, but doesn't spend a lot of it in the Inland Empire or the eastern San Gabriel Valley. He is, however, obviously familiar with the area - to a point.
Feldman is no fan of Jeremiah Owyang or other self-styled "community managers," so when Feldman heard about Monday's "Community Manager Appreciation Day," his creative juices got flowing and he wrote this.
As part of his comment on the so-called Community Manager of the Year, Feldman wrote:
Mr. Mauran received his award at a gala even held at the Motel 6 in Pamona, CA, who graciously gave the Motel 6 ballroom in exchange for blog posts from attendees.
And no, I didn't send a spelling flame to Feldman for misspelling Pomona. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think he cares how Pomona is spelled.
Since Pomona is in our backyard, I figured I'd see if there actually was a Motel 6 in Pomona. Turns out that there is - on Garey Avenue, right by the intersection of the 60 and the 71.
I even found a Google Maps picture of the motel.
This prompted me to write something of my own on Google+:
After the impressive Community Manager Awards, held in the ballroom of the Motel 6 in Pomona, California (as ably reported by +Loren Feldman - see link in comments), the assemblage of distinguished community managers went to a swank reception at the Pomona Branding & Social Media Appreciation Park (seen on the right of the picture below, right next to the Motel 6). Attendees subsequently attended an informal gathering, organized by the Pomona Police Department and held at Pomona Police Headquarters. After the all night affair, one attendee remarked, "I got to experience the same thing that I do to the sheep - I mean customers."
Then, because most Google+ readers are not familiar with the specifics of Pomona, I linked to an old David Allen story that detailed how the Pomona Library closed, and then reopened with some of the former workers now employed as part-time hourly staff.
It's enough to make a Roman goddess - whoops, gadass - want to cry.
