John Weeks wrote humor for The Sun for most of his 45 years associated with the newspaper. He took himself about as seriously as he took most of his subjects, which is to say not very.
“I think I can make a fairly decent argument that air guitar started with me,” he mock-boasted in 2011, recalling how in 1956 he jumped up and down and strummed an invisible guitar while listening to a neighbor kid’s Elvis record of “Hound Dog.”
In 1984, decrying the Inland Empire’s low tourism profile, Weeks observed: “Souvenirs can tell an awful lot about a place. Maybe that’s why the Inland Empire doesn’t have an awful lot of souvenirs.”
Weeks retired in 2013 and, as you may have read, died July 8 at age 75.
There was a memorial for him Saturday in San Bernardino, hosted by the Historical and Pioneer Society. I counted 36 people in the audience: friends, long-ago co-workers, a former mayor and a few readers who’d never met him but wanted to be there. That’s a tribute in itself.
People rose to tell stories, starting with Nick Cataldo, a history writer for our newspapers, who devoted a recent column to him.
John Weeks, whose career at The Sun spanned 45 years before his retirement, died July 8 at age 75. His lighthearted columns and feature stories were popular with readers. (File photo)
Cataldo said Weeks started at The Sun in 1968 at age 19, left to attend college at UC Riverside and England’s Birmingham University and returned later in the 1970s.
“He absolutely loved, loved his job,” Cataldo said. “He loved it so much, he was crowned the Inland Emperor.”
Someone in the audience called out a correction: “He crowned himself.”
That’s true. Weeks’ theory, often expressed, was that anyplace that called itself the Inland Empire needed an Inland Emperor. He nominated himself for the role and occasionally issued rulings via his column.
At The Sun, he started out in a more serious vein, writing obituaries alongside another youngster, Rosemary McClure, before becoming a news reporter. Most of his career, though, was spent in the features section, where he was a writer, and later the section’s editor, while also writing a column.
McClure, who went on to a career at the Los Angeles Times, was at the memorial. I asked her what Weeks was like.
“Crazy,” McClure said fondly. “Very funny, chatty, smart. He did a lot. I’m surprised he stayed here as long as he did, that he didn’t go somewhere bigger.”
Former Sun reporter Theresa Walker writes a message in memory of John Weeks at his memorial service Saturday. On display are copies of Weeks’ books and a vase of sunflowers, Weeks’ favorite, from his girlfriend, Lee Waugh. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Weeks was an Oklahoma native who embraced San Bernardino. He saw rock concerts at Swing Auditorium in the 1960s and ’70s, cruised E Street and researched fast-food history, all subjects of his later writing.
Steve Portias recalled Saturday how, in latter-day drives along E Street, Weeks would point out what long-gone businesses had stood where. Weeks made a point of patronizing local restaurants and, with Portias and Cataldo, local bars like The Mug and The Red Fox.
“There were 33 bars we hit,” Portias said. “Over two years, not all in one night. We even went to the Screaming Chicken. That’s about as low as you can get.”
Weeks’ great-great-grandmother, Ellen White, co-founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She was against eating meat and drinking alcohol and in favor of moderation. Needless to say, Weeks was not a strict adherent, although he made faltering attempts.
“He was a vegetarian, basically,” his friend Harold Leo said. “Except when we went to Dodger games. He would eat probably five hot dogs.”
At the office, Weeks tried to keep things light despite the pressure of deadlines.
John Weeks made this pencil drawing in 2007 of the Sun features staff at the time. Weeks, then the editor, is in the front row in glasses, beard and tie. Columnist Michel Nolan is second from left in the same row. (Courtesy Jerry Rice)
In The Sun newsroom on Friday nights, Weeks would pass around a paper menu from a Thai restaurant, collect orders and cash, phone in the order and go pick it up himself, then-assistant features editor Jerry Rice told me.
Weeks was, Rice joked, “our DoorDash delivery guy before DoorDash was a thing.”
In the 2000s, Weeks’ domain extended to the Daily Bulletin in Ontario after the two papers’ features staffs combined. For meetings with his Ontario staff, he always brought a box from Yum Yum Donuts as a token of appreciation.
We never worked together directly, but we always exchanged friendly greetings. Laidback and genial, he struck me as a boss who would relieve tension rather than cause it.
Diana Sholley recalled that when she was having problems with another editor, Weeks gave her a gag gift: a “red alert” buzzer that issued a profane warning.
A novelty buzzer was about as technical as Weeks got.
At work he would ask IT for help frequently, even for a simple reboot. He apparently never owned a computer himself, instead relying on the ones at the San Bernardino Public Library.
In retirement Weeks bought a smart TV, quickly decided it was smarter than he was and gave it away, friend Lyn Killian said.
When he gave a talk about his book of vintage Inland Empire postcards, rather than do a slideshow, he held up postcards.
“Only John could do a program about a picture book without any pictures,” Mark Landis said.
Nick Cataldo speaks at the start of John Weeks’ memorial service Saturday at the Historical Society meeting hall in San Bernardino. Cataldo organized the event for his friend, a former Sun journalist, who died July 8. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
The best-known of Weeks’ seven books is “San Bernardino Bicentennial 1810-2010,” a coffee-table history published by The Sun. The 200-year celebration fell short due to budget problems, but its “capstone” was the book, which “was really magnificent,” then-mayor Pat Morris recalled Saturday.
Coincidentally, someone at City Hall gifted me a copy on July 9, neither of us knowing yet that Weeks had died the day before. It really is a good book.
They remember him at the restaurant Sushi Miguel’s Style. Killian said she broke the news of Weeks’ death to the staff last month. As she settled down for lunch without him, a server approached and asked tearfully: “Do you mind if we set a place for John?”
Related Articles
Good times are back at Art’s Bar and Grill in Riverside with new owner
Women’s rights pioneer Jane Block feted on 95th birthday in Riverside
When TV’s ‘Mannix’ roamed winery ruins in Rancho Cucamonga
In 60 years, LA may be as hot as (whew!) San Bernardino
After finding 103 poultry in vacant building, San Bernardino scrambles
They even delivered his favorite, a seaweed salad, and set it down across from Killian in memory of their departed customer.
“He was a great guy, so funny, and such a generous spirit,” Carolyn Schatz, who had a 21-year career at The Sun ending in 2008, told me. “He always paid attention to people’s feelings and tried to make us feel good. He was a one-of-a-kind guy.”
There was heart on display Saturday. But it was fitting that at a memorial to John Weeks, smiles and laughter prevailed.
David Allen writes three Weeks a time, er, three times a week. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on X.
