She sings praises of Riverside, her band’s hometown

This singer with the soul-punk outfit, the BellRays, has a soft spot for Riverside, where the band is based. The BellRays’ last studio album was “Grand Fury” in 2001. Since then, they’ve been crisscrossing the country and Europe nonstop.

Riverside rocks

When it’s not catching all the smog from Los Angeles, Riverside is absolutely gorgeous. We’re 60 miles from everything -- the desert, the beach, the mountains. We’ve got this sandwich place at the UC Riverside campus that’s been around forever called the Sub Station. It’s one of the first things that I miss when we go on tour. I usually order the Big Dude, which is like five different assorted meats with cheese, avocado, lettuce and the secret vinegar sauce on this gigantic, hoagie roll.

Historic city

We also have the Fox Theater, where the premiere of “Gone With the Wind” was shown. This was before Palm Springs existed, so a lot of stars had homes out here. Errol Flynn’s house is about five miles down the road from where we live in Moreno Valley. They’re in the process of renovating the Fox Theater now, but before that, they were doing foreign films, and before that it was a Mexican theater.

And we have this great park, Fairmont Park. The same guy who designed Central Park in New York did this one. It’s like someone came and looked at the area and said, “Hey, this is what a nice park should look like in this part of the country.” They didn’t try to duplicate Central Park.

Strange fruit

Once a year, we’ve got the Orange Blossom Festival, where they have music, food and carnival rides, and it goes on for an entire weekend in April. They have five or six different stages with all types of music. We played it back in 1995, but since then we’ve always been traveling and have missed it. You can find as many oranges there as you’d ever want to eat.

Sandwich spot

In downtown Riverside, there’s a sandwich place and bakery called Simple Simon’s. Right next to it is Mrs. Tiggy Winkles. These two sisters opened them up when downtown had been left to die away in the early ‘80s. They went down there and kept that whole area alive. Simple Simon’s has magnificent sandwiches, cakes and cookies, and this Christmas cookie that’s out of this world. It’s the ultimate chocolate chip, nut cookie. Then, Mrs. Tiggy Winkles is one of those stores that has so much stuff that you can’t even begin to name one type of thing. It’s not a secondhand store either. You’ll find shoes, soaps, toys and all sorts of knickknackery.

Best dingy club

My favorite club in L.A. was Al’s Bar, which closed down awhile ago. That to me was the epitome of the rock club. It just had that ambience about it. Now, I think Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park is a good place. It’s dirty. Rock ‘n’ roll clubs should be dirty. You’ve got people who come out to see shows there and guys who are just there to get their daily drink. It’s not just hipsters, which I like.

-- Adam Bregman