Relive your college days ― only this time at the campus you wish you'd gone to. Whatever your fantasy, the six Claremont Colleges can provide the setting.
With its stately lawns, Pomona College feels like the East Coast, while at liberally green Pitzer, you could be in the Bay Area. And Mediterranean-style Scripps lets you pretend you're an exchange student in Italy.
Explore the campuses, examine the schools' famous murals, and take a break where the students do. Then walk a few more blocks to Claremont Village for shopping. And to feel even more like a student, forget your car and come by train; Metrolink (zoned fares from $4.50; 800/371-5465) stops right at the Village.
Favorite murals
What: Prometheus by José Clemente Orozco; The Flower Vendors fresco by Alfredo Ramos Martinez. When: Open Mon-Fri. How much: Free. Where: Frary Dining Hall at Pomona College and Margaret Fowler Garden at Scripps College; 909/621-8000.
Pomona College Museum of Art
When: 12-5 Tue-Fri, 1-5 Sat-Sun. How much: Free. Where: College Ave. at Bonita Ave.; www.pomona.edu/museum or 909/621-8283.
Folk Music Center
What: Dulcimers, banjos, sitars, tablas, harps, and hundreds of other acoustic noisemakers. When: 10-6 Tue-Sat, 11-4 Sun. Where: 220 Yale Ave.; www.folkmusiccenter.org or 909/624-2928.
Claremont Fine Arts
What: California regional painters of the '30s through the '50s, such as former Scripps art professor Millard Sheets. When: 11-4:30 Thu-Sat or by appointment. Where: 206 Yale Ave.; 909/624-5078.
Walter's Restaurant
What: A Claremont institution. We love the Friday and Saturday night Afghan specials, especially anything flavored with cardamom. When: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. How much: $$. Where: 310 Yale Ave.; 909/624-4914.
The Grove House
What: A Pitzer sandwich shop in a landmark 1907 house with gorgeous palm gardens. Try homemade cookies and fresh limeade. When: 9-4 and 7-11 Mon-Thu, 9-4 Fri, 12-3 Sat, 7-11 Sun. How much: $. Where: On campus, east of Mills Ave.; 909/607-3654.
Info: The city of Claremont is 35 miles east of downtown L.A. via I-10. Take the Indian Hill Blvd. exit and head north to First St.
