Meet Me In Temecula, So We Can Feed Ducks, Sip Some Wine And Not Fight About Kobe

Two Christmases ago, a ride-or-die Kobe Bryant fan took exception from another user to some Twitter criticism of his favorite player. After much back-and-forth, he suggested the two parties settle this dispute with a real-life fistfight. The proposal was to meet halfway between the Twitter profile locations of the two gentlemen, in a Southern California city named Temecula. The only problem: only one of the two parties was actually in California, and he was the only one who made the trip. Thus, a meme was born.

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A hashtag, fan artwork, rap diss track and more followed. Kobe Bryant was quickly made aware of the beef. The expression “meet me in Temecula” as a (mostly) good-natured challenge to settle a dispute has become such an accepted Twitter shorthand that even Bryant’s Lakers teammate Steve Nash has invoked it.

It appears #meetmeinTemecula is going to continue to be part of the Twitter pantheon; a social and cultural shorthand that a young, media-savvy population will understand and freely reference. But if it’s going to persist, we should really know more about the city itself.

The mayor himself agreed to meet me in Temecula.

I got in my car and made the nearly two-hour trip from the Los Angeles area to Temecula, without really knowing much about the city other than its penchant for attracting agitated Kobe Bryant fans and its close proximity to wine country. I also knew that star fighter Dan Henderson had opened a branch of the legendary Team Quest MMA stable there, and that he and several other UFC fighters were billed as fighting out of Temecula.

So I wasn’t sure what to expect. I anticipated a small city the same as any other, with some nice areas and some bad areas. Probably plenty of places that would be ideal for a fight.

As soon as I hit the exit for the town, however, I was almost immediately struck by two overwhelming attributes: “quaint” and “clean.” The Old Town Temecula exit funneled me past a small post office and into what appeared to be a brand-new plaza with a gleaming, massive, gorgeous city hall, across from which a large, majestic fountain burbled happily. A massive story-high red heart hung directly above the doors of city hall.

The main street was lined with little folksy shops and restaurants. There was a Thomas Kincade gallery just a few doors down from a candy store that advertised chocolate-covered bacon for sale. There were a few storefronts and businesses with needlessly confrontational names — The Gambling Cowboy Chophouse and Saloon, Mad Madeline’s Grill, Art Diaspora.

The only untidy or unseemly thing about Old Town was some intermittent construction. This wasn’t a place to meet someone for a fight, it was a place to meet someone for a chicken sandwich on brioche and a glass of white wine, or just for a few quick pieces of chocolate-covered bacon.

Music was being piped into Old Town Temecula. Cleverly-concealed speakers on the lampposts were subtly transmitting some light dixieland jazz onto the street, at just the right volume: quiet enough so as not to be obtrusive, just loud enough to be noticed if you didn’t happen to be in conversation.

I kept marveling at how spotless the entire area was. The only clutter of any kind was the city’s proclivity to post signs. They really want you to know they don’t abide rollerbladers or any other footwheel menaces. They want you to know that if you park in the wrong lot, you’re liable to be towed. If you’re confused by a bus stop sign, don’t worry: there will be another sign right next to it… a large arrow, letting you know that the bus stops HERE.

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Temecula city hall is only three years old and it sparkles, inside and out. On the day I arrived, Mayor Jeff Comerchero and Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Washington were hosting a youth in government contingent, who were shadowing the members of the City Council during their daily work. Mayor Comerchero asked them to sit in with us as I conducted the interview, meaning I got to have a conversation with the mayor of Temecula while being surrounded by the city’s best and brightest, young adults in crisp business wear and exceptional posture.

I introduced myself to Mayor Pro Tem Washington, and his eyes lit up. “Let’s go to Temecula!'” He was familiar with the situation, if unclear on the precise nomenclature.

“Personally, I found out about it when I went home and my 25-year-old son told me about it. I’m not a… Twitter? What’s that?” He laughed, as did the assembled youth in government representatives. “I have [Twitter] on my phone, but I’m not big on [social media]. Facebook, a little bit more.”

“My initial reaction was, ‘Really?’ The old story, ‘Call me whatever you want, just call me.’ Any publicity is good, but I’m not sure there’s any sense to [#meetmeinTemecula].

“I think we’re kind of centrally located. Initially, it was San Diego and L.A. and we’re pretty much in the middle, so it seemed like a pretty logical place, if somebody wanted to fight somebody — which I’ll never be a big proponent of — well, let’s meet in Temecula. They could have easily picked Orange, or somewhere else. I assign nothing to it, really, and I think that was the general reaction [in Temecula].

“It was kind of fun. I thought it was funny. If you asked me, in a perfect world, would I rather see it or not see it, I’d rather not see it. I don’t think it’s a positive for our city, but I don’t think it hurts.”

Mayor Pro Tem Washington added his two cents about the situation. “I don’t even know how Temecula came up in the initial discussion,” Washington said. “I know Kobe was involved in the first #meetmeinTemecula and then the following one involved Steve Nash, but we’re a region — actually a city in wine country that does about $650 million in tourism a year. So that’s a tiny little blip. We don’t need that to put us on the map, but I think it’s kind of amusing.”

BILL HANSTOCK: Do you think the attention has been good for Temecula?

MAYOR COMERCHERO: You know, I think it’s neutral. I really do. I think anyone — except maybe for the participants — sees [the meme] for what it is. I did see the tweet from Steve Nash and I thought it contained language that I really would rather not see associated with Temecula.

I’m not naïve, I know the world, but I think that was unnecessary.

What are better reasons to come to Temecula, other than fighting?

You asked a great question! [laughs] We have a very vibrant tourism [industry], as Chuck alluded to. The wine country is a great attraction. It’s the only wine country in Southern California within a two-hour drive of about 26 million people, so we do get an awful lot of benefit from that. Pechanga Casino and Hotel is an attraction. They have 500 rooms; they announced they’re going to build another 500 rooms, and they’re full all the time. We have golf courses galore, we’ve got shopping galore, so it really is a great place to spend a weekend.

In terms of living here, you might want to ask them [indicating the youth in government attendees], they’re probably not as biased as I am. But it’s a wonderful place to live and raise a family, and work, if you’re fortunate enough to do that.

I’m originally from Brooklyn, New York. I came to Southern California in 1970. There wasn’t a real reason [for coming to California]. I had spent three years in the Army during the Vietnam War and when I got out in 1970, it was like – I wasn’t a New Yorker. In my soul, I’m not a New Yorker – although I love to visit there, now. And so, “Where to live?” So I got in the car and I drove and I almost wound up in Denver, which I thought was a beautiful city, but it was August and it was beautiful and I knew I didn’t want to be there in January. So I just kept driving [and I] wound up on the coast.

What are your own personal thoughts on Kobe Bryant? What’s your NBA rooting interest?

He was a great basketball player. I’m a fan. I don’t spend a lot of time on it, but sure. I can’t get into the Clippers, so there’s still an allegiance to the Lakers, although it’s pretty difficult to be a Laker fan right now.

Overall, would you say Temecula has a leaning in terms of sports allegiances?

Where it shows up most, actually, is in baseball, because there’s some competition for the baseball dollar here. We’re really kind of equal distant between the Padres, the Angels and the Dodgers, and you find some pretty strong opinions.

I am a sports fan. When I was their age and younger, you couldn’t get me off the baseball diamond. That’s all I wanted to do.

What would you like Temecula to be known for, other than a place to meet someone for a fight?

Probably — well, not probably — the highest quality of life you’ll find in the region. And that is very important to us. We do a citizens’ survey every couple of years — a lot of cities do that — and the last one, last year, we found 96 percent of our population was happy or very happy living in Temecula and with the way their city’s run. That’s an incredible report card, and if that’s all we’re ever known for, we will have been incredibly successful.

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But what of Temecula’s rich fighting pedigree? Why have several MMA fighters come out of this city, if not for some yet-unknown penchant for scrapping? Might there be some sort of Temecula-exclusive style of fighting? To get to the bottom of this fascination with fisticuffsmanship, I went straight to the source: Dan Henderson’s Athletic Fitness Center, not far from Old Town. (True to pretty much everything in Temecula, not far from anything anywhere else in the city, either.)

I spoke with Ryan Mcallister, the general manager of Dan Henderson’s Athletic Fitness Center. He’s been a personal trainer for almost 10 years and holds multiple certifications, with a focus on injury prevention and biomechanics. I asked him if he knew about #meetmeinTemecula. He said no, but after I began explaining the situation, it all came back to him.

“Oh yeah yeah,” he said. “It was — who was that? Oh, Steve Nash. I read the backstory on that. Steve Nash was what brought it to my attention. Yeah, that was ridiculous. It wasn’t you, was it?” I assured him it wasn’t me.

BILL HANSTOCK: Do you think that Temecula’s a good place to fight?

MCALLISTER: If they’re trained. I don’t think just random people should be fighting over internet beef. It’s kind of ridiculous to me. Temecula has been kind of a hotbed for professional fighters, mainly because of Den Henderson and Team Quest. If people want to come train and learn how to fight, then Temecula’s a good place to come to. But just random bar fights or whatever… keep that in the trailer parks, I guess.

How did Team Quest end up coming to Temecula?

Dan’s lived here a long time. When he started fighting, things [weren’t] what they are now. They didn’t have these big camps and nice facilities for fighters to train at. He was actually training out of Temecula Valley High School. He’d do his training camps there. As he got bigger, I guess just kinda wanted his own place. So it was just him and some other fighters got together and they opened up Team Quest so that they could have a place to train and do their camps there. With his winning and the success of Matt Lindland and Chael Sonnen… Heath Sims is a guy that really helped get the name on the map.

People started wanting to be part of the winning team, so people would come out here from everywhere. There’s been big, active guys that are doing really well in the UFC right now, like Hector Lombard and Tyrone Woodly, all the way to Kristoff, and a lot of these guys that were popular and still are … a lot of them got their start here.

People who come from outside the state, or outside the country, do they end up liking Temecula?

I think most of them have. A lot of them stayed around, and even a lot of the guys who have left, a lot of them were here for a while. It’s a good place to start.

Is there anything that sets the Temecula Team Quest apart from other gyms?

Well, obviously wrestling. Dan’s a two-time Olympian, you’re not going to find that probably anywhere else. Most people are going to come here and come to this gym to work on their wrestling and work on their wall work. Our coach, Bryan Harper is good at transitioning that into actual fighting. So a lot of people come here to get better at that, because fighting against the cage has become a big part of MMA. And wrestling is always, besides BJJ, probably the biggest base in MMA.

So would you say that if people want to come to Temecula to fight, they’d better be good at wrestling?

No. I’d say if they want to get better at wrestling, then come here. If somebody is a really good striker, but has no takedown defense, they’re gonna definitely want to come here, because that’s what they’re going to learn. You’ve got the owner of the gym, one of the biggest names in MMA, here every day training. He’s also a really good coach. You’re gonna be able to learn from that guy. So if that’s something that they need to work on, this is where they’re going to want to come.

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It won’t surprise you to know that Dan Henderson’s Athletic Fitness Center is new, spotless and lovely. I’ve never seen a cleaner gym.

It would be an honor to get choked out there.

While I wasn’t sure what to expect from Temecula, the city won me over in mere minutes. It’s a charming little town full of exceedingly friendly and happy people. It’s filled with restaurants and art galleries, has every modern convenience you might want, and has no shortage of parks. It is quiet, aesthetically pleasing, close to nature, adjacent to both a casino and wine country, and even has a world-class, state-of-the-art center where you can learn to fight anyone, regardless of their NBA allegiance.

#meetmeinTemecula is, as most memes are, a silly thing, borne of a bit of stupidity, but it actually took me to Temecula, and I’m thankful for that. If you’re in the area, you can meet me in Temecula any time. For a bite to eat, and maybe to go feed some aggressive ducks. I look forward to going back.