Moreno Valley
— — the valley that holds the afternoon heat.
Not only on a wall.
“East of Riverside, where the Inland Empire flattens toward the San Jacintos. The Box Springs Mountains hold the western edge; Lake Perris sits to the south. The valley keeps the afternoon heat well into evening, then the dry air lifts and the ridgelines go violet. A working city, plain and warm, with the desert always at the rim of the view.
Moreno Valley, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Moreno Valley sits in western Riverside County, about 65 miles east of Los Angeles, on the eastern edge of the Inland Empire. The city was incorporated in 1984 from the merger of three older communities and now holds roughly 209,000 residents, making it the second-largest city in the county. The Box Springs Mountains rise along its northwest border; March Air Reserve Base occupies its southern flank. The valley floor sits near 1,600 feet, with the San Jacinto range visible to the southeast on clear days.
The climate is Mediterranean leaning semi-arid: long dry summers, brief cool winters, and annual rainfall under 11 inches. July highs sit near 96°F; January lows can drop into the high 30s. The Santa Ana winds push west through the San Gorgonio Pass from October into January, lifting dust off the basin and pressing wildfire weather into the foothills. The air clears after rain, when the San Bernardino crest, sixty miles north, emerges sharp on the horizon.
Lake Perris State Recreation Area sits eight miles southeast, a 2,200-acre reservoir built in 1973 as the southern terminus of the California Aqueduct. The Box Springs Mountain Reserve, on the north rim, holds the giant cement 'M' built by University of California, Riverside students in 1957 and visible across the valley. The Western Science Center, opened in 2006, houses Max the mastodon, recovered from the Diamond Valley Lake basin. March Field Air Museum sits adjacent to the air reserve base.