After 65 years, Mr. Milk Bottle is empty.

The former drive-thru dairy, a mainstay of Pomona since 1960 at 1533 Indian Hill Blvd., was demolished in September. It’s now Mr. Vacant Lot.

The jaunty pole sign at the curb is how many of us knew the business.

Dressed in formal wear, an anthropomorphic milk bottle smiled at motorists. He doffed his top hat to us with one hand and, with the other, pointed toward the entrance with a thin cane.

Mr. Milk Bottle was one of the silliest and most charming business signs in the region. He was the Mr. Peanut of Pomona, only sans monocle.

Thomas Hauser worked at Mr. Milk Bottle from 1968 to 1973.

“They bottled milk on the premises,” Hauser, a retired firefighter who lives in Upland, told me Tuesday. “We picked up raw milk at the dairy.”

That’s far m

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