Food Isn't the Only Thing Served at the Ramona Cafe
Art Joins the Menu at the Local Cafe
By Johnny McDonald

Artist Richard Derosse works on the mural for the cafe. Photo by Jamey Ritter

Bob Vanderveen joined his wife, Sonja, in the restaurant business 20 years ago and, although, satisfying customers is a vital role, his passion is somewhere in the clouds.

If you haven't noticed, drop by Ramona Cafe and view a sampling of his extensive model plane collection and paintings about aircraft history, mostly from World War II.

He has several copies of paintings done by internationally famous artist Richard Derosse, who did one special mural for the restaurant. Derosse lives in Lemon Grove.

"We had a wall that wasn't doing much," said Vanderveen, who is a board member for the Air Show. "So I asked him if he would put a bunch of historical airplanes on a mural for me."

Before coming to Ramona, Vanderveen said he worked for General Electric. But he met Sonja, fell in love, quit his job and, pointing to the tables, he said, "this is the result."

"I've been flying since I was 6," he said. "I sat on my dad's lap flying his Steerman, a World War II trainer. With my sisters along we'd go up and down like a roller coaster. Later, I got into flying gliders and eventually old fighters and bombers."

Historical planes grace the once empty wall at the Ramona Cafe. Photo by Jamey Ritter

Although the restaurant is his livelihood, he plans on returning to college in pursuit of a career in aviation.

"It's a wide-open field," he believes. "There are positions in transportation safety, management, FFA, airlines, dispatcher... anything around aviation. It may mean traveling, but it is something I wish to fulfill.

As for his collections, he said he has several pieces of artwork by Derosse at their home.

"Every square inch of the walls is filled with art work," he said. And, he has a display case that features flying helmets, oxygen masks and goggles from British, German, Japanese, Chinese and American fliers.

"I believe my huge library of books and models of World War I and II planes is better than some air museums around," he continued. "I built thousands of models. Like that B24 over there that took me the better part of a decade to complete.

Sonja and Bob Vanderveen, owners of Ramona Cafe, in front of the newly created mural.Photo by Jennifer Skinner

"I need to buy more bookcases for my personal library. Many are signed by authors or people who have been written about like Chuck Yeager, Eddie Rickenbacher, aces...on and on."

He owned an ultra light plane for several years. It would go 50 miles an hour but it enabled him to ascend to 8,000 feet.

Combining his passion for aviation and serving great food is an uplifting experience!