I’ve been working through my bucket list this summer, and right near the top was trekking through a tropical rainforest. In my mind, that always meant at least a plane ride's worth of travel—me in ...

Despite the cacophony, this was just another weekday lunch at California’s last Rainforest Cafe, tucked inside a fluorescent-lit Inland Empire mall, about an hour east of downtown Los Angeles.

It's the only one of its kind in the continental United States. I’ve been working through my bucket list this summer, and right near the top was trekking through a tropical rainforest. In my mind, ...