Here on this newspaper’s Frank Zappa beat, news continues to break, despite the musician having left the Inland Valley in 1965 and this mortal coil in 1993.

Let me round up the latest developments, which touch on Claremont, Ontario, Montclair (sort of) and Rancho Cucamonga. Even in death, Frank Zappa gets around.

In December, I reported that Zappa appeared to have attended eighth and part of ninth grade at Claremont High, which then served seventh through 12th grades, from fall 1953 to late 1954. There is no documentation, although Zappa himself once said in an interview that he’d gone there. A Class of ’68 grad, Murray Gilkeson, found enough ’58 alumni with specific memories of Zappa’s attendance that it must be true.

Persuaded, the Claremont High School Alumni Society, citing “circumstantial evidence and testimony from other members of CHS ’58,” has reversed itself and added Zappa to its website as a “distinguished alumni.”

“The Zappa family did live in Claremont at that time, and Frank would most likely have been in school there,” a message on the site reads in part. “So — we will claim him as our own and honor his memory on this page. I hope the debate will end here and you can post your memories or tributes to an American icon.”

I’m pleased to have played a part in this. And since that decision, more evidence has surfaced: a 1954 yearbook with the young Zappa’s signature.

The yearbooks of Bill Evans, Class of ’58, have been in the possession of his brother, John, another Claremont High alumnus, since Bill went off to the Navy decades ago. After my column, John Evans scoured the boxes in his garage, found the 1954 El Espiritu and was amazed to see, among the classmate signatures, one from Zappa.

He did not wish his friend a “nervous” or “crazy” summer, like some of his hepcat peers, but the 13-year-old’s signature is clear.

“I’ve had it for 61 years and never saw it,” Evans, a retired Ontario Police Department deputy chief, told me. “I was sitting on it the whole time.”

He called his brother to plumb his memory. The Evans family lived on St. Bonaventure Street, around the corner from the Zappa family on Oak Park Drive. Bill and Frank often walked to and from the high school, then at Foothill and Indian Hill boulevards. Think about that the next time you shop at the Trader Joe’s there.

John Evans added: “Did I tell you my brother described him as ‘a skinny Groucho Marx’?”

He attended the next alumni breakfast at the Village Grille to show off the yearbook to the attendees, most of whom had known Zappa. The signature might be the smoking gun — smoking pen? — for outsiders, but it merely confirmed what they already knew to be true.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Jerry Peairs said. He’d had the most detailed memories of interactions with Zappa.

Al Scriven, who hadn’t been at the December breakfast when I conducted interviews, was at this one and also knew Zappa.

“We were side-by-side in art class,” Scriven told me. “You remember Mad? Back in high school, Frank would draw a whole Mad comic, like that! Frank was really weird.”

And that doesn’t surprise me.

I wasn’t convinced this was enough for a column, but my procrastination was rewarded when more local Zappa news came to my attention — this time involving Ontario.

One of Zappa’s sons, Dweezil, found and tweeted photos of two of his dad’s business cards from the early 1960s. (You can see them on my blog.)

One was for F.V. Zappa, “composer” and “master blues guitarist,” with his then-address: 314 W. G St. in Ontario. The other was for one of his bands, Frank Zappa’s Boogie Men, which specialized in rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll, and using the address 422 W. E St. in Ontario.

In other fast-breaking 1960s Zappa news from Ontario, reader Charles Ulrich emailed me in February with a question: Had I ever located a certain bar where Zappa played back then?

“He referred to it sometimes as the Saints and Sinners and sometimes as the Sinners and Saints,” Ulrich said. “Sometimes he said it was in Montclair and sometimes he said it was on Holt Boulevard in Ontario. It was frequented by Mexican laborers: construction workers or orange pickers.”

I’d heard of this bar only because of its Zappa connection but didn’t otherwise know anything about it, including its correct name. For this, I turned to the Model Colony History Room of the Ontario library.

Putting vice before virtue, the name was the Sinners and Saints Tavern. The address was 1315 E. Holt Blvd. in Ontario, giving “The Balanced City” another claim to Zappa fame. The building is gone, replaced in the late 1970s by apartments.

Lastly, let’s turn to Rancho Cucamonga. Zappa owned a recording studio on Archibald Avenue for a year and lived in the rear before his 1965 bust and his subsequent eviction for nonpayment of rent.

The city’s Biane Library gets occasional inquiries about Zappa’s time in town but never had any materials to share.

In December, though, a display case at the library was devoted to wishing the late Zappa a happy 75th birthday. And with some help from yours truly, the library’s history room now has a binder of newspaper articles on Zappa.

The room has reference books about the region, newspaper clippings about incorporation, 1930s photos of Etiwanda, a 1948 aerial view of the future city, a display on the Padre Winery and a digital storytelling station with videos of local residents talking about the past.

And, now, there’s recognition of Frank Zappa, the most famous person to hail from Rancho Cucamonga. Overdue but welcome.

That’s all the latest from the Bulletin’s Frank Zappa desk, manned by yours truly. If this pace keeps up, I may need an assistant.

David Allen keeps up the pace Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Contact david.allen@langnews.com or 909-483-9339, go to insidesocal.com/davidallen, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.

Like the Daily Bulletin on Facebook.