Bakersfield, California

Latitude
Longitude
35°21'26' N
119°1'54' W

Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield city logo

City nickname:"California's Country Music Capital"|-

County

Kern County, California

Area
- Total
- Water

296.3 km² (114.4 mi²)
3.4 km² (1.3 mi²) 1.14%

Population - Total (1/1/2006)
- Density311,824
843.4/km²

Time zone

Pacific: UTC-8

Mayor:

Harvey Hall

City of Bakersfield Official Website

Downtown Bakersfield with City Hall and Police Headquarters at left and Hall of Records at right

Bakersfield is the county seat of Kern County, California, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 247,057. The city's economy thrives on agriculture, petroleum extraction, and refining. It is one of the fastest growing of the larger cities of the United States. As of 2006 the population is estimated to be around 312,000 according to local municipal sources. It is California's third largest inland city after Fresno and Sacramento. Top producing area crops include cotton, carrots, table grapes, almonds, pistachios, citrus, wheat, garlic, and potatoes. Local oil fields include the prolific 100-year old Kern River field, the Midway-Sunset field, the former Naval Petroleum Reserve at Elk Hills, the Kern Front field, and the Belridge field.

History

The Yokuts Indians were the first people to settle in the San Joaquin Valley, some 8000 years ago. One source cites the English transliteration of the Yokuts place name for Bakersfield as as Woy Loo. In 1776, the Spanish missionary Father Francisco Garcés was the first European to reach the area. In 1851 gold was discovered in the Kern River in the southern Sierra mountains, and in 1865 the first discovery of oil was made in the valley. The area of Bakersfield was first known as Kern Island and was settled in 1860 by a handful of pioneers in log cabins. The area was subject to flooding as the Kern River, in what is now the downtown area, resembled the flow of a delta, spreading out and branching off in different directions. In 1863, Colonel Thomas Baker, formerly of the Iowa militia, moved into the Kern Island area near what is now Truxtun Avenue and R Street and lived in a log cabin. He was a former California State Senator and had experience as a surveyor. His reputation as being one of the few government officials who was not corrupted by big business preceded him and served him well. He was recommended to survey and lay out the town of Visalia (in Tulare County) in the late 1850's before he moved to the Kern Island area to champion the cause of "reclamation." The area of Kern Island was basically a tule reed infested malarial swamp when Baker arrived. In fact, the Kern River flowed through what is now downtown Bakersfield. Baker also developed a well known habit for being hospitable to travelers. It was well known throughout California and even advertised in San Francisco newspapers that if you took a trip south to be sure to visit Col. Baker and use his field of alfalfa to feed your stock. Baker had grown a field of alfalfa near the present day Amtrak Station for travelers to feed their horses. Anyone who came to "Baker's field" was sure to be treated as a long lost friend. As more families moved to the area, Baker spurred development out of his own pocket by constructing public sawmill's free of charge, helping others to drain land, and surveying. Following a flood on the Kern River which saw the re-routing of the river channel to the north Baker was asked to plot out a new town. When this was done, a ceremony was held to commemorate the town. To his surprise, the people named the town Bakersfield in his honor and Bakersfield was founded in 1869. Baker would die of Typhoid Fever in 1872 and is buried at Union Cemetary. The Kern County seat was moved from the mountain town of Havilah to Bakersfield in 1874 (Kern County was established in 1866) where it has stayed since. Bakersfield has been incorporated twice in its history. First in 1874 lasting until 1876, disbanding in order to fire an unruly City Marshall. Then once again in 1898 and continuing to this day. Currently Bakersfield is governed by a City Council/Manager system of government with a mayor acting as the presiding officer. In 1899 the Kern River Oilfield was discovered at the Discovery Well by two brothers digging with shovels in a pit along the Kern River about one-mile east of Gordon's Ferry, a ferry that took Overland Stages across the Kern River. It is still active today and is one of the nation's highest yielding fields of all time.

Two of the earliest schools founded in Kern County were Mrs. Thomas Baker's school in 1863 at the Baker home in Bakersfield near present day 19th and N Streets, and a Catholic parochical school opened by Rev. Father Daniel Dade in 1865 at the County seat at Havilah.

In 1880 Norris School was established. The land was donated by local farmer, William Norris. About 13 to 20 kids were taught in one classroom during the 1880s. In 1915, the Norris School was rebuilt to accommodate an increase in students. In 1950 the school was torn down and reconstructed and once again in 1980. Today the Norris School District is growing very steadily thanks to extremely fast growing home developments in northwest Bakersfield and is recognized for its quality students and education. However, it is still smaller than the massive Bakersfield City School District, the state's largest elementary school district. The BCSD serves most of the schools on the east side of town. The other main elementary school districts are the Panama-Buena Vista, Rosedale, and Fruitvale School Districts.

In 1893 the first high school in Bakersfield, Kern County Union High School, was opened. It was later renamed Bakersfield High School after World War II. The site at California Avenue and F Street is also the first campus of Bakersfield College (established in 1913) which was relocated in 1956 to its current location overlooking the Panorama Bluffs in northeast Bakersfield. Bakersfield College has a yearly enrollment of between 12-14,000 students. After World War II, the Kern High School District expanded to serve a steadily growing baby-boomer population by building new campuses to serve the students of Kern County. Currently, the Kern High School District has expanded to 18 campuses making it the largest high school district in the state.

The town continued to grow, and reached a population of about 300 by 1869, and 800 by 1871. Adversities such as the floods of 1867 and 1893, and the town destroying fires of 1889 and 1919, did not reverse this trend. In 1874 the Southern Pacific Railroad came into the area but charged unfair rates and became much hated. On May 27 1898, the San Joaquin Valley Railroad (popularly known as "The People's Railroad"), now the Santa Fe Railroad, arrived in Bakersfield, giving a great boost to the population. Then, in the 1930s, the Great Plains drought and dust storms commonly called the Dust Bowl brought a great influx of refugees from the Great Plains, Arkansas and Oklahoma taking work mostly in agriculture and the oil industry yet also causing much local social strife due to their overwhelming presence at the time. In later years, farm work in the area has mostly been conducted by Mexican migrant workers. The city's population grew slowly but steadily after World War II, especially as new advances in steam-injection of oil wells rejuvinated the output of Kern County's oilfields that were producing oil well before World War I. A new migration of people from Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma took place, this time filling job openings in the oil industry. This also saw more-and-more people moving here from Southern California to take various oil and industrial related jobs. By 1980 Bakersfield's population was about 80,000. Within the next 20 years Bakersfield would experience a population explosion with the population topping 250,000 by 2000. Bakersfield's reputation as a "cow town" (there never was a cattle industry here) had seemed to protect it from people wanting to live here. That notion about the city's reputation seemed to vanish overnight as hundreds of families choose to move here, most from Southern California and still more from the former Dust Bowl regions, due to its affordability, strong family oriented community, and its relative proximity to Southern California. Even as the area's oil boom starts to dwindle (oil is still important to the local economy), Bakersfield continues to grow and its businesses are highly diversified and is known for its friendliness towards economic expansion.

The great earthquake of July 21, 1952, changed the appearance of Bakersfield, promoting the flat, sprawling style of building that dominates the city today. The quake, centered near Bear Mountain, was the second largest quake in California history. It leveled most of downtown Bakersfield's historic Victorian brick businesses and hotels (including the once famous Southern Hotel), historic Chinatown area on the eastern side of downtown, and turn of the century buildings, including the once ornate County Court Building. Very few historic buildings exist today as a result.

In 1965, a university in the California State University system was founded in Bakersfield. California State University, Bakersfield today has some 7,700 students, with a special focus on business and administration. It is an NCAA Division II sports powerhouse in the CCAA (California Collegiate Athletic Association) with some sports, including wrestling (PAC-10), competing in Division I. CSUB is currently attempting to join the Big West Conference and become a Division I athletic school.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren was raised in Bakersfield, and would later go on to decide such cases as Brown v. Board of Education and the Miranda decision. Before being the Chief Justice he was California Attorney General and then the California Governor. Warren Hall on the campus of his alma mater, Bakersfield High School, and Earl Warren Junior High are named in his honor.

President George W. Bush and President George H.W. Bush lived in Bakersfield for a year while George H.W. Bush was selling oil field equipment in 1947 immediately following World War II.

Sources

*Bailey, Richard C., Kern County Place Names, (Bakersfield, California: Merchant's Printing and Lithography Co., 1967).

Geography

Location of Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield is located at (35.357276, -119.031661), at 120 m (400 ft) in elevation. It lies near the southern "horseshoe" end of the San Joaquin Valley, with the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada's just to the east with the city limits actually extending to the Sequoia National Forest at the foot of the Greenhorn Mountain Range at the entrance to the Kern Canyon, the Tehachapi Mountains are to the south which feature the historic Tejon Ranch, and to the west the Temblor Range, which features the Carizzo Plain National Monument and the San Andreas Fault, is approximately 35 miles across the valley floor on the westside of the valley.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 296.3 km² (114.4 mi²). 292.9 km² (113.1 mi²) of it is land and 3.4 km² (1.3 mi²) of it (1.14%) is water.

The Kern River (dubbed the "Killer Kern" due to its dangerous swimming conditions) is a river in east-central California in the United States, approximately 250 km (155 miles) long. It is the only river in the vast Sierra Nevada Range that runs from north to south. It was originally named "Rio Bravo de San Felipe" by Spanish missionary explorer Father Francisco Garces in 1776. Garces Memorial High School, a private Catholic school, was founded in 1947 on the Panorama Bluffs on the very site Garces wrote would be a perfect place to establish a mission for the Yokut Indians of the area. He was murdered by hostile Mohave Indians at the mission near Yuma before he could establish a mission in the Bakersfield area. The river was renamed the Kern River by famous pioneer explorer Kit Carson when his cartographer, Edward Kern, nearly drowned in the river. The "Killer Kern" has had songs sung by major recording artists, most notably Merle Haggard, an Oildale native who once lived along the Kern River near the mouth of the Kern Canyon before he moved to his present home near Red Bluff, CA. The river claims numerous lives every year despite persistent media and local government warnings to stay out of it. The river drops in elevation at many points an average of 15-20 feet per mile creating impassable rapids in the canyon and dangerous currents when it hits the floor of the San Joaquin Valley. Consisting of two forks (the primary North Fork and the secondary South Fork), the river drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains to the northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through the Kern River Valley and Lake Isabella, including the nearby towns of Lake Isabella, Wofford Heights, Onyx, Bodfish, Mountain Mesa and Kernville (originally known as Whiskey Flat) before continuing through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for Class-5 whitewater rafting and kayaking. It formerly emptied into the now-dry Buena Vista Lake just east of Taft and Maricopa at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, but it is now entirely diverted for irrigation leaving it with no natural outlet. The Kern River is controlled by the earthen Isabella Dam at Lake Isabella (built in the early 1950s on an area once known as Whiskey Flat where the North and South Forks met), about a 40 minute drive from Bakersfield east on State Highway 178. It was built and is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers. Currently the water supply is controlled by various farming water districts and the City of Bakersfield who designate a Water Master who controls the amount of water to be let out for agricultural and city use or stored in the reservoir, except in very wet years or when the integrity of the dam is at stake such as the development of a leak in the auxillery dam in the Spring of 2006. Only in a very wet year does the Kern River reach into the former drainage of Buena Vista Lake and then through a series of sloughs and flood control channels into the Tulare Lakebed, which itself was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi River before it was drained following World War II to grow cotton. In 1983 two kayakers made their way from Beach Park in Bakersfield, down the Kern River to Lake Buena Vista, then north in the Kern River Flood Control Channel that follows I-5, into the Tulare Lakebed, then into a series of sloughs entered the San Joaquin River on into the Sacramento River Delta and ending their journey at San Francisco. In a normal year, the Kern Riverbed is bone dry west of Bakersfield. Col. Baker once dreamed of having a canal dug to connect Bakersfield to San Francisco so goods could be transported to market. Obviously, this would now be impossible and is unnecessary as most Bakersfield area products are transported by the more effeciant means of railroad or semi-trucks, and in the case of oil, by pipeline.

Bakersfield lies approximately 160 km (100 mi) north of Los Angeles (about a 1.5-hour drive on I-5 and State Route 99) and about 500 km (300 mi) southeast of the state capital, Sacramento (about a 4.5-hour drive on State Route 99).

Bakersfield is the second largest city in the United States (after Fresno) that is not directly linked to an Interstate highway, although Interstate 5 runs just west of it and to its south at a southeast/northwest angle, while another north-south freeway, State Highway 99 (formerly U.S. 99), bisects the city. Recent years have brought increasing interest in extending Interstate 40 to Bakersfield, and on to I-5, from its western terminus at Interstate 15 in Barstow. Such an extension would almost certainly incorporate the existing State Highway 58 through the Mojave Desert and Tehachapi Mountains, much of which is already at interstate standards. Highway 58 from Highway 99 in Bakersfield east over the Tehachapi Summit and all the way to Boron at the Kern/San Bernardino County Line is a 4-lane interstate quality freeway. West of Bakersfield it is a two-lane highway that twists and turns over the barren Carizzo Plain and Coastal Ranges to U.S. 101 ending at Santa Margarita just north of San Luis Obispo at the base of the treacherous Cuesta Grade. The original Interstate Highway plans called for I-40 to extend west via the current Highway 58 route all the way to U.S. 101 and the City of San Luis Obispo. Lack of funding stopped the completion of this project. Currently the major road to the coast from Bakersfield is State Highway 46, a narrow and dangerous two-lane highway that is known by locals as "Blood Alley" for the numerous traffic wrecks and deaths that occur on it from I-5 west at Lost Hills to Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County at U.S. 101. Bakersfield, and Fresno for that matter, are both in desperate need of a four lane expressway or freeway to connect their respective cities to the coast. The Central Coast of San Luis Obispo County, with its wineries and beaches, is a favorite holiday destination of San Joaquin Valley residents and subsequently creates a large amount of vacationer traffic to go with large semi-truck traffic on the narrow two-lane Highway 46 (and two-lane Highway 41 for Fresno area residents before it meets with Highway 46 at Cholame). It is along this same highway that famous actor James Dean was killed at the Highway 46/41 junction near Cholame just inside the San Luis Obispo County line from Kern County.

Currently there are numerous freeway alignments set aside for the metropolitan Bakersfield area. These include three east-west connections on the north, central, and south parts of town that would link Highways 58, 178, the future downtown "Centennial Corridor," and the future Kern River Westside Parkway to each other and/or Highway 99, with a north-south extension on the western edge of Bakersfield west of Rosedale connecting the southern, central, and northern alignments. There are long term plans to link the northern east-west alignment (along 7th Standard Road) to I-5 and redesignating it as Highway 58. Congressional funding has been secured for this 25-35 year project and construction is scheduled to begin by 2010. Several problems have arisen with the planned alignments. Many people are upset as their newly built homes are on some of these alignments and will have their homes demolished when construction begins. Also, some developers are deliberatly not informing homeowners that some, or all of their property is on a freeway alignment. Another is the planned downtown "Centennial Corridor" elevated freeway that will follow the Southern/Union Pacific Tracks downtown. Bakersfield High School has asked that the freeway be moved away from the 113-year old historic downtown campus. School officials feel a noisy, busy freeway will distract students and offer a safety and health hazard. Recently, designers agreed to the change.

There is also political discussion of re-designating Highway 99 into an Interstate Freeway and re-naming it Interstate 7. Currently, Highway 99 through Bakersfield and Kern County is a major Freeway with six-lanes through the county areas and eight-lanes through the metropolitan area. The Bakersfield section of the highway is the busiest part of Highway 99 in the entire state. It is a very important local thoroughfare. The current freeway alignment was completed in 1962. The next year the U.S. Highway system abandoned its funding of Highway 99 and it has been a state funded highway since 1964. The original alignment of historic U.S. 99 (today known as Business 99 and State Highway 204) lasted from 1928-to-1962, followed Union Avenue from south of Bakersfield north to 21st Street to the east of downtown where it splits from Union Avenue to the northwest and follows Golden State Avenue across the Kern River where it meets up with the current freeway again. It also had a previous alignment before the Union/Golden State Avenue alignment. This basically followed downtown streets and included the main street of Chester Avenue across the Kern River to Oildale, then west along Norris Road to the Southern/Union Pacific tracks to where the current alignment runs. The old road bed of U.S. 99 can be seen in places still, much of it is still used as surface streets, some for parking, and some is even just abandoned in place. State Highway 99 currently extends from Mettler south of Bakersfield at the I-5 junction, north to Sacramento whereupon it becomes a two-lane highway (with the exception of the Chico area where it is a freeway) all the way to Red Bluff where it meets up again with I-5. The former US 99 extended from the Imperial Valley at Calexico, through Los Angeles, over the "Ridge Route" into the San Joaquin Valley, north to the Sacramento Valley where it split into two parts (99E and 99W), meeting again at Red Bluff, over the Siskiyous and on into Oregon and Washington to the Canadian border. Many parts of I-5 replaced Highway 99 when it opened in the late 1970's. Highway 99 has been referred to as the Main Street of California and life along it has been glorified in movies such as "The Grapes of Wrath (film)," "Bound for Glory," "American Graffiti," and "The Best of Times (film)."

Currently the hop-scotch" pattern of housing developments is pushing the city limits and zones of future annexation further and further west towards I-5 and the base of the Temblor Range. It is very possible that the City of Bakersfield's limits could stretch from the base of the Sierra Nevada range across the 25-30 mile width of the San Joaquin Valley floor to the Temblor Range within the next 25 years. This is creating political issues concerning unnecessary urban sprawl, commuter problems on two-lane country roads, the best farmland in the world being paved over, and the actual geographical center of the city being taken away to the west from the traditional downtown core. The current distance between city limit boundaries in the east to the western area of future annexation is about 25 miles across with the western edge only about 7 miles from I-5. It is only about 12 miles from north-to-south. From the downtown area, Highway 99 and I-5 are about 15 miles apart along Stockdale Highway (20 miles apart along Rosedale Highway/Hwy. 58 in the north, 12 miles apart along Panama Road in the south). East of Highway 99 the city limits extend about 13 miles to the Kern Canyon along Highway 178. West of Highway 99 the city limits extend about 13 miles to the west with housing developments that are located to the west of Allen Road set for annexation. This continual expansion west has many thinking the City of Bakersfield's government will have to yield its growth to a new city being incorporated to govern this area of fast growth to the west. An attempt similar to this was made in the 1990's when a developer attempted to build a city of 60,000 residents along Highway 166 east of Lake Buena Vista and south of Bakersfield called San Emigdio. The only reason this city was not built was because the developer could never secure water rights. Had San Emigdio been built, it would surely be currently vying for the annexation of the lands west of Bakersfield and would have become a major political player in the new housing developments that Bakersfield is currently attempting to annex in this area of the westside of the valley.The City of Shafter, a small farming town to the northwest of Bakersfield, is already attempting to stymie Bakersfield's rabid appetite for growth and has filed suit to limit the northern sphere of influence of Bakersfield. Shafter has also annexed large pieces of farmland to its east and south to ensure that Bakersfield would not slowly creep up on it and eventually envelope its southern area. Shafter's city limits extend across farmland that is some 8-10 miles away from its actual town and has a relatively small population. This is an example of a small town looking out for itself and trying to ensure its future against the rapid growth that Bakersfield is experiencing. Should a new city be incorporated in the area between Bakersfield and I-5 it would certainly change the way growth is addressed and may be the only way to limit this sprawl across the prime farmland of the San Joaquin Valley. As of now, the County of Kern is encouraging it in unincorporated areas and the City of Bakersfield is quick to annex this area as soon as it is built. There is not another small city or town like Shafter that can stop the growth of Bakersfield to the west all the way across I-5 to the Elk Hills Oilfield. Bakersfield is dominated in the east by a large bluff and plateau that used to be the delta to the Kern River. 20,000 years ago the Kern River flowed atop this bluff until a large earthquake changed its course to the north of this delta. Currently this bluff has been developed for the last 60 years with houses moving to the east towards the Rio Bravo and Kern Canyon area. The steep north facing edge of the bluff provides spectacular views of the foothills, mountains, and Kern River. It also has provided heated controversey as the city attempts to preserve as best as it can for the public good the bluffs from over-development and the flattening of the tops of hills and filling in of dales ruining the appeal of the foothills that make up the bluff. City leaders recognize the necessity to develop the foothills east of Bakersfield but want to temper that with keeping what makes the area unique still around. Leaders and residents alike also fear the rapid growth will have developers placing short-term profits over long-term effects of urban sprawl on this unique area, effects like erosion and landslides such as those the Los Angeles area experience when rains cause homes to fall apart and crash down a hillside. Bakersfield desperatly wants to keep its identity and not be similar to the crammed housing developments that are typical of the Santa Clarita Valley in Los Angeles County along I-5. The general fear among residents is having Bakersfield become a bedroom community to Los Angeles and become a rubber stamp community controlled by Los Angeles like so many other cities and towns in and around Los Angeles have become. Bakersfield has the backing of its citizens in this matter and this has drawn the ire of powerful housing developers based in the larger cities of the state resulting in political smear ad campaigns against city officials that have no basis in fact.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 247,057 people, 83,441 households, and 60,995 families residing in the city. The population density was 843.4/km² (2,184.4/mi²). There were 88,262 housing units at an average density of 301.3/km² (780.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 61.87% White, 9.16% Black or African American, 1.40% Native American, 4.33% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 18.68% from other races, and 4.43% from two or more races. 32.45% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 83,441 households out of which 42.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.1% were married couples living together, 15.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.9% were non-families. 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.41.

In the city the population was spread out with 32.7% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $39,982, and the median income for a family was $45,556. Males had a median income of $38,834 versus $27,148 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,678. About 14.6% of families and 18.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.4% of those under age 18 and 8.4% of those age 65 or over.

Bakersfield is generally a politically conservative city,even amongst minorities, with a large population that can trace its family roots to the western exodus of agrarian families from the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. These refugees were commonly called the derogatory term "Okies" because so many of them hailed from Oklahoma which was hard hit by the Dust Bowl. John Steinbeck's masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath is an accurate illustration of their plight. As a result, a strong sense of family ties among friends and families exists and is one of the city's strong suits. It is a common reference to say that you will always find someone who knows someone who knows you when you live in Bakersfield. Bakersfield, however, isn't without its problems. Drug use, especially methamphetamine, is becoming a bane on older neighborhoods with its effects and ties to illegal street gangs and crime. As more and more people move away from Southern California and its expensive living and gang problems to Bakersfield, there has been subsequent rise in gang activity and associated crime in Bakersfield that has drawn the disgust of long-time residents. Local law enforcement plays a key role in the community's response to these issues and enjoys the strong support of the local populace that is the opposite of some of California's largest urban centers.

Local Amenities

Bakersfield is home to California State University, Bakersfield, founded in 1965, a Division II sports powerhouse, especially in basketball, and Bakersfield College, a Junior College football powerhouse with a 19,000 seat on-campus stadium, and one of the nation's oldest junior colleges founded in 1913. The Kern County Museum, which boasts an extensive collection of regional artifacts, is located on Chester Avenue, just north of Downtown Bakersfield. The Museum includes the "Black Gold: The Oil Experience" oil exhibit, a hands on modern approach at showing how oil is mined, The Lori Brock Children's Discovery Museum, a hand's on children's museum, and a country music display on the influential "Bakersfield Sound" style of country music. Bakersfield is also home to the Bakersfield Blaze, a minor league baseball affiliate of the Texas Rangers that plays in the Single-A level California League and who play at the historical Sam Lynn Ballpark, built in 1941. In downtown Bakersfield there is the major civic center, the Rabobank Arena, originally known as Bakersfield Centennial Garden built in 1998. This 10,000 seat double-decked arena with luxury suites hosts, an af2 team, the Bakersfield Blitz, and an ECHL AA-level hockey team, the Bakersfield Condors, originally known as the Bakersfield Fog when the team joined the West Coast Hockey League in the mid-1990s. The WCHL later joined the East Coast Hockey League. Rabobank Arena also hosts the men's and women's basketball teams of CSU Bakersfield, who compete in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in Division II of the NCAA. The arena also currently hosts the California State High School Wrestling Championships every March and will be the new home of the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Developmental League in the Fall of 2006. The arena has also hosted the prestigious and now defunct "Bakersfield Business Conference," as well as the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Basketball Championships, televised WWE pro wrestling, L.A. Lakers pre-season basketball, L.A. Kings pre-season hockey, and other notable events and concerts with major performers have been hosted at the arena. Adjacent to the arena is the Rabobank Convention Center, formerly known as the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium, built in the early 1960's. The 3,000 seat convention center is home to the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra and is known for having one of the largest stages in the world. It hosted hockey games on the stage until the arena was built in 1998. Adjacent to the convention center is the Holiday Inn Select Hotel, a modern hotel that offers further event hosting capabilities with accessbility to the convention center and arena. The city is also home to the Premier Development League soccer team the Bakersfield Brigade who play at Bakersfield Christian High School Stadium.

Music wise, Bakersfield historically is known as "Nashville West" for its influential "Bakersfield Sound" style of country music that was heavy with dual Fender Telecaster electric guitars, fiddles, and a big drum beat developed in the late 1950's and early 1960's at local honky-tonk bars, most notably the Blackboard Cafe that was formerly located at 3601 Chester Avenue. Most of these honky-tonks have been demolished over the years but Trout's Bar on North Chester Avenue in Oildale is noted as one of the last real honky-tonks in the Bakersfield area and features many local music acts, many of whom played in Nashville in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos and Merle Haggard and the Strangers were the biggest leaders in this rebellious musical style that changed country music to what it is today. Known as a rebel within country music and doing things his way, Buck Owens, a Texas native came from a dirt poor farming familiy. The Owens family became refugees from the drought and devestation of the Dust Bowl and settled in Phoenix picking cotton. After establishing himself as a talent on Phoenix radio programs, Owens came to the thriving honky-tonks of Bakersfield in 1951 and quickly established himself a dominant talent. After his success as a performer, which included more #1 hits than The Beatles, and T.V. show host (The Ranch Show and Hee-Haw), Buck Owens was the richest man in Bakersfield and owned local station KUZZ-FM at the time of his death in 2006. His legacy lives on, not only through his numerous charitable events and donations, but his museum/dinner/night-club, the "Crystal Palace" on Buck Owens Boulevard next to Highway 99. The "Crystal Palace" has become a haven for country music performers, both local and nationwide, and is a favorite spot of local, national, and international country music fans for its Texas-style, Texas-sized meals (that features a steak even Garth Brooks couldn't finish), and a family fun atmosphere. If there ever was a patron saint for the city and people of Bakersfield, it would be Buck Owens. Also downtown is Jerry's Pizza, which is known across the country for supporting the underground music scene much like the influential CBGB. It was here that numerous acts in this genre honed their skills, most notably the band "Korn," whose original lineup was made up of Bakersfield natives who met during or after high school. Many of the band's songs are based on the personal experiences of lead singer Jonathon Davis at Highland High School where he was part of the school's Scottish bagpipers in the early 1990s.

Bakersfield's main airport is Meadows Field Airport, which just opened a new terminal, "The William Thomas Terminal," replacing the long outdated one with modern design and comfort. The increasing number of metropolitan amenities is due to the city's fast paced growth.

Culture

Bakersfield has a large Basque population in and around the city, and many of Bakersfield's oldest and most historic restaurants are Basque. These include Woolgrowers, Maitia's, Noriega's, Pyrenees, and Benji's. Hollywood celebrities such as Barbara Streisand, Annette Funicello, and sports star Wayne Gretzky have been spotted in these wonderful eating establishments.

Bakersfield also has an influential Chinese community and a growing Mexican population that makes up a large portion of the population.

Bakersfield hosts the largest Scottish Games and Clan Gathering in California the first weekend of every April.

Bakersfield is home to one of the nation's largest and oldest farming co-ops, the California Cotton Cooperative Association, commonly called CalCot, founded in 1927.

Bakersfield is home to the largest carrot producing operations in the world, Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms.

As is true of many cities in the Central Valley of California, a substantial number of Bakersfield residents have ancestors who migrated to the area from the Great Plains, Arkansas and Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl of the 1930's. In John Steinbeck's historical novel The Grapes of Wrath, Bakersfield is one of the locations that the protagonists pass through. Jack Kerouac's On the Road deals with the conditions of migrant workers in this part of California.

In the 1950s, local country musicians such as Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Wynn Stewart helped invent a rock and roll-influenced country music style called the Bakersfield sound. Their influence was so great that Bakersfield is second only to Nashville, Tennessee, in country music fame. Bakersfield continues to produce famous country music artists.

Despite its country music fame, Bakersfield has also turned out its fair share of hard rock, most notably KoЯn, Burning Image and Adema.

The Christian community can also enjoy national performing Gospel artists, such as Flicker Records recording artist Royal Ruckus and Southern Gospel artist The Lighthouse Boys.

Off-road recreation is one of the more popular recreational activities among residents. Bakersfield has always been home to a large population of Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) enthusiasts. The California Department of Motor Vehicles reports as of May 2001, there are over 18,000 OHVs registered in Kern County Kern Off Highway Vehicle Association. On May 26, 2005, the City of Bakersfield and the State of California Parks department obtained an assignable option using a grant from the OHV Trust funds to purchase a prospective 11,000 acre (45 km²) site for an OHV park. Site Located for State Vehicular Recreation Area"Ruth Coleman, Director of California State Parks State remarked, This project responds to the needs of the Bakersfield community for increased recreation opportunities and will provide a cornerstone for the Central Valley Strategy". Friends of Kern Open Space state that there are several educational programs available to train youth in proper OHV operation, including National 4-H and the California Off-Road PALS program. Friends of Kern Open Space.

Sports has been, and continues to be a large part of the Bakersfield lifestyle and culture. Football is easily the city's biggest passion from the youth levels, to Friday Night High School football, to a prolific junior college program, and even producing NFL stars (Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker, Joey Porter is from Bakersfield). Bakersfield follows and supports football with a passion. The most notable football teams are the Bakersfield High School team (originally called Kern County Union High School) which started competing in 1893, and Bakersfield Junior College, which plays at 19,000 seat Memorial Stadium, built in 1955. Bakersfield High has won more section (33) and state (7) titles than any other California school and has more total wins than any other California school. It has produced numerous NFL players, most notably Hall of Famer and New York Giants legend and Monday Night Football announcer Frank Gifford (who played college ball at Bakersfield College and U.S.C.).

Bakersfield College is part of the Western States Conference and has been a football power for over 50 years. It has won four J.C. national championships (the last in 1988), plays in the largest on-campus J.C. stadium in the nation, and is regarded for its integrity and ability to produce players who advance to the next level. The Bakersfield area has 17 high schools, many of which have also produced college and NFL stars. Current NFL stars David Carr of the Houston Texans graduated from Stockdale High School, and Joey Porter of the Pittsburgh Steelers graduated from Foothill High School.

Motor Sports is Bakersfield's second-biggest following with many past and current racers learning their fare on the streets of Bakersfield. These include four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, his brother famous off-road racer Roger Mears, and Roger's son, Casey Mears of NASCAR fame all call Bakersfield their home town. Casey actually played football at Stockdale High with David Carr. NASCAR Busch Series Champion and Nextel Cup driver Kevin Harvick grew up in Oildale where he won a section wrestling championship at North High before he became a track champ at the now torn down Mesa Marin Raceway in northeast Bakersfield. NHRA champion Bruce Sarver called Bakersfield home before his suicide in 2005. There are several Bakersfield racers in the lower level of NASCAR's developmental circuits, most notably in the West Series and the Grand National.

Bakersfield was also home to one of the most important events in the history of drag racing. The famous March Meets are held at the Famoso Drag Strip (officially known as the Auto Club Famoso Raceway), formerly a World War II training auxiliary air strip, and was started by the car club "The Bakersfield Smokers." The historical event at the March Meets included the legendary Swamp Rat machine with driver "Big Daddy" Don Garlits coming out west from Florida to prove himself to the west coasters who claim to have invented drag racing. This event in the 1950's cast legitimacy on the fledgling NHRA. Today, the March Meets is a nostalgic car drag racing event held every March (weather pending).

Mesa Marin Raceway was located in the foothills of northeast Bakersfield at the intersection of Highway 178 and 184. It opened in 1977 to over 10,000 plus fans and closed to become a housing development in the Fall of 2005. It was a high-banked 1/2 mile oval aspahlt speedway that featured NASCAR racing events, most notably the West series and the Grand National. It was also the very first track to host a NASCAR Craftsman Super Trucks race, a nationally televised race in 1995. This honor was given to the track because track owner Marion Collins invented the Super Truck for racing that NASCAR adopted. The track has hosted numerous current NASCAR stars that include and are not limited to Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Casey Mears. With the track's demise in 2005 comes hope for a greater track to surpass Mesa Marin. Currently plans for a 1/2 mile high-banked tri-oval is in the works. This track will feature luxury suites, modern facilities, SAFER barriers, and Nextel Cup quality surfacing and lighting. It will be located west of Bakersfield on an almond orchard owned by famous airplane racer Bill DeStefani at the intersection of I-5 and Highway 43 (Enos Lane) near the Kern River. Marion Collins and his family is set to oversee and run the facility with the DeStefanis putting up most of the capital. Plans call for it to be the best short-track on the west coast and best track in all of California, second only to the two-mile long California Speedway in Fontana.

The Bakersfield Speedway is a 1/3-mile banked clay oval track in Oildale. It hosts weekly Saturday Night racing, most notably the World of Outlaws. This speedway is the inspiration to a Buck Owens song titled "Beer Can Hill." Several hundred dirt fans attend every week. The Bakersfield Speedway is currently trying to expand as a nationally significant track by hosting races that feature out-of-state drivers. Some notable NASCAR drivers have raced at this track.

Bakersfield has been a stop for the Ben Hogan and Nike Golf Tours. It also hosts PGA qualifying events and NCAA Division II regionals and tournaments. Top quality courses include the private Seven Oaks Country Club, the Bakersfield Country Club, the Rio Bravo Country Club, and the public River Lakes Golf Club.

Bakersfield also hosts a large amount of amateur sporting events of many different kinds. Shooting competitions are held at the Five Dogs Creek Range. The Race Across America (RAAM) has been won numerous times by Bakersfield bicyclists. The southern Sierra's offer whitewater, rock climbing, mountain biking, and snow skiing oppertunities. The first ever boat drags were held at Lake Ming and gave rise to the National Hot Boat Association (NHBA). The Kern County Rugby Club plays against numerous amatuer rugby clubs in California. National water ski competitions are held in the area. Numerous amateur boxers come from Bakersfield with former champion Reuban Castillo being a town favorite. AYSO soccer is well established in the area and offers leagues throughout the town. The Southwest and Northwest Baseball Associations each offer competitive summer league baseball for youth up to high school. These teams have advanced and won state and world series titles. The Bakersfield Racquet Club hosts the Kern County Amateur Tennis Tournament and was once home to the Davis Cup. The Bakersfield Shoe Crew hosts several nationally acclaimed horse shoe tournaments at Beach Park. The McMurtrey Aquatics Center is an Olympic quality sized pool that hosts high school events. Numerous volleyball clubs have won several national championships in different age groups. The Kern County Soccer Park is the largest soccer facility in California and hosts several tournaments.

Sister Cities

Bakersfield has four sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):
* Minsk, Belarus
* Wakayama, Japan
* Cixi, China
* Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico

Sports

Club	Sport	League	Venue
Bakersfield Blaze	Baseball	California League; North Division	Sam Lynn Ballpark
Bakersfield Condors	Ice Hockey	ECHL; Pacific Division	Rabobank Arena
Bakersfield Blitz	Indoor football	af2; National Conference	Rabobank Arena
Bakersfield Jam	Basketball	NBA Development League	Rabobank Arena
Bakersfield Brigade	Soccer	USL Premier Development League	Bakersfield Christian High School

Trivia

*The Punk Rock band NOFX mentions burning down Bakersfield in their song "Leaving Jesusland" and also in their song "Instant Crassic"
*The Grammy winning metal band, Korn is from Bakersfield.
*The Rolling Stones sing of Bakersfield in "Far Away Eyes."
*John Hiatt mentions the town in "Tennessee Plates."
*The Eric Clapton led group Cream's song "Crossroads" refers to the Bakersfield area of Rosedale.
*The punk artist Henry Rollins mentions Bakersfield in "The Virtues of Black Sabbath" and "Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag".
*Martina McBride's song "Cry on the Shoulder of the Road" opens with the line "I'm rolling out of Bakersfield."
*Buck Owens' famous "Streets of Bakersfield", later performed with Dwight Yoakam, is about a songwriter being rejected in Bakersfield. Owens saved the letters of the old Bakersfield sign and put them on display at his Crystal Palace.
*Merle Haggard's house in Oildale that was made from a converted boxcar is still being used as a residence today.
*Johnny Cash mentions Bakersfield in his song "I've Been Everywhere."
*The 1973 book The Onion Field, by Joseph Wambaugh, is a true story about a pair of Los Angeles Police Department officers abducted with one being murdered and the other escaping in an onion field south of Bakersfield. The Onion Field starring Ted Danson was made into a movie in 1979. The surviving officer, Karl Hettinger, later became a Kern County Supervisor.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a book about the fictional Joad family who migrated to California in search of work during the Dust Bowl. Much of the movie was shot in Kern County. They settle in the "Hoovervilles" along the Kern River in Oildale and later in the Sunset Labor Camp near Arvin (Weedpatch in the movie). In fact, over half the book is set in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
*Country music legend Buck Owens lived in Bakersfield until his death, and his Crystal Palace nightclub is located on Buck Owens Blvd. One of his former homes is on Panorama Drive on the bluffs. His ranch was along Poso Creek north of Bakersfield.
*Clint Eastwood filmed his movie "Every Which Way But Loose" throughout Bakersfield. The old Bakersfield sign that spanned across Union Avenue just south of California Avenue and connected parts of the once famous Bakersfield Inn is the backdrop to a number of scenes. The Weinerschnitzel in the movie is still in business.
*Johnny Carson once flopped as a magician in an act performed at a local lounge before he became a big T.V. personality and legendary host of the Tonight Show. This resulted in numerous Bakersfield jokes by Carson at Bakersfield's expense.
*Daniel Amos has a song called "Bakersfield" on their Bibleland album. It deals with the death of Terry Taylor's grandfather.
*Former heavyweight boxer Jerry Quarry was from the nearby town of Shafter. Known for being one of boxing's hardest hitters, he was famous for his bouts with Muhammad Ali in the 1970's.
*The Fox Network broadcast "Bakersfield P.D." (1993), a sitcom about police officers in Bakersfield (one an African-American transplant from Washington, D.C., the other a local white officer) and also starred Bryan Doyle-Murray (of Caddyshack fame), comedian Bill Murray's brother, which was critically acclaimed but only lasted 17 episodes.
*The movie The Running Man opens with the Bakersfield Food Riots, where Arnold Schwarzenegger's character is framed as "The Butcher of Bakersfield."
*One film shot in Bakersfield is The Cell. This blockbuster is about a serial killer that videotapes his victims before drowning them. The equipment used in the victims' demise has a plate stamped "Made in Bakersfield".
*Other films shot in and around Bakersfield include:
**"The X-Files" (1998)
**"K-PAX" (2001)
**"North by Northwest" (1959)
**"Thelma & Louise" (1991)
**"Wag the Dog" (1997)
**"The Break Up" (1998)
**"Prime Target" (1989)
**"Five Simple Pieces" (1970)
**"Psycho" (1960).
**"Fight in the Field" (1997 Documentary)
**"Trekkies" (1997 Documentary)
**"Best Laid Plans" (1998)
**"Infinite Round" (1999 Documentary)
**"Road Kill" (1999)
**"Tick Tock" (2000)
**"The Stoneman (2003)
**"Keith" (2006)
**"Joe Joe Angel and the Dead Guy" (1997)
**"Wag the Dog" (1997)
**"Odd Couple II" (1998)
**"Joy Ride" (2001)
**"Jurassic Park III" (2001)
**"Frailty" (2002)
**"Aimee Semple McPherson" (2004)
**"Johnson Family Vacation" (2004)
**"Lucky You" (2005)
**"Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny" (2005)
*In the movie Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, the porta-potty outhouse that washes up on the island has "Bakersfield" written on its wall.
*In the movie Where the Heart Is, the characters in the beginning are en route to Bakersfield before stopping at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma.
*The 1993 film Fearless opens with the aftermath of an airline crash in a corn field outside of Bakersfield and features the now defunct Golden Empire Ambulance service.
*Any reference to Bakersfield by the writer Stephen King usually does not end up in a positive light.
*Bakersfield is notorious for some of the worst wintertime tule (radiation) fog in the entire West Coast region, with visibility sometimes dropping to 3 m (10 ft) or less.
*Bakersfield has the 2nd worst air quality in North America (April, 2006) thanks to the Bay Area's loose pollution standards. Pollution drifts down the valley and collects and pools in the southern end of the valley.
*In the "CRPG Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game", the ruins of Bakersfield are called Necropolis and are inhabited with ghouls, human beings mutated horribly by radiation.
*Four-time Indy 500 champion Rick Mears began his racing career as a resident of Bakersfield, racing in area competitions including motorcycles, off-road 4x4 and stock cars.
*In 2005, Garth Brooks proposed to country star girlfriend Trisha Yearwood at a Buck Owens event at the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield.
*On February 26, 2006, The Bakersfield Californian included a section on Wikipedia and on the Wikipedia article about Bakersfield, providing information on the city word for word from this page and also word for word using the trivia facts provided above.
*In the Dreamcast and PS2 game "Headhunter", the city makes an appearance (figuratively speaking) as the fictional city of "Quakersfield."
*In The Simpsons's episode Take My Wife, Sleaze the fictional biker group, Hell's Satans, are from Bakersfield.
*The TV series Clueless'' featured a storyline with two episodes in Season 3 ("Bakersfield Blues" and "Back From Bakersfield") where the main character, Cher, and her father move to Bakersfield, which is portrayed as a backward town of farmers and cowboys.
*The webcam videos at the center of the Justin Berry story were first produced by Berry in his bedroom in suburban Bakersfield.

Notable residents

Arts & entertainment

* James Anchordoquy - musician, lead singer of Eden Hall
* Moe Adame - guitarist/singer for the musical group Burning Image
* Noah Beery - actor, played numerous roles in Hollywood Golden Era films. Most notably was Rocky on the Rockford Files T.V. show in the 1970's.
* Justin Berry - Teen who operated webcam sites, originally from his Bakersfield bedroom, later alleging molestation by his customers.
* Martin Bertram - author of the medieval fiction novel Vanity of Vanities
* Brandon Cruz - child actor (The Courtship of Eddie's Father) and singer (Dr. Know)
* Jonathan Davis - Lead Singer of the Band KOЯN, attended Highland High.
* Merle Haggard - Country-Western Hall of Fame singer and legend.
* Gerald Haslam - author and poet. Raised in Oildale.
* Karshner triplets - Craig, Nick, and Ryan Karshner, identical triplets known for their commercials for Cingular Wireless.
* Jake Lloyd - actor, played little Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I.
* Buck Owens - Country-Western Singer and Legend.
* David Silveria - drummer for the musical group KOЯN
* Lawrence Tibbet - A famous Baritone singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera who made his Met debut in 1923. Honed his skills at the Bakersfield Opera House, now the Nile Theatre.
* Dwight Yoakam - Country-Western singer (an honorary resident).

Law & politics

* Earl Warren - Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court and California Governor, attended Kern County High (now Bakersfield High).
* Edward Beale - Established Tejon Ranch. Was a former U.S. Ambassador. Superintendant of Indian Affairs in California and Nevada in 1852. The Beale Library is named after him. His son Truxtun Beale has Truxtun Avenue named after him. Truxtun also built the Beale Memorial Clock Tower in 1904 that now stands at the Kern County Museum for his mother that used to stand downtown but was destroyed in the 1952 earthquake.
* Harvey Hall - current mayor and owner of Hall Ambulance Company

Science & medicine

* Dr. Hans Einstein - The foremost authoritarian on the lung disease Valley Fever. Related to the other famous Einstein, Albert.

Sports

* Devine Calloway - professional skateboarder
* David Carr - NFL Football player #1 overall draft pick (Houston Texans), attended Stockdale High.
* Chris Childs - NBA guard for the NJ Nets, NY Knicks, and Toronto Raptors, attended Foothill High.
* Frank Gifford - NFL Hall of Fame, New York Giants All-Pro back, attended Bakersfield High.
* Kevin Harvick - NASCAR driver, attended North High.
* Jack Johnson - Boxing's first black heavyweight champion (See the movie "The Great White Hope")
* Brock Marion - NFL Football player and Super Bowl winner, West High School Graduate.
* Brent McClanahan - NFL running back with the famous Minnesota Vikings teams of the 1970's.
* Casey Mears - NASCAR driver, attended Stockdale High.
* Rick Mears - 4-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Attended South High.
* Roger Mears - Famous off-road racer and winner of the Baja 1000. Father of Casey and brother to Rick. Attended South High.
* Brandon Miller - NASCAR driver
* Stephen Neal - NFL Football player, Super Bowl champion (New England Patriots), and an undefeated NCAA and World champion in amatuer wrestling at CSUB.
* Joey Porter - NFL All-Pro Football player and Super Bowl champion (Pittsburgh Steelers), attended Foothill High.
* Robert Swift - NBA Center for the Seattle Supersonics. Played at Garces and Bakersfield High.
* Cory Hall- NFL Player played for Cincinati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons attended Stockdale High School and South High School.