Downtown Bakersfield boasts new eateries including the new upscale steak house The Mark, and local kids bust the clays in skeet tournaments

* ... EATS: I wandered into the new downtown steak house called The Mark this week and I have one word for it: spectacular. It's located in the old Goose Loonies building on 19th Street just around the corner from the Fox Theater and the Padre Hotel, and though its sign is not yet up, the renovated building with a handsome outdoor patio are easy to find. The eatery features wide distressed wood floors and long dark bar that remind me of some old place on Union Square in San Francisco or a rusty speakeasy in the swank Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The owners, two podiatrists, tell me the grand opening will come later, but this is a place to stop by if you are in the mood for something new and exciting. Meanwhile just a block down the street Dr. Nick Hansa says business is brisk at his Chef's Choice Noodle Bar, a clean and welcoming Thai restaurant with a friendly buzz and terrific food. Chef's Choice opened in April of last year and has now gotten into the catering business as well. If you are one of those who live in the Southwest or Northwest and haven't ventured downtown recently, you are missing some terrific eateries. (file photos of Chef's Choice Noodle Bar)

* ... SKEET: Bakersfield has a long tradition of producing world champion skeet shooters, and the Buoni children continued that legacy at the Junior World Skeet Shoot in Stockton this past weekend. Dominic Buoni, a graduate of Bakersfield Christian High School who now attends Lindenwood University on a skeet scholarship, was crowned Collegiate .410 bore champion and Collegiate high overall runner up by busting 397 out of 400 targets. Meanwhile his little sister, Jenna, took home high overall Junior Lady Runner-up third and Junior Lady .410 champ. Congratulations to these kids. (Dominic, center, shown with his skeet squad)

*  ... SPOTTED: Donald Taylor spotted actor Ned Beatty at Noriega's last week enjoying lunch. "He looked fit and was very gracious to all. Semper Fi," Taylor said. (file photo of Ned Beatty)

 * ... OVERHEARD: A resident of La Cresta is sharing the story of a neighbor who stumbled upon a homeless encampment at the rear of his property near Garces Memorial High School. "It looked like someone had been living there for months," she said.


* ... LANE SPLITTING: What is your feeling about motorcyclists who split lanes in traffic? Kerry McGill said he generally has no problem with it unless it is done at reckless, high speeds. "Several years ago while returning from Irvine I was in the car pool lane doing 10 miles an hour when a motorcycle passed me doing 65 mph and hit my passenger side mirror. He ended up crashing, breaking both legs. A motorcyclist behind him stopped and said he could not believe how reckless that guy was. How many times, I wonder, have we drivers been startled by those lane splitting in stopped or almost stopped traffic. I think it should be illegal, and I have a motorcycle license."

* .... EARTHQUAKE: Here's one last memory of the 1952 earthquake, a note from Linda Meadows Polston who was just three and a half years old but recalls it vividly.  Her parents had been awakened by a loud roar and ran into their back yard where her father held her tightly. "My grandma Perry was saying loudly, 'I hear the trumpets of the Lord.' She kept repeating it ... my grandma was convinced that the Lord's kingdom was coming and right now! It's amazing how a traumatic incident sticks in one's mind with clarity, even for a small child." (photo courtesy of BakersfieldNow.com)

 * ... LEGION: The good folks over at the American Legion Post 26 have opened a thrift shop on the southeast corner of 21st and H streets. It is staffed by volunteers and customers pay what they can afford. All this to support local veterans, a cause worth supporting. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bako Bits: a scary scene at the downtown Chef's Choice Noodle Bar and lamenting the trash that is commonly strewn about town....

 * ... SCARY SCENE: There was a scary scene last Friday at the Chef’s Choice Noodle Bar downtown when a customer became ill, collapsed and fell to the floor. Eloise Higgins said she was asking people to call 911 to help her husband, Bob, when the Noodle Bar owner, Dr. Nick Hansa, came to her aid. "I realized that Dr. Hansa was there as a doctor, not only a restaurant owner. David Coffey, a customer, quickly put his jacket under my husband’s head. I’m sure he prevented a head injury. We would like to thank these three men who cared for my husband until the firemen and Hall Ambulance arrived. The restaurant obviously is the safest and best restaurant downtown!"

 * ... OVERHEARD: A Chevron employee who was recently transferred to Bakersfield telling a friend: "I've lived in a lot of places but never in a city where people leave their trash around like here! They just leave it in the park and walk away."

 * ... CHECKED BAGS: If you fly at all, you know what a hassle it is boarding a plane when so many people bring oversized bags to store in the overhead bins. Now the major airlines are studying ways to restrict those larger bags by forcing passengers to pay for bringing any bag on board larger than 10 by 17 by 24 inches. Alaska Airlines already has a gate check policy, meaning that oversized bags are diverted to baggage claims at $25 a pop.

 * ... PREFIXES: Steve McClaren is among those who remembers when home phone numbers had prefixes to denote where you lived, and party lines were common. "You could tell by the prefix which part of town the person lived. FA (Fairview) was central Bakersfield, TE (Temple) was south, EM (Empire) was east, and EX (Exchange) was north  (Oildale). There wasn't much west of Oak Street back then but most had the FA. Later these became the beginning of the 322, 833, 366, and 399 prefixes. I think if a person checked they would find that a lot of the telephone company central exchanges are still named Temple, Empire, etc. As technology has changed over the years, it's hard to tell where a person is at unless you are looking at the area code. Then you still can't be sure. ... I am 61 and have lived here all my life with the exception of four years in the Los Angeles area. It is amazing how this town has grown but has retained a lot of the little town feeling."

 * ... PEPPERINE: Dave and Tara Rippy said their daughter, Nicole, graduated from Pepperdine School of Law.  She is a product of Castle Elementary, Actis Junior High and West and Bakersfield high schools and later Cal State Bakersfield.

 * ... SCHOLARSHIP: Judi Anderson Gahagan dropped me a note to brag about her granddaughter, Amie Lauren Birkes, who was awarded a full scholarship to attend CSUB thanks to the The Gombos Family foundation. Amie graduated from North High School and plans on becoming a special education teacher. While at CSUB she plans to try out for the track team.

 * ... DID YOU KNOW? Did you know that 73 percent of the 8,000 CSUB students are first-generation college students and that women outnumber men 60 percent to 40 percent on the campus?

New restaurants choose downtown Bakersfield as their venue, and Californian Radio examines medical marijuana and a proposed voter initiative

 * ... EATERIES: Opening a bar or restaurant is always a risky venture, and it's sad to see some of them struggle and close. Among those that have closed recently are the Thai Orchid and the Hourglass, both located off Brimhall Road. While they closed, others are opening, and many of them are choosing the downtown arts district. Chef's Choice Noodle Bar (19th and Eye streets) has been a huge success, and it will soon be joined by a steak house called The Mark also on 19th Street, and Muerto's Kitchen near the Alley Cat bar in the Wall Street Alley. Another restaurant is apparently going into the building that Fishlips occupied.

* ... MEMORIES: Received a wonderful hand written letter from Linda Polston talking about Bakersfield back when it was a smaller, much simpler town. She shared the story of going to Bill Lee's Bamboo Chopsticks every Friday night in the 1950s and being greeted by Bill Lee himself, smoking a cigar and making small talk with all the diners at their tables. "His wife didn't speak much English and she'd always say to me, "want a sucka?' and hand me a sucker she kept at the checkout counter.... We joined the big celebration after  Bill Lee's was remodeled .... They reopened with a dancing dragon and fireworks and other entertainment. We still use the commemorative chopsticks they gave out that night."

* ... MARIJUANA: The battle over medicinal marijuana, derided by law enforcement but praised by those who use it to treat illnesses, is heading to a decisive period this election year. One of the latest developments is a proposed voter initiative that would "provide that neither the state nor any local government may prohibit operation of a medical marijuana patient association, including a storefront, unless a court finds it is an actual nuisance." Local attorney Phil Ganong is behind the initiative and will be my guest on Californian Radio KERN 1180 Monday at 9 a.m. Tune in to hear Ganong bring us up to date on this controversial local issue.

* ... COMMUNITY: Dan Raytis passed along this story, yet another testament of the goodwill that lives within all of us. "About six weeks ago my wife’s family experienced an unimaginable tragedy of unexpectedly losing a 13-month-old baby. In the week that followed, there was much to do planning for the funeral.  Our good friend (and local photographer) Torrie Nicholas agreed to help by putting together a video for the funeral, which included the task of transferring home movies to DVDs. As time was running out, she took the home movies to Henley’s to see if they could transfer them to DVDs.  Jimmy (an employee at Henley’s) and his friend Michael had a difficult time, but spent an entire day on the project and ultimately got the videos onto DVDs.  If that wasn’t enough, then they stayed late after closing to explain how the DVDs worked.  And they did it all FREE OF CHARGE. This is exactly the great, local service that makes Bakersfield such a wonderful community.  Please pass along a tremendous thank you both to Torrie Nicholas Photography and to Henley’s for going way above and beyond."

 * ... PAJAMAS: Is it bad taste to walk your children to school wearing pajamas and a robe? Pam Cheatwood doesn't think so, and she offers this reasoning. "I just want to say how disappointed I was to read that a lady walking her children to Standard School in her pajamas was newsworthy. You see, I work at Standard School District and we are thrilled anytime a child gets to school and has the opportunity to learn. I say kudos to the mom, who possibly was ill, who made sure her children were at school regardless of her situation.  Personally, I think you should have a permanent section in your blog for the positives that are happening at all school districts throughout Kern County. If you want to stop by Standard School District, I would be happy to tell you about all of the wonderful things going on for the students there."