"Oildale the movie will premier at The Fox Theater on March 30, a horrific motorcycle accident on Union Avenue leaves a rider dead and the Bakersfield Open tennis tournament heads into its final weekend

Friday, March 15, 2019

 Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this such a special to live. Send your tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.


 * ... UNION AVENUE DEATH: There was an absolutely horrific motorcycle accident on Union

Avenue at 17th Street this week which led to the death of the cyclist. Video footage of the accident, which was horrible to watch, was posted on the KGET website showing a car making a U-turn on Union and the motorcycle crashing into the back of the car, sending the man flying through the air and landing hard on his back yards down the road. Authorities said the motorcyclist died Friday. He has not been identified.

 * ... TENNIS TOURNAMENT: Make sure you head over to the Bakersfield Racquet Club this weekend to soak in some sun and some of the best tennis you will catch anywhere. The Bakersfield Open is now it the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles as we head into its final weekend. There is no cost to attend.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Everyone tells teenagers that they don’t know what love is. But everyone wants to feel like a teenager when they fall in love."

 * ... MORE TWITTER: "I’m sure he’s great but Beto O’Rourke always makes me think of like some guy you dated in college who said 'I can’t say I love you because I just don’t know what it means,' and then made you listen to a Toad The Wet Sprocket album and look at his pictures from Joshua Tree."

 * ... MOVING UP: Jason Kotowski, longtime court reporter for The Bakersfield Californian, is moving on to KGET TV as a web content producer. Kotowski is the latest Californian reporter to leave the paper, which abandoned its downtown offices and moved its reporters and sale representatives to the printing facility on Pegasus Drive.

 * ... OILDALE THE MOVIE: "Oildale" the movie, a bittersweet look at the life of some local veterans set in the backdrop of Kern County, will have its world premier at the downtown Fox Theater on March 30. The movie, written and produced by two movie veterans from Los Angeles, was shot almost entirely in Kern County. After opening at the Fox, the movie will go on a "Heartland Tour" throughout the country.

 * ... EVA SCHLOSS: Hats off to Rabbi Samuel Schlanger and the Chabad of Bakersfield for putting on an evening with Eva Schloss at the Fox Theater. Schloss, the step sister of Anne Frank who is about to turn 90 years old, told her personal story of surviving the Holocaust, Auschwitz and even a terrifying meeting with the Nazi "death doctor" Josef Mengele to a packed audience of 1,400 people on Tuesday night. Said one attendee: "You could have heard a pin drop people were so mesmerized with her story."

 * .... MEMORIES: Check out this postcard of the old Padre Hotel circa 1940.

Is California ready for the ARkStorm, a period of rain and flooding of near biblical proportions? Scientists say we are over due. That and more on Alex Trebek and the Bakersfield Racquet Club hosts its annual pro open

Monday, March 11, 2019

 Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this such a special to live. Send your tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... ARKSTORM: If you are running out of things to worry about, boy do I have something for

you. Climate scientists are now warning that California could be on the verge of another "ARkStorm," a devastating period of rain and flooding that could leave the entire state under water with trillions of dollars in damages. A severe ARkStorm “is estimated to produce precipitation that in many places exceeds levels only experienced on average once every 500 to 1,000 years,” a 2011 government report states. The last time we experienced an ARkStorm was in December 1861 and January 1862 when the state was inundated with non-stop rainstorms for 43 straight days. The storm overwhelmed Sacramento, “turning the Sacramento Valley into an inland sea” and forcing California’s government to temporarily relocate to San Francisco.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Imagine going to the gym and not posting about it."

 * ... EVA SCHLOSS: Once again anti-Semitism is on the rise, not only in the United States but across the world. It has even infected the Democratic Party (77 percent of Jews identify themselves as Democrats) which cannot seem to find the courage to censure a freshman congresswoman from Minnesota who clearly speaks in anti-Semitic dog whistles. All this to explain why it is important you attend an evening with Eva Schloss this Tuesday at the Fox Theater, where the 90-year-old step sister of Anne Frank will recount her own harrowing ordeal at the Auschwitz death camp where Anne Frank and her family were also taken. There are a few tickets left (check the Fox website for availability) for this important evening with a Holocaust survivor.

 * ... ALEX TREBEK: The outpouring of love for Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek continues, particularly among his fans at Taft College where Trebek helped fund an engineering scholarship in his name. Bob Hampton, a longtime Taft College booster, even went so far to share his anti-cancer drink that helped him overcome two bouts with cancer. Trebek, 78, has been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

 * ... TENNIS OPEN: "Players from around the globe have descended on Bakersfield this week for the 6th annual U.S. Tennis Association's Men's Futures Pro Tournament at the Bakersfield Racquet Club. Qualifying begins Monday, culminating with championship weekend March 16 and 17, where American Tennis Professionals will compete for a $25,000 purse in our own backyard. Some of the best players have come through this tournament where Bakersfield's hospitality makes it a favorite on the circuit. Access to top-flight players on their way up the rankings any place else might cost hundreds of dollars per seat. Admission to the Bakersfield Tennis Open is free.

 * ... MEMORIES: A shot of old 19th Street.

Rains bring good news for the snowpack in the high Sierras, the hi-speed rail to nowhere will end in Bakersfield, and a happy ending for a stray dog

Friday, February 15, 2019

 Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this such a special to live. Send your tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... SNOWPACK: Do you remember just a few years ago when we thought it would never rain in

Bakersfield again? We went three straight winters with hardly a trace of rain and then this year comes and - voila - we are deluged with rainfall. At this point, the high Sierras are at 123 percent of the normal snowpack, and more is coming. Enjoy these days because this stuff doesn't happen often.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Someone just called me a pompous ass... I was so flummoxed, my monocle fell right into my shark fin soup."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "You can a lot about a woman by her hands. For example, if they are around your throat she is probably upset."

 * ... HI-SPEED RAIL: After Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he was killing parts of the high-speed rail project, this is what it will look like at the end and billions of dollars.

 * ... GOOD FORM: Remember the black labrador mix who was abandoned near Lake Ming the other day? Well the dog has now been adopted by a couple who were looking to replace their own dog who recently died of cancer. Richard McDonald adopted the 2-year-old lab mix as a Valentine's Day gift for his wife Patty, who has been looking for a "special" dog to replace their own dog. They were told the dog's name was Anakin, but may in fact rename it. By whatever name this dog is going to have a good home. (photo courtesy of The Bakersfield Californian)

 * ... ANNE FRANK: If you are a history buff you are in for a treat next month when the step-sister of Anne Frank will appear at the Fox Theater for a special lecture. Eva Schloss, now 90, will discuss her relationship with the young Anne Frank before she was rounded up by the Nazis and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where she died. This event is expected to sell out so you will want to buy your tickets soon. The talk will be particularly relevant given the anti-Semitic comments coming from freshmen in Congress and the ongoing attacks on the state of Israel.

 * ... RAISING CANE'S: We have a new fast food franchise in town, and this one comes with some serious positive reviews. Raising Cane's, which specializes in chicken strips, has opened on Coffee Road north of Rosedale Highway. In typical Bakersfield style, it is standing room only since it opened earlier this week.

 * ... MEMORIES: A full service gas station on the old Grapevine.

Anne Frank's step sister to speak at the Fox Theater downtown, Michelle Chantry is leaving The Bakersfield Californian, and cities with homeless populations are flirting with health epidemics

Monday, January 21, 2019

 Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this such a special to live. Send your tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... EVA SCHLOSS: Put March 12 on your calender when Eva Schloss, the step sister of Anne

Frank, comes to Bakersfield to speak at the Fox Theater. Schloss lives in London and is being brought here by the Chabad Jewish Community Center. Chabad has asked me to conduct the interview and I am honored to do so. Schloss and her family were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz, where her parents died.

 * ... HOMELESSNESS: It goes without saying that homelessness is a problem across the country, not just here in Bakersfield. And how various municipalities are dealing with it is eye opening to say the least. In Denver, the city council voted unanimously to decriminalize the offense of people committing certain low-level crimes like lying in a public right-of-way, urinating in public and panhandling. While I understand you can't fill the jails with people who happen to be homeless and defecate in public, we are flirting with a real health crisis here in our cities if we don't get a handle on it. Stay tuned.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I'm just saying before you choose a name for your baby you should google 'popular stripper names' first."

 * ... BRC PRO: Congratulations to Mark Fredriksz, the club pro at the Bakersfield Racquet Club, for his amazing transformation after losing almost 40 pounds. Fredriksz never seemed to be overweight, but his doctor told him he needed to embrace healthier eating or he was at risk of becoming diabetic. So he cleaned up his act and now eats vegetarian a few times a week, just enough to keep him honest. He has dropped 38 pounds and the last time I saw him, he was heading to the Hens Roost vegan restaurant for lunch.

 * ... CHANTRY OUT: Michelle Chantry, chief executive officer of The Bakersfield Californian for the past two years, is leaving the newspaper for another job. The paper has yet to officially announce her departure but employees were told of it last Friday. No word yet on where Chantry is going or who will replace her.

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this very cool old picture compliments of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.