A new non-profit devoted to downtown businesses and lifestyle fills an important void, the new 18Hundred restaurant does a brisk business and Cal Poly tries to kick Chick-fil-A off campus

Monday, May 13, 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.

 * .. THE HUB: It is hard to overstate how important the creation of The Hub of Bakersfield is to our downtown business district. Created by an impressive group of 30-something professionals, The Hub

is a new non-profit devoted to growing downtown and providing resources to those people who may want to create a new business, hold an event or invest in the downtown area. The HUB fills an important void in the development of downtown, since no other organization is devoted to specifically to the downtown arts and business district. (The Downtown Business Association has proved inept at this type of thing). The HUB, by contrast, is motivated by an altruism borne of true love of where we live. Among those involved in The HUB are City Councilman Andres Gonzales, marketing company owner Shannon LaBare, Alex Balfour, Miranda Whitworth Munoz, Robert Austin Smith, Daniel Cater, Heather Laganelli and Rachel Magnus. (Photo of The Hub team and Shannon LaBare)

 * ... SECOND SATURDAY: Did you drive through downtown Saturday and notice something different? As in the number of pianos that popped up outside local businesses to allow customer to sit down and tinkle the ivories? It was all part of the folks from The HUB working with organizers of Second Saturday to bring a little life and fun into the downtown area. I spotted pianos at Heather Laganelli's Locale Farm to Table across from the downtown post office, as well as one in front of Cafe Smitten on 18th Street.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If a man said he’ll fix it, he will. There is no need to remind him every 6 months about it."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "I have a fitness tracker. It's called, 'I look at my gut and it keeps getting bigger.'"

 * ... 18HUNDRED: Have you been to the new 18Hundred restaurant at the corner of Chester and 18th Street? It's worth checking out and it is housed in a historic old bank building that was restored and completely renovated several years ago. When you go, check out the picture above the bar showing the old Redlick's department store that once stood on Chester and 18th on the southeast corner, directly across from the bank. And here, for your pleasure, are some old pictures of the Security Pacific Bank back in the day.

 * ... CHICK-FIL-A: Chick-fil-A is one of the fastest and most popular growing fast food franchises in the nation, yet it continues to be the source of political backlash because of the strong Christian beliefs of its founder. And now, well you guessed it, students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo want to kick the eatery off campus because they claim the franchise is anti-gay. In fact, in the school newspaper one writer compared having Chick-fil-A on campus to having pornography in the library. And so it goes.

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this photo of an old page of The Californian, courtesy of the Kern County History Fans Facebook page.

Another California cop is shot and killed, Amy Travis takes over as head of CASA and Brian Dignan resigns as athletic director at Garces Memorial High School

Friday, January 11, 2018

 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.

 * ... OPEN SEASON ON COPS: Another cop has been shot and killed, this time a 22-year-old

rookie in Davis who seems to have been killed execution style. Authorities said Natalie Corona was investigating a traffic accident when someone calmly walked up to her and shot her. The suspect, who later shot and killed himself, lived just a few blocks from the accident scene.

 * ... CASA: Amy Travis has been appointed the new executive director of the Court Appointed Special Advocartes (CASA), replacing longtime director Colleen McGauley who recently retired. Travis worked under McGauley for years before leaving to work at OneLegacy, but was lured back after McGauley decided to retire.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "My dogs don’t understand why I have to leave the house everyday, and quite frankly, neither do I."

 * ... BRIAN DIGNAN: Brian Dignan has resigned as athletic director of Garces Memorial High School, but will stay on as head men's basketball coach. In a Facebook post, Dignan said he wanted to spend more time with his family and noted that Gino Lacava would replace him as AD. Dignan previously spent a decade as an assistant basketball coach at CSUB and he also coached at Bakersfield Christian High School. Meanwhile Dignan's wife, former TV weather person Melissa Dignan, has also taken on a new job with Environmental Safety Solutions. Congrats to them both.

 * ... HEATHER LAGANELLI: One of the pioneers of the locally sourced farm to table movement, Heather Laganelli, has purchased the building that houses her downtown restaurant, Locale Farm to Table. Laganelli tries to use food and meat products produced no father than 100 miles from Bakersfield, and her creative culinary touch has created a strong and loyal following. Her restaurant is located across from the downtown Post Office in the old Vincent's Cyclery Building. She also purchased an adjacent building that once housed a silversmith and a cobbler, and she plans to convert that into a "to go" restaurant sometime later this year. (Pictured is one of Heather's desert creations)

 * ... CRUELTY: By now we have all heard about the woman who was shamed for riding a 
Bird scooter and dragging along a dog. The story recently appeared in London and the post has gone viral on social media. If you missed it, here is the original post: "While riding bikes downtown on A and 20th street, we watched this awesome human being riding one of the Bird Scooter’s at about 15 MPH dragging this poor dog behind her by a leash. The dog was on its side and we watched it being drug at least 100 yards and there’s no telling how long she had been dragging it for before we saw her. You can see that its paws are all completely bloody. I was unable to get a good picture of the poor dogs side. Sat on the phone with BPD while following her all the way back to an apartment on 24th St. She had the nerve to tell us that “shit happens, just like with kids”! Ummm yeah I don’t drag my kids down the street by a leash. If only she would have been a guy! She told me that she was going to call the cops on me for harassment and threatened me but she sure didn’t open the door and have something to say when the police went knocking on the door. I hope to see you again girly! Feel free to share this post. " Since then police have interviewed the woman and said the dog has been treated and will fully recover. Stay tuned to see if charges are filed.

 * ... MEMORIES: I found this on the Kern County History Fans Facebook page, with this caption: "The first constructed building on the now BHS (Kern County High School) campus was in 1885 and it was called the Commercial Building. The building stood where current Elm Grove is with several of the original 1895 driveway palm trees still standing."