Bakersfield College celebrates Earth Day with surgery drinks and junk food, remembering Maison Jaussaud's and some good form at a local Walmart

 * ... EARTH DAY: An interesting note from Stephen A. Montgomery on Bakersfield College’s

Garden Fest held on Earth Day. "(It) sort of implies a concern for the environmentalism and sustainable living. Yet in the face of long term concerns about the health affects of sugary beverages on diabetes and weight and now new concerns about the health risks of artificially sweetened beverages the BC Culinary Arts food concession sold sodas for a buck and charged $2 for water! Food consisted of pulled pork sandwiches or hot dogs with salty chips. Healthier options? Not here. Hello! Are we a little tone deaf?"

 * ... OVERHEARD: At the Starbucks downtown a man is complaining to his wife: "Starbucks has become like United: crowded, horrible service and uncaring."

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Siri pronounces Spanish street names like a white guy in a Hawaiian shirt ordering in a Mexican restaurant."

 * ... GOOD FORM: "Last Tuesday my husband and I went in to Walmart on Gosford to shop for our Vegas snacks. We were in a hurry so we went through the 'self’ checkout line and upon checking out we (received) cash for $100.  We left the store and once inside the car we realized we didn't collect our $100 from the cash dispensary. We ran back into the store and the family behind us were still checking out. The lady noticed the look on our faces and asked if we were looking for our $100 cash. We told her we forgot to collect it and she proceeded to tell us she turned the money in to a Walmart clerk. It's so awesome that there are still honest people in Bakersfield! We did try to compensate her $20 for her honesty and she refused to take it. So we paid it forward in Las Vegas!"

 * ... MEMORIES: Here's one more memory of Maison Jaussaud's from Richard Stricklen, president of the Motor City Auto Center. "For many years, the Bakersfield New Car Dealers' Association held their monthly lunch meetings at Maison Jaussaud's. In the late 1960's I was absent for the annual election of officers meeting and was informed the following week that I was elected president. I was 23 at the time and got a call from John Barber saying, 'See kid, that's what you get for being a no-show.' Also in that era, the hit singing groups, 'The Four Seasons' and the 'Leland Four' performed at Maison Jaussaud's several times. The Jaussaud family had a knack for attracting the very top entertainment."

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And there was this from reader Phil Foster: "My father Les Foster and his brother Lawrie Foster came to Bakersfield in 1929. My father formed a dance band and played the Crystal Inn, The Beardsley Ballroom, the La Granada Ballroom (where City Hall annex is today), The Barn in Oildale, The Bakersfield Inn, The El Tejon Hotel, (where the Bank of America Tower sits today). They taught music for the Phillips Music Company on 19th Street and had many
students of music in the 1930s and 1940s. Footnote: the Crystal Inn is now the Basque Club on South Union Avenue."

 * ... CRYSTAL INN: Finally, Gail Oblinger was in high school in the 1950s when the Crystal Inn was popping. "It was always crowded with couples dressed up… girls in pastel colored formals and boys wearing rented  tux on prom nights.  hey served meals late into the night, so you could attend the dance and go out to dinner afterwards. I felt very special to be all dressed up and going to a such special place with my date. I had been told me a time when I had to be home, no exceptions. One such evening, the service was a bit slow due to the crowds. I was directed to a dimly lit  back office by the waiter, when I asked if there was a place I could phone home. My mother understood about the dinner crowd and extended my curfew. As I was starting to leave, a man I hadn’t noticed before, got up off the couch and came staggering towards me, I guess he had been drunk and sleeping it off, but it sure gave me a fright. I didn’t tell that part to my mother, for fear she wouldn’t let me go another time."

Putting to rest a myth about Obamacare, get ready for the fourth annual Mac 'n Cheese Festival out at CSUB and remembering when Maison Jaussaud on south Union was the hottest restaurant in town

 * ... OBAMACARE: There has been a lot of disinformation about the idea that members of Congress are eligible for some sort of gold plated federal health insurance while the rest of the country must rely on the Affordable Care Care (ACA) more commonly known as Obamacare. But let's put this popular myth to rest: According to The Washington Post, the ACA requires members of Congress to subscribe to the D.C. exchanges, and because congressmen and senators make too much money, they must pay it themselves. So in this case, that means they all must subscribed to Obamacare.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I ran into my ex the other day. I could have sworn the light was green."

 * ... MAC 'N CHEESE: The hottest ticket in town this weekend is for the fourth annual Mac 'n Cheese Festival out at CSUB's Alumni Park. The event features a couple dozen food vendors who vie for the best version of macaroni and cheese, live music from Mento Buru and plenty of craft beer and wine. Last year the event was a near sell out, so get your tickets early at eventbrite.com. The festival is sponsored by American General Media and supports the CSUB athletic scholarship fund.

 * ... BLOWBACK: Kathy Harlan took me to task for writing about the exodus of people from California due to high taxes and regulation. In her words: "Richard, will we ever hear the end of Republican complaining? You have taken it to a fine art form. Focus on the fact that you have the presidency and congress and what a fine mess Republicans are making of that. California is doing just fine. If you don't like the gas tax and the clean air we enjoy, by all means, move to Arizona. The entire state has crummy air quality and a poor level of government services. You would be very happy there, I am sure."

 * ... MORE BLOWBACK: And Jon Johnson added this: "Richard, I love it when these people like Diane Alburger take their pensions, that are largely paid for by the taxpayers of California (Pers Sters, Kern County Retirement etc) and move out of state. Thus escaping any tax (I understand they still have a liability for state income tax) paid in California. Also not contributing to any of the other social or economic benefit their retirement income might bring back to the communities that gave them these 'fine' benefits. Maybe we are better off with out them?"

 * ... THE BLUFFS: On another note, Maureen Myers said the old bar called The Bluffs was not located on Panorama and River Boulevard but rather it "was a divey little place set deeper back in the neighborhood towards Jefferson Park."

 * ... MEMORIES: From the archives of The Bakersfield Californian, as cited on Facebooks' Kern County of Old, was this entry about the iconic Maison Jaussaud’s on south Union, known as  Bakersfield's "classiest restaurant and nightclub of the 1950s... Upon its stage Johnny Carson once endured his most ignominious flop as a stand-up comedian.” For years "wealthy farmers once brought their fur-stole-draped wives for Manhattans and Porterhouse steaks” in the popular restaurant. "Singer Dorothy Dandridge performed here too, along with a succession of over-the-hill veterans whose names still packed punches at the time, like the then-ancient Marx Brothers and the equally aged Three Stooges. Actress Jane Russell appeared on the Maison Jaussaud stage and so did Carol Channing and the Ink Spots.”