Remembering the 'Hooverville' that existied outside of Bakersfield during the Great Depression and celebrating Tony's Pizza and Uricchio's Trattoria for some good eats

 * … HOOVERVILLE: Here's a history question from reader Bryan Kelly: "In the Grapes of Wrath there is a scene where the Joad family first arrives in Bakersfield and go through a 'Hooverville.' Does anyone remember if that was the real thing?" Brian: we know that the term 'Hooverville' was a

name for the shanty towns built by the homeless during the Great Depression (named after President Herbert Hoover) and that one existed outside of town, but I cannot be more definitive than that. Any history buffs out there who can add to the dialogue?

 * … FOODIE: A friend knows that I don't often order pizza out (I make a mean pie at home) but he treated me to Tony's Pizza recently and it was simply mouth watering. Add that to the special salad occasionally offered at Uricchio's Trattoria downtown (fried chicken strips over a salad with lettuce, black beans and avocado) and it's enough to keep me out of my own kitchen.

* … GOOD CAUSE: Remember to mark Saturday, February 14, on your calendar for the annual reverse raffle and dinner for Our Lady of Guadalupe School. The event will be held on the new church grounds at 4600 East Brundage with cocktails at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m. The grand prize is $8,000 and there will also be a live auction. This year the Monsignor Craig Harrison award will go to the Dhanens and Nieto families. For more information call the school office at (661) 323-6059.

* … PSYCHO: Jerome Kleinsasser wrote with these thoughts on the Hitchcock classic Psycho, part of which was filmed in Bakersfield. "Here's something anyone with a Psycho DVD, and their finger on the pause button can prove to themselves. After her encounter with a CHP officer, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) continues driving until she faces exit signs to Los Angeles and Bakersfield respectively. She opts for the latter, which clearly infers that what follows happens in Bakersfield (regardless of where the scenes were actually filmed). As she enters our fair city, I'm assuming it is on Union Avenue, one may clearly see a sign reading 'Bakersfield, population (whatever)' on the right side of the frame. She then, for some unspecified reason, acquires another car even though the CHP officer is watching her from across the street, a sequence that may well have been filmed down south."

* … MORE PSYCHO: More on Psycho from Bob Abshier: "I always enjoy your section of the paper. When I saw Friday's piece, two things really stood out. In the movie Psycho, Janet Leigh was going north on Union Avenue  (then the old 99), and when she passed California Avenue she veered off on a side street at a 45 degree angle. Very familiar to me, as I used that turn off going home after leaving my girlfriend's house. The Social Security office is now standing where the street was. You also see the Gorman signs when she is in the mountains. The used car dealer was either on Union (99) or Chester Avenue. When I lived in East Bako at the time, I spent a lot of time at that miniature golf course ( a lot of time) !  It was always the place to take a date. You can still see the empty hill behind the Sizzler where the course was. Even now in my mid 60s I still miss it!"

 * … MEMORIES: And finally, this from Joe Scott: "I just wanted to say that I was extremely familiar with the miniature golf course just north of the corner of Brundage and Oak mentioned by Dennis Claxton. There are at least two reasons I remember it so well. First, because I lived at 15 Wible Road, now part of Freeway 99, barely a block away. And the other reason is because along with my friends Warren Pechin and Dallis Higdon we competed in "VERY SERIOUS" miniature golf tournaments just among the three of us! Sometimes the tournaments even included $5 in prize money, big bucks!  Later on the miniature golf course was removed and at that exact same location a privately owned swimming pool was built where they gave swimming lessons, and you could also rent out the facility for private swim parties."

An online petition seeks to have crosswalks placed on 24th Street and readers speculate on how Bakersfield played in the filming of the Hitchcock classic Psycho

* … CROSSWALKS: There is a grass roots effort to convince our City Council to install two

pedestrian crosswalks on 24th Street as part of the widening project. The online petition asks the Council to consider putting crosswalks at both A and Beech streets, allowing residents on the north side to access Franklin Elementary School and Jastro Park on the south side. Personally, I think crossing 24th on foot is a suicide mission in the best of circumstances, but the only other ways to resolve this - a pedestrian tunnel or bridge - may be cost prohitited. More on this to come.

   
* … PSYCHO: An anonymous reader wrote that one of the scenes in the movie Psycho (where actress Janet Leigh was buying a car) was filmed at the northeast corner of Union and California avenues. Another speculated it was filmed on Truxtun Avenue in front of the courthouse. And still a third, Mona Martin, added: "We so enjoy your blog, upon doing a little 'Psycho' research, I discovered that the used car lot scene was actually filmed a bit to the north of the Universal Studios at an existing used car lot. I believe it was portrayed to have been in Mojave though."

 * … OLD TIMES: A reader mentioned an old miniature golf course in town, leading Dennis Claxton to add this: "Let’s not forget the miniature golf course located on Oak Sreet. just north of Brundage Lane where Barnett’s Tire shop stands now. About eight of us would spend many of the hot summer nights playing pinball and getting the soft drinks out of the water cooler ."

 * … HORSES IN BARS: Bill Deaver wrote to say downtown Bakersfield wasn't the only place where folks rode their horses into local bars. "Back during a Gold Rush Days celebration in Mojave in the 1950s, George Hodges, the then-constable, rode his horse into one of the bars that lined Sierra Highway. When I was constable during the 1970s I didn't have a horse but I levied on a couple local bars to satisfy judgments. From a bunch of bars in the 1950s we are down to two now, and one of those is in the Elks Lodge. In think TV did them in, giving folks something to do at home rather than in the local pubs. By the way, there are few places that smell as bad as a bar in the morning."

 * … CAR DEALERS: One more trip down memory lane, this one compliments of reader Kala Stuebbe: "My dad, Kenny Loewen, loves the walks down memory lane you so often provide especially in this case the car dealerships of the past. He began his career as a car salesman in 1950, and interestingly in 1959 on the first day it was mandated that car salesmen had to be licensed he happened to be at the DMV registering a car for a customer, so he filled out the form for his license and received the license number 157 in the entire state which he kept for over 50 years. Can you imagine the numbers of licenses now? He remembers Thrasher Motors who carried DeSoto (27th and Chester); Kitchen and Hodges who carried Nash (H and 23rd); Bakersfield Garage who carried Dodge; and Ed Fant Buick (at the west end of the now crosstown freeway) who was the first one to carry Fiat in 1957. He said that Plymouth was the lowest priced car of the time and carried by Bakersfield Garage, Thrasher Motors, and Strickland Motors. Leo Meek had a large used car sales business and the only new car they carried was the Edsel (for a short time). Tom Gillum Used Cars, located in Oildale, was almost as busy as Leo Meek."

Clinica Sierra Vista to open a new facility to serve the needy on the east side, bad form on the bike path and discovering the "Sonny burger" at Mexicali restaurant

* ... CLINICA: The east side of town has an important new health center that will open on Monday. It's called the East Niles Community Heath Center and it represents the latest venture by Clinica Sierra Vista to expand its coverage for underserved and low-income residents. I toured the facility this week

with Clinica CEO Steve Schilling and his board chair, local plaintiffs attorney Matt Clark, and left impressed with the color and vibrancy of the new facility, which represents the future of local health care. The goal: provide an attractive, modern facility to get folks out of hospital emergency rooms and into comprehensive health care plans. The East Niles building will also house the family practice residency that used to operate out of Kern Medical Center, but is now under the Clinica umbrella, the Rio Bravo Family Residency Program.

 * … ACHIEVER: Hats off to Lauren Naworski, a 2011 graduate of Garces Memorial High School who will graduate in June from UC Santa Barbara. She is now interning at Fox Sports in Los Angeles where her first assignment was to help compile footage for coverage of Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski's 1,000th victory. She will graduate with a double major in communications and political science and is a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. She is the daughter of Andy and Julie Naworski.

 * … GOOD FORM: Janelle Kaufman lives across the street from the Olive Drive Elementary School and was impressed when a school gardener stopped working and removed his hat when the school broadcast the pledge of allegiance in the morning.

 * … BAD FORM: To the woman who allowed her small dog to weave all over the bike path, almost taking down a cyclist after nipping him in the leg: keep your animal on a leash before the unthinkable happens. And to all your cyclists out there: slow down. The bike path is a multi-use facility, not your personal velodrome.

* … FOODIE: Mexicali is famous for its south of the border dishes, but it also offers one of the best hamburgers in town. Next time, try the twin-patty "Sonny burger." You will not be disappointed.

 * … CAR DEALERS: Brian Kelly poses an interesting question: "The movie 'Psycho' was partially filmed here. There is a scene where Ms. Leigh gets another car. I believe the master shot shows another car lot across the street. Does anyone remember where these places were? Chester Avenue? Union Avenue?"

 * … MEMORIES: Steve Urner wrote to remember when he was a child in the 1960s when he rode his mo-ped tdo the Bakersfield County Club for a part-time job. "Nothing but foothills," he said.  "I also rode the mo-ped to Ewing’s on Alta Vista as the evening dishwasher (1964).  Jack Ewing would come back and flick his cigar ashes in the disposal throughout the evening as he visited with patrons. Great bunch of people."

 * …. MEMORY: Kurt Seeger says you might be a Bakersfield old timer if you remember the minature golf course on Mount Vernon Avenue where the Sizzler now stand. Pinball games were just a nickel a play.