Former county department head Dave Price dies, Campbell Soups sells Bolthouse Farms, cleaner air leads to fewer "fog days" in Kern County and spring in Bakersfield ...

 Monday, April 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.

 * ... DAVE PRICE: RIP to Dave Price, one of the great citizens of our community who died last

Thursday at his Tennessee retirement home. Price retired as director of the county Resources Management Agency and left California for Kingsport, Tennessee, where his jovial manner and quick wit quickly endeared him to the locals. I knew Dave well and was proud to call him a friend, as did many. His wife, Liz, said he died of a cardiac event.

 * ... BOLTHOUSE: Bolthouse Farms, one of Kern County's powerhouse carrot and juice producers that was sold to Campbell Soup Co. a few years ago, has become a private company again. Campbell was looking to unload Bolthouse because, according to the Wall Street Journal, it proved difficult for the company to handle fresh food. Former Bolthouse CEO Jeff Dunn was leading a group of investors who purchased the business. No word yet if Bolthouse will return to Bakersfield as its corporate headquarters.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "No matter how nice I ask random people, nobody will take me to Funkytown."

 * ... WEEKEND: If it is spring in Bakersfield it is time for outdoor events and celebrations. This weekend alone we saw downtown Rotary's Havana Nights, the Stars Dinner Theater Dancing with the Stars (congratulations to Robin Mangarin-Scott for placing first), the Coconut Cup pickle ball tournament at the Bakersfield Racquet Club, the 4th Annual Sikh Peace Parade, a community trash cleanup day and more. Spring in Bakersfield.

 * ... RIG CITY: Congratulations to the Rig City Coffee Roasters on its one-year anniversary downtown. The popular coffee and pastry shop is part of a downtown renaissance of small businesses that are breathing new energy into our downtown.

 * ... TULE FOG: Remember a few years back when the tule fog was so think you could hardly see the car in front of you? Well, those days are largely behind us and we can thank lower levels of air pollution for it. That's according to a new study by scientists at the UC Berkeley who analyzed meteorological and air pollution data from the Central Valley reaching back to 1930. They reported this: "The results help explain the puzzling decades long rise and fall in the number of 'fog days' affecting the region, which increased 85 percent between 1930 and 1970 and then decreased 76 percent between 1980 to 2016. This up and down pattern follows trends in air pollution in the valley, which rose during the first half of the century when the region was increasingly farms and industrialized, and then dropped off after the enactment of air pollution regulations in the 1970s."

* .... MEMORIES: Take a look at this, the before and after of 20th Street downtown.

Work gets under way on the 24th Street widening, Candi Easter dies and did you know that more than 50 U2 spy planes were made right here in Oildale?

Friday, October 26, 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 news tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * .. 24TH STREET: The widening of 24th Street has been decades in the making, and now after eight lawsuits and years of delays, the final construction phase is now under way. The city held a

ground breaking Thursday morning at the corner of 24th and Oak Street on the empty lot that once was used to sell pumpkins and Christmas trees. Now that houses on the north side of 24th have been razed and a brick sound wall erected, the next step is a sound wall on the south side near Oak and Beech Street, the widening of 24th between the Kern River and Beech and the widening of the northwest portion of Oak Street. It should all be done by spring 2020.

 * ... RIP CANDI: Candi Easter, the longtime head of the Kern County Democratic Party, has died after an extended illness. Easter stepped down from her party post a few years ago and has been in ill health for months. Services are pending.

 * ... U2 SPY PLANES: Did you know that the famous U2 spy plane was assembled right here in Bakersfield? That's right, according to retired Gen. James Whitehead the first 50 U2s were assembled at a secret Lockheed manufacturing facility on Norris Road in Oildale. The U2s were assembled there in 1956 and 1957. The planes were assembled there and flown to Nevada where they were flight tested in the military's super-secret Area 51 airfield.

 * ... DOWNTOWN EATERIES: If you don't live or work downtown, you might be missing a growing culinary trend toward mom and pop family owned restaurants devoted to healthy eating. The Locale Farm to Table across from the downtown Post Office started the trend, and now right down the street are a growing number of eateries: Rig City Coffee Roasting, Better Bowls and the Hen's Roost, home of the best vegan burger in town. Meanwhile, more local restaurants and bakeries are planned for the so-called Eastchester where the Smitten Cafe has enjoyed a gangbuster's business. If you haven't been downtown lately, it is worth your while.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Why are you showing me pictures of your kid if you have a dog?"

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "No matter how nice I ask random people, nobody will take me to Funkytown."

 * ... SPAY NEUTER: Hats off to a group of local pet rescue organizations for a successful day vaccinating more than 300 dogs this past weekend. Dozens of spay neuter vouchers were issued, pet food was provided for those in need and distemper vaccinations were administered at Heritage Park. Volunteers represented a number of organizations, including Bakersfield Boxers and Bullies Rescue, SafeFurr Place Animal Rescue, Cook's Veterinary Hospital, Bakersfield SPCA and the Bakersfield Pet Food Pantry. The event was funded by the Basic Needs Foundation. The next clinic will be held Nov. 11 at the same park.

 * ... MEMORIES: How many of you attended this Fleetwood Mac concert back in the day?

The campaign to unseat Assemblyman Rudy Salas will top $1 million, new businesses grow out of the local farmer's markets and Imbibe Wine and Spirits offers Spanish cava at a bargain price

Friday, October 19, 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 news tips to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... MENDES VERSUS SALAS: If you want to know how important the Democratic and

Republicans parties view the race for Assembly district 32, follow the money. Challenger Justin Mendes, a Republican who spent just $40,000 in the primary, expects to spend north of $1 million in his race to unseat Rep. Rudy Salas. Mendes says he expects Salas to spend twice that much.

  * ... SMALL BUSINESS: Did you know that our local farmer's markets also serve as business incubators? That's right, a number of local brick and mortar businesses started off as vendors at the Brimhall and Haggin Oaks farmers market, according to Jaclyn Allen, who runs the markets. Allen knows this all too well because she too started off selling nut products in the local markets, and now has branched out and is the owner of Hens Roost, the popular vegan and vegetarian restaurant on G Street. Allen said two nearby businesses, Rig City Coffee and Better Bowls, also started off at the farmer's markets before deciding to sign and lease and take it indoors.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Life is like a box of chocolates; an emotional chick can destroy one in under five minutes."

 * ... INDIAN CUISINE: Are you ready for a new entry into the Indian restaurant scene? It's about to happen with the opening of Viceroy, a new eatery on Stockdale Highway devoted to Indian cuisine.

 * ... SPANISH CAVA: My tip for the upcoming holidays: if you are looking for a good Spanish cava to entertain guests, consider the Campo Viejo cava available at Imbibe Wine and Spirits for just $10 a bottle when you buy six bottles of wine or champagne. Cheaper than its French counterparts but a solid bubbly.

* ... MEMORIES: You know you are a Bakersfield old timer if you remember when College Center opened in August o 1960 off Columbus. Photo courtesy of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

The culture wars target Chick-fil-A in Manhattan, more on that Fresno State professor who attacked Barbara Bush and a new coffee house opens downtown

Monday, April 23, 2018

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed, now online only. 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 place. We value your feedback. Email your news and notes to rsbeene@yahoo.com.

 * ... SHAME: Isn't it amazing how the words from one professor can stain an entire university? That's certainly the case with Fresno State, where alumni and staff are still reeling from the outrageous rant by English professor Randa Jarrar in which she called the late Barbara Bush a racist

and added she was glad she was dead. Now I know plenty of proud Fresno State alumni, and certainly the university will survive this, but the arrogance and utter meanness of Jarrar's tweet and anger toward the late First Lady stirred a hornet's nest. This tweet below labels Jarrar a "classless land cow," but that is an insult to all the bovines who share our planet.

 * ... CHICK-FIL-A: We talk a lot about the great divide in this country: the urban, hip culture of both coasts versus the great "fly over country" of middle America that elected Donald Trump. We live in a nation that talks past each other and more often defaults to insults and crassness (see the previous item on Randa Jarrar) at the expense of finding common ground. Which is why I found an essay in The New Yorker on the arrival of Chick-fil-A in Manhattan so interesting, and demoralizing. It is venomous in its attack on Christians, and though I am not particularly religious myself, I found it unsettling. Consider this passage from author Dan Piepenbring: "New York has taken to Chick-fil-A. One of the Manhattan locations estimates that it sells a sandwich every six seconds, and the company has announced plans to open as many as a dozen more storefronts in the city. And yet the brand’s arrival here feels like an infiltration, in no small part because of its pervasive Christian traditionalism. Its headquarters, in Atlanta, are adorned with Bible verses and a statue of Jesus washing a disciple’s feet. Its stores close on Sundays. Its C.E.O., Dan Cathy, has been accused of bigotry for using the company's charitable wing to fund anti-gay causes, including groups that oppose same-sex marriage. ... The company has since reaffirmed its intention to 'treat every person with honor, dignity and respect,' but it has quietly continued to donate to anti-L.G.B.T. groups. When the first stand-alone New York location opened, in 2015, a throng of protesters appeared. When a location opened in a Queens mall, in 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a boycott. No such controversy greeted the opening of this newest outpost. Chick-fil-A’s success here is a marketing coup. Its expansion raises questions about what we expect from our fast food, and to what extent a corporation can join a community."

 * ... BAN THE BIBLE? And as long as we are talking religion, don't fall for the "fake news" story making the rounds that California is on the verge of banning the Bible. It's all hooey. It started when Assembly member Travis Allen, who is running for governor, suggested that Assembly Bill 2943 would effectively ban the Bible because it deals with "gay conversion therapy." In truth, AB 2943 does not mention the Bible, Christianity or religion at all, and simply enhances the state's already existing prohibition on "sexual orientation change efforts." Our state is guilty of a lot of nutty laws emanating from Sacramento but banning the Bible is not one of them.

* ... RIG CITY: I dropped by our town's latest hip coffee shop, Rig City Coffee Roasters right behind the downtown post office. It's cute, classy and the coffee was top shelf,  but parking is a problem and service was slow. Still, worth checking out.