The group that invented the term "shacking up" - the Baby Boomers - are at it again in their post divorce 50s and 60s, and head to Wire and Pearl for a unique Mother's Day gift

 * ... SHACKING UP: So guess which age group is leading the pack in terms of living together out of wedlock? It turns out it is the same group that invented the term "shacking up," the Baby Boomers. That's according to the New York Times which reports that the number of people over 50 who are

living with a single partner jumped 75 percent from 2007 to 2016, the highest increase of any age group. The reason? "People who've divorced have a more expansive view of what relationships are like," said Deborah Carr, a Rutgers University sociologist. "The whole idea of marriage as the ideal starts to fade, and personal happiness becomes more important."

* ... GOOD FORM: Here's a missive from a reader named Patty Sue that should lift your spirits: "Richard, on Friday had to pull my car over when I had an issue, corner of Merle Haggard Drive and Wings Way. It was 1:30 p.m. and hot, put the hood up, rolled down the windows with lights blinking.
Within about three minutes the cars started stopping and checking with me if I needed help. This kept up until the tow truck arrived. All ages, women and men. Officer Baurer pulled in behind me and protected me from traffic, young men from the airport checked on me and brought me a bottle of cold water.  I don't think it had anything to do with my white hair put just goes to show what kind of people live here."

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "It may look like I’m having really deep thoughts but 99 percent of the time I’m just thinking about what food I’m going to eat later."

 * ... MOTHER'S DAY: Here is a tip for all you men who are waiting until the last minute to purchase that present for Mother's Day: head over to Wire and Pearl on 17th and F streets, a charming little boutique where owner Susan Ruppel makes some of the most unique, beautiful and affordable jewelry you will find anywhere. Make sure you check their Facebook for store hours.

 * ... MYSTERY: A reader wrote: "Who remembers the name of the mountain lion who lived in the penthouse of the Oak Park Towers on Oak and 21st Street?

* ... HIDDEN GEMS: Here is my list of some underrated hidden gems on the local dining scene, places that operate largely under the radar but serve consistently great food with friendly service: Nuestro Mexico on 21st Street, Casa Munoz on Union Avenue, Juicy Burger on 24th and Q streets, Locale Farm to Table (previously known as Union Deli) across from the downtown post office, Red Pepper (an eastside favorite), Little Italy, Village Grill and Centro 18.

* ... MEMORIES: Mike Varela, an East High graduate, remembers going to a place called the Rainbow Gardens that later became the Crystal Inn on Union Avenue. "I saw Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Ruth Brown and other groups there... those were good times."

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And finally, thanks to Ralph Dennis for this note: "Listening to the radio the name Cousin Herb was common place. But, I don't remember his name being mentioned without the name of his band, The Ozark Squirrel Shooters. How come? Not politically correct?  I returned to Bakersfield a few years ago and subscribed to the Californian at the four days a week level. I glance over Bakersfield Observed to see if anything catches my eye and was glad to see the names of two restaurants, previously unmentioned, appear. If you wanted to impress or be impressed those were the places, Maison Jaussaud and The Saddle and Sirloin."

Three juvenile bears show up in the La Cresta neighborhood, CSUB gets some good news and more memories of the old Saddle and Sirloin restaurant

* ... BEAR SIGHTINGS: A resident of La Cresta shared with me an almost unbelievable sighting

close to midnight last week. "My wife and I had heard noises outside the night before and sure enough it started again," he said. "It was well after 11 p.m. and when I went outside I saw three small bears near an apricot tree. They scattered." The resident said this happened a block off Panorama Drive just up from Garces Memorial High School. Bear sightings in northeast Bakersfield are not particularly rare, but it they normally don't happen until around June or July.

 * ... CSUB: There is some good news for CSUB and its students. According to a recent study, CSUB is one of the top universities in the county in terms of upward mobility for its students. The Equality of Opportunity Project found that fully 81 percent of CSUB students who enrolled in the late 1990s moved from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top three fifths. Only two schools - Pace University of the New Jersey Institute of Technology - performed better. The ranking is the latest in a series of accolades for CSU Bakersfield. The Washington Monthly ranks CSUB number 1 Best Bang for the Buck Western Colleges and number 12 in the Top 100 Master’s Universities.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I'm at the age where a 'lifetime warranty' isn't the incentive it used to be."

 * ... ZIPPO LIGHTER: One of the enduring images of the Vietnam War popped up on Facebook the other day. It is a Zippo lighter with a peace sign reading: "Nam 71-72. We the unwilling led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate die for the ungrateful."

 * ... HOMELESSNESS: Robert Hyde wrote to lament the explosion of homelessness in our community, starting with the panhandlers who accost patrons in parking lots around town. "We live in Kernville and make our regular trips to Bako to shop - Walmart/Costco/Trader Joe's/Lowes etc. Once pretty much gone, the panhandlers now roam the intersections and the parking lots. In the Walmart parking lot one accosted us even before we were out of our car and two more caught us on our way back. Also saw two at the bottom of the Highway 99 north bound Rosedale Highway off ramp; it was a shift change as one handed his sign off to another before pedaling away on his bicycle, and we saw one more with a sign at the 58 east bound off ramp at Mt Vernon."

 * ... MEMORIES: Lynn Finch weighed in with this memory of the old Saddle and Sirloin restaurant. "My uncle, Carl Eggers, was the original owner of the Saddle and Sirloin. Before that restaurant was built he owned a little drive-in hamburger restaurant downtown named Carl's, long before the fast food era! It was on the northeast corner of 18th and M streets. I believe, across from Rice Bowl.
Bakersfield housing was spreading west of Oleander near Brundage at that time and my uncle had a custom home built on a short little street parallel to Brundage that was named Eggers Street, as his house was the first house on the one block street."

 * ... CRYSTAL INN: And finally Kevin Cornelius added this: "Phil Foster has a very good memory. But the Crystal Inn was not at the old Basque hall location. It was at the northwest location of Planz and Union Avenue. That's the location of the now Pick-up Salvage building. Crystal Inn burned down to ashes sometime in 1957."

Wednesday Bako Bits: a trip down memory lane with Maison Jaussaud, Saddle and Sirloin and that time when the Shah of Iran stopped by for some food and libation

 * ... MEMORY LANE: My mailbox has been full with notes from readers about a walk down memory lane. Today's blog is a tribute to just that. Enjoy.

* .. THE BLUFFS: Supervisor Mike Maggard wrote to talk about the early days of Panorama Drive and the bluffs, so he turned to his mother Neta to remind him of a story told by his late father Bill. "Around 1951-1952, there used to be an air strip along the bluffs near the cemetery. Mom remembers the gas station at the corner of River Boulevard, and the liquor store next to it to the east, but few if any homes were in the area. No bar, as far as she recollects. Anyway, the airstrip was used by 'brave' young east side car enthusiasts to stage drag races. My father raced there often and when he began courting my mother during her senior year of high school, she would hop into the front seat of his “flat head ’40 Ford” with him and they would drag race up the runway. When he and his buddies, who we called the 'Original Brat Pack' (Bill Maggard, Bob Martin, Jack Saba, Bob Peabody and Eddie Wright) were a bit younger, they used to play football in the center median on Beale, near the corner of Quincy."

 * ... MEMORIES: The recent posts about the elegant old Maison Jaussaud's restaurant triggered this memory from Gary Crabtree: "Along with the Saddle and Sirloin, there used to be another small restaurant called the Crystal Inn, I believe located around South Union and Planz Road. It was a small place with great food and top notch entertainment. I remember my parents taking me to dinner there for my 10th birthday. The entertainment was a piano player and a female singer named Margaret Whiting who was about to explode on the national recording scene. I’d be interested if anyone else remembers the Crystal Inn."

 * ... MORE MAISON: Ronal Reynier brought some historical content to Maison Jaussaud (JoSo's) with this missive: "It was built by my cousins Martin and Babe and yes the Shah of Iran was there for lunch. I believe it was in the early 1970s. Martin and Babe's cousin Henri, from France, worked as maitre d'. It was his day off but they had him come in. The Shah must have enjoyed his
lunch; he gave Henri $1,500 to be divided by the staff on duty and today it would be equal to a $9,500 tip; Henri's tip was a nice Rolex watch. People from the French Embassy stopped for lunch at JoSo's twice a month when traveling between San Francisco and Los Angeles. They left a $300
tip each time. I have no idea why they traveled by car and not by air; maybe just to eat lunch at JoSo's."

 * ... FAMILY TIES: And if you wanted more proof, check out this note from Gary Jaussaud,  son of one of the brothers that founded Maison Jaussaud's."I can tell you first had, in fact the Shah of Iran and his group did in fact have lunch at Maison Jaussaud’s during that period of time. I remember because I was there and saw it with my own eyes. Two things I remember the most is, once our chef found out they were coming he went out and bought all kinds of interesting items they might like, and when it was said and done, the Shah wanted an American hamburger. The second thing was, the U.S. security team with the group, paid for the lunch with a federal check, as the Shah was the guest of the United States. The event realty happened, so you can tell your readers, you got the information from the source."

 * ... MORE MAISON: And Hank Webb chimed in with this memory: "I was home on leave from the Navy wherein I was a navy hospital corpsman. As a treat for my 21st birthday,  my brother-in-law, Denny Haynes, who was later finance director for the city of Bakersfield, my sister Elizabeth, and my mother Benita took me to Jaussuad's to see Sally Rand, the world famous 'fan dancer.' She was an ecdysiast, aka a stripper, who used two huge ostrich feather fans in her act. At one point Ms. Rand exposed larger quantities of her physique than my mother could tolerate, so she tried to put her hands over my eyes and cried out, 'Oh don't look!"'I calmly replied, 'It's ok momma, I'm a medical man.' Thus making me one of my family's enduring jokes."