The Bakersfield Racquet Club rallies to stay alive, remembering the old Blackboard bar and a little known band called The Spats

 * ... BRC: The Bakersfield Racquet Club is holding an open house barbecue Thursday afternoon to reintroduce the place to old and new members. The club, struggling with an aging and declining membership and trying to redefine itself as more than a tennis club, is on a drive to gain new members. Lots of changes there, including the departure of longtime club pro Jeff Hedberg. The open house starts at 6 p.m.

* ... BAD FORM: A young man is served a free glass of water at the Starbucks at The Marketplace, uses the restroom and then runs out the door after grabbing the tip jar. What happened next was good form: customers pitched in and refilled the tip jar.

 * ... BLACKBOARD: Tommy Hays, one of the last living members of the great musicians who created The Bakersfield Sound, wrote to share a memory or two of the old Blackboard bar. "There is some confusion regarding previous location of the Blackboard. The building located where Floyd's used be on Chester was similar to an Indian tepee on a large scale: all one room in a circle. However, I remember it as The Tex's Barrel House which the business later moved to the Garces Circle and I played my first 'union' engagement there back in 1947. I had been told I needed to join the musicians union which I did. They sent me out on this gig; the leader did not pay me the required $10.50 scale and also took the tip jar as a leader's fee. Of course I complained to the union and was told to attend the meetings and not vote for the admission of this man (I forgot his name). I attended three monthly meetinsg in which he did not show. I missed the fourth meeting and even though there was a filed complaint, he was voted in. I still hold the grudge against the musicians union. The union no longer exists and we were transferred to the Fresno branch. I am one of the few remaining Bakersfield Sound guys that were active in that era."

 * ... MORE BLACKBOARD: And speaking of the Blackboard, local architect Wilson Call remembers when the original Blackboard was heavily damaged in the 1952 earthquake and had to be razed. It was replaced with a framed stucco building that stood until it too was demolished in 2001. How does he know? He was the architect. At the time he said it was owned by Joe Lima and Frank Zabaleta. 

* ... GRASSHOPPER: An earlier reader who commented on a bar called the Green Grasshopper brought this correction: "I remember the Green Grasshopper, but in my memory it was called Billy the Blue Grasshopper," wrote another reader. "Almost directly across the street from Mexicali downtown, and yes next to the canal. I believe Harvey Hall was the bouncer/owner, always smiling and kind and he kept us safe.  I loved to dance and didn't miss a weekend there. There was a bar where a hot teenage dancer could buy Cokes and other soft drinks. I also remember dancing to Ike and Tina Turner."

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: Another reader, Roger Bailey, said this about the Blue Grasshopper: "I used to gig there years and years ago. It was named after a song by a group called The Spats out of LA.
The song was called 'Billy was a blue grass a blue grass hopper. They had another novelty song called 'Gator Tails and Monkey Ribs.'"

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: Ron Froehlich says you may be a Bakersfield old timer if you remember when the county dump was located at the corner of Brimhall and Jewetta. A caretaker's house was located near the location where Fresh and Easy is today.

Who would have thought that the tiny (and sometimes adorable) Dachshund is the most aggressive dog breed? And downtown Bakersfield gets ready for another First Friday

 * ... DOGS: Pit bulls and Rottweilers end up on most people's lists of vicious or dangerous dogs, but as it turns out they don't even rank in the top five. The most aggressive breed? According to a study by the University of Pennsylvania, that would be the humble Dachshund.  Researchers from Penn surveyed some 6,000 dog owners to determine just what breed was the most aggressive. "The number one aggressive breed out of the 33 dogs surveyed? The Dachshund. Yes – the wiener dog," it was reported. "The study found that one in five dachshunds have bitten or tried to bite strangers, and a similar number have attacked other dogs; one in 12 have snapped at their owners." Following the Dachshund are the Chihuahua, Beagle, Jack Russell Terrier and the Australian Cattle Dog. Who knew?

* ... FIRST FRIDAY: There's an interesting new art opening for First Friday over at The Foundry on 19th Street. The exhibition by a group of artists will focus on portraits of the legends of the Bakersfield Sound: Merle Haggard, Bill Woods, Red Simpson, Bonnie Owens, Billy Mize, Cousin Herb Henson, Buck Owens, Tommy Collins, Jean Shepard, Wynn Stewart, Fuzzy Owen, Ferlin Husky and Lewis Talley. Meanwhile, next door at The Metro Galleries the work of Tina Bluefield and Moira Fain will be presented in another can't miss show.

 * ... BAD FORM: Darlene Platnick witnessed two cases of really bad form during our recent heat wave, and both cases involved small dogs. First, she was in the Costco parking lot on Rosedale Highway when she spotted a small brown dog locked in a white van, "panting profusely and standing up at the window. I didn't know who to call. Then we went to WinCo at Coffee and Hageman and outside was another little black dog, tied up in the sun where there was no shade. I didn't sleep well thinking about those things. People need to be brought up short when they do things like that."

 * ... CRIME: Dina Ronquillo, the niece for former Fresno City Councilman Dan Ronquillo, stopped by the ATM off Chester Avenue just north of Brundage Lane to get some cash before heading to work when a woman confronted her and tried to take her money. The would-be robber picked on the wrong person, and a feisty Ronquillo fended off her off. But the incident is a warning to all of us to be aware of our surroundings.

 * ... BLACKBOARD: Roger Williams called me to share a few memories of the old Blackboard honky tonk, made famous by the late Buck Owens and others who created the unique Bakersfield Sound. Williams told me the Blackboard was a favorite haunt of the Hells Angeles motorcycle club in the 1950s and 1960s when they would arrive in town for the March Meet drag races out at Famoso Speedway. "There must have been 150 of them at the bar,"he said. He noted that his uncle, Lawrence Williams, also briefly played piano with Buck Owens and his band.

 * ... LOCATION: And Anthony Kane writes that he believes the original Blackboard (not the one that was located near the Kern County Museum) was located in the spot where the old Floyd's store occupied.

  * ... EAST HIGH: Rick Van Horne is looking for help to solve a mystery over at East High School. Said Rick: "I was contacted by ESPN Magazine writer Steve Wulf because he is doing a piece on Johnny Callison (East High grad) who was the MVP of the 1964 MLB All-Star game. He was wanting to know about a mural at East High of Johnny Callison…. I told him there wasn’t currently a mural of Callison anywhere at the school. What I would like to know from your readers that went to East High, if there ever was a mural of Johnny at the school that has since been painted over or was in a building that is no longer here at East."

The Bakersfield Racquet Club struggles to survive and will Andy Vidak agree to an on air debate with Leticia Perez in the 16th State Senate District runoff?

 * ... THE BUZZ: It looks like the Bakersfield Racquet Club may be in financial trouble again. Members are telling me that money is so tight a purge of the staff is under way and members are being urged to sign up 100 new members to save the club. The storied tennis center, located on Pine Street off Truxtun, has been suffering from declining membership for years. Over a year ago a move by some
board members to revamp the club to widen its appeal was rejected by a core group of older members, leading to a lot of bad blood among long-time members and supporters. The issue: how does a club built around tennis (unfortunately not a growth sport) stay relevant and expand its audience? Stay tuned.

 * ... STATE SENATE: Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez says she is ready to debate Republican Andy Vidak in their runoff for the 16th State Senate District. No word yet if Vidak will take Perez up on her offer to appear together on First Look with Scott Cox. Vidak narrowly missed winning the seat outright and the two are now headed for a July runoff. Perez, a Democrat, is positioning herself as a centrist who can work with the Democratic majority to get things done.

* ... BAD FORM: "How this for bad form?" wrote reader Car Nicita. "Yesterday my wife Beverly and I were taking our dogs for a walk in Challenger Park when we found someone had dumped an old dried up full size Christmas tree along Harris Road. The tree still had a stand attached! Wonder where they were keeping it until they decided June was the time to dispose of their tree?"

* ... ACHIEVER: Hats off to Ashley Langeliers, a Liberty High School graduate who went on to earn a degree from CSUB. On May 31, she received her PhD in clinical psychology from Alliant International University in Fresno. She currently works as the clinical manager at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders in Fresno. Her parents are Marcy and Joel Brust.

 * ... CHAMBER: Congratulations to all the people and organizations who were recognized in this past weekend's Beautiful Bakersfield awards sponsored by the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. The awards are an excellent way to recognize people who contribute to the betterment of our community, even if the annual banquet is a televised snooze fest in dire need of a makeover.

 * ... BLACKBOARD: I received a call from Helen McCutheon, a loyal reader, who wondered where the original Blackboard honky tonk was located. The Blackboard, of course, was home to the birth of the Bakersfield Sound and enjoyed its hey day in the early 1950s. Its Chester Avenue location was razed in 2001 to make room for the expansion of the Kern County Museum. McCutcheon was a youngster but remembers when the blackboard may have been located farther south on Chester Avenue near a series of 35 to 40 small cabins, the original location before it was moved near the museum. Can anyone pinpoint where the original Blackboard stood? (historic photo of The Blackboard)