Las Vegas Raiders bench local boy Derek Carr, California loses population in the latest Census, the founder of the Gilroy Garlic Festival dies and the real estate market cools as interest rates rise

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 community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other company or publication.

 * ... RAIDERS SAY GOODBYE TO DEREK CARR: Bakersfield loves its heroes - veterans, police and firemen, historical figures, gifted kids and of course athletes - so there was a collective sigh of

resignation when the Las Vegas Raiders decided to bench hometown boy Derek Carr. The 31-old Carr, a graduate of Bakersfield Christian High and Fresno State, holds virtually every passing record in Raiders history but was benched (and could be traded) after a disappointing season. Stay tuned for Chapter 2 in the NFL for Derek Carr.

 * ... BLUE STATE EXODUS: Americans are on the move again, making decisions about where they live and where they leave or stay depending upon politics, cost of living and personal preferences. And the verdict is in: Americans are leaving predominantly Democratic controlled states like California and moving to cheaper and more conservative venues like Texas, Florida and North Carolina. According to the latest Census, the U.S. population grew by about 1.2 million between July 2021 and July 2022 with foreign immigration accounting for a million of that. California lost 343,000 residents, New York lost almost 300,000 and Illinois 141,000. By contrast Texas grew by 470,000 residents following by Florida with 416,000 and North Carolina with 133,000. Other states losing population including New Jersey, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Minnesota. Others gaining population include South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona, Idaho, Alabama and Oklahoma.

 * ... GILROY GARLIC: Don Christopher, whose fondness for the special aroma of garlic led to a lifetime love affair, has died at the age of 88. It was Christopher who founded the world famous Gilroy Garlic Festival in 1978 and led to the renaissance of the ingredient that has come to define different types of cooking. Thanks to the festival, Gilroy is now known as the Garlic Capital of the world. From 1974 to 1995 America's annual garlic production more than tripled to 493 million pounds. For years Bakersfield leaders have tried to emulate Gilroy's success, at first trying to brand Bakersfield as a "carrot capital" but the idea simply didn't catch on. (file photo of Christoper)

 * ... REAL ESTATE MARKET COOLS: Not long ago it seems like the era of low interest rates and a hot housing market would be with us forever. But everything changes and now the slowdown is upon us, both locally and nationally. Rates have spiked north of 6 percent and sellers are finding that buyers have become picky. Across the nation home prices declined in October and most economists expect that trend too continue. So far this year prices are down 3 percent from their June highs. The average rate or a fixed rate mortgage was 6.27 percent just before Christmas.

 * ... INFINITI CLOSES: Bad news for Infiniti customers in Bakersfield who have just learned that the local dealership is closing. The family that owns Infiniti of Bakersfield sent emails to existing customers say the company is in the process of finding a new home for the Infiniti franchise. In the meantime if you need your Infiniti service, they can do so at the Nissan of Bakersfield location on Pacheco Road.

 * ... ADVENTURE WAITS: The new Cuban coffee shop downtown opened just recently but has already undergone a name change. Founded as Paper Plane coffee shop, the name of the 19th Street business has been changed to Adventure Awaits after its owner learned the previous name had been trademarked. 

 

 * ... MEMORIES: Take a look down old 19th Street from the Kern County of Old Facebook page. Its caption: "Early 1900's - Old Meets New In Bakersfield - 19th Street ...Horse and Horseless Carriages

It looks like a REDLICK'S sign upper left"

 * ... MORE MEMORIES: And take a look at this old snow day picture from 1927 up on Breckinridge Mountain. From the Facebook page by Kern County History Fans: "Breckenridge Mountain 

Kern Sports Club - "On the trail"  January 23, 1927"

A dying friend shares a painful personal story of regrets and success, plus is the local real estate market getting too hot for its own good?

* ... MARK'S STORY: Occasionally I have shared with you the story of Mark James, a friend of mine from long ago who is dying in Atlanta. We knew each other when we were young (I was a reporter and he was a congressional aide) but he had a dark secret that he only shared after reaching out to me after many years. He is now on pain killers, dying and alone in his thoughts. It turns out Mark was gay, and growing up in the conservative South meant he lived with his secret all those years. Many of you have been kind to reach out to him, and I have passed your thoughts along to him. His latest note to me: "Coming out in my youth would have meant career suicide and banishment from my family (when they suspected those 'certain tendencies' when I was 13, I was promptly sent off to a state mental hospital for eight weeks to be cured.) So I learned to project a cured state in order to be home. Subsequently I made certain my closet was very secure and stayed there; always with two or three books a week. I figured out the reality that gay men were made safe only by their discretion, education, and the acquisition of wealth. By the time I met you I had found a public voice to compensate for my private hell." On Friday in this blog: Mark joins the Navy.

* ... FLIPPING: Have the house flippers returned to the local real estate market? They have down in Los Angeles, to the point where experts are warning that the market may be on the verge of overheating. According to the Los Angeles Times, investors flipped 1,377 homes in May. That's a level that hasn't been seen since 2005, and that worries experts. Locally, Realtors tell me the flippers are here too, just not in the numbers seen farther south. That explains why local homes are selling so quickly, often above the asking price, which is good for sellers I suppose but it also makes it near impossible for buyers to find something on the market.

  * ... BAD FORM: Nancy Candler witnessed some really bad behavior recently and passed along this note. "This last weekend while traveling north on Union Avenue, I witnessed a man walking on the south side of the street with his dog. Moments later, I saw a huge 64 ounce Styrofoam cup hurling from a white van to the pedestrian's head. Thank God it did not make full contact. I was mad, and I was not going to let these scumbags get away with such hateful behavior. So I whipped out the iPhone and took a picture of their van. Because they witnessed me taking their picture, they egged the back right side of my car. Thank goodness my  husband can put on a mean coat of wax on my car, it came off pretty easy. These hateful gorillas are driving a white Honda van..., If you live near these pigs, smash a couple dozen Farmer John  grade As on their ride... I will pick up the tab.

 * ... OVERHEARD: At a local Starbucks a young man is chatting with a friend: "Only in Bakersfield do we get excited about a new freeway opening." The Westside Parkway opens this Friday.

 * ... MEMORIES: Here's a memory of a simpler time when life was innocent. Brenda Collins was 7 years old in 1953 and living on Charlana Drive in Oildale. "My neighbor boy and I decided to walk to the Bakersfield airport. We struck out pulling a red wagon and leading my dog, Jet. When we got to the airport we went through the gate and into a hanger and climbed a whole lot of steps up to the control tower. We knocked on the door and a very nice man let us in and showed us around then told us we had to leave, so we did and walked back home. Try doing that today!:"

Prepare for another surge in foreclosures and a Dezember girl opens a museum in Qatar

 * ... HOME SALES: Looks like we're in for more turbulence before we see a real recovery in the local real estate market. Analysts now say the recent drop in the foreclosure rate was only temporary, caused by lenders "putting the brakes" on repossessions because of the focus on faulty foreclosure practices. But now the big banks are expected to restart foreclosures  "with a vengeance," signaling a surge in repossessions this in the first quarter of this year. RealtyTrac vice president Rick Sharga told The Los Angeles Times that the U.S. housing market's recovery "would be set back three months because of the delays involved in the foreclosure fracas." Meanwhile, local Realtors are digging in for another bumpy ride before things start to improve.

* ... DEZEMBER GIRL: Here's a unique way to spend New Year's: Longtime  Bakersfield residents Brent and Anna Dezember ushered in the New Year halfway across the globe in Qatar, visiting their eldest daughter Michelle. Michelle is director of education for the Museum of Modern Art, Mathaf, Qatar. As a member of the executive team, she served as master of ceremonies for the opening of the museum as her proud parents looked on. She has been in Qatar about a year. Michelle graduated from Santa Clara University, was a Fulbright Scholar, studied at the University of  Barcelona and worked at the Brooklyn Museum before heading to Qatar. (photo courtesy of the Santa Clara University)

 * ... MIGS: Carl Bryan wrote in to join the chorus of local folks recalling Migs Apsit, the popular Bakersfield High School teacher who used to lead tours of the country during the summer. "I was fortunate enough to participate in Migs' USA tour the summer of 1960 (after my freshman year). Migs and his wife (nicknamed Tiny, I believe) and a few other chaparones accompanied by about 65 students on a big bus that went generally counter clockwise around the country. In seven weeks we passed through 37 states." Bryan noted that Migs was the head football coach at East. "Because of Migs' college football background (at USC, I believe) East High ran a single-wing offense. Migs also had the nickname of 'Hoppy' because he had been a part-time stand-in double in the movies for William Boyd, who played the part of Hopalong Cassidy."

 * ... DID YOU KNOW? The stately brick home located at 20th and B streets was built for Ellen Baker, the daughter of town founder Col. Baker. The house later became a Catholic boy's home and is now restored as a private residence and law office.

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: From reader Walter Stewart: You know you're a Bakersfield old timer if "you remember when the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra was giving concerts when Anton Dvorak's Symphony in E minor No. 9 (From the New World), Op. 95 was known as Symphony No. 5. This is not a joke." I'll have to trust you on that one, Walter.

Another "seismic legal clash" adds to woes in the housing market and the SPCA plans its Mutt Strut

 * ... REAL ESTATE: Can things possibly get worse with the housing crisis? Well apparently they can. Amid a market that is swamped in foreclosures and uncertainty, the focus now is on thousands of documents that went missing in the 2005 to 2007 frenzy when the market was red hot. As the New York Times noted, "now those missing and possibly fraudulent documents are at the center of a potentially seismic legal clash that pits big lenders against homeowners and their advocates concerned that the lenders' rush to foreclose flouts private property rights." So how have the big banks responded to this crisis? They've made it near impossible to qualify for a loan, at least according to local Realtors I have spoken with. I saw one the other day and the look of frustration on his face was almost painful to witness. Yet another escrow on a house - a beautiful place at the right price in a wonderful neighborhood - had fallen through because of the reluctance of a bank to make a loan. "You wouldn't believe what they dragged my client through - sixty days of it! - and his credit is perfect. This neighborhood lost a wonderful family." One thing is clear: we are a long way from crawling out of this hole and meanwhile, wonderful homes at reasonable prices sit on the market.

 * ... SPOOK: One of the more successful but little known annual events is this Saturday's Spooktacular, a 100-mile bike ride featuring more than 10,000 feet of climbing in the impressive mountains that frame our community. It is put on annually by the Kern Wheelmen cycling club and draws several hundred riders from across the West. There are shorter courses available, but the two 100-mile jaunts - one goes up White Wolf grade outside of Arvin and then the switch backs of Lion's Trail to Walker Basin while the other tackles Breckenridge mountain - test even the fittest of riders.

* ... MUTT STRUT:  If riding 100 miles is too much for you, check out another worthwhile event this Saturday, the eighth annual Mutt Strut walk and run to benefit the SPCA at Yokuts Park. The SPCA's Chuck Nordstrom said all runners will receive a T-shirt and goody bag. Registration starts at 7 a.m. and there will be plenty of food after the race and walk. "Following our race will be Anderson Acres Responsible Dog Day Event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. where the SPCA will be offering a microchip clinic and the county will be offering rabies vaccinations and licensing," he said.

 * ... BROCKS: John Brock Jr. wrote to share some history of the old Trailway's bus depot that was located at the northwest corner of 20th and K streets. "My family bought the property in the late 1950s or early 1960s, demolished the building and created an additional parking lot for Brock's."

 * ... GO DUCKS: Heard from reader Lori Peters that Lauren Kotz, a 2010 graduate of Stockdale High School, has landed a spot on the University of Oregon softball team. Peters said Kotz was the only player to make the team as a walk-on. Not a bad time to be a Duck given the strength of its football team this year.

 * ... SPOTTED: As seen by KGFM radio host Rachel Legan: "A couple smoking outside the cancer clinic. Oh, the irony."

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You know you're a Bakersfield old-timer if "you saw Pancho Gonzales and Lew Hoad play an exhibition at the Bakersfield Racquet Club."

Those foreclosed eyesores, pesky homeowner associations and high achieving kids headed to college

 * ... FORECLOSURES: There is no more representative face of this recession than the abandoned house down the street. You know the one: weeds knee high, dirty, an eyesore in an otherwise wonderful neighborhood. One reader named Bob lives in Seven Oaks and wrote to complain about how many homeowner associations (HOA) turn a blind eye toward these foreclosures while nitpicking other residents about the silliest of things. Said Bob: "Many of these HOAs (in gated communities) are administered by firms that don't seem to care about anything other than collecting monthly fees and making sure the electronic entry gate functions properly. I am tempted to post a sign in front of these overgrown front yards 'get a goat' or 'pride of ownership.' To add insult, responsible neighbors get pimped (with a mailed notice, picture inset and threatening fines) for having weeds in our yards or inappropriately parking our cars!" (an example from Grand Islands at Seven Oaks shown below)

 * ... STAR IS BORN: If you have never heard of a young country singer named Lauren Ashley, you will soon. Her father, Chris Persel, sent me a note saying that Lauren will be playing this Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the Younger Gallery in the Bank of America building downtown. She's just 15 but plays all original country songs. And she will have an album out soon produced by Monty Byrum and Paul Serpa. Chris told me his daughter has written over 100 songs, sang the National Anthem for a Condors game and the Youth Leadership Conference and performed four nights at the Kern County Fair. To hear her music check out her website at www.laurenashleyofficial.com. Or even better, head over to the Younger Gallery to hear her perform in person. Her appearance will benefit the gallery and the Arts Council of Kern. This kid is going places.

 

 * ... HIGH ACHIEVER: Ready for some good news? Then consider the case of Joe Feghali , who was just 11 years old when his family moved here from Lebanon. At the time he spoke only French, no English. Like many immigrants (and Lebanese are known for their industrious nature) the Feghalis embraced their new hometown and emphasized education. Joe is now a senior at Stockdale High School, and during one of the most competitive years for getting into the school of your choice, has been accepted at arguably some of the world's most selective universities. Among them are Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Brown, Duke, Cornell, Dartmouth and UCLA. Impressed? We should be. Proud father Antoine Feghali told me that he himself had just earned his citizenship last year and his wife just earned her bachelor's degree in modern language from CSUB. Who says this isn't the land of opportunity?

 * ... STANFORD LEGACY: And speaking of high achievers I heard from Liz Blaine, a longtime Bakersfield patron of  the arts, adding some perspective about her Stanford-bound granddaughter Melissa Hamilton. I had mentioned that Melissa's parents, Dr. Chris and Susan Hamilton, also graduated from Stanford but Liz takes it a step further. "She (Melissa) follows two sets of grand parents, six aunts and uncles and a cousin" as current or potential Stanford alums. She added that Melissa had choices as well, being accepted at Northwestern, Notre Dame and the University of Michigan. As Liz said: "Guess that's enough grandparental crowing. Thanks for indulging me." Happy to share it, Liz.

  * ... BAKERSFIELDISMS:  You know you're from Bakersfield when you realize that "Rosedale is a world of its own."