Bakersfield's poverty rate is exploding, La Costa prepares to opens its second location and check out Pickalittle Farms for organic produce

Friday, April 27, 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.


 * ... POVERTY: Bakersfield and Kern County have always suffered from extreme poverty, and it doesn't look like things are getting any better. According to a new survey by 24/7 Wall St., the poverty rates in both Bakersfield and Fresno are getting worse. Visalia, meantime, didn't make the list and

seems to be doing much better. This from the Visalia Times-Delta: "Bakersfield is one of three California metro areas with the largest increases in concentrated poverty since 2010. In the last six years, the share of the metro area’s poor population living in high poverty neighborhoods more than doubled from 16.1 percent to 32.5 percent, the largest increase of any U.S. metro area. The share of Fresno’s extremely poor residents living in high poverty neighborhoods increased by 12.8 percentage points since 2010, the second largest increase of any metro area.

* ... LA COSTA: La Costa Mariscos, the wildly popular family owned Mexican restaurant located in the old Ice House downtown, opens its Southwest location on Monday. La Costa renovated the old Elephant Bar building on Stockdale Highway and held a soft opening this week. Expect La Costa to be a huge hit in the Southwest.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "I’m no anthropologist, but the ruins in living room suggest I had a nachos bel grande and six Doritos locos tacos last night."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "I just want to be appreciated the way middle-aged women appreciate air conditioning, balanced hormones, and men with excellent credit."

  * ... FARM TO TABLE: Bakersfield is growing in may ways good and bad, but one of the most encouraging signs is the move toward sustainable farming and organically grown produce. One of the up and coming local farms is Pickalittle Farms off Old Farm Road south of town, owned by Mary Jean Russell and her husband. It's only 2.5 acres, but it produces an abundance of organic produce including lettuce, squash, garlic chives, beets, radishes, artichokes, asparagus, fava beans and so much more. Check them out each week at both the F Street farmer's market and the Haggin Oaks farmer's market.

 * ... 23 AND ME: You may recognize a familiar face soon when local television starts airing a commercial for the DNA test company 23andMe. The spot, airing for Mother's Day, features the mother-daughter team of local teacher Joyce Victor and her actress daughter, Selah Victor. Selah, if you remember, is the Highland High School graduate who helped produce a move starring Sharon Stone titled "All I Wish."

* ... MEMORIES: Who remembers the old Santa Fe Hotel on the old Highway 99? This 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.

Fresno State donors withhold their dollars after a professor tweets that Barbara Bush was a racist, TBC loses some top talent and watching the candidacy of Grace Vallejo as she challenges David Couch

Friday April 20, 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.

 * ... BAD FORM: Let's hope there is a special place in hell for people like Randa Jarrar, the Fresno State English professor who sparked outrage by calling the late Barbara Bush a "racist" who raised a "war criminal." Free speech aside, it was an act of bad form that was only topped when she made a

bad situation worse by doubling down on her outrageous tweet. Entitled and arrogant, Jarrar went on to tweet that she was a tenured professor who was in no danger of losing her job. Alumni donors are outraged and some are withholding donations until they see what the university does. Jarrar's arrogance and meanness are prime examples of the destructive tribalism sweeping out nation.

 * ... TBC EXODUS: The exodus of talent at The Bakersfield Californian continues unabated. I learned this week that James Burger and Harold Pierce, arguably the two best beat reporters at the paper, both turned in their resignations. Burger is a longtime government reporter and Pierce is known as a young rising star in the newsroom. It the past year, the paper has lost a lot of top talent, including columnist Lois Henry, lifestyles editor Jennifer Self and political editor Christine Bedell. Word is both Burger and Pierce are going to work for local non-profits.

 * ... UNITY: No one should ever underestimate the importance of what happened when Kern County Latino leaders gathered to agree on a candidate to challenge David Couch in the newly aligned supervisor's district. Some of the biggest and most influential names in the local Latino community - Dean Florez, Leticia Perez, Daniel Rodriguez, H.A. Sala, Mark Martinez and others - met to build a consensus of support for Delano Mayor Grace Vallejo to challenge Couch. To get this done, potential candidates Joe Aguirre, Jose Gurrola, Donny Munoz and Emilio Huerta all agreed to support Vallejo. Couch is no slouch and enjoys broad support, but unity of this stripe is hard to find and can be a powerful force.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "Just once, I want to be able to say 'I got this' without a look of panic coming over my wife's face."

 * ... POLITICAL DEBATE: It was standing room only at the CSU Bakersfield library when Cynthia Zimmer and Scott Spielman faced off in a debate Thursday afternoon. The next debate comes on Friday, April 27, when a town hall forum is held at the Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame featuring candidates in all the top contests. I will be moderating the debate along with Supervisor Leticia Perez.

 * ... BLVD SUCCESS: The hottest new entertainment venue in town, BLVD over off Buck Owens Boulevard, held its open house and grand opening this week and the raves were unanimous. The place is enormous, has multiple bowling centers, restaurants and bars, laser tag and games. BLVD is located near Temblor in an area off Buck Owens that was once home to large box stories that later moved.

 * ... MEMORIES: Don't you just love this picture of the old Miss Frieses Maternity Home where so many people were born back in the day? The building, located on 8th Street, looks remarkable similar to the old Bakersfield hospital that still stands across the street from the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Photo courtesy of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

Patriarch of a prominent Delano table grape company is gunned down and killed, former House Speaker John Boehner joins a multi-state marijuana company board and the race for sheriff heats up

Friday, April 13, 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.

 * ... RIP JAKOV DULCICH: What has our world come to when an 85-year-old farmer is gunned

down in cold blood on crisp morning? The victim was Jakov Dulcich, patriarch of Dulcich and Sons, a Delano-based table grape company known for its "pretty lady" grapes. No one knows for sure what happened - road rage? disgruntled employee? gang violence? -  but Dulcich was left dead by the side of the road. Police say they are looking for an Hispanic man in his 20s, who apparently had an altercation with another motorist shortly after Dulcich was shot. Stay tuned.

 ... MARIJUANA: So does it really surprise anyone that former House Speaker John Boehner has changed his tune on marijuana and has joined a company that is now producing it? Boehner was once a strong opponent of pot and - like Attorney General Jeff Sessions - worked hard to keep it classified as a dangerous drug. Yet now, he announces he is joining the board of advisers at Acreage Holdings, a multi-state cannabis business that aims to "make cannabis available to any patient who can  benefit from safe and reliable access." Times have changed.

 * ... JUSTIN FLEEMAN: The race to unseat Sheriff Donny Youngblood started off dirty, and we can expect more mud to sling. Justin Fleeman, who has been a Kern County deputy since 1998, appeared on my radio show (KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM) to explain why he believes Youngblood has failed. "He's not around," Fleeman said, "he doesn't get around to speak to the deputies. He has become too political." On the issues, Fleeman said he is sympathetic to medicinal marijuana because his late father benefitted from it, but he will abide by the wishes of the Board of Supervisors to ban its sale locally. Fleeman  thinks he will need up to $200,000 (the limit) to unseat Youngblood, who he describes as "a nice guy" who "lost his way. It's time for him to go."

 * ... BAD FORM: So did you hear about the 29-year-old guy who was arrested for slashing literally dozens of tires around Garces Memorial High School this week? Remember this name: Joey Head, arrested for a bizarre series of tire slashing in broad daylight while people filmed him doing so. One friend said as many as 70 vehicles were vandalized on the streets surrounding Garces.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "There are over 4 million workplace injuries reported every year. Play it safe…call in sick tomorrow."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "Now that I am officially pushing 50, I've noticed that words and colloquialisms have new meanings. For example, 'Getting Lucky,' is now defined as being able to quickly locate my car in a parking lot."

 * ... RIP DANA: The oldest daughter of the late Merle Haggard has died at the age of 61. Dana Haggard, born in 1957 to Merle and his first wife, Leona Hobbs, died in Arkansas of an undisclosed illness. Dana was also a musician and toured with her brother Marty and the Driftwood Band. For a time, she sang in her father's bad, The Strangers.

 * ... NEWS NOTES: Congratulations to Grimmway Farms President and CEO Jeff Huckaby who has been appointed to the California State Board of Food and Agriculture by Gov. Jerry Brown.... Lots of early good reviews for the Tower Craft Grill that opened in the old Bell Tower Club church on Truxtun.... The Studio Movie Grill opens this week, offering a robust lineup of full meals and drinks along with the movie ... Remember that District Attorney candidates Scott Spielman and Cynthia Zimmer will face off in a debate at CSU Bakersfield next Thursday at the Walter Stiern library. Seating is limited ...

 * ... MEMORIES: Check out this picture of the old Union Avenue Plunge, courtesy of the Facebook page Kern County of Old.

A CSU Bakersfield economics professor looks into the causes of obesity in Bakersfield, street improvement projects cause chaos on our local roads and more warnings about this IRS scams

 Monday April 9, 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.

 * ... OBESITY: Why do areas like Kern County have such a high rate of obesity? Dr. Richard

Gearhart, an economics professor at CSU Bakersfield, believes it could be because Kern County is an area with a "resource curse." Among other things, that means we rely heavily on resources like oil that provide hourly and shift work jobs, and in those types of jobs, employees tend to eat on the run, use more fast food and put on the excess pounds. "So as oil prices rise," he told me, "you would expect" the rates of obesity to rise as well.

 * ... RETAIL: The new Texas Roadhouse restaurant opens Monday next to Valley Plaza Mall, and I am hearing early good reviews. One friend attended during a VIP dinner this past weekend and said the prime rib and ribeye steaks were outstanding, but expect a lot of enthusiasm from the staff (as in impromptu line-dancing for the guests.) Also, remember when Target left its old location on Wible and Ming and how the shopping center went to hell? Well there is a new anchor tenant - Furniture City - and the place is clean and inviting. Check it out.

* ... MARIJUANA: Our Board of Supervisors and City Council may have turned thumbs down on marijuana but it bucks a national trend showing an overwhelming majority of adults support it - at least in its medicinal form. A survey by the National Poll on Health Aging shows that while only six percent of older adults currently use cannabis, four out five Americans between the ages of 50 and 80 support medical marijuana if a doctor recommends it. Only 13 percent would definitely say no to cannabis. The survey also reported that 40 percent support allowing marijuana use for any reason and that two-thirds say the government should do more to study the herb’s health effects.

 * ... TRAFFIC: The city of Bakersfield is simultaneously working on several major road improvement projects at some of our busiest intersections, and it is a mess out there. The intersection of Truxtun and Oak is being widened, and it is absolute gridlock at almost any hour of the day as Truxtun is taking down to one lane headed east into downtown. In-bound traffic on the Westside Parkway is sometimes backed up to Mohawk during rush hour. Add to that the 24th Street widening, and the soon to be project at Oak and 24th, and we are in for a world of hurt for a long while. My advice: avoid Oak and Truxtun at all costs.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "The dinner date fell apart when strangers from surrounding tables started yelling out she could do better."

 * ... MORE TWITTER: "You know when your dinners have glasses instead of red cups, you are officially grown up."

 * .. IRS SCAM: I thought everyone had been warned about the IRS scams where someone calls pretending to be from the IRS and demands money. Well, not everyone, and in this case it was a 30ish local teacher who was the victim. I will not use his name to spare him the embarrassment, but it happened recently when he fell for a scam that cost him $6,000. He was at a local high school when he received a call telling him he had committed tax fraud and to avoid arrest, he had to wire money immediately. "They said that if I didn't comply, the local police department would call me with a warrant for my arrest, upon which I would be incarcerated for 72 hours and have an $85,000 fine. These people were not stuttering. They all had an accent from India. I should have known. But when they yell at you for questioning them, and you hang up the phone, and you immediately receive a call on your phone that reads: Bakersfield Police Department--you begin to think--uh oh...This is real! And so I followed all of their orders." He was told to go to a local pharmacy and buy Google Play gift cards, which he did, all the while having the "IRS agent" on speaker phone.  "In the end, I was scammed out of 6,500 dollars," he said. "Fortunately, the credit card company voided the 4,500. But Kern Schools being a checking account--I lost two grand. Such. An. Idiot. But these people, the longer you stay on the line with them, the more you begin to question your own intuition."

 * ...MEMORIES: Who remembers the motorcycle hill climbs out at Hart Park? Check out this old photo courtesy of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.

Are more apartments headed for downtown east of Chester Avenue? Plus tension on the Board of Supervisors and DA candidates to square off in a debate at CSUB

Wednesday April 4, 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.

 * ... 18th STREET CORRIDOR: It looks like another big apartment project may be headed to

downtown Bakersfield on what I call the "18th Street Corridor" east of Chester Avenue. City Councilman Bob Smith said he is eyeing a parcel of land at the intersection of Q and 18th streets for yet another apartment complex, following the success of his 17th Place Townhomes. If the new project is built, it will mark yet another important chapter in the evolution of this important area of town that some have called "Eastchester."

 * ... BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: The federal court-ordered redistricting on the Board of Supervisors has thrown the board into some unknown territory: it has evolved from a clubby, polite group to a board where trust is in short supply. Perhaps as never before, the board is so divided that some members have a hard time making eye contact with others. The long feud between Supervisor Leticia Perez and Mike Maggard lingers, and now Supervisor David Couch feels the other four (particularly Maggard and Zack Scrivner) threw him under the bus by carving up his district to appease the federal judge's mandate.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, maybe that's where your kid should be practicing the trumpet."

 * ... DEBATES: CSU Bakersfield will be hosting a debate between Cynthia Zimmer and Scott Spielman who are running to succeed Lisa Green as Kern County District Attorney. The debate is set for Thursday, April 19, at the Walter Stiern Library. The following week, on Friday April 27, a debate featuring the top office seekers (state Assembly, Sheriff, District Attorney, judges and county supervisors) will be held at the Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

 * ... APRIL FOOLS: Did you hear that In 'n Out Burger is now offering a "Cali style" burger with avocado and bacon? That was the news sweeping social media last week but before you get too excited, understand that it was apparently an April Fool's joke that got out of hand. The popular burger chain says it has no intention of changing or adding to its menu.

 * ... SACRAMENTO NUTTINESS: Did you hear about Assembly Bill 1945? Sponsored by Assemblyman Phillip Ting, the law would ban the sale and use of internal combustion engines in California by the year 2040. That's right, no more gas-powered cars and trucks. Is there a chance the Assembly could approve this bill? It's California, so go figure.

County supervisor David Couch to appear on The Richard Beene Show to talk about how he ended up the odd man out in the county redistricting. Is it over yet? He says not yet. And who remembers the old Chateau Health vitamin store?

Sunday April 1, 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.


 * ... SUPERVISORS: So what really happened when the supervisors redrew their districts lines to

comply with a federal court order to create two "safe" districts for Latinos? One thing we do know is that District 4 Supervisor David Couch was the odd man out, and he watched (and silently fumed no doubt) when his colleagues on the board took a 12-inch Wusthop carving knife to his district to satisfy the court's mandate. Couch lost his traditional areas of strong support - Taft, Frazier Park and Pine Mountain Club - and instead picked up heavily Hispanic cities. Meanwhile, Zack Scrivner picked up Taft, Frazier Park and Pine Mountain Club and Mike Maggard emerged with a tighter, Bakersfield centric district that actually put his only challenger - Jeff Heinle - out of District 3. Couch has made no bones that he feels betrayed, and he tells me this isn't the end of it. Couch will be my guest on Monday at 1 p.m. on KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM. Tune in to hear his side of the story.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "We enter this world alone, we die alone, and we spend the time in between looking for our car keys."

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "Let’s get married and have kids so instead of spring break in Cancún we can stop four hours into a road trip to clean puke out of the audio port on the iPad and hose off the car seat."

 * ... KGET: Jason Galvan has left the KGET morning show. Galvan was originally a sports reporter but moved up to the morning anchor desk after Kiyoshi Tomano left to join the private sector. No word on what he will be doing.

 * ... RIP MILT: Milton Huggs, the former school teacher and owner of Milt's Coffee Shop, Milt's Iron Horse and Milt's Ranch Inn, died last week. Milton Oscar Huggs was born on November 29, 1929, in Little Rock, Ark., and died on March 26. His coffee shop is one of the most popular in town, enjoying a loyal following for years.

 * ... ALL I WISH: Congratulations to Selah Victor, a 1999 graduate of Highland High School who has co-produced the new Sharon Stone movie "All I Wish." Victor, one of eight children, graduated from UC Irvine and studied acting in England, but she got the bug as a youngster at Juliet Thorner elementary school. She has a long list of commercial appearances, including roles in "Modern Family," "The Office," "Teachers" and on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. "All I Wish" tells the story of a struggling fashion designer who finds love - and second chances - later in life.

 * ... CHATEAU HEALTH: Who remembers one of Bakersfield's first health food and vitamin stores called Chateau Health that existed in the Stockdale Fashion Plaza in the 1980s? The owner, who worked at KERN radio under the nickname Pete Shannon, did regular radio segments called "The Health Nut" in which he would share healthy living tips.

 * ... SMITH'S: Enjoy this vintage picture of a Smith's delivery truck back in the day.

Town Hall "Uncensored" debate is set for April 27, sound walls going up on 24th Street and the new dine-in Studio Movie Grill prepares to open

Wednesday, March 28, 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.

 * ... SOUND WALLS: The sound walls along 24th Street are going up, and they stand out for their

design and beauty. The sound walls are 12-feet high (they appear much higher) and are made out of a composite made to resemble brick. They are coated with an anti-graffiti substance that will make it easier to clean once they are tagged, which they certainly will be. The wall will be staggered - not one continuous wall - between Elm and C streets.

 * ... POLITICAL DEBATE: Mark your calendars for Friday, April 27, when a big town hall political debate will be held at the Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame. The debate is sponsored by KERN Radio and KERN CAST and will feature appearances by most of the local candidates for the top offices, including sheriff, District Attorney, Congress, state Assembly and Senate and judgeships. I will be moderating the debate along with Supervisor Leticia Perez. Questions are being prepared by both the Young Democrats and Young Republicans. This is a can't miss event to determine where the candidates stand on local issues.

 * ... CENTENNIAL CORRIDOR: And speaking of construction projects, City Manager Alan Tandy announced that the city will receive some $94 million from two separate grants to help fund the completion of the Centennial Corridor. The city has three more grant applications out and Tandy is hopeful the city will not have to borrow money to complete the project. Expect to see yet more construction on the interchange and eventual bridge over Truxtun at the Westside Parkway.

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "It's funny how we say 'a bug hit my windshield' when we are the ones going 70 mph. I'll bet the bug's family describes it differently."

 * ... ZELEZNY: I interviewed the incoming president of CSU Bakersfield, Dr. Lynnette Zelezny, and found her engaging, passionate and eager to join our community after 30 years at Fresno State University. Her father was an aerospace engineer and as a youngster she lived in areas with NASA research centers. She starts her work at CSUB in late June after President Horace Mitchell retires.

 * ... STUDIO MOVIE GRILL: Is Bakersfield ready for a movie theater that offers full in-theater dining? Well it is coming in just a few weeks when the Studio Movie Grill will open over off Rosedale Highway. The theater will offer a full and robust menu with "ninja" waiters who are trained to deliver food quietly and without obstructing the view of the screen. Studio Movie Grill opens April 12.

 * ... BAKER'S OUTPOST: A young couple in town is getting ready to open a local bakery specializing in locally grown grains. Laura and Ian Journey are owners of Baker's Outpost and are already providing Luigi's with special breads for sandwiches. The retail location will be next to The Mint at 19th and M streets. In the meantime, if you want to try their bread, head over to the Haggin Oaks Farmer's Market on Sundays. Because of Easter Sunday this week, the farmer's market will be open on Friday.

 * ... BAKERSFIELD INN: Who remembers the old Bakersfield Inn on Union Avenue? Check out these old photos, and the menu, complements of the Kern County of Old Facebook page.