Hello Everyone!
This week started and ended in L.A. but I spent the weekend out in Bakersfield. All of my California friends raised an eyebrow when I talked about going out to Bakersfield, but I really enjoyed it and was surprised at how much it had to offer. It was definitely a little rough around the edges, but the people were friendly and it was a beautiful, cool, sunny weekend to be there. I’m going to get this post done a day early this week because I’m headed out to Catalina Island first thing tomorrow morning and I’m leaving my computer behind. Catalina is in the same island group as Channel Islands National Park, but it is developed and has a year-round population of over 4,000 people. You guys know how much I love islands, so I’m really looking forward to it. The campground was full, so I’m staying in a hotel out there which also means I’ll only be there for a day, but I’m going to make the most of it. It hasn’t been the busiest of weeks, but I’m sure you’ll see that I’ve gotten a couple of bigger photo posts up this week. Let me tell you what else I’ve gotten into this week.
After I finished up this post last week I took a long drive through L.A. and up to Hollywood. I followed my GPS and it took me on a pleasantly winding route and down streets I’d never been down before. L.A. is a sprawling place and I could probably spend an entire month just exploring around here, but it’s also a challenging place for the van life so it was just about time for me to move on. Before I went, there were three places I wanted to visit in Hollywood. The first is a tiny hole-in-the-wall spot called Tiki Ti. The whole tiki phenomenon in the U.S. began in 1933 by a guy called Don the Beachcomber right there in Hollywood. While that tiki bar is long gone, Tiki Ti remains. Tiki Ti was founded in 1961 by Ray Buhen who had been one of the early bartenders at Don the Beachcomber. He built his bar in an old violin repair shop so you can imagine how small it is. Today, it is one of the country’s most venerable tiki bars and a must-see for any tiki aficionado. I had been by it before, but never had the chance to stop in and I’m sure glad I did this time through. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the people and a couple of tropical cocktails but mostly I was just happy to soak up the history of the place.
From there I made my way back down the Sunset Strip to the Comedy Store to see Comedians You Should Know upstairs in the Belly Room. The Comedy Store is another well-known venue and another place I had never been before. The show was pretty good and some of the comedians were great (and one was downright terrible) and I was happy to have finally made it in to see a show. When it finished, I strolled down the street to Mel’s Drive-In for dinner which wasn’t great but it was fun to be there. It started to rain while I was eating my dinner, so I decided to just call it a night right there in Hollywood.
Thursday morning I was up and off to Bakersfield. I hit some rain and even about 10 seconds worth of snow on the drive, but it was sunny and perfect when I arrived. It was so nice to be in a quiet, open city again where parking was free and plentiful and I could walk wherever I wanted to go. I spent the afternoon wandering the streets and taking photos and then ended up at an old bar called Guthrie’s for happy hour. It’s a great old spot with a beautiful sign out front and a juke box and pool table in the back. From there I caught an acoustic set at The Padre Hotel and then went to The Pyrenees Café for dinner. Bakersfield has a Basque community which dates back to the gold rush. The Basque came to look for gold but found that herding sheep was more profitable because all of those prospectors needed food and clothing. There are still a handful of Basque restaurants in Bakersfield and they put out quite a spread. I had a lamb shank, and it came with soup and salad, marinated tongue, bread, pasta, vegetables and fries. The place was packed, but my dinner was really good. Full to the brim, I headed back downtown to check out Tiki-Ko, Bakersfield’s own tiki bar. It is an excellent spot – subdued but festive and with a good drink menu. I enjoyed a cocktail there before heading off to bed.
I was up early on Friday because I wanted to get a new tailpipe for my van. The old one had rusted through a little while ago and it was definitely something that needed to be done. There’s a great muffler shop in Bakersfield called Bob’s which takes people on a first come first served basis which meant I didn’t need an appointment. They got to me and got my new tailpipe on in a little over an hour and I was quite pleased with their work and prices. From there I headed on to the Kern County Museum. I’ve been to several museums like this around the country where they collect historic buildings and move them to a central location where they are restored for people to see. Kern County has done a particularly good job with this one. There were dozens of buildings to explore and it was like walking through a small town. In addition, they had exhibitions on local music (The Bakersfield Sound) and on oil which has been a big part of the local economy. I was there for hours and really enjoyed it.
In the evening, I headed out to Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace for dinner and some live music. While Buck Owens didn’t create the Bakersfield Sound he, along with Merle Haggard, brought it to the world. During the Dust Bowl, Bakersfield drew in a huge number of Texans and Oklahomans looking for work. They found work in the fields and many stayed on to work in the oil industry. During the 1950s, a lot of people were pretty unhappy with the state of country music, upset with what they called “The Nashville Sound” which was appealing to a more pop audience. Bakersfield became the center of the pushback on this pop-country sound, digging deep into their country music roots. The Bakersfield Sound grew out of the local honkytonks and Buck Owens was instrumental in helping this happen. Visiting his Crystal Palace was one of the main reasons I came to Bakersfield, and I was eager to check it out. I sat at the bar under the 1972 Pontiac which had once belonged to Elvis Presley and which Buck apparently won in a poker game in Vegas. The car was installed first and the rest of the bar was built around it. I had a delicious bowl of Texas-style chili (no beans), and a decent tri-tip sandwich. The house band was pretty good, but the highlight was a young Brazilian singer who was just in town for a visit. He was really excited to get on stage with the band and played some of my favorite Buck Owens and Merle Haggard tunes. After the show ended, I headed downtown and caught a bit of a cool rock band called The Habbits downstairs at Jerry’s Pizza Pub. Then I headed back to Guthrie’s for a beer which turned into a few beers because the place was jumping. It was great to see such a diverse group of people in the same place on a Friday night, everyone seemingly getting along and enjoying themselves. It felt like a real microcosm of California and I thought it was pretty cool. I was out later than I have been in a while, but it was an enjoyable evening.
I wasn’t up early on Saturday but I did get to the gym before my musical weekend continued. I made my way just outside of town to a place called Ethel’s Old Corral to see a band called Last Call. The band was outside on a covered deck and they were playing a fun mix of rock and country songs. The crowd was dancing and singing along and basically having a good time on a Saturday afternoon. It was nice to sit out in the warm sun, have a cold beer and listen to some good tunes. From there I headed back into Oildale and up to the Bakersfield Speedway. I was there for about two hours enjoying the dirt track racing and the people watching. It was loud out there and I was happy that some of the parents had ear protection for their kids. I always have ear plugs in my wallet and they definitely came in handy at the races. Afterwards I went to downtown Oildale and caught the Sons of Bakersfield at The Trap. These guys were great and this was the kind of music I was hoping to see in Bakersfield. It was just good, solid electrified, honkytonk country music in the spirit of the Bakersfield Sound. I also noticed several people there who had also been at Ethel’s and at the races – I guess a good plan is a good plan and it was an excellent day.
I decided to hang around one more day to try and catch up on a little bit of work and not rush off anywhere. I really enjoyed Bakersfield and found it a fun and pleasant place to be with a lot going on. Everyone I met was friendly and it’s definitely a different side of California. I spent the morning and early afternoon at Starbucks and then headed back downtown. There was a jam session happening at one of the bars and the musicians were great but the place was crowded and I wasn’t feeling it so I took off. I ended up going out to the Basque Bistro for another good Basque meal and then went to the movies. I went to see A Good Person with Morgan Freeman. It was a sad movie that just kept taking sad turns until it was over, and I wouldn’t recommend you see it – but the story was real and the acting was excellent and it was nice to see Hollywood can still make a movie without comic book characters or machine guns.
I was up early on Monday and hit the gym before saying goodbye to Bakersfield and heading on down the road. I made my way out to Cesar Chavez National Monument out in Keene. This National Park Site is located where Chavez and his wife lived for many years and both are buried in the memorial garden on site. The visitor center told the story of how Chavez was born in Arizona and eventually made his way to California where he helped farm workers strike for fair pay and better working conditions. It was interesting to learn how Mexicans and Filipinos became the predominant farm laborers in California and the terrible conditions they often faced. The park could really use a good video, but I definitely learned a lot while I was there.
After I paid my respects at their graves, I headed on down the road. I had hoped to stop and take some photos at one of the towns in the Antelope Valley, but none of them were very unique or visually appealing so I ended up coming all the way back to L.A. I tucked into the library in the afternoon and then decided I wanted to try a Tommy’s Charburger which I’ve seen all over L.A. and has been here since the late 1940s. It was disappointing at best. It cost $13 for a burger no bigger than a plain McDonalds patty with some ordinary tasting chili on it and boring fries. Then I headed on to Tiki-No which I was thrilled to find open on a Monday. It’s a nicely decorated bar, but the cocktails weren’t great and I wasn’t there for long. I slept last night out by Burbank Airport.
I got to the gym early this morning and am going to finish this up here in North Hollywood before I make my way down to Long Beach. As I mentioned at the top of this post, I’m headed to Catalina tomorrow so I want to be sure I’m down there to catch the boat. I’ll be back on Thursday afternoon and hope to catch up with a few friends down that way before setting off down the coast. I hope to hit up some of the beach towns between here and San Diego this week and will probably still be down that way this time next week. I’ll definitely have some stories to share, so I hope you’ll come back and see what I get into. Have a great week out there and enjoy spring while it lasts. Take care and thanks for reading.
-Mike
Sunset Over Bakersfield