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Ran across an interesting post about East Hills Mall on a blog called Labelscar that's dedicated to documenting failed retail businesses with a focus on shopping malls. 

Labelscar -- the name comes from the mark left on a building after signage has been removed -- calls East Hills Mall "one of the most threatened malls in California. It doesn't take a genius to see why this place is having a hard time, because it has practically everything stacked against it". 

The post then runs through some bullet points highlighting the negatives, then follows with an interesting take of our roots and current sociological "challenges", and examinations of the mall architecture and presumed retail mix.  

While not entirely accurate, the blogger -- who goes only by "Caldor" -- at least asks "Bakersvillians" for help in filling in blanks. Nearly a dozen interesting comments attempt to do just that. 

All in all, an interesting take from the perspective of a knowledgeable outsider. 

The Mountain Daily News has a fun story on the Name Your Price Store, a Lebec thrift shop where everything is more than negotiable.

The shop is operated by the local Boys & Girls Club and allows shoppers to "name a price for an item, any price, even "FREE", and get that item without any trouble.  Clothes, appliances, sporting goods, electronics, dishes, exercise equipment. ..."

Mountain Daily News says the store generates $2,000 a month for the club. Not too shabby.

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From the good news/bad news file:

Bakersfield ranks among the nation's worst "drunkest cities" and dead last among cities in terms of "alcohol liver disease" deaths but tops the 100 cities studied nationwide in terms of DUI enforcement.

Those are among the findings in "America's Drunkest Cities," the latest quirky study from Men's Health magazine, which ranked Bakersfield:

• 85th overall (or 15th worst), of 100 cities measured in five different factors
• 100th, dead last, in alcohol liver disease deaths
• 48th in binge drinking
• 50th in driving under the influence
• 71st in fatal crashes
• 1st, or best in "laws," or the "greatest efforts to cut down on excessive drinking"

Denver ranked "most drunk," followed by Anchorage, Alaska, while Durham, N.C. and Miami ranked 1 and 2 on the least-drunk charts. Our friends in Fresno ranked 93rd worst on the most-drunk list. 

Men’s Health arrived at its rankings by measuring “annual death rates due to alcoholic liver disease as well as who's headed there by regularly downing five or more drinks in a sitting (CDC). Next, we factored in drunk-driving arrests (FBI) and the percentage of fatal accidents involving intoxicated motorists (U.S. Department of Transportation). Then ... tallying the MADD report card of state efforts to cut down on excessive drinking.”

As Bakosphere has noted before, seasoned researchers can drive cars through the holes in Men's Health's methodology, but we're sharing the findings for your entertainment. 

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 A Bakersfield resident who goes by the handle "daipm" is proudly showing off his "Saintsmobile," a compact car that sports the colors of the New Orleans Saints.

A post on WLTV.com describes "daipm" as a Saints fan since 1967, which is when the team formed (that's a lot of losing seasons, so "daipm" is ridiculously hardcore). "daipm" says the team colors on the car attract honks and thumbs up. "I've had people ask if I worked for the Saints, as if my dreams had come true!" 

Bakosphere has seen Raiders rides and a few Steelers rigs, but we can't remember seeing the Saintsmobile. It's not like it's hard to miss. 

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer has outted a Kern County man as Ellie Light, a prolific letter writter who has blanked the country with letters to the editor in support of President Obama.

Winston Steward, 51, of Frazier Park, says he used the pseudonym to protect himself from criticism and possible physical attacks.

Read the full story here.

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A nearly 8-minute video medley of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos performing on the "Jimmy Dean Show" is getting lots of love from commenters on BoingBoing.

The video features Buck sporting a flashy Nudie suit, a goofy oil-derrick backdrop and Dean joining in on a duet with Buck. Not sure when the video was shot, but Buck looks young and it features legendary guitarist Don Rich, who died in a 1974 motorcycle accident.

The video has more than 20 comments, most from adoring fans, including this one from "flatfive":

"Buck Owens is easily among the best American songwriters to have ever lived. And Don Rich should be a household name. This is American music at its finest."

The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday (1.13.10) that one of the plaintiffs in the federal court gay marriage lawsuit is from Bakersfield. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Kristen Perry grew up in Bakersfield but now lives in northern California.

The article addresses how YouTube broadcasts could humanize the issue. 

An excerpt from the artice is below with the full text and photos following it.

"Perry grew up in Bakersfield, the heart of California's Bible belt. She knew she was different in high school, but she dated boys "to make life easier" and so she could go to parties."

YouTube broadcasts would humanize issue

Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Shortly before Christmas 2003, Kristin Perry took her girlfriend Sandy Stier for a walk near their Berkeley home. As they sat on Indian Rock, overlooking San Francisco Bay, Perry pulled a ring out of her pocket and said, "Will you marry me?"

 

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Stier, an Iowa farm girl who never met a homosexual until she was a teen, said yes. Then she got a confused look on her face. "What does that mean?" she asked.

Perry, 45, and Stier 47, are co-plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, California's voter-approved prohibition against same-sex marriage. Advocates say watching them describe their engagement - and the daily pain and awkwardness of not having a word to explain their relationship - would have humanized the issue in a way that realms of legal arguments cannot.

But outside of a few hundred observers in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, nobody could hear, let alone empathize with them this week.

If the Supreme Court decides as early as today to continue blocking the federal court from broadcasting the trial on YouTube, advocates of same-sex marriage will lose a major part of the public education campaign they hoped to gain from the internationally watched trial.

On Monday, the court issued a temporary ban on video of the proceedings being uploaded on a delayed basis on YouTube. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker approved the coverage last week in what would be a first for a federal trial.

Advocates hoped that video clips of the trial would circulate online, reaching new audiences in places like the Iowa town where Stier grew up.

"People need to see and hear these stories," said Rick Jacobs, chair of the Courage Campaign, the liberal online organization whose campaign inspired nearly all of the 138,542 people who urged the federal court to air the trial.

Prop. 8 supporters don't want cameras in court. Andy Pugno, a spokesman for the defendants, said witnesses feared being harassed if their images were televised. He declined to be specific.

While attorneys declined to cross-examine the women Monday, Pugno downplayed their testimony.

"Most of that heartfelt testimony had to do with purely private feelings," Pugno said. What matters more legally, he said, are the 7 million Californians who voted for Prop. 8, which won with 52 percent of the vote.

Jacobs and others began live-blogging the trial Monday as a way to share trial details that mainstream outlets wouldn't. As a gay man raised in Oak Ridge, Tenn., who didn't come out until he was 33, Jacobs knows the power of those details.

In a different way, so does Theodore Olson, the former solicitor general in George W. Bush's administration and one of the lead plaintiff's attorneys.

Olson writes in the current issue of Newsweek that he's urging fellow conservatives to embrace same-sex marriage instead of "having an almost knee-jerk hostility." YouTube could have helped, he said.

"I hope that someday the American people will get to hear first-hand testimony of what it is like to be a victim of discrimination in this way," Olson said Monday outside court.

Stier grew up in a loving, but culturally "isolated" Iowa family. She moved west to California after college, married a man in 1987 but quickly fell out of love with him. She divorced a dozen years and two kids later.

She didn't realize she was a lesbian until she met Perry, her student in a computer class and co-worker.

Perry called Olson "the sparkliest person I ever met." Perry grew up in Bakersfield, the heart of California's Bible belt. She knew she was different in high school, but she dated boys "to make life easier" and so she could go to parties.

E-mail Joe Garofoli at jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-b...
 

Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines have rolled out annual lists of the “Best and Worst Cities” for both sexes, and shockingly (that’s Bakosphere’s tongue in cheek), Bakersfield ranks low on both lists.

Bakersfield is deemed a slightly better place for women than men, but that's not saying much. The study broke out specific scores in subcategories of Health, Life expectancy and Fitness, categories where Bakersfield women generally scored well. But the study factored in 35 criteria, including “air quality to employment, life expectancy to commute times.” Then there was other stuff like “death rates from more than a half dozen causes, along with the propensity of male citizens to eat themselves into a weight problem (and not exercise their way out of it).” Um, yeah, the devil is in the details.

So, how’d we fare?

Let’s start with the study from Women's Health, which ranked Bakersfield 86^th out of 100 (San Jose, Calif., was ranked No. 1 and Philadelphia 100; Fresno was 61). Specifically, Bakersfield earned the following subcategory rankings for women:

• Health: 19
• Life: 17
• Fitness: 40

Not bad considering, but we must have tanked on all the other factors in order to get dragged down to 86 overall.

For the men, it’s worse: Men's Health ranked Bakersfield 96^th overall (ouch!). Madison, Wis., was No. 1 (and No. 2 on the women’s list) while Charleston, WV, was No. 100; Fresno was 77. In specific categories, Bakersfield's rankings for men were:

• Health: 67
• Life: 94
• Fitness: 67
  

So there you have it. We're in the bottom quartile for both sexes.

Anyone up for a group hug?

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Christmas is more than a week in the past but we couldn't resist highlighting a video showing Santa Claus leaving presents in a northwest Bakersfield home overnight on Christmas.

The video was shot in low light but clearly shows Santa surviving a series of mishaps before leaving toys and escaping through a window.

Bakersfield resident Billy Simkins, a designer at The Californian, captured the exclusive video thanks to some creative traps and tripwires his young daughter Sunnie helped plan to nab Santa in action. Those traps -- including a cookie wired to blast Christmas rap from Run DMC -- are detailed in a separate video.

Yes, Sunnie, there is a Santa Claus.

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A Bakersfield woman named Nicole is starting the new year with a bang, using a new blog called "Life As I See It" to share her experiences of turning 25 and starting life afresh after hitting a few rough spots. 

"I am a 25 year old and I am ready to have a fresh start at life. I was a new mom and a loving wife who realized her perfect life was not so perfect. Now, I am a single mom and soon to be divorcee. I am rebuilding my life and figuring out who I really am. There is no time but the present."

Of particular note is her focus on a "Bakersfield's Biggest Loser" contest sponsored by a local gym. Nicole's goal is to lose 40 pounds, and she seems determined to do that. 

"I work 2 jobs, am going to school, and have my baby to take care of. That doesn't leave a lot of free time but this is something I have to do. I need this for my life."

Good luck, Nicole!