Bakersfield has really grown on me, but come on... the blog posted is from someone in Victorville... many times smaller than this town.

So they went to the mall? Calling the other spots Bakersfield is kind of a stretch.

Somebody posted nice things about passing through Bako? There goes our image. There is a way to change this terrible state of affairs. We should make a line of citizens along the edge of the 99 through town on a given day and moon passing traffic.

I lived downtown and would walk from my house to the library.  Toursit would ask me about the city and the kern river.  I would tell them "DO NOT touch that river, you can look at it and fish in it but DO NOT touch it!" about four or five times.  I hate to see people coming here on vacation and drowning.

I think the blog is really about Tehachapi more than Bakersfield, except of course for an hour in a mall that has a bad layout and dead ends .... hee hee. It is nice to see a family out enjoying the day and the time they have together though.

This is why I moved from Bako to Tehachapi. The name of their blog should have been "Roadtrip to Bakersfield, whoops went 30 miles too far"

Look ma, they gots a mall!

Can't help but smile when reading it though, very positive for sure. Yeah the sight of the wind turbines is cool, the Tehachapi mountains, and the Apple Shed are nice. I guess Tehachapi is the best thing about Bakersfield.

Like your idea catpaw, let us know the date and time. I wonder what the Guiness Record is for a feat like that.

Fredster, Catpaw: You mean a "moon" party like this?: http://www.beachcalifornia....

I moved to Bakersfield in 1982 and lived there for over twenty years straight, and sporatically for a little while, and I consider myself fully justified in what I have to say about it.  I am not cynical about Bako, I just know it from the bad and good side of life.  The crime, crooked cops, the dope and the idiots who do them, the list goes on and on.  In all honesty, the only good memories I have of it were KUZZ and it's deejays, and the Crystal Palace concerts.  That was awesome.  But sadly, I have nothing else good to say about it. Oh wait, yes I do.  I guess you could say that Bakersfield IS better than Trona.  :sigh:

You'd think that with the reputation of our police and sheriff deputies people would assume Bakersfield has no crime.  Instead, many probably wonder just how bad it would be if law enforcement wasn't so tough!

One of Bakersfield's strong points is - hey, at least you're only 100 miles from 1) LA 2) the coast or 3) the mountains.  Oh yes, and cheap hotels.  Anyone who has had city visitors come to town will undoubtedly hear them marvel at how cheap lodging is here.

I would tell them "DO NOT touch that river, you can look at it and fish in it but DO NOT touch it!" about four or five times.

Whenever I think of the (water part) Kern River I imagine that scene on poltergeist where the skeletons are popping up out of the pool and surrounding the lady who fell in.  Every time I get near it I wonder if I'm going to see a dead body floating by.  At least it keeps me from touching it!  

Unlike the Death Pond at Riverwalk - I drove by yesterday and saw, much to my disgust, people swimming in it.  Why not just jump in a canal - it's cleaner!

How sad that someone from another area found her trip to Bakersfield a good one and all you people can do is tear it down.

I love how people rave about how beautiful Tehachapi is when it's as brown as a berry most of the year.  The wind blows incessantly and outdoor do's are impossible a good share of the year.  I lived there for 15 years and couldn't shake the dust of that place off my feet fast enough.

Of course I lived there before the land boom and before ANY of the conveniences you see now.   I lived there when it was so cliquy you wouldn't believe it.  When the haves hob nobbed only with other haves and a graduate of UCLA was looked on like somone from Harvard.

I was up there a couple of weeks ago to browse and it's all gone.  All the apple sheds are trendy boutiques and eateries.  The RR station burned to the ground by some idiot on the 4th of last July.  My favorite grocery store Town and Country is now a thrift store.  JB and Gongs Pharmacy is a theater.  Squires Variety store is some other "thing."  The things I DID like about it are gone..the things I DON'T like about it are still there.

It's all in what you like, what you want, and how you want to live.  Don't knock other places without finding the good.  Just because YOU don't like it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it. 

Politics and business shenanigans?  LOL...small towns aren't immune.  And I know where a LOT of the bodies are buried.

I think the mall in VV and Valley Plaza are a draw.  At least they didn't go to Montgomery World v2.0 or is it still East Hills right now?

I'd love to see their reaction to South Coast Plaza down in OC :D

Nancy - there are downsides and upsides to almost any place one lives.

FSG, which was exactly my point.