Do you have a neighborhood association?  If so, I'd make a complaint to them.

Or, another option would be for you to knock on your other neighbor's doors (during the day, of course) and ask them if they are just as bothered by the noise as you are.  The more neighbors who have a problem with it, the more clout you'd have if you knocked on the offender's door.  If there are other's who have issues with the noise, make sure you take 1 or two other neighbors with you to show solidarity.  Explain that you all have no problem with them having parties, but that it would be much appreciated if they could respect the rest of the neighborhood in the early morning hours. Be cordial, but firm. 

If they still refuse to stop the noise, I'd call the police and explain the situation, letting them know that you (and other neighbors) attempted to resolve the dispute in a peaceful and respectful manner, but that you've gotten no where.

I used to have this problem when I graduated from FL State and was still living in an area heavily populated with college kids.  I was working 2 jobs and needed my sleep.  I did call the cops on a few occasions, and at least in Tallahassee, they actually would show up and solve my problem.

Good luck!

If you are in a home owner's association you can shift the burden of knocking on the door to them (usually the president of the HOA). But the cops deal with this kind of thing every day and it keeps peace in the neighborhood by preventing confrontation between neighbors.

I totally agree that adults shouldn't have to be told to behave themselves. Ugh! I sympathize.

First knock on the door and being polite tell them they have woken me up after 12AM

Second if that didnt work would call the police

Call the cops. You can do so anonymously. In addition to your CCand Rs, the city does have noise ordinances. And you may not be the only one calling. In my experience, they do respond to noise complaints, though it may take an hour or so while they deal with more urgent and ugly issues. A few months ago some louts a couple of streets over threw a party so loud you could hear it a quarter mile away. When I called the cops they told me that had already received multiple calls, so I just thanked them and hung up. Within an hour, things were quiet again.

Casooner, you've already said you have CCR's.  Get them out and read them again then take a trip to the office or call the person in charge of CCR's.  That's what they're for.  Bear in mind, you aren't the only one affected as they have a minimum of two other houses adjoining the neighbors.  If you're concerned about retaliation, ask the association to keep your name out of it and let them know you will start calling the police every time a party continues after 10 PM.  That may make neighbors unhappy thinking "there goes the neighborhood."   You actually don't have to wait that late as disturbing the peace has no time set.

By the assn. keeping your name to themselves, the bad neighbors will just have to guess who got fed up and reported them.  You pay for CCR's when you buy into a development like that...use them.

Been there, done that! Had neighbors that had a garage band. They would play until you were ready to pull your hair out. Would have to get dressed, go over and tell them I needed to sleep. Asked them to be more respectful. Ya OK, were sorry. We went through this about every three or four nights. Finally we told them we would be making no more trips across the street to remind them at 11:00, 12:00 1:00 a.m. etc, we'd just be calling the police. We were told, OK, we won't bother you anymore, we'll move the band to another members house. Well within a couple of weeks it happened again. We called the cops as much as we really didn't want to have to do that. We explained the situation, officers showed up shortly and handled it. The next day our neighbor came over and asked why we called the cops. My Husband told him that he had been warned in advance. We'd put up with this nonsense for months. He Appoligized, and that was the end of it. We thought, well there goes that neighborly thing we had, but nope. Everything was fine between us after that. Once in awhile they'd come over to tell us they were having a party for a special occasion, and tell us if we get to loud let us know. We never had to call the police again. Most people know when they are being disrespectful and understand when you explain your side of it.

I'm with FSG on this one. Politely inform then call the cops. Especially on a week night.

Just because he has CC&R's doesn't mean he has an HOA, chances are he doesn't.  Most all neighborhoods in Bakersfield have CC&R's but few are enforced except through the normal city and county ordinances (if this makes sense)  Even in new construction areas, the only one to enforce the CC&R is the developer/builder and they usually don't care if they have built out the area.  If he doesn't pay monthly fees, then there is no HOA.  If he is in a gated area, it is easy to control the noise.  If he does not have a Home Owners Association, I would call the cops.

Thanks all.  I live in a gated community with HOA.  The HOA has no bite - they don't even bother to enforce parking rules.  The rental cops have been told to get lost.  No sense in asking these neighbors nicely since they're being oblivious to others in first place.  These parties have been going on now for over 4 years.  Simply put, these are the type of people that just don't give a crap.  They would rather have their friends over for drunkfest rather than live in a community with their neighbors.  I've called the cops before, but nothing is ever done.   I may have to resort to choice F (rip out their outdoor speakers, throw in color die in their hot tub, turn on the sprinkler and knock off the one that faces their back yard, _____________).

signed - tired.

Betcha if you called the cops and said you heard gunfire from that home, they'd be there. 

If these parties go on into the wee hours of the night, I doubt these folks are getting up very early the next morning.  I say try Choice F at around 6AM with some of the most obnoxious music you can find . . . opera or polka comes to mind, or maybe one of the Spanish radio stations.   I did this to a neighbor once.  It may just be a coincidence, but we never had any trouble ever again.  I have also used this payback while staying at hotels.  If I get a loud family/group in a room near me, I call them on the phone VERRRRRY early in the morning and let the phone ring until they answer it.   Then I hang up.   I sometimes do that more than once.    Deprive me of my sleep?   Why should I let them sleep.   Aren't I a jerk?

Yeesh Casooner.  I feel for ya.  We have little kids with bedtimes around here, so I can understand your frustration.  I agree with those that said you should call the cops.  Dealing directly with your neighbors could create more problems if they're jerks (and if they're drunk.)  There could be drunken retaliation. 

On a side note, my husband and I are moving to Kern City the second we turn 55.  We're crotchety old cranks, and we want to be surrounded by other crotchety old cranks.

At 3 AM, that police responding to gun shot thing crossed my mind - several times.  But...

I also like the loud music / phone thing, but these are the type of people that don't care about their neighbors.  These folks can get vindictive once they find out who gave them some pay back.  If I was single, yeah, bring it on.  However, my wife and kids can't be put in harms way with these people. 

I've been on both sides of the issue. Yeah I was one of those party guys and my house was party central. LOL

But of course, I was a dumb kid then only interested in which girls showed up.

On the flip side of the coin, I would just get up at 6 in the morning and start up my own jam session. Try to pick out music that would seem the most obnoxious to the partiers. Disrupted sleep is no fun, disrupted sleep after an all night bender is even worse. Maybe some Slim Whitman would do...hey it worked on the Martians in Mars Attacks!

Actually, I would take the advice of the above posts, and use my strategy as a last resort. You do have to live next to 'em. LOL

Good luck Cassooner.

Check if your neighbors have already been calling the cops on them using the "Calls for Service" section of the BPD website: crimestats.bakersfieldpd.us/

The interactive mapping only has the last week's worth of calls, but if you know the dates of the parties and don't mind clicking through a website for a while, the text version goes farther back.

You could even use it to gather a list of times the cops have been called to show that this is a continuous problem. If the HOA won't act, try talking to the cops so that they know this is a problematic house for noise complaints (if they don't know already) and maybe they'll react more swiftly. You could always go for the squeaky wheel approach too by calling the cops every hour until they come out and deal with the noise (although it might make the cops irked, but I do know of some people that have resorted to this to get the cops to come out and deal with neighbors).

You might also want to talk to a lawyer to see if there's any sort of civil suit you can bring. Combine that with a restraining order if you fear retaliation. Sometimes you have to hit people in the pocketbook to get them to behave.

Shwaine,  that is a good website, but a bit difficult to use.  Thanks.

I also agree, that the only way to speak to some of these people (the ones that don't respect others) is to hit them in their pocket books.  I was hoping that the cops would write them a citation or something, but my fear is that they don't want to deal with it and just give that 'keep it down, will ya?' thing.   

oooohhhh....Lawrence Welk should do it.  I used to live in an apartment nest door to a single mom with a teen.  I talked to her about his amps rattling my war and she said she'd take care of it.  It was fine when she was home but when she wasn't he cranked it up again.  One night we had a 'jam session" (my fella was a musician) and turned the amps to the wall, real close and hit the volume button.  The kid was a rocker, my jammers were country.  Heh..sweet revenge.  The kid knocked it off.

Sellsnew, you're right..I should have thought of the HOA.  CCR parking isn't enforced at my grandkids neighborhood either.  So far no noise problem but they've only been there since Feb. and it's a new development.

Ear plugs? Ambient background noise? ... Good luck and be careful.