Bakersfield - It's the People and a Whole Lot More

Bakersfield
Photography by Greg Iger
Text by Mark Corum
It’s The People,
And A Whole Lot More
A publication of the
Office of Bakersfield Mayor Harvey L. Hall

Thank you for your interest in this HPNbooks publication. For more information about other HPNbooks publications, or
information about producing your own book with us, please visit www.hpnbooks.com.

Photography by Greg Iger
Text by Mark Corum
Bakersfield
It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
A publication of the
Office of Bakersfield Mayor Harvey L. Hall
HPNbooks
A division of Lammert Incorporated
San Antonio, Texas

÷
Previous page: The famous Bakersfield Arch welcomed travelers on the old U.S. Route 99 for fifty-years. After falling into disrepair, Caltrans feared it would collapse onto the road and wanted it removed. Buck Owens worked with Samson Steel
to build a new arch supported by towers resembling the Beale Memorial Clock Tower. Located on Sillect Avenue, next to the Crystal Palace, the city’s most recognizable image once again remains visible to motorists traveling on State Route 99.
Above: Left to right, a panoramic looking west from downtown shows the Bakersfield Police Department, City Hall North, First Presbyterian Church, the Bakersfield Californian Newspaper and the Padre Hotel.
First Edition
Copyright © 2016 HPNbooks
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.
All inquiries should be addressed to HPNbooks, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790, www.hpnbooks.com.
ISBN: 978-1-944891-19-0
Library of Congress: 2016955375
Bakersfield: It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
photographer: Greg Iger
assistant photographer: Ryan Cunningham
author: Mark Corum
designer: Glenda Tarazon Krouse
contributing writers for Bakersfield partners: Garnette Bane, Joe Goodpasture
Credits and acknowledgements.
County of Kern Department of Agriculture and
Measurement Standards, 2014 Kern County Agricultural
Crop Report; Kern Economic Development Corporation,
2016 Kern County Market Overview & Investor Directory;
David Lyman, manager, Visit Bakersfield; Kristie Onaindia,
Kern County Basque Club; North American Basque
Organizations; Michael Trihey, news director, KGET.
HPNbooks
president: Ron Lammert
project manager: Daphne Fletcher
assistant project managers: Anita Andersen, Jennifer Folkert
administration: Donna M. Mata, Lori K. Smith, Melissa G. Quinn
book sales: Joe Neely
production: Colin Hart, Evelyn Hart, Tim Lippard, Tony Quinn, Christopher D. Sturdevant
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
2

Contents
Legacy Sponsors ...............................................................................................4
Introduction by Mayor Harvey L. Hall ............................................................6
City of Bakersfield City Council........................................................................8
County of Kern Administrative Center ..........................................................10
Chapter 1
A Diversity of Interests, a Style All Its Own..........12
Chapter 2 Bakersfield Life ...................................................................56
Chapter 3 Bakersfield Works ...........................................................100
Bakersfield Partners .....................................................................................142
Sponsors ......................................................................................................300
About the Photographer ..............................................................................302
About the Author..........................................................................................303
CONTENTS
3

LEGACY SPONSORS
Through their generous support, these companies
helped to make this project possible.
Metropolitan Recycling, LLC
2601 South Mount Vernon Avenue
Bakersfield, California 93307
661-836-8380
Dignity Health
Mercy & Memorial Hospitals
California State University Bakersfield
9001 Stockdale Highway
Bakersfield, California 93311
661-654-CSUB (2782)
www.csub.edu
Memorial Hospital
420 34th Street
Bakersfield, California 93301
661-327-4647
Mercy Hospital Downtown
2215 Truxtun Avenue
Bakersfield, California 93301
661-632-5000
Kern Federal Credit Union
1717 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield 93301
4180 Coffee Road, Bakersfield 93308
661-327-9461
www.kernfcu.org
Mercy Hospital Southwest
400 Old River Road
Bakersfield, California 93311
661-663-6000
www.dignityhealth.org/bakersfield
San Joaquin Community Hospital
2615 Chester Avenue
Bakersfield, California 93301
661-395-3000
www.sjch.us
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
4

Omni Family Health
4900 California Avenue, Suite 400-B
Bakersfield, California 93309
1-800-300-OMNI (66 64)
www.OmniFamilyHealth.org
Chris Bertolucci Construction
9721 Rosedale Highway
Bakersfield, California 93312
661-589-4567
www.bertolucci-construction.com
Bakersfield Adult School
501 South Mount Vernon Avenue
Bakersfield, California 93307
661-835-1855
bas.kernhigh.org
KS Industries, LP
6205 District Boulevard
Bakersfield, California 93313
661-617-1700
www.ksilp.com
Bakersfield Family Medical Center
4570 California Avenue
Bakersfield, California 93309
661-327-4411
www.bfmc.com
San Joaquin Veterinary Hospital
3441 Allen Road
Bakersfield, California 93314
661-588-3299
www.sanjoaquinvet.com
LEGACY SPONSORS
5

Introduction Mayor Harvey L. Hall
Much has been said, songs have been sung, and articles and books written
about this city we call home. The obvious can be stated about us; that Bakersfield
is currently the ninth largest city in California, that agriculture and oil fuel the
local economy, and that music feeds our souls…but what is readily apparent
cannot alone tell the story.
Bakersfield: It’s the People, and a Whole Lot More, is a book about us, the
people who live here, in or near Bakersfield, in the southern end of California’s
Central Valley. The people in our part of the world identify with Bakersfield, even
if they are not technically within its city limits. Ask someone from Lamont, or
Weedpatch, or Oildale where they are from, and the response is very likely to be
“close to Bakersfield.”
Our forefathers arrived from other states and other countries. They may have
come on horseback, in wagons, or in beaten up old vehicles that held all their
worldly belongings. Some of our parents made the choice to make this home, and
some of us are here because we decided that this was a good place to plant our
roots. What Bakersfield is not, is exclusive. We are a community of people taking
care of family, work, and one another.
This book pays homage to how we live, how we earn a living, how we play, our
natural resources, and it uniquely captures the variety of places in our community,
from the rugged shores of the picturesque and infamous Kern River, to the roar
of the Kern County Raceway; from the revitalized jewel of the Padre Hotel
downtown, to the to the sprawling campus of our prized California State University
Bakersfield. Tucked carefully between the pages is the essence of what transforms
Bakersfield from ordinary, to extraordinary: the folks that live here.
In a state where cities tend to be either very young or very old (at least by
American standards), we are firmly middle-aged. The hospitable Colonel Baker
arrived in 1863, and word soon spread that travelers would be welcome to rest at
‘Baker’s field.’ A hundred and fifty-three years later we are a city of nearly 380,000
people, over half a million if you count the unincorporated areas adjacent to the
city. And, we are still welcoming our visitors, the ones that come to hear the music
made famous by Buck and Merle, the ones that come to learn about baby carrots
and pump oil, the ones that come to race cars and boats, the ones that come to
watch their boys wrestle and the girls play basketball, and the ones that come
and decide to stay.
Over the last seventy-some years I have been a proud member of the Bakersfield
community, and for nearly sixteen years it has been my honor and pleasure to
serve as its mayor. As I reflect on what has been, and on what lies ahead, I am
confident that Bakersfield will rise to meet the future as she has dealt with the past,
with innovation, optimism and unity. Bakersfield: It’s the People and a Whole Lot
More pays tribute to who we were, who we are, and what we have built together.
—Mayor Harvey L. Hall
City of Bakersfield
2001-2016
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
6

÷
Harvey L. Hall, Bakersfield’s twenty-fifth
mayor, with a statue of Colonel Thomas Baker,
from whom the city’s name was derived.
INTRODUCTION
7

City of Bakersfield
City Council
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
8
÷
Left to right, Bakersfield City Council Members: Terry Maxwell (Ward 2), Ken Weir (Ward 3), Vice Mayor Harold Hanson (Ward 5),
Mayor Harvey L. Hall, Jacquie Sullivan (Ward 6), Bob Smith (Ward 4), Chris Parlier (Ward 7), and Willie Rivera (Ward 1).

÷
A downtown Bakersfield nightscape highlights the Old Church Plaza with its bell tower, which stands seventy feet tall. Built in 1931 as the First Baptist Church, the
building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and represents a “fusion of two historical styles of architecture...Romanesque and Mission Revival.”
CITY OF BAKERSFIELD CITY COUNCIL
9

County of Kern
Administrative Center
÷
Right: Left to right, County of Kern Board of Supervisors, David Couch
(District 4), Leticia Perez (District 5), Chairman Mick Gleason (District 1),
Mike Maggard (District 3), and Zack Scrivner (District 2).
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE COUNTY OF KERN PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
Below: County of Kern Administrative Center.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
10

÷
The leaves of trees lining the banks of the Kern River change
colors as the temperature cools going into late fall.
COUNTY OF KERN ADMINISTRATIVE CENTER
11

Chapter
1
A Diversity of Interests,
a Style All Its Own
Choose any weekend in Bakersfield, and chances are there are any number of activities from which to choose—whether
the arts, sporting events or live music.
Bakersfield people love to socialize and attend functions and events, particularly when there is a good cause tied to it.
Dozens of nonprofits host fundraising events that draw the masses.
We work hard and play harder, and if by chance, you don’t find us out and about, we are likely at a park, or in our backyard
grillin’ and chillin’ with friends and family. In fact, Bakersfield boasts fifty-nine parks throughout the city, each with unique
amenities including water parks, skateboard parks, and outdoor amphitheaters.
We embrace our central California lifestyle, keeping it casual, but we don’t mind dressing to the occasion, or donning our
favorite pair of cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat to keep with our western heritage.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
12
÷
The Bakersfield Amazing Race includes a
scavenger hunt through downtown, infused
with trivia while clad as your favorite
costume character. The event benefits
disabled persons in our community.

CHAPTER 1
13

÷
Above: Using pavement as their canvas, artists converge each October for the Via Arte Italian Street Painting Festival.
Crowds build throughout the weekend in anticipation as fine art emerges.
COURTESY OF ART SHERWYN.
Right: Renowned metal-sculpturist Betty Younger’s Sun Catcher is among her dramatic works of public art that can be
seen throughout downtown Bakersfield.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
14

÷
Since receiving a complete renovation the Padre Hotel has become
a destination boutique hotel, and is a top choice for musical artists,
actors, and business people staying in the city. The Padre’s storied
history is something of urban legend, yet most of it is true.
CHAPTER 1
15

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
16

÷
Opposite: Gas-filled glass tubes in a full-spectrum of colors keep
iconic Bakersfield establishments aglow. Neon signs reached their peak in
the 1960s, but in recent years have transformed into a form of public art. The Kern County Museum
has dedicated The Neon Courtyard to preserve and display these hidden gems of businesses gone by.
Above: Merle Haggard and Buck Owens.
INSETS COURTESY OF BUCK OWENS PRODUCTION CO., INC.
Left: Legend has it that Buck Owen’s might have acquired this 1973 Pontiac Grand Ville, originally
built for Elvis, in a poker game with the famed western tailor and car builder Nudie Cohn.
The roots of our music is a reflection of the Okies, Arkies, and Texans who
moved here in the ’30s and ’40s as Dust Bowl Immigrants. Our honky tonks
became the proving grounds for not only Merle Haggard and Buck Owens,
but a handful of talented performers including Cousin Herb Henson, Bill
Woods, Billy Mize, Oscar Whittington, Red Simpson and Gene Moles—all
who played a role in pioneering the genre of music that would eventually bear
our city’s namesake—the Bakersfield Sound.
CHAPTER 1
17

÷
Above: For fifty years, the Bakersfield Fiesta has kept
square dancing, a form of American folk dance, alive with
their annual event at the Kern County Fairgrounds.
Inset: Carol and Fred Noel have participated in every
Bakersfield Fiesta since 1989.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
18

Today, music aficionados can enjoy live music as varied as the venues themselves. One of the last remaining honky
tonks is Trout’s Bar in neighboring Oildale, which offers live music, line dancing and karaoke most nights of the week.
Part museum, part concert hall, part restaurant, Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace is enshrined with memorabilia from
the performer’s musical career, while hosting today’s hottest up and coming country acts.
The Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame is a recent addition to concert venues, offering a more intimate setting with
superb sound quality as it also serves as a state-of-the-art recording studio. The Hall of Fame often plays host to
Rick Kreiser’s Guitar Masters @ Studio A Series, bringing top-notch talent to perform in a showcase atmosphere.
÷
Top, left: The John Jorgenson Quintet performs at the Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame.
Top, right: Raised in Bakersfield, Monty Byrom has never ventured far from his
hometown sound, while fronting ’80s rock bands Billy Satellite, and New Frontier.
He penned several hits for Eddie Money, including I Wanna Go Back. He returned to
his roots as the lead singer of Big House, earning the group an Academy of Country
Music nomination for “Top New Vocal Group of the Year” in 1998. Byrom periodically
performs with the Buckaroos. He is currently fronting Monty Byrom & the Road Pilots,
an Americana-style five-piece that released 100 Miles South of Eden in 2015.
Left: The festive sounds of Mariachi ring out at a Cinco De Mayo celebration at
Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace.
CHAPTER 1
19

÷
Left: CSU Bakersfield’s outdoor amphitheater provides the perfect venue for the
annual Bakersfield Jazz Festival, featuring live music performed by local and
well-known performers from around the world.
DRONE SHOT COURTESY OF RYAN CUNNINGHAM, IGER STUDIO.
Opposite: Bakersfield changed the sound of music again, in the early 1990s when
multi-platinum, Grammy Award winning artists KoRn forged its own distinct metal
brand of rock and roll. The city has paid homage to the band at Rabobank Arena with
a KoRn Row street sign, off N Street, just north of the train tracks.
COURTESY OF WARNER MUSIC INC.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
20

However, the twangy-country emitted from a Fender Telecaster
is not the only musical style originating from Bakersfield. In the
early 1990s, KoRn redefined heavy-metal by forging a new genre
of post-grunge, alternative metal that was devoured by fans thirsty
for something different and hard-hitting.
CHAPTER 1
21

÷
Concert goers enjoy an outdoor concert on a perfect Bakersfield
early-summer evening at the Bright House Amphitheatre,
located at The Park at River Walk.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
22

÷
Right: Banshee in the Kitchen performs at the Bakersfield Sister City Gardens during World Friendship Day.
The talented trio plays Celtic music infused with the fiddle, hammered dulcimer and accordion.
Below: For eighty-four years, the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, comprised primarily of local musicians, has delivered
an exceptional musical experience to its audiences. In 2015, Stilian Kirov, became the BSO’s youngest conductor.
CHAPTER 1
23

÷
The 1,500 seat Fox Theater designed by famed Los Angeles architect S. Charles Lee, opened on
Christmas Day in 1930, premiering the sci-fi tale Just Imagine. The theater’s silver screen entertained
scores of residents for forty-seven years before going dark in 1977. In 1994, the nonprofit Fox Theater
Foundation was created to begin a massive restoration effort. Today, The Fox Theater is recognized as a
community treasure for its fine acoustics and is the only remaining Fox with its rare Skouras signature
interior intact. Beginning at the sidewalk on a rainbow of polished terrazzo and inside amid towering
gold leaf, she is an exquisite blend of Spanish Colonial and Art Deco.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
24

Bakersfield has an active performing arts community including the Bakersfield
Community Theatre, California’s oldest continually operating community theatre.
Stars Theatre Restaurant combines fine dining with exceptional musicals and
comedy performances, while The Empty Space is one of just a few donationbased
theatres in the United States, fostering a creative environment for local
actors, directors and designers to refine their craft.
÷
Top, left: West Side Story production at the Bakersfield Music Theatre.
Top, right: The Gaslight Melodrama offers live theatrical performance complemented by a piano player who
sets the mood for the audience to boo the villain, cheer the hero and awww at the sweetheart.
Left: Nearly two-dozen acoustic and electric guitars are set up on the stage of the Fox Theater for a solo
performance by Jackson Browne.
CHAPTER ONE
25

÷
Hair, makeup, and costume collides
with fantasy at Glamour Fatale:
Battle of the Salons.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
26

÷
Keeping our city’s rich Scottish
heritage and cultural traditions alive
at the Scottish Games and Gathering.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RYAN CUNNINGHAM,
IGER STUDIO.
CHAPTER 1
27

÷
Above: Members of the Kern County Basque Club pay homage to the traditions of the coastal fishing villages of the Basque Country who
rely upon the generosity of the sea for their living. The ladies are performing the “Mateola” or Lapirdi’s fish basket dance to celebrate an
abundant catch and the return of their men from the sea. Bakersfield is host to the largest Basque Club in California and second in the
nation to Boise, Idaho. The annual Basque Festival celebrates the heritage of this unique culture.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
28
Opposite: A young Klika drummer joins with his elders at the Basque Festival. According to North American
Basque Association, the Klika tradition reaches back to the Napoleonic era two centuries ago, when young Basques
were drafted into the French army. Their reputation as noted singers, dancers and musicians made them almost
automatic picks for the military brass band in their respective units. After leaving the military, they took these
talents and turned them into a Basque celebration of music. The Bakersfield Klika was formed in 1975.

CHAPTER 1
29

÷
Churchill Downs meets good ol’ Bakersfield roots
with guests donning traditional Kentucky Derby wear with
festive hats, or their country best for CASA’s Boot Scootin’ Derby,
benefitting foster children’s rights to safe, permanent, and nurturing homes.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
30

÷
Over 2,400 Harris Ranch New York Steaks and 800 teriyaki chicken dinners are served at the annual CSU Bakersfield Spring BBQ by Gary and
Adam Icardo and their crew. John Giumarra, Jr., has served as chairman of the event since its inaugural event was held at the Bakersfield Police
Pistol Range, in 1972. This rite of Spring benefits the Roadrunner Scholarship Fund by paying for education costs of CSUB student-athletes.
CHAPTER 1
31

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
32

÷
Left: Without a doubt, Luigi’s is Bakersfield’s gathering spot, where you always run
into old friends and never meet a stranger. The walls are adorned with snapshots of
high school athletes dating back to Kern County Union High School, and hometown
heroes who made it to the big leagues.
Below: You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream. Nothing beats a scoop of
ice cream during Bakersfield’s scorching summer heat. Yet, you will find the more
refined ice cream connoisseur opting for Dewar’s delectable Black & White—a scoop
of vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge, a scoop of chocolate ice-cream topped
with whipped marshmallow topping and dressed with your choice of toasted almonds
or walnuts, or George’s Special, an addictive blended concoction of vanilla ice cream,
walnuts, bananas and chocolate syrup.
÷
Opposite: There are more Mexican-inspired restaurants in Bakersfield offering
flavorful south of the border delicacies than any other cuisine. Most of the restaurants
are family-owned and serve up entrees reflective of their family’s heritage from the
various regions of Mexico.
CHAPTER ONE
33

÷
Above: The bounty of Kern County and the
San Joaquin Valley’s harvest is featured at the
Haggin Oaks Farmer’s Market. Seasonal fruit and
vegetables fill the tables, with the farmers eager to
share samples that are the result of their hard work.
Opposite: The aroma of fresh-baked sourdough bread emanates early each morning from Pyrenees French Bakery in Central Bakersfield. The bakery which was
originally called the Kern City French Bakery, began in 1887 under the proprietorship of Marius M. Espitallier. In December 1944, Pierre and Juanita Laxague
purchased the bakery and changed its name to Pyrenees in honor of their native province. The distinct flavor of Pyrenees French Bakery sourdough bread comes
from its French sourdough style recipe based on a sourdough starter that has been maintained for almost seventy years. Their sourdough features a more
subdued sour taste as compared to some typical San Francisco-style doughs, and is finished off with a hearty crust as a result of being baked in brick ovens.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
34

CHAPTER ONE
35

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
36

Good food, brew and vibes are common underlying themes of
Bakersfield’s numerous beer festivals—each capitalizing
on America’s fascination with craft beer brewing.
CHAPTER 1
37

÷
The shimmer of Mustang silver bounces
off the helmets from the Friday Night Lights
of high school football.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
38

Bakersfield loves its hometown sports, starting with high school, college and professional teams. During
the fall season, high school football dominates the conversation, with generations of alumni returning to
their alma mater on Friday nights to cheer on their team. In Bakersfield, we do not care as much about where
you obtained your college degree from, but if you are local, we want to know what high school you attended.
÷
The Bakersfield College Renegades.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF FRANCIS MAYER.
CHAPTER 1
39

÷
Above: CSU Bakersfield Basketball Coach Rod Barnes
discusses strategy with the players of the Runners’ team.
Left: CSU Bakersfield Runners’ Forward Kevin Mays
sinks a basket against Portland State.
Following a five-year transition to NCAA Division I
Status, CSU Bakersfield moved to full membership status
in 2010-11. It has not taken long for CSUB Athletics
to make a name for themselves on a national level with
four programs securing Western Athletics Conference
Championships (Baseball: 2013-regular season, and 2015;
Volleyball: 2014; Men’s Basketball: 2016; Softball: 2016
(tournament championships).
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
40

Bakersfield has played host to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)
State Boys Wrestling Championship since 2004. The annual event attracts 560 wrestlers from
across the state to compete in fourteen weight classes in the double-elimination tournament.
More than 1,100 matches take place during the two-day Championship.
CHAPTER ONE
41

÷
The CSUB ‘Runners were the 2015 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament
Champions advancing them to their first NCAA Tournament Appearance.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
42

Bakersfield is home to the Bakersfield Condors, who joined the American
Hockey League in 2015/16, after becoming affiliated with the Edmonton
Oilers. The organization has created a buzz for itself over the years through
creative marketing and fan engagement opportunities.
÷
Condorstown fans go crazy with the annual Teddy Bear Toss 13:55 into the first period when
Ryan Hamilton scores the first goal—7,908 stuffed animals hit the ice—it is a sight to behold.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF RABOBANK ARENA.
CHAPTER 1
43

÷
Above: The Bakersfield Triathlon makes good use of the environs northeast of Bakersfield earning a
reputation as one of the most challenging triathlons in the U.S. The USA Triathlon Sanctioned Event
features a 1.5k swim across Lake Ming, a 40k bike up the Panorama Bluffs and a 10k run up
Rattlesnake Grade to Bastard Hill.
Opposite, inset: Area high school leading golfer Madi Daniel (right)
and her friend Rachel Levi, assistant pro at Stockdale Country Club,
enjoying a day on the greens.
Opposite: On the eighteenth green at Rio Bravo Country Club.
Bakersfield’s climate is conducive to year-round golf at one of the
city’s private country clubs including Stockdale, Bakersfield, and
Seven Oaks, or public courses like The Links at RiverLakes Ranch.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
44

CHAPTER 1
45

Motorsports in Bakersfield remain a huge attraction whether on dirt, asphalt or
on the water in the case of the boat drags at Lake Ming. Kern County is host to
Bakersfield Speedway, which locals call the “Okie Bowl” and is known as the West’s
Fastest 1/3 Mile High Banked Clay Oval.
Kern County Raceway Park offers dirt, moto-x, and is home to the NASCAR
Whelen All-American Racing series as well as the season opener for the NASCAR
K&N Pro Series West.
Drag Racing enthusiasts consider Famoso Raceway hallowed ground, converging
in the Fall for the Hotrod Reunion, and each Spring for the March Meet.
÷
Above: Racing runs deep in the roots of Bakersfield’s motorsports community, with multi-generations of family
members competing. NASCAR Late Model driver Buddy Shepherd fist-bumps a pint-sized fan during the drivers
autograph session at Kern County Raceway Park. His father, Dick Shepherd, had a successful racing career on the
dirt at Bakersfield Speedway, and on the asphalt in the mid-1990s at the former Mesa Marin Raceway where he won
two track championships.
Right: The smell of nitro, burning rubber and the roar of pure horsepower has drawn thousands of spectators every March
since 1959, when the Smokers Car Club hosted the inaugural U.S. Gas and Fuel Championships at Famoso Raceway.
PHOTOGRAPH TOP OF THE PAGE AND RIGHT ARE COURTESY OF THE FAMOSO RACEWAY.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
46

÷
Bakersfield’s passion for racing is not just limited to asphalt. The roots of drag
boat racing goes back to November 26, 1956, when the Kern County
Boat and Ski Club held a race on a small lake in Hart Park.
Sixty years later, the National Jet Boat Association
hosts a series of races on the liquid
quarter-mile at Lake Ming.
CHAPTER 1
47

÷
Below: For thirty years, Bakersfield has played host to the Western Street
Rod Nationals. Chrome, flames and tuck and roll upholstery abounds as
1,700 street rods, customs, and muscle cars converge on the Kern County
Fairgrounds each Spring. Mayor Harvey L. Hall judges this ’32 roadster
for consideration of the Mayor’s Trophy at the Western Street Rod Nationals.
Inset: Mayor Harvey L. Hall is surrounded by a sea of hotrods and
muscle cars at the Western Street Rod Nationals.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
48

÷
Left: Welcome to the Kern County Fair.
Below: Thrillseekers pack the midway of the
Great Kern County Fair. Beyond the carnival
rides, the fair features great entertainment,
blue-ribbon contests, and livestock events.
The one-hundred-year-old Kern County Fair
was originally located where the Kern County
Museum resides on Chester Avenue.
CHAPTER 1
49

÷
Rodeo royalty parade their way around the arena at the annual
Stampede Days Rodeo at the Kern County Fairgrounds.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
50

÷
Left: The Sikhs first came to California from the Punjab Region of India in 1899.
The Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan was formed in 1911 near Stockton. These
non-violent, peace-loving people believe in the equality of all human
beings while promoting gender equality. Bakersfield solidified
its relationship with the Sikh community by forging a relationship
through the Bakersfield Sister City Project Corporation with
Amritsar, India, which is considered the Holy City of the Sikh religion.
Everybody loves a parade, and Bakersfield hosts a
number of them, including the Veterans Day Parade,
Bakersfield Christmas Parade, the Black American
History Parade, and the Peace Parade organized by
the community’s Sikh population.
÷
Right: Bakersfield’s patriotism and appreciation for all who have served
in the United States Armed Forces is visibly apparent at the annual
Veteran’s Day Parade in downtown Bakersfield. The American Legion
Post 26 has hosted the annual parade since 1919.
CHAPTER 1
51

More than three million LED lights are used to create colorful
animated displays during the Holiday Lights at the California
Living Museum (CALM), complete with snowflakes. The event
has become an annual Bakersfield tradition, with more than
450,000 people experiencing the magic since 2002.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
52

÷
Inset: Mr. Christmas aka Mayor Harvey L. Hall
brought back the Bakersfield Christmas Parade
and served as coordinator for twenty-years.
Aglow in holiday lights, the Bakersfield Fire Department’s
hook and ladder participates in the annual
Bakersfield Christmas Parade held
in downtown Bakersfield.
CHAPTER ONE
53

÷
Left: Plein Air artist Art Sherwyn gets inspiration along the banks of the Kern River.
Below: Lone lupines stand out in a patch of poppies off of Highway 223, heading towards the
Tehachapi Mountains.
If experiencing the great outdoors is more your style, Bakersfield
serves as a gateway for adventurers. The southern end of the Sequoia
National Forest is in our backyard offering hiking, mountain biking and
river rafting for adrenaline-seekers.
The foothills of Bakersfield lends itself to some of the most spectacular
arrays of wildflowers in the state. For a few short weeks in the spring,
poppies, lupines, and owls clover transform the landscape while the
grass turns from lush green to golden brown.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
54

CHAPTER 1
55

Chapter
2
Bakersfield Life
When it comes to quality of life amenities, our city draws from its roots and the vision of Colonel Thomas Baker,
who offered weary travelers a place to rest in his field. His generous hospitality seems to have been embraced by
many who decided to stay and grow our city—to over a half million people today.
÷
Right: Colonel Thomas Baker’s statue at city hall keeps a watchful eye on downtown as night falls.
Below: Artists Al Mendez and Sebastian Muralles pay homage to the Bakersfield Sound, and music's impact on the southern San Joaquin Valley with
this mural on the side of Front Porch Music. Of note are several Mosrite guitars manufactured by Semie and Andy Mosely in Bakersfield, and
played by artists ranging from the Ventures to the Ramones.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
56

÷
Reach, teach and empower—Agapeland is an urban private
Christian School that provides a multi-cultural learning experience.
CHAPTER 2
57

÷
Left: The Beale Memorial Clock Tower was built in memory of Truxtun Beale’s mother, Mary Edwards Beale.
Dedicated on April 2, 1904, the clock tower was located at the intersection of Chester Avenue and Seventeenth
Street. It was demolished as a result of a series of earthquakes in 1952. A restoration committee was formed and a
replica of the clock tower, including the original clock works, bell, and iron works, was reconstructed and dedicated
at the Kern County Museum on December 13, 1964.
Bottom, left: Downtown’s First Friday events provide a showcase for local artists, performers, and artisans to display
their talents in a family friendly setting.
Below: Artist Tom Zachary pays tribute to Lady Liberty and the men and women who served in World War II with
his patriotic mural located at Twentieth and Eye Streets.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
58

÷
Right: With a personality as big as her heart and passion for downtown Bakersfield, Cathy Butler has
devoted a lifetime to invigorating our city center. Always the promoter, she works tirelessly with merchants,
artists, restauranteurs, businesses and community groups for the benefit of downtown.
Below: A festive performer dances at the Metro Galleries during a Latination exhibit.
Bottom, right: The Mark Restaurant offers a unique dining experience pairing outdoor seating with
live entertainment.
CHAPTER 2
59

÷
Opposite, top: Snow-capped Breckenridge Mountain peers over Bakersfield at
a 7,548 foot elevation. This photograph, taken during a wet year, highlights
the flow of the Kern River, Truxtun Lake and the Carrier Canal.
RIGHT AND BOTTOM PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MARK CORUM.
Beautification of our city is something every resident can get behind,
including Mayor Hall, who personally joined and encouraged residents,
volunteers, and business leaders to pick up litter along the on and
off ramps running through Bakersfield as part of the Mayor’s Freeway
Cleanup. Hall was also instrumental in creating the Great American
Cleanup through Keep Bakersfield Beautiful, which celebrated its fifteenth
anniversary in 2016. To celebrate, Keep America Beautiful President and
CEO Jennifer Jehn came to Bakersfield to honor Mayor Hall’s efforts of
leading by example, which earned him the Iron Eyes Cody Award in 2011.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
60

CHAPTER 2
61

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
62

☺
Opposite: Cancer survivors and their family members participate in team challenges at the Campout Against Cancer event.
Funds from the growing annual event stay right here in Kern County to help local cancer patients.
Above: Mayor Harvey L. Hall addresses a sea of purple at the twenty-fifth anniversary opening festivities of the American
Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Since its inception, the event has raised nearly twenty-five million dollars as attendees
celebrate, remember, and fight back against cancer.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MARK CORUM.
Bakersfield’s quality of life is very much driven by the people who call it home.
Our sense of community shines when we pull together to support a need, cause, or
celebration. There are a countless number of organizations dedicated to improving
the quality of life for our residents, each who do commendable work.
For twenty-five years, families have come together to celebrate and remember
cancer victims and survivors through the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life,
raising more than $24 million dollars.
CHAPTER 2
63

The health, wellness, and vitality of our people is of
utmost importance. Our city offers a vast network of
healthcare providers from urgent care centers and clinics,
specialists, hospitals and a regional trauma center to care
for your loved ones.
Dignity Health’s Mercy and Memorial Hospitals specialize
in cancer care, heart and vascular, neurology, orthopedics,
pediatrics, surgery and women’s care. Memorial Hospital
is home to the Grossman Burn Center, renowned for
its pioneering techniques to assist burn survivors in
their recovery.
Adventist Health’s San Joaquin Community Hospital has
been serving the community for more than 100 years and
offers specialized care through its Brain and Spine Institute,
AIS Cancer Center, Quest Imaging, and The Burn Center.
÷
Opposite, clockwise starting from the top left:
Clinica Sierra Vista.
Kern Medical.
Mercy Southwest.
The Guild House serves gourmet lunches with proceeds benefiting the Henrietta Weill Child Guidance Clinic—200
active members volunteer their time to cook, serve customers, or wash dishes. Established in 1958, the Guild has
raised over $2 million for the clinic which provides outpatient mental health services for children and their families.
Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
64

Kern Medical is an acute care 222 bed teaching center
affiliated with UCLA and serves as the area’s advanced
trauma center.
Bakersfield Heart Hospital specializes in the diagnosis
and treatment of heart and vascular disease, but also cares
for a wide range of other medical and surgical patients.
Part of the recovery of any major health episode is medical
rehabilitation. HealthSouth offers comprehensive inpatient
and outpatient rehabilitation services.
CHAPTER 2
65

Honoring America’s “Greatest Generation’, is the goal of Honor Flight of Kern County, working to
recognize the approximate 46,000 veterans in Kern County, including over 8,000 who served in
World War II and the Korean War. This patriotic group sends veterans to Washington, D.C. to see the
memorials built in their honor for their service to our great country—at no cost to the veteran. They
receive a hero’s send-off from Meadows Field, and during their flight receive cards and notes of appreciation
from schoolchildren thanking them for their dedication and sacrifice to protect our freedom.
÷
ABOVE: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF KEVIN FAHEY.
Right: For ten years, Ben Patten and the Armed Forces Support Riders have provided motorcycle escort for new recruits entering
active duty.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ART OCHOA PHOTOGRAPHY.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
66

CHAPTER 2
67

Another uniquely Bakersfield effort is KGET TV 17’s
Compassion Corner which started out twenty years ago
as a collection point for people to donate money or
items for a cause. Today, thirteen drives are organized
each year benefitting the Alliance Against Family Violence,
the Bakersfield Homeless Center, canned food drives for
the Golden Empire Gleaners and the CAPK Food Bank,
fans for senior citizens, and pet adoptions.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
68

From early childhood education through graduate programs,
Bakersfield embraces local education opportunities.
A number of private schools are prevalent in the area, including
Garces Memorial High School, Bakersfield Christian,
and Heritage Academy, which offer a faith-based curriculum.
Gaining increased popularity with many parents and
their school age children are charter schools, such as
Valley Oaks Charter School, which is ran through the
Kern County Superintendent of Schools. The tuition-free
program provides greater choice and flexibility for students
who do not thrive in a normal public school environment—
where parents, teachers and the community work together
to educate one student at a time.
÷
Above: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County offers several reasons to jump for joy, including outstanding after school and day camp summer programs from its
main location serving east Bakersfield and numerous satellite school-based locations throughout the community.
Left: This little free library was created in remembrance of Wendy Wayne, a dedicated advocate for children and humanity. Neighborhood children can borrow a
book from the tiny library for free.
CHAPTER 2
69

Regional
Occupational
Center
Meeting the demand for a skilled and prepared workforce is of the highest
priority for area learning institutions. The Kern High School District’s Regional
Occupational Center is a public education/technical training facility offering a
variety of programs to those interested in developing or improving job skills.
Juniors and seniors can select from more than two-dozen program options,
including, animal care, law enforcement, pharmacy tech and 3D animation
and video game design.
÷
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE REGIONAL OCCUPATIONAL CENTER.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
70

÷
Top, left: Bakersfield High School.
Top, right: Liberty High School.
Left: The first grade flutophone band performs at the Little Red
School House’s kindergarten graduation.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MARK CORUM.
CHAPTER 2
71

Bakersfield College is one of the nation’s oldest continually
operating community colleges and serves 20,000 students
from its 153-acre campus in northeast Bakersfield, and two
satellite locations.
Other four-year universities in Bakersfield include Fresno
Pacific University and University of Phoenix, both of which
offer teaching certification, undergraduate, and graduate
degrees, and University of Laverne offering undergraduate
and graduate degrees.
÷
Students from the Bakersfield College Culinary program put their skills to work
creating a savory entree at Garden Fest. The program emphasizes quality food
production and service in commercial and institutional food service operations.
Students gain real world experience working in the campus restaurant, the
Renegade Room.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
72

÷
Left: Located on a 375-acre site in southwest Bakersfield, CSU Bakersfield
serves more than 8,720 students and counts over 40,000 alumni from
its programs: arts and humanities, business and public administration,
natural sciences, mathematics and engineering, and social sciences and
education. CSUB offers undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate and
credential programs. In addition, CSUB’s Extended University offers
professional development, certificate, and degree programs.
÷
Right: Established in 1913, Bakersfield College is one of the oldest, continuallyoperating
community colleges in the United States. Over 20,000 students are
served from the 153 acre main campus, the Weill Institute in downtown
Bakersfield, and the Delano Center located thirty-five miles north of the city of
Bakersfield. BC offers a number of associate degree and certificate programs
from nearly fifty subjects.
CHAPTER 2
73

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
74

The Bakersfield Police Department provides for the safety
and welfare of the citizens of Bakersfield utilizing effective
law enforcement systems, including crime prevention,
patrol and traffic enforcement, criminal investigation
follow-up, crime analysis, vice and narcotic engagement,
gang suppression and community relations.
÷
Opposite: The Bakersfield Police Activities League helps keep kids on the right path by engaging them in healthy
activities, homework assistance, and the encouragement to be a leader and not a follower.
Above: Old Glory flies high above Truxtun Avenue as residents and the public safety community gather to honor
the fallen officers of the Bakersfield Police Department. The Bakersfield Police Memorial was dedicated in May 1998,
during National Law Enforcement Week. It features the names of those officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.
CHAPTER 2
75

The Bakersfield Fire Department provides fire suppression,
emergency medical services, heavy and technical
rescue, hazmat mitigation, and water rescue to the people
of Bakersfield. BFD is an insurance services office (ISO)
rated class 2 fire department, placing them in the top
1.5 percent of departments in the United States.
÷
Above: The Firefighters Fishing Derby.
Right: Bakersfield Fire Department’s Station 1 is located
at the corner of Twenty-first and H Streets.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
76

Hall Ambulance Service, Inc., is the 9-1-1 paramedic
provider, which works collaboratively with its public safety
partners to deliver medical aid when someone falls victim
to sudden illness or injury. The company also provides
air ambulance service for the most traumatic and lifethreatening
calls where a time savings of ten minutes or
greater exists; as well as critical care transport services
between hospitals in our city and throughout the state.
Within metropolitan Bakersfield, there are several county
pockets with fire and law enforcement services handled by
the Kern County Fire Department and the Kern County
Sheriff’s Office.
Keeping our highways safe are the officers of the California
Highway Patrol.
÷
Above: CHiPs for Kids is one of several organized toy drives in Bakersfield to ensure no child goes without being remembered at Christmastime.
Below: Harvey L. Hall commissioned artist Chuck Caplinger to produce this nine-foot by sixty-foot mural depicting his company’s forty-five year history as a pioneer in
modern EMS.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MARK CORUM.
CHAPTER 2
77

÷
The Shops at River Walk offers a variety of
brand name stores, specialty boutiques, and
restaurants, in close proximity to the Kern
River Bike Path and the Park at River Walk.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
78

Bakersfield is a shoppers paradise whether your taste is to explore the small boutique
stores of downtown, spending a day at Valley Plaza Mall which is anchored by JCPenney,
Macy’s, Target, and Sears, or the upscale shops offered at the Marketplace and the Shops at
River Walk in the southwest portion of town.
If you cannot find something closer to home, The Outlets at Tejon are located twenty-five
minutes south of town and offers upscale designer fashions and home good brands at
value savings from such well-known retailers as Brooks Brothers Factory Store, Calvin Klein,
Coach Factory Store and Pottery Barn.
÷
A shopper’s paradise lies minutes away from Bakersfield at the Outlets at Tejon, featuring brand names at discounted prices.
The area is also host to major distribution facilities including IKEA, Famous Footwear and Caterpillar.
CHAPTER 2
79

÷
Above: Monsignor Craig Harrison, pastor of St. Francis Parish
takes time to visit with the Saint Francis Girls Basketball Team.
Left: Pastor Oscar Anthony and Assistant Pastor Ralph Anthony
lead a bible study group with community leaders at St. Peters.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
80

÷
Clockwise, starting from the top left:
Dr. Roger Spradlin is co-pastor of Valley Baptist Church, which is affiliated with the Southern
Baptist Convention.
Temple Beth El and Congregation B’nai Jacob created the Jewish Food Festival to share their culture
and traditional cuisine such as falafel, rugelach, and kosher brisket sandwiches with the community.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) serves the community with its parish and school offering an
education based on Catholic principles.
CHAPTER 2
81

÷
÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷ ÷ ÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷
Above: Sikhs gather for worship in a temporary Gurdwara prior to the start of their annual Peace Parade.
Opposite: Members of the African Association of Kern County participate in the Black American History Parade.
The parade promotes unity and integrates all aspects of black history, from culture and music to heritage and art.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
82

CHAPTER 2
83

÷
The Marketplace in southwest Bakersfield transforms into the town square on
most Friday and Saturday nights, with families catching dinner and a movie,
shopping, and the popular Concerts by the Fountain summer series.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
84

÷
Above: The mighty Kern River with its North Fork originating in the Sequoia National Park,
west of Mount Whitney, flows almost due south to Lake Isabella, eighty-three river miles away.
Its flow runs through a glaciated valley that may be the longest such valley in the nation.
The South Fork originates in the Golden Trout Wilderness, and parallels thirteen miles
of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Right: Water rushes through the Kern River Canyon making its way towards Bakersfield.
CHAPTER 2
85

÷
The Kern River Parkway runs from the mouth of the Kern River Canyon to Buena Vista Lake, and includes the
primary and secondary floodplains. This natural treasure features a 32-mile bike path and horse trail, 9 Bakersfield parks,
and 4 Kern County parks encompassing 1,400 acres of wetland preserves and natural riparian areas for a total of
6,000 acres of public space.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
86

÷
Students gather at the Panorama Vista Preserve to learn about the revegetation of native plant species taking place to broaden the wildlife habitat along the banks of the Kern River.
Native trees include the California Sycamore and the Cottonwood with the area roamed by coyote, beaver, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits and bobcats. The preserve, which is private
land held in a trust for public use, runs from the Beardsley Canal and oilfields to the North, Oildale to the West, Godron’s Ferry to the East and the Panorama Bluffs to the South.
CHAPTER 2
87

÷
Clockwise, starting from the top left, a covey of quail, a roadrunner sits amongst
the almond blossoms, a house finch peers from a wood plank, and a wild
‘Hart Park’ parakeet.
Opposite: In search of the Summer Tanager, a Willow Flycatcher, or the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, members of The Kern Audubon Society delight in the number of species
that traverse through Kern County as part of their regular migration route. Kern County is home to 438 native bird species due to the area’s convergence of several
bio-regions including great basin, wetland, desert, montane, riparian, chaparral, and grassland habitats.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
88

CHAPTER 2
89

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
90

÷
Opposite, clockwise starting from the top:
The Tule Elk State Natural Reserve works to grow the number of tule elk, once in danger of extinction. Today, nearly 4,000 tule elk are back roaming the foothills
and grasslands of California.
Fiddleneck Fern.
Springtime means abundant wildflowers attracting photographers like honeybees to capture the flowers for the brief moment of time that they are at their grandest.
Top, left: Wild filaree.
Above: Iva Fendrick helps a workshop participant refine their creative side during a watercolor class at the Bakersfield Art Center.
CHAPTER 2
91

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
92

÷
Opposite, left: The trails on the hills of the Kern River Canyon provide numerous opportunities for recreation including
hiking and mountain biking.
Opposite, right: Stormy sunset on Shadow Hills and the Kern River.
Right: Visitors to the California Living Museum (CALM) can view over eighty species of unreleasable animals including
raptors, reptiles and black bear in natural exhibits.
Below: Thrill-seekers test their mental and physical limits at the thirty-two foot climbing tower which is part of
Condor Challenge, a recreational exhibit at the California Living Museum, featuring high and low obstacle elements.
CALM,
California
Living Museum
CHAPTER 2
93

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
94

÷
Left: The Kern County Soccer Park offers twenty regulation-sized fields spread over eighty-six acres,
and is home to a number of leagues including AYSO Region 181 and the Bakersfield Soccer League.
Below: League of Dreams goes beyond, “take me out to the ball game” by placing young people with
developmental disabilities in the game.
CHAPTER 2
95

÷
Bakersfield boasts fifty-nine parks each with unique amenities and character. The Park at River Walk offers visitors
mountain retreat aesthetics featuring river rock wall buildings, foot bridges, two lakes and a stream. The cornerstone
of the Park at River Walk is Bright House Amphitheater, a 4,000-person outdoor venue which hosts a summer
concert series attracting a variety of musical acts ranging from Ziggy Marley, the Beach Boys, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
96

CHAPTER 2
97

÷
Sunset falls on the United States Federal Courthouse reflecting on the Kern Island Canal
as it meanders through Mill Creek Park, offering a respite of peaceful tranquility.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
98

Bakersfield lends itself well to a diverse culture where we share an appreciation for what makes us unique. We celebrate
this through community events, food and music festivals including the Black American History Parade, the Menudo Cook-off,
the Scottish Gathering and Games, and the Greek Food Festival.
Our admiration for learning about other cultures is enhanced through the Bakersfield Sister City Project Corporation, providing
an opportunity for cultural, educational, municipal, business and technical exchanges between six sister city relationships. These
include Wakayama, Japan (1961), Cixi, China (1996), Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico (2005), Bucheon, Republic of Korea (2006)
and Amritsar, India (2011).
To honor these relationships, the City of Bakersfield created the Sister City Gardens where Mill Creek Linear Park crosses
Eighteenth Street. Each garden showcases a variety of native trees, plants, and flowers to their country as well as their native flags.
CHAPTER 2
99

Chapter
3
Bakersfield Works
The city seal for Bakersfield features a cornucopia filled with fruits, vegetables, and grains, and serves as a metaphor
for our abundant economy. For decades, oil and ag have remained the mainstay commodities fueling and feeding the world.
Kern County is the number two oil-producing county in the nation; yielding 145 million bbl of oil and 132 billion CF of gas
annually, according to 2014 DOGGR data. These amounts represent 71 percent of California’s oil production and 10 percent
of the total U.S. oil production.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
100

÷
Sprawling pumping jacks cover the Kern River Field, where in May 1899
the discovery well was hand-dug. As of 2014, the Kern River Field is still
going strong as the nation’s fifth largest oilfield, yielding 70,000 barrels a day.
CHAPTER 3
101

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
102

÷
Opposite: Kern County is the number two oil-producing county in the nation;
yielding 145 million bbl of oil and 132 billion CF of gas annually.
Source: DOGGR data, 2014.
CHAPTER 3
103

÷
Left: Our region’s commodities of ag and oil seemingly collide with a vintage
wooden oil derrick in the middle of a cotton crop.
Opposite: Fifty-five percent of all roses grown in the United States are grown in
and around neighboring Wasco. The city celebrates each September with its
Festival of Roses.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
104

CHAPTER 3
105

÷
Opposite: The Pima and Upland cotton varieties thrive in the southern
San Joaquin Valley due to the warm temperature and long growing season.
The region produces a special Upland variety known as San Joaquin Valley
Acala, which is among the highest quality Upland cottons in the world.
As of 2014, cotton ranks number nine in Kern County agriculture
commodities with a value of $117,568,000.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
106

CHAPTER 3
107

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
108

Ag commodities are equally impressive, as Kern County produced $7,552,323,690 in 2014.
The top five commodities as of 2014 are grapes, almonds, milk, citrus, and cattle & calves
which make up more than $5 billion or 66 percent of the total value.
CHAPTER 3
109

÷
Above: Processing grapes in the varietal development lab at
Sun World International.
Left: Grapes are king in the southern San Joaquin Valley, where growers offer a
number of varieties of this crisp sweet tasting treat that pops in your mouth.
Opposite: The art of wine can be attributed to the propagation and grafting of
grape nursery stock nurtured by Sunridge Nurseries a reputable grapestock
supplier to California wineries.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
110

CHAPTER 3
111

÷
With their early Spring arrival, almond blossoms are a symbol of new life.
Kern County almonds ranked number two in 2014, at a value of $1,488,182,000.
California growers provide the nutritious nut to some ninety countries worldwide.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
112

÷
Pistachios ranked number six in Kern County’s
ag commodities in 2014 valued at $401,049,000.
CHAPTER 3
113

The “baby carrot” is a phenomenon that was cultivated
here in our region in 1986. Experimenting with an industrial
potato peeler and green bean slicer, Bunny Luv Carrot
Farmer Mike Yurosek is credited with producing the first
versions of today’s baby carrot. He sold his company to
rival Grimmway Farms in the early 1990s, which has since
become one of the largest carrot producers in the world by
positioning baby carrots as a healthful snack and packaging
it in ways that make it easy to pack into lunch sacks for
children and adults around the world.
In the past decade, there has been a movement afoot
for local agribusiness producers to brand and make
fruits and vegetables cooler than their junk-food rivals.
Marketing campaigns such as Bolthouse Farms 2010
“Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food” thrust baby carrots into mainstream
popularity. The same holds true for the company’s
line of twenty-seven varieties of juices and smoothies, which
they make available in single-serve bottles.
÷
Left: Grimmway Farms is considered to be one of the largest carrot producers
in the world. Baby carrots have become a popular anytime snack for young and
old alike. Carrots rank seventh in Kern County’s commodities with a total value
of $288,063,000.
Opposite: Rows of potato crops spread across fertile ag land. Kern County
growers have moved away from russets in recent years to focus on red, yellow,
and white potatoes.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
114

CHAPTER 3
115

÷
Left: Workers process plums harvested fresh from the field.
Bottom, left: Farm laborers pick elongated red sweet peppers fresh from the field.
Opposite: Just three seasons into production, the Wonderful Company’s Halos are
the number one mandarin brand in the country. Tangerines marketed under the Halo
brand have found popularity as an easy to peel treat for kids and adults alike.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
116
The Wonderful Company did the same when it aired a commercial
promoting its pistachios in Super Bowl XLVII, featuring
South Korean rapper Psy of Gangnam Style fame.
Wonderful next turned its attention to mandarin oranges by
creating its Halo brand of the easy to peel, seedless citrus. By the
end of its third season, Halos remains the number one mandarin
brand in the country with over fifty percent market share.

CHAPTER 3
117

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
118

÷
Opposite: Granite Station, Southern San Joaquin Valley.
Above: Cattle on Rancheria Road. Cattle rounds out the top five of Kern County’s ag commodities with a value of $428,854,000.
CHAPTER 3
119

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
120

÷
Sheep graze on a grassy plain at the mouth of the Kern River Canyon.
CHAPTER 3
121

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
122

÷
Opposite: A close-up study of California’s state flower, Eschscholzia californica.
The poppy’s four petals close at night or in cold or windy weather.
Above: Horses grazing in the meadow pasture at Rankin Ranch in Walker Basin.
The 31,000-acre ranch has been family-owned and operated since 1863.
They opened their picturesque property to the public in 1965 and have been
warmly welcoming guests ever since. Today, the fourth, fifth, and sixth
Rankin generations are the heart of the operation.
CHAPTER 3
123

Our geographic location, places us at the center of the state’s population, making us prime
real estate for major distribution centers. More than fifty distribution centers are in the region
including Men’s Warehouse, IKEA, Caterpillar, Target, and Nestle/Dryers.
÷
Above: A crane lifts massive tilt-up panels during construction of the IKEA Distribution Center at Tejon Ranch.
Left: A worker assembles Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches on the assembly line at the Nestlé
Bakersfield Ice Cream Facility.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
124

÷
The bakers of Bakersfield:
Left: Since 1945, Smith’s Bakeries has been putting smiles on cookies and customer’s
faces alike with their signature cookies, cakes, donuts and pastries.
Below: Sweet Surrender is another locally-owned bakery and boutique, and is home
of the Matterhorn Cake, featured on the Food Network’s, The Best Thing I Ever Ate,
with Giada De Laurentiis.
CHAPTER 3
125

÷
Left: Clients of Bakersfield ARC (BARC) assemble parts for a manufacturing
company. The organization provides essential job training, employment and
support services for the intellectually and developmentally disabled.
Opposite: A technician checks the specs of a knee brace manufactured by
Townsend Design. Located in southwest Bakersfield, the company produces a
variety of knee brace and orthopedic solutions aimed at enhancing the quality of
life for individuals, and keeping athletes in the game.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
126

CHAPTER 3
127

÷
Left: A manufacturing facility uses an automated plasma cutting robot to supply
pipelines for oil and agriculture.
Opposite: A fabrication shop continues production late into the evening to satisfy
demand for a variety of industrial applications.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
128

CHAPTER 3
129

÷
The Bakersfield Amtrak Station is the southern terminus for the passenger train’s San Joaquin route,
which extends to Stockton before splitting to Oakland or Sacramento.Thruway motorcoach service
provides connections to southern California’s Union Station, the high desert and the Central Coast.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
130

÷
The downtown Bakersfield skyline meets the Kern River Oilfields
leading to the Greenhorn Mountains, a part of the Sequoia National Forest.
CHAPTER 3
131

BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
132

Another benefit is our multimodal transportation hub including ground, air,
rail transportation. Within a two-hour drive are the ports of Los Angeles and
Long Beach, and within four hours are the ports of San Francisco and Oakland.
÷
Opposite: The Grapevine is a forty-mile stretch connecting the southern San Joaquin Valley to southern California.
According to Caltrans, 70,000 vehicles travel this section of the Golden State Freeway on a daily basis, with 19,000 being big-rigs.
According to the Ridge Route Preservation Society, the grapevine got its name from the wild Cimarron grapevines that grew in the area.
CHAPTER 3
133

In additional to Meadows Field (BFL), we are in close proximity to Los Angeles
(LAX), Oakland (OAK), San Francisco (SFO), Ontario (ONT), and the Southern
California Logistics Airport, located in Victorville.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
134

÷
Opposite, top: A winding line of freight trains make their way through a tunnel near Caliente.
Opposite, bottom: The William H. Thomas Passenger Terminal at Meadows Field Airport (BFL) was
opened on February 27, 2006. Located seven miles north of downtown Bakersfield, the airport features
daily flights to Denver and San Francisco by United Airlines, and service to Phoenix via American Airlines.
Right: The STEM class at Fruitvale Jr. High School.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CHEVRON.
Bakersfield has a bright future when it comes to developing and expanding its workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
ranks the Bakersfield MSA #1 for the fastest-growing workforce, and we are appealing to a new generation of workers.
Millennials are finding the area offers the amenities they most want, with Forbes ranking the Bakersfield-Delano metropolitan
area as the second fastest millennial job growth rate in the nation from 2007 to 2013, at 11 percent.
More good news is that educators and employers are working together to create relevant training in the areas of science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM), essential for global competitiveness. For example, since 2010, Chevron has
invested more than $1 million in STEM funding resulting in more than 1,700 classroom projects, and reaching nearly 127,000
students throughout the region. The Brookings Institution ranked the region #4 for STEM jobs.
CHAPTER 3
135

÷
Wind turbines dot the eastern side of the Tehachapi Mountains. As the valley heats up,
it pulls the air across the mountain range driving the blades on the towering wind
turbines which convert kinetic energy into mechanical power or electricity.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
136

With 272 days of sunshine, it is no wonder Bakersfield is rising to prominence on California’s
clean energy stage when it comes to harvesting the sun’s rays into solar energy. Multiple solar projects
are popping up around the outskirts of the city, with several bordered by agricultural land.
÷
Above: Fresh fallen snow covers Bear Mountain, which peaks at 6,916 ft., and the Tehachapi Mountain range dividing the southern
San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert.
Left: The Sun Edison Regulus Solar Project covers 660-acres, which is the equivalent of 500 football fields, incorporating 248,000
individually produced panels generating enough electricity to power about 25,000 average California homes.
CHAPTER 3
137

Helping local businesses thrive are the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce,
the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce, the Kern County Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce, and the North of the River Chamber of Commerce. Each provides
leadership and economic development opportunities to benefit small business owners
in our community.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
138

÷
Above: Downtown Bakersfield is seeing a number of new infill construction
projects including Mill Creek Village, a 63 unit apartment complex for seniors,
and the luxury 44-unit 17th Place Townhomes, targeting millennials yearning
walkability and proximity to the amenities downtown has to offer.
Right: A construction worker concentrates on the exterior of a downtown
Bakersfield building whose facade was covered by stucco for decades.
The building was slated for demolition before being purchased by an investor,
who discovered the original architecture intact during a renovation process.
CHAPTER 3
139

÷
Light cascades through trees and foliage along the Kern River.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
140

CHAPTER 3
141

÷
Top, left: A close-up study of California’s state flower, Eschscholzia californica. The poppy’s four petals close at night or in cold or windy weather.
Top, right: The rush of water slows outside of the Kern River Canyon, creating a colorful pool where the river recedes in late Fall.
Bottom: A carpeted mix of wildflowers covers the ground, leading to Bear Mountain.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
142

Bakersfield Partners
Profiles of businesses, organizations
and families that have contributed to the
development and economic base of Bakersfield
Quality of Life ..................................145
The Marketplace ...............................215
Building a Greater Bakersfield................249
Family Portraits ................................291
BAKERSFIELD PARTNERS
143

÷
Bottom: Wind swept clouds at sunset over Hart Park, reflect the delicacy of an artist’s brush.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
144

Quality of Life
Healthcare providers, school districts, universities
and other institutions that contribute to the quality of life in Bakersfield
Dignity Health Mercy and Memorial Hospitals..........................................................146
California State University, Bakersfield ..................................................................152
Omni Family Health.............................................................................................156
San Joaquin Community Hospital ...........................................................................160
Kaiser Permanente...............................................................................................164
Golden Empire Transit District ..............................................................................166
Bakersfield Christian High School ..........................................................................168
Bakersfield Pathology Medical Group ......................................................................170
Hoffmann Hospice................................................................................................172
Bakersfield Family Medical Center
Heritage Physician Network
Heritage Provider Network .........................................................................174
Kern Community College District ...........................................................................176
Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired ..............................................................178
Advanced Center for Eyecare (ACE)........................................................................179
Bakersfield College ..............................................................................................180
Kern County Fair ................................................................................................182
Kern County Superintendent of Schools ...................................................................184
Bakersfield Adult School .......................................................................................186
Clinica Sierra Vista .............................................................................................188
Historic Union Cemetery.......................................................................................190
San Joaquin Veterinary Hospital ............................................................................192
Centre for Neuro Skills.........................................................................................194
Bakersfield Fire Department..................................................................................196
Bakersfield Professional Firefighters Local 246.........................................................198
Bakersfield Heart Hospital ....................................................................................199
GEMCare ...........................................................................................................200
Greenlawn Funeral Homes-Cremations-Cemeteries ....................................................201
Houchin Community Blood Bank.............................................................................202
Alpha J. Anders, MD, FCCP ..................................................................................203
Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame..............................................................................204
Kern Patriot Partnership ......................................................................................205
Fox Theater Foundation........................................................................................206
Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra ............................................................................207
Garces Memorial High School ................................................................................208
Kern County Veterans Service Department ...............................................................209
Petroleum Club of Bakersfield................................................................................210
Hall Ambulance Service, Inc..................................................................................211
Links for Life......................................................................................................212
Boys & Girls Club of Kern County..........................................................................213
QUALITY OF LIFE
145

DIGNITY HEALTH MERCY
AND MEMORIAL HOSPITALS
÷
Top, left: Construction of a new Mercy Hospital is made possible by a
$45,000 donation from W. S. DeGana, who asks to remain anonymous until
his death. Fundraising efforts led by William Howell, Sr., and Alfred Harrell
finance additions. The new thirty-six room, three-story hospital officially
opened on November 9, 1913. It was considered to be the most advanced
hospital of its day and featured the city’s first passenger elevator. A seventyfoot
dome tops the building with a gold leaf cross illuminated by a lantern at
its apex. The hospital, which is visible from a distance of ten miles, was
known as the “beacon of light.”
Top, right: Standing in front of the rubble of Mercy Hospital after the 1952
earthquake, these physicians, along with community leaders raised money
to rebuild Mercy Hospital. Although the earthquake did not destroy it, the
hospital was so damaged it had to be taken down. Pictured from left to right
(according to Dr. Robert Sheldon) are: Admiral Bill Hall (Navy),
Dr. Lefty Osell, Dr. Romain Clerou, Dr. Rod Ogden, Dr. Carl Moore,
Dr. Willis Semenger, Dr. Francis Gundry, Dr. Keith McKee and
Dr. Robert Sheldon.
Right: Financial supporters and well-wishers gathered for Greater Bakersfield
Memorial Hospital’s groundbreaking ceremony on August 25, 1954. The
vision of transforming a dusty seventeen acre empty lot on Thirty-fourth
Street near Union Avenue into a field of dreams where Kern County residents
could benefit from the life-saving healthcare services of a community-owned
hospital was realized on October 1, 1956 when GBMH opened its doors to
the first patients.
Dignity Health Mercy and Memorial Hospitals is Kern
County’s premier healthcare system with three acute care
hospitals in Bakersfield and a growing number of medical
facilities to meet the needs of our community. With a reputation
for providing award-winning care and state-of-the-art
services in a compassionate, caring environment, citizens of
Bakersfield and the surrounding area know they have access
to some of the most advanced medical care available between
Los Angeles and Fresno. Our family of services range from
our beautiful birth and family care centers to specialized
centers of excellence such as the Sarvanand Heart and Brain
Center, Grossman Burn Center, the Lauren Small Children’s
Center, and the Orthopedic, Spine and Hand Center.
As the largest healthcare organization in the western
United States, Dignity Health is committed to the health and
wellbeing of local residents. We also care for the thousands
of Mercy and Memorial Hospital employees who call Dignity
Health home. As Kern County’s third largest employer,
we have much to offer our more than 3,000 employees.
Competitive wages and excellent benefits, along with a
host of continuing education and career advancement
opportunities, make Dignity Health one of Bakersfield’s
most sought out workplaces. Delivering on our promise to
provide quality, compassionate care is why more than 600
affiliated physicians and specialists choose our care centers
for their patients. In addition to our three hospitals, Dignity
Health Bakersfield provides a growing number of healthcare
facilities to meet the needs of the community, including
Millennium Surgery Center, Dignity Health Infusion Center
at the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center, and the
Dignity Health Medical Group in Bakersfield.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
146

Mercy and Memorial’s Department of Special Needs &
Community Outreach impact the lives of thousands through
wellness programs, health screenings, community events,
educational programs and other services. Together, this
dedicated team operates more than seventy programs in
Kern County including the Beyond the Walls Program,
which received the 2015 Achievement Citation from the
Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) for
remarkable contributions to our community.
Mercy and Memorial Hospitals are also nationally and
locally recognized for excellence in healthcare and for
our contributions to the improvement and enrichment of
the communities we serve. Our nationally certified stroke
centers are recognized by the American Heart Association/
American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines
Program, receiving the organizations top Achievement
Awards for excellence in stroke care. Memorial Hospital is an
accredited Chest Pain Center and a Mission Lifeline STEMI
Receiving Center, meeting the nation’s highest standards
of care for the most severe type of heart attack. Mercy and
Memorial Hospitals have also received many Healthgrades ®
quality achievement awards including the Patient Safety
Excellence Award two years in a row. Locally, Mercy Hospital
Southwest is consistently voted as Bakersfield’s Best Hospital
year after year in The Bakersfield Californian’s “Best Of” poll
and we are honored to be the recipient of numerous Beautiful
Bakersfield Awards including the 2016 Bakersfield Chamber
of Commerce Chairman’s Award for the Kern County Builders’
Exchange’s Hope House at Memorial Hospital.
Our three Dignity Health Bakersfield hospitals are
nationally recognized centers for quality care and medical
excellence with a human touch.
Our services include the internationally-renowned
Grossman Burn Center, the Sarvanand Heart and Brain
Center, the Lauren Small Children’s Center, and the
Orthopedic, Spine and Hand Center.
Dignity Health Mercy and Memorial Hospitals are Kern
County’s trusted leaders in comprehensive heart care. From
education and rehabilitation, to innovative nonsurgical
treatments and advanced cardiac procedures, our cardiac
experts treat all stages of the disease.
÷
Above: Hospital leadership, donors and volunteers break ground on Mercy
Hospital Southwest in 1990. Like its sister hospital downtown, the hospital
has established a reputation for superior healthcare since opening in 1992.
Mercy Hospital Southwest is the only hospital west of Highway 99 and is
adjacent to California State University Bakersfield.
Left: Rose Zey Dow is registered as the first patient at Bakersfield Memorial
Hospital in 1956. Rose was also the hospital’s first surgery patient. According
to the newspaper, Rose said being the first patient at Memorial was
“as exciting as moving into a new home.”
QUALITY OF LIFE
147

÷
Above: The Lauren Small Children’s Center at Memorial Hospital offers
comprehensive, state-of-the-art pediatric care to our community’s children
right here, close to home. The Lauren Small Children’s Center includes
the Bolthouse Family Pediatric Department and the Helen Taylor Cobbs
Children’s Healing Garden, the area’s only Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,
a Level II NICU, pediatric burn care at the Grossman Burn Center, and the
Robert A. Grimm Children’s Pavilion for Emergency Care (opening 2017),
Bakersfield’s first emergency department dedicated exclusively to treating
pediatric patients.
Right: Bakersfield cardiologist and director of the Sarvanand Heart and Brain
Center at Memorial Hospital, Dr. Tommy Lee, with the area’s only Bi-plane
Interventional Suite at Memorial’s Sarvanand Heart and Brain Center.
Established in December 2012 the Sarvanand Heart and Brain Center was
made possible in part by a $2 million donation from the Munger Family and
was used specifically for the expansion of cardiovascular services at
Dignity Health Memorial Hospital.
The Sarvanand Heart and Brain Center at Memorial
Hospital is the premier facility located between Los Angeles
and Fresno for the treatment of most heart and vascular
conditions, including congenital heart defects, congestive
heart failure, heart attack and stroke. The Center has the
area’s only Bi-Plane Interventional Suite and the Southern
Valley’s first fellowship-trained Neuro Endovascular
Specialist. It is also home to the area’s first Transcatheter
Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) program. The Central
California Heart Institute (CCHI) at Memorial delivers the
highest caliber of cardiovascular care to cardiac patients.
Through the Institute’s research programs, physicians are
trained in leading-edge treatments utilizing the most
advanced practices and technologies.
The Lauren Small Children’s Center at Memorial Hospital
is the only medical-surgical unit in the area dedicated
exclusively to pediatrics. Dignity’s specially trained pediatric
doctors, nurses and allied health
professionals have devoted their
careers to caring for children. This
state-of-the-art medical facility offers
superior technology in a child-friendly,
healing environment close to home.
The Lauren Small Children’s Center
includes the area’s only Pediatric
Intensive Care Unit, a Level II Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit, the Bolthouse
Family Pediatric Department, high-risk
infant follow-up program, the Helen
Taylor Cobbs Children’s Healing
Garden, InQuicker online emergency
room waiting service and pediatric
home health programs. Opening in
2017 the Robert A. Grimm Children’s
Pavilion for Emergency Care will be
Kern County’s only emergency department exclusively for
pediatric patients with specially trained doctors and nurses.
In May 2016, Memorial Hospital became Kern County’s
first designated Baby-Friendly Hospital, the highest accreditation
for birth centers. Baby-Friendly hospitals are recognized
worldwide for being the gold standard concerning infant
bonding and breastfeeding practices in their birthing units.
Visitors in need of respite can visit the Helen Taylor Cobbs
Children’s Healing Garden and families traveling more
than twenty-five miles from home may request overnight
accommodations at the Ronald McDonald House ® .
Memorial Hospital is proud to partner with Children’s
Miracle Network Hospitals ® (CMNH), which raises funds
for 170 children’s hospitals across North America. Each
donation helps support research and training, fund
equipment purchases, and provide uncompensated care for
local kids.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
148

Dignity Health Bakersfield offers a comprehensive range
of cancer treatments and therapy options close to home, so
those facing cancer can focus on recovery with the support
of friends and family.
In 2012, Mercy and Memorial Hospitals partnered with
Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center (CBCC), the leader
in cancer treatment and care in the Southern San Joaquin
Valley. Our partnership brings together an experienced team
of caregivers committed to providing high quality care for
the mind, body, and spirit. Unique to our program, our
Cancer Patient Navigator is there to guide patients and their
families through every step of treatment.
CBCC is one of the nation’s largest freestanding cancer
centers and is home to advanced options for the treatment of
cancer. CBCC is one of only a few centers on the West Coast
to offer CyberKnife, a revolutionary non-invasive alternative
to surgery for the treatment of tumors anywhere in the body.
CBCC is part of the UCLA
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer
Center’s Translational Oncology
Research International (TORI)
network. This partnership allows
our patients early access to the
latest clinical trials without
having to travel to UCLA.
Mercy Hospital Downtown is
home to the area’s only inpatient
oncology unit, which brings
patients with cancer together
with specialized nursing care
in a single dedicated space.
This enhancement allows for
improved coordination of care
and a better overall experience
for our patients and their
families. The inpatient oncology unit at Mercy Hospital
Downtown has Oncology certified nurses who have
knowledge and experience caring for patients experiencing
the complex problems that can be associated with cancer.
Memorial Hospital offers specialized surgical options for
the treatment of cancer, including daVinci robotic-assisted
surgery, pediatric cancer care, and The Infusion Center located
at CBCC.
The Grossman Burn Center at Memorial Hospital delivers
the highest level of care for burn survivors available close to
home. World renowned for its pioneering techniques that
help burn survivors recover faster, the Grossman Burn
Center at Memorial offers advanced, plastic surgery-based
medical treatments from expert surgeons, combined with
dedicated care from psychologists and child life specialists
to meet emotional needs, leading to better outcomes for
burn patients in Kern County.
÷
Left: Dignity Health and Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center—
together, we are outsmarting cancer. In 2013, Dignity Health Bakersfield and
Comprehensive Blood & Cancer Center (CBCC) announced a partnership
that has enhanced cancer care services throughout Kern County, aligning the
renowned cancer services of Dignity Health’s three hospitals with CBCC’s
advanced technology, groundbreaking clinical trials and prominent cancer
care specialists.
Below: Opened in 2014, the inpatient oncology unit, located at Mercy
Hospital Downtown, brings patients with cancer together with specialized
nursing care in a single dedicated space. This enhancement allows for
improved coordination of care and a better overall experience for our
patients and their families. This special unit is Bakersfield’s only hospitalbased
inpatient cancer unit.
QUALITY OF LIFE
149

÷
Above: On March 17, 2016, Dr. Peter H. Grossman and a team of
Grossman Burn Center physicians gather with hospital leadership and donors
to announce the partnership between the internationally recognized center
and Memorial Hospital. The new partnership was made possible by a
$1 million donation from S. A. Camp Companies of Bakersfield. Left to right,
Dr. Matt Young, Kurt Richards, Dr. Alexander Majidian, Jim Camp, Beverly
Camp, Jon Van Boening, Dr. Peter H. Grossman and Dr. Brian Evans.
Below: In October 2015 the newly expanded Orthopedic, Spine and
Hand Center at Mercy Hospital Southwest opened. This state-of-the-art
facility offers patients leading expert care for diagnosing and treating bone,
joint, and muscle injuries and conditions as well as musculoskeletal and
spinal disorders.
Bringing the Grossman Burn Center to Memorial was
made possible by a $1 million donation from S. A. Camp
Companies. The new burn unit at Memorial includes a
seven-bed intensive care unit, catastrophic burn care, pediatric
intensive care burn services, hyperbaric oxygen therapy,
plastic surgery and reconstruction, a dedicated surgeon and
operating suite, psychological support services, in addition
to an outpatient ambulatory clinic.
Having a larger unit offering this level of comprehensive
care in Bakersfield means more burn survivors can be treated
locally, reducing the need to transfer to hospitals out of
the area.
Mercy and Memorial Hospitals have long been leaders in
orthopedic care. Our hospitals feature renovated facilities for
added patient comfort, as well as state-of-the-art surgical
technology for enhanced accuracy and improved patient
outcomes. Patients receive exceptional support throughout
their care experience, including post-operative care from
specialized orthopedic nurses and therapists.
The Orthopedic, Spine and Hand Center at Mercy
Hospital Southwest is Bakersfield’s premier center for
orthopedic care, offering patients expert care and the latest
in advanced technology to treat a full range of orthopedic
conditions, trauma, and diseases.
The new state-of-the-art 22,000 square foot center has
forty exam rooms and the most advanced diagnostic
imaging equipment available, allowing physicians to see
images immediately, and treat injuries and condition faster
so patients can get back to their old selves.
Established in 2009, orthopedic services at Mercy Hospital
Southwest have rapidly grown. The group now has 7 surgeons:
3 hand, 3 general/sports, and 1 spine. The new clinic allows
enough space for three additional surgeons, and other
specialized services such as physical therapy.
Caring for our community for more than a century, Mercy
and Memorial Hospitals have a rich history rooted in
kindness and founded on the belief that all people deserve
medical care, regardless of their background, ethnicity, or
circumstances. The mission and values are as alive today as
they were in 1910 when four Sisters of Mercy were sent to
Bakersfield to care for the sick at a new fifty-bed facility
named Mercy Hospital. The most technologically advanced
hospital in the state at the time, Mercy was the first to have
call lights for patients to summon nurses. The facility even
had the city’s first passenger elevator.
In 1951 a group of dedicated community members decided
Bakersfield needed more medical services to keep up with
the city’s sprawl. “The Victory Campaign” was launched to
raise the $1 million dollars in private funds needed to build
a new community hospital. In October 1956 the Greater
Bakersfield Memorial Hospital opened with 112 beds. From
the moment the first patient registered, Memorial Hospital
has been in a constant state of upgrading, improving and
expanding. Today, it is Kern County’s largest acute care medical
center with over 400 beds and offering some of the most
advanced medical services and treatment options available.
As businesses grew and more industries moved into the
area, the need for a new hospital in Bakersfield’s busy southwest
became imminent. In 1992, Mercy Hospital Southwest
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
150

opened, providing a modern high-tech facility for residents
west of Highway 99. The Mercy Southwest expansion, expected
to open in 2019, consists of a 108-bed patient care tower
that will expand medical services and specialties in neuroscience,
cardiovascular, oncology and more.
As members of the fifth largest health system in the
nation, our family of Bakersfield care facilities has strengthened
its commitment to keeping the human person at
the forefront of modern medicine. Today, the mission and
values we were founded upon remain the same. Through
teamwork and innovation, faith and compassion, advocacy
and action, we endeavor every day to keep our patients
happy, healthy, and whole.
The Bakersfield Memorial Hospital Foundation was
formed in 1981 to support the healing ministry of
Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. The Foundation’s mission
is to contribute to the quality of life for people in our
community by funding healthcare technology and services
at Memorial Hospital.
Generous community donors have contributed more than
$30 million since 1981 to support outstanding projects such
as the West Tower construction, the Lauren Small Children’s
Center, the Sarvanand Heart and Brain Center, the Robert A.
Grimm Children’s Pavilion for Emergency Care, The Helen
Taylor Cobbs Healing Garden, The Monsignor Craig
Harrison Interfaith Chapel and the S. A. Camp Companies
Burn Unit at the Grossman Burn Center.
Donors support the Foundation in many ways, including
major gifts, planned gifts and annual giving. The Foundation
also has two active donor societies; The President’s Circle
and The Miracle Society, comprised of young community
leaders, who focus their annual donations on support for
children’s services at the Lauren Small Children’s Center.
Since being established in 1988, the Friends of Mercy
Foundation has raised $30 million in support of state-of-the-art
equipment and technology as well as services that meet
the needs of the underserved. Continuing the legacy of
giving started by Mercy Hospital’s first benefactor, William
Howell, Sr., generations of Kern County families support
the Foundation’s fundraising efforts and 100 percent of
every gift goes directly to the project being supported.
Donors who have made gifts totaling $10,000 and above
are members of the Founder’s Circle; those who have named
Mercy in their estate plans become members of the Heritage
Society. The Foundation’s annual giving program consists of:
Catherine McAuley Society, a women’s philanthropic group;
the William Howell Century Club, a men’s philanthropic
group; The Legacy Circle at Mercy, a philanthropic group of
young emerging community leaders; and the Spirit of Giving
Club, an employee giving group. Each group chooses a
hospital project to support using their annual cumulative gift.
For over one hundred years, we have believed in the healing
power of human connection, providing accessible, compassionate
health services for our community. Our mission
includes serving and advocating for the poor and disenfranchised,
and partnering with others in the community to
improve quality of life. We put our mission into practice in
part through community health and prevention programs,
actionable health needs assessments and strategies, and
community grants, donating $3,562,678 to sixty
different local not-for-profit agencies since 1990.
Treating patients and each other with respect,
dignity, and kindness is more than a marketing
campaign or even a brand. It is a promise to our
community that kindness is the best medicine.
At Dignity Health, we hold the belief that
kindness helps to heal the whole person—body,
mind, and spirit. We strive to incorporate this
into the care we provide our patients every day.
Hello humankindness.
÷
Above: In June 2013, Country musician legend and Bakersfield native
Merle Haggard dropped by the Ronald McDonald House at Bakersfield
Memorial Hospital to sign a few of his guitars for auction at the annual
Larry Carr Memorial Golf Tournament.
Below: In honor of the community kindness shown in helping rebuild Herbert
Jackson’s home after a fire, Mayor Harvey Hall, Supervisor Leticia Perez and
Senator Andy Vidak’s office named August 13, 2014, “Humankindness Day”
in Bakersfield. An appreciation lunch was hosted by Dignity Health Mercy
and Memorial Hospitals in an effort to recognize all who donated time,
resources, and services to this meaningful event.
QUALITY OF LIFE
151

÷
CALIFORNIA STATE
UNIVERSITY, BAKERSFIELD
Bottom, left: CSU Chancellor Dr. Glenn Dumke (1962-1982);
CSUB President Dr. Paul Romberg (1967-1973); Senator Walter Stiern;
Governor Ronald Reagan at groundbreaking ceremony.
Bottom, right: Sheep graze near Faculty Towers in the early years.
Opposite, clockwise starting from the top, left:
Science III Building.
Antelope Valley Center.
Flags fly at CSUB main entrance.
California State University, Bakersfield is a fast-growing
regional comprehensive public university committed to
transforming the lives of its students and community
through excellence in academics, diversity, service, and
community engagement.
Strolling today’s beautiful and vibrant campus, it is
difficult to imagine the campus was a beet field surrounded
by undeveloped land covered in brush less than fifty years
ago. Senator Walter Stiern’s bill to establish a college in
Kern County was approved by the state legislature on
January 11, 1965, with a $20,000 appropriation from the
state general fund.
When Dr. Paul Romberg, the school’s first president,
arrived in Bakersfield in August 1967 all he had was a
document from the chancellor’s office saying he was
authorized to start a college. Assisted by Dr. Ken Secor,
who became vice president for administrative services,
Romberg had to locate office space, equipment and staff.
At first, the small staff worked out of an old grocery store
on Kentucky Street in Old Town Kern, then relocated to
state-leased offices on California Avenue.
Kern County Land Company donated a 375-acre parcel
of land along Stockdale Highway for the new university
campus. The board of trustees approved plans for the initial
buildings in the spring of 1969, leaving only a year-and-ahalf
for the first phase to be built in time for the anticipated
opening in fall 1970. Skeptics scoffed at the time frame,
insisting a campus could never be developed in such a short
time. After much careful planning and hard work, California
State College, Bakersfield welcomed its first class in 1970.
Dr. Jacob Frankel became president in 1974 and
Dr. Tomás Arciniega came to the presidency in 1983. The
college gained university status in 1987 to become
California State University, Bakersfield.
Dr. Horace Mitchell, then vice chancellor for business
and administrative services at UC Berkeley, was appointed
president of CSU Bakersfield in 2004. Building on institutional
values of excellence, partnerships, and community,
President Mitchell has led the university to national recognition
with a vision to extend the excellence and diversity
of faculty and academic programs, enhance the quality of
the student experience, and strengthen the university’s
community engagement.
With a strong tradition of working collaboratively to
advance its vision for excellence, CSUB has been in a
constant mode of transformation since 2004, reinventing
itself to provide twenty-first century teaching and learning
for student success in a global society. The university has
reached significant milestones through collaboration
among faculty, administrators, staff, and the engagement of
students, alumni, community partners, and support groups.
Today, CSUB serves more than 9,200 students at the
Bakersfield campus and Antelope Valley Center in its four
schools—arts and humanities; business and public administration;
natural sciences, mathematics and engineering;
and social science and education. The university’s faculty is
committed to providing a quality education to prepare
students for success. Seventy-five percent of CSUB faculty
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
152

members hold the highest degree in their fields. The university
offers more than sixty undergraduate and twenty-one
graduate degree programs culminating in bachelor’s and
master’s degrees, teaching credentials, post-baccalaureate
certificates, or the doctorate in educational leadership.
CSUB’s Extended University serves students and the community
by offering professional development, certificate,
degree, and international study abroad programs. With more
than seventy percent of its 47,000 alumni remaining and
working within Kern County, CSUB supports ongoing social,
cultural and economic development throughout the region.
CSUB’s faculty and staff of more than 1,000 include
respected academic experts, published researchers, and
engaged community leaders, as well as dedicated educators
who genuinely care about their students’ success. The
university’s excellent and diverse staff reflect the cultural
richness of the community and students it serves. Students
should be able to see themselves reflected among the faculty
who teach them. As faculty members serve as role models
and mentors, they can have significant influence in how
or whether students find and navigate the pathways to
academic success.
Responding to the needs of the community, the university
added new degree programs such as computer engineering,
electrical engineering, and engineering sciences (including
emphases in biosystems and agricultural engineering; engineering
management; and petroleum engineering); agribusiness,
healthcare management, occupational safety
and health management concentration, and a doctorate in
educational leadership, among others, including additional
online classes.
To position the university for the future and enhance
student success, CSUB converted its academic calendar
from quarters to semesters, with the semester calendar to
begin in fall 2016. In so doing, faculty in almost seventy
percent of the academic programs took a once-in-a-career
opportunity to completely transform the goals and content
of their curricula to ensure they would address the twentyfirst
century needs of our students and communities. At the
same time, faculty redesigned and strengthened general
education as a cross-disciplinary program to align it with
university-wide student learning outcomes, integrating the
themes: quality of life, revolutionary ideas and innovations,
and sustainability and justice.
QUALITY OF LIFE
153

÷
Above: “Rowdy Run” welcomes new students at soccer game half-time.
Right: Men’s basketball team wins 2015 Western Athletics
Conference (WAC).
CSUB’s academic programs have achieved national recognition
through a series of quality accolades. The Economist
listed the university #10 best economic value of degree;
Top Nursing Schools College Atlas ranked CSUB the #5 nursing
school in California; the Washington Monthly listed the
school’s master’s degree programs among the Top 25 in
the nation; and Time magazine ranked CSUB #39 among
top colleges and universities in the nation. In addition,
the Carnegie Foundation has awarded CSUB its elective
community engagement classification; Hispanic Outlook
listed the university at #54 among the Top 100 colleges for
degrees granted to Hispanics, and #8 on its Best Bang for
the Buck Colleges; and Brookings Institute placed CSUB at
the ninety-fifth percentile for expected student earnings. The
university has even been named a bicycle friendly university
by The League of American Bicyclists.
CSUB added several new academic buildings with
classrooms, labs and faculty offices, e.g. Science III, the
visual arts center, engineering complex with labs, and broke
ground on a humanities complex and the replacement of
Faculty Towers. All classrooms have been converted to smart
classrooms. The CSUB Fabrication Lab (“Fab Lab”) is an
advanced digital fabrication laboratory with equipment
protyping machinery that can be used to fabricate just about
anything. The Fab Lab is a community resource open to
the public as well as to the university community and is an
important step forward for science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) education in the Central Valley. A
collaboration of the Fab Foundation, MIT, Chevron and
CSUB, it is the only Fab Lab among CSU and UC campuses.
Several initiatives and programs were undertaken to
advance student development, enhance the quality of
student and campus life, and increase student retention,
success, and graduation. As an outcome of a student fee
referendum in 2005, CSUB transitioned its athletics
program to NCAA Division I. Men’s sports include baseball,
basketball, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, track and
field and wrestling. Women’s teams include basketball,
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
154

each volleyball, cross country, soccer, softball, track and
field, swimming and diving, volleyball, and water polo. The
athletics program is a member of the Western Athletics
Conference (WAC). In the last two years, four athletics
teams have won WAC championships and participated in
NCAA post-season tournaments.
The school adopted its first-ever alma mater “Long Live
CSUB” and fight song “CSUB Victory” in 2005. A 75,000
square foot, state-of-the-art student recreation center helps
promote physical health and wellness. Residential students
moved into a newly constructed 500-bed student housing
complex in January 2015. Students can become engaged
in more than eighty-five student organizations and clubs
and eleven fraternities and sororities.
New students are formally welcomed into the community
of higher learning at a new student convocation each fall.
The ceremony expresses the university’s expectations for student
learning, collective commitment to facilitating students’
success, and inspires students to look toward graduation from
the university and the culminating commencement ceremony.
The CSUB Alumni Association boasts more than 47,000
alumni. The university’s most notable alumni include former
heavyweight wrestler Stephen Neal (‘99), winner of two
NCAA National Championships, a multiple gold medalist
in the World Freestyle, USA Freestyle, and Pan American
games. Neal played in the National Football League for the
New England Patriots and helped win three Super Bowl
titles. He was inducted into the Bob Elias Kern County
Sports Hall of Fame. U.S. Congressman Kevin McCarthy
(‘89, ‘94) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in
2006 as representative for California’s 23nd Congressional
District. He is a CSUB Alumni Hall of Fame inductee. Started
in 2006, the hall of fame recognizes alumni who have made
significant contributions in their chosen field of endeavor
and/or community, and whose accomplishments and careers
have brought honor and distinction to CSUB. Honorees are
inducted at an annual black-tie gala.
CSUB has a long and distinguished history of community
engagement. The university collaborates with partners in
the community to increase the region’s overall educational
attainment, enhance its quality of life, and support its
economic development. Students greatly benefit from
the generosity of donors, alumni, industry partners, and
friends of the university who give to support student
scholarships, research, and the enhancement of the school’s
academic programs.
Each year, CSUB contributes more than 2,000 new alumni
to the community’s educated and skilled workforce. The university
has a powerful $1.64 billion economic impact on Kern
County’s economy annually, consisting of $505 million in local
expenditures and $1.125 billion in economic enhancements.
The Bakersfield community benefits from the energy,
expertise, and enthusiasm of CSUB students, faculty and
staff. The university continues to help shape the future of
Kern County through student internships, research, campus
institutions, and community events.
The university’s master plan builds out the entire campus
to accommodate 18,000 students. Plans to develop the
remaining land include additional student housing, and
public-private partnerships such as a children’s interactive
educational museum and a hotel and conference center.
The university also has approval from the board of trustees
to develop a university office park on the south side of the
main campus. Tenants will be required to have an affiliation
with the campus, such as providing student internships.
CSUB will continue to provide access to quality and
affordable academic programs and cocurricular experiences
that are transformative to make significant differences in
the lives of its students, their families, and communities,
and raise the level of educational attainment in the region.
÷
New graduates pose at commencement.
QUALITY OF LIFE
155

OMNI FAMILY HEALTH
÷
Right: In 1978, a staff member lays the foundation of Omni Family Health’s
first health center in Buttonwillow, California.
Below: Local television crews film the groundbreaking ceremony for
Omni Family Health’s Buttonwillow Health Center on January 5, 1979.
By the look of Omni Family Health today, one would
never guess that this national award-winning network of
state-of-the-art health centers began in the tiny town of
Buttonwillow in rural Kern County, California. In 1978, a
small but determined group of community leaders broke
ground on the Buttonwillow Health Center, a small health
facility that would later become known as Omni Family
Health. At that time, the Buttonwillow Health Center was
formed with the goal of providing a full range of primary,
preventative care and support services to an area whose
remoteness had previously made such services unavailable.
The focus was to ensure quality medical services were accessible
to rural agricultural workers—an overlooked segment
of the population whose occupational contribution was central
to the legacy of the San Joaquin Valley. Those involved in
bringing Buttonwillow Health Center from a dream to reality
rallied the community under a primary slogan that conveyed
the vision of the founders in 1978—“Health for All.”
At the time Buttonwillow Health Center began operations
in the late 1970s, the innovative concept of communitybased
healthcare had also taken root across the country
in medically underserved inner
city neighborhoods and rural
areas. What became known as
Community and Migrant Health
Centers, or C/MHCs, targeted the
roots of an inadequate healthcare
system by establishing easily
accessible healthcare facilities in
medically underserved areas,
eliminating barriers and delivering
health services for everyone
in the community regardless of
race, age, gender, socioeconomic
status, or ability to pay.
This emerging model of healthcare was greatly needed in
rural Kern County. Much of the economic development driving
Kern County into the twenty-first century was based
around the agricultural industry that took advantage of the
fertile lands throughout the San Joaquin Valley. As business
boomed, the surrounding communities expanded to meet
the needs of farmworkers and their families but rural
resources, especially healthcare, were scarce. Unfortunately,
the late 1970s brought a widespread drought that lowered
crop volumes in the face of rising production costs, leading
to a historic decline in the value of cotton—a huge blow to
a community that was nicknamed “Cotton Country” due to
the abundance of the crop.
Even in the face of mounting uncertainty surrounding the
agriculture industry, the small group of founders pushed
forward in the quest for quality healthcare for agricultural
workers in rural Kern County, making the decision to
embrace the national community healthcare model. Among
the many leaders responsible for launching the Buttonwillow
Health Center was Clarence “Dutch” Houchin, a renowned
community leader who aided the health center by leasing
the property to the center for a token one dollar per year.
The Houchin family later generously donated the land and
building to the organization.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
156

The faith that had been placed in the Buttonwillow
Health Center was quickly rewarded as the facility saw
increases in the numbers of patients seeking healthcare.
When a second facility nearby became necessary, the
community again sprang into action. The health center
location at Lost Hills began in a temporary double-wide
trailer in 1980—it was not glamorous, but the team believed
in the mission of the organization despite tough challenges
during the early years of operations. To this day, staff
members still recall wading through thick mud to reach the
trailer to provide care to their patients!
It was that level of dedication that allowed Omni to grow
and open the third addition to the organization in the city of
Wasco in 1990, followed in quick succession by health
centers in Taft and Delano. The Taft location began in 1991
as a Teen Clinic in the basement of a hospital, while the
origins of Omni’s Delano facility are entwined with the
history of the United Farmworkers of America (UFW), who
graciously allowed the health center to operate from its
headquarters known then as the “40 acres.” Also during
that time, the small network of health centers transitioned to
the National Health Services, Inc., brand in the community.
Between 1978 and the early 2000s, Omni had grown
from one small facility in Buttonwillow into eight health
centers dedicated to serving the rural communities of Kern
County. In 2002, Omni celebrated its first location in the
greater Bakersfield area when the Oildale Community Health
Center opened its doors to the public. Since then, new
Omni facilities have opened in the rural towns of Ridgecrest
and Tehachapi, along with many locations throughout
Bakersfield. In all, Omni now operates eighteen state-of-theart
health centers that provide medical and dental services
along with behavioral health, chiropractic care, full-service
pharmacies and a range of specialty care services.
In the decades since the first Omni health center opened
in 1978, a great deal of change has come and gone, but like
the unchanging and steadfast mountain ranges that encircle
the San Joaquin Valley, Omni’s mission-driven focus has
never wavered. The success of the organization can be
credited in large part to exceptional leadership that has
found a natural balance between strategic business goals
and a mission-driven culture of compassion.
The continuity of the organization’s legacy in the
community was assured when Francisco L. Castillon, MPA,
became Omni’s CEO in 2010, bringing more than twentyfive
years of experience in C/MHCs. In addition to his
professional acumen, Castillon was a key community figure
÷
Above: Today, Omni Family Health operates eighteen state-of-the-art health
centers that provide medical, dental, behavioral health, chiropractic,
pharmacy and specialty services to the community.
Left: Left to right, community board members John Ogborn, Tommie Fowler,
Gloria Selvidge, Rosie Watkins, Julien Parsons (back row), Pete Ramirez, Jr.,
Aurelio Nunez and former CEO, Dr. Wagih H. Michael, gather at the
Buttonwillow Medical/Dental Center in early 1999.
Below: Omni Family Health’s Chief Executive Officer Francisco L. Castillon
addresses the crowd during the Brimhall Expansion Grand Opening on
December 8, 2015.
QUALITY OF LIFE
157

÷
Right: Each year, Omni Family Health publishes its Community, Economic
and Tax Impact Report which illustrates the positive outcomes Omni delivers
to the communities it serves.
Below: The National Association of Community Health Centers
honored Omni Family Health with the 2015 Outstanding Migrant Health
Center award.
who worked side-by-side with well-known figures Cesar
Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the UFW and was responsible
for negotiating the arrangement of Omni’s Delano facility
on the “40 acres” property. With his personal knowledge of
Omni’s history and a strong vision for the future, Castillon
led the 2012 campaign to rebrand the organization from
National Health Services, Inc., to the Omni identity of
today. Consistent with the organization’s mission, the name
“Omni” was selected for its meaning of “all” and “inclusive,”
because of our philosophy of providing quality healthcare
to all members of the family, from infants to the elderly, and
all residents of the community.
In addition to this monumental rebranding, Omni continues
to experience unprecedented growth in the community.
Over the course of the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan, Omni
opened 4 new health centers, expanded services at 4 health
centers, and saw a fifty-two percent increase in exam rooms,
significantly increasing patient access to high quality healthcare
throughout Kern County. Omni also became certified
as a Patient Centered Health Home in 2015 and renewed its
accreditation by The Joint Commission.
As a result of the board of directors and executive
management team’s dedicated and visionary leadership,
which has guided Omni’s successes and positive reputation
at both the local, state and national levels, the organization
has received, for the first time, two major national awards.
Both the Migrant Health Center of the Year designation
and the Outstanding Achievement Award were presented
by the National Association of Community Health Centers
(NACHC) in 2015.
Omni’s network of health centers has a major impact on
the populations they serve. Annually, nearly 82,000 patients
are seen at Omni health centers in the communities of
Bakersfield, Buttonwillow, Delano, Lost Hills, Ridgecrest,
Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi and Wasco. Overall, services
provided by Omni represent over $100 million annual cost
savings to the healthcare system in Kern County.
Omni Family Health centers operate with annual budget
of over $55 million, including over $8 million in federal
funding. In 2015 alone, Omni was the recipient of numerous
federal and local grants to aid the organization’s efforts to
minimize barriers to healthcare services for the citizens of
Kern County. Omni’s tremendous impact on local economies
totals nearly $65 million annually, in addition to a total
tax impact of nearly $8.5 million. The 450 (and growing)
full-time jobs directly generated by Omni supports an
additional 194 jobs in other industries. Fifteen employees
currently working for Omni have been with the organization
twenty years or longer. Looking ahead, Omni projects an
increase of approximately 110,000 annual patient visits to
its health centers in 2017, a nearly thirty-five percent
increase in patient access to care.
Omni Family Health has developed invaluable working
relationships with local community-based organizations,
private agencies and public institutions. By working together,
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
158

the agencies mobilize combined energies and experience to
better serve patients and support programs and initiatives
that address healthcare and access problems. By focusing
on community building, the organization helps to facilitate
problem-solving for a wide range of difficult social and
health issues and removes barriers to care by serving
communities that otherwise confront geographic, language,
cultural and other barriers. This results oriented approach
goes beyond traditional methods and serves to maximize
both resources and effectiveness.
One of the many ways Omni gives back to the communities
it serves is through a scholarship program for graduating
high school seniors within its service area. Up to seven $1,000
scholarship awards are distributed each year to qualified
graduating seniors pursuing a career in the medical field.
Additionally, the Omni mission promotes a deep sense of
social responsibility to the local environment, and concerted
effort to incorporate “green” best practices in the daily
operations at every facility. In 2015, seventy-five percent of
waste generated at Omni construction sites was diverted
from landfills and sent to a recycling center. Within the
existing facilities, conservation efforts resulted in a fifty-three
to sixty percent decrease in energy consumption.
At the grassroots level, Omni and its employees also
participate in many community activities such as local
Health Fairs, Affordable Care Act enrollment events, parades,
health screenings and the Cuadrilla program, in which
Omni employees go into the farming fields to provide
agricultural workers with lunch and information on available
health services. Employees also enjoy giving back to the
community during the holidays, providing food and gifts
to health center patients.
After nearly forty years of serving Kern County, Omni
Family Health remains committed to being the leading
provider of quality healthcare throughout Kern County and
the Central Valley by improving health, one patient at a time,
through compassion and individual attention to everyone.
Omni’s mission statement is supported by its Core Values:
• Helpful—We pride ourselves on being helpful to our
patients, listening to their needs and doing everything
we can to aid their concerns.
• Excellence—We demand more from ourselves than our
patients do from us.
• Accessibility—We provide access to quality healthcare
for everyone who seeks it.
• Leadership—We lead our patients, families, and community
in being passionate about their health.
• Teamwork—We work together to meet common goals
by encouraging and supporting one another.
• Honesty—we are committed to the highest ethical standards,
demonstrating honesty and fairness in every action.
Together, these core values spell H-E-A-L-T-H, the guiding
principal for Omni Family Health from day one until present
day, and for years to come.
Our mission: Omni Family Health is committed to improving
the health of our communities by providing the highest quality
healthcare to everyone.
÷
Omni Family Health Board of Directors, CEO and executive management
team is joined by Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall at the latest White Lane
health center groundbreaking ceremony December 8, 2015, in recognition of
Omni’s continued investment in Kern County and beyond.
QUALITY OF LIFE
159

SAN JOAQUIN
COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
÷
Above: Two young nurses help provide needed healthcare services to the
booming community of Bakersfield.
Right: San Joaquin Hospital, c. 1935.
Ensuring the community receives the best healthcare
possible has been the guiding spirit of San Joaquin
Community Hospital throughout its history. This vision
inspired the hospital’s founders more than a century ago,
and this same commitment remains embedded in the
hospital’s mission today.
Bakersfield and Kern County were still considered
“the Wild West” in the early part of the twentieth century,
but farmers were beginning to realize that the county’s rich
soil would produce bountiful crops, and the discovery of oil
became a magnet for workers from throughout the nation.
With a population of nearly 18,000, Kern County was
booming in the early 1900s, bringing with it a growing need
for adequate healthcare. This need attracted the attention of
two young nurses—Margaret Quinn and Mary O’Donnell—
who shared a passion for caring for the sick and injured.
They became nurses at the small St. Clair Hospital at
Sixteenth and H Streets in Bakersfield.
Seeing firsthand the need for more adequate healthcare,
the two nurses began shaping a vision for improved hospital
facilities. Each woman had a nest egg of $500, but this was
far short of the amount needed to build a new hospital.
However, encouraged by friends and doctors, they soon
developed a plan to make their dream a reality.
Mary persuaded her family to contribute $6,000 to the
project and Sol Mack, manager of the Bank of Bakersfield,
took out a loan for $5,000. The note was co-signed by
J. A. Hughes, owner of a drug store at Nineteenth and
Chester, and Cora St. Clair.
Mary and Margaret purchased a quarter-block site at
Twenty-Seventh and Eye Streets and began construction of
a three-story building that would house twenty-six patients.
They named the new institution San Joaquin Hospital.
The first patient, thought to be a railroad or oil field worker,
was received on October 6, 1910. The patient’s name has
been lost in the mists of history, but the physician who
treated him was Dr. Samuel Franklin Smith.
Margaret, who had impressive business skills as well as
boundless energy and determination, assumed the role of
administrator, while Mary concentrated on patient care.
Margaret developed a methodical plan to pay off the
hospital’s indebtedness, purchase additional land and
enlarge the hospital. In just a few short years, the hospital
doubled in size, adding a new surgery room, men’s and
women’s wards, and a kitchen.
In 1914, Margaret bought out her partner, Mary, and
assumed duties as business manager, nursing supervisor,
anesthetist and laboratory technician. The hospital continued
to grow and serve the Kern County community, and
was indispensable during the disastrous flu epidemic of
1918-1919.
By 1929, Margaret, aging and suffering from cataracts,
realized it was time to sell the hospital. The hospital was incorporated
and sold in equal shares to Doctors N. M. Brown,
William P. Scott, George Buchner and F. A. Hamlin.
The hospital was sold again in 1937 to Dr. Joseph Smith,
who envisioned the hospital as a professional medical and
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
160

surgical institution. The hospital continued to develop
under his leadership. In 1964, Dr. Smith urged a group of
public spirited citizens to take over management of the
hospital as a nonprofit entity. Impressed by the care he had
personally received from an Adventist hospital, Dr. Smith
specifically requested that members of the hospital board
be members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The name of the hospital was changed to San Joaquin
Community Hospital (SJCH) and a new age began. In 1987,
SJCH became a member of Adventist Health; a not-for-profit
healthcare system comprised of twenty-one acute care facilities
and affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The new board of directors surveyed the area’s health
needs, looking for innovative ways in which to serve the
people of the Southern San Joaquin Valley. One fact soon
stood out: the single greatest health hazard in America in
the 1960s was heart and vascular disease. Among males,
two out of three would ultimately die from some sort of
heart vessel disease; yet Bakersfield had no modern heart
catheterization laboratory. Nor was open heart surgery
available in the area. Heart patients in the valley had to
travel hundreds of miles to receive proper care.
There was clearly a pressing need for cardiac care. In
1972, SJCH opened the area’s first catheterization laboratory,
using a then state-of-the-art 35mm film format. A month
later, doctors at SJCH conducted Bakersfield’s first open
heart surgery. The heart team was headed by Dr. Neil
Arbegast, a surgeon who had trained under world-famous
cardiac surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey. Also practicing at
the hospital were additional cardiovascular surgeons and
other specialized personnel capable of performing any heart
or vascular procedure.
The creation of a skilled heart surgery team required the
latest and most sophisticated equipment, which the hospital
provided and has continued to provide to this day.
SJCH remains Kern County’s leader for heart care. In
2016, Healthgrades ® , an online resource for information on
physicians and hospitals, recognized SJCH as one of
America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care and Coronary
Intervention. SJCH was one of only two hospitals in the
entire state of California, and the first in Kern County, to
receive both of these recognitions. SJCH is now working to
create a comprehensive Heart Institute that will provide
Bakersfield and Kern County with cutting-edge procedures
and advanced technology in an environment that promotes
healing and privacy.
÷
Above: San Joaquin Community Hospital pictured here in 2007, after the
completion of the new patient tower, which tripled the size of the emergency
department, created a nine-bed NICU and all new surgical unit.
Below: In 2015, San Joaquin Community Hospital became the first
Kern County hospital to be named a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical
Excellence. The award put SJCH in the top five percent of hospitals
nationwide. SJCH achieved the recognition again in 2016.
From left to right: Bakersfield City Councilman Terry Maxwell;
Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall; SJCH President and CEO Doug Duffield;
and SJCH Chief Operating Officer Sharlet Briggs.
QUALITY OF LIFE
161

÷
Above: Dr. Donald Cornforth was the co-founder of Quest Imaging,
which was acquired by San Joaquin Community Hospital in 2010.
In addition to serving as the chief medical officer for SJCH, Dr. Cornforth
and his wife, Edna, donated $1 million towards the new AIS Cancer Center.
Right: Dr. Brandon Freeman serves as the medical director and plastic
surgeon for The Burn Center at SJCH. In just seven years, The Burn Center
has treated more than 3,000 patients, with nearly forty percent
being children.
Heart care was not the only area in which SJCH made
advances through the years. In 1973 a new 166-bed hospital
was opened across the street from the original facility.
The addition housed a new intensive care unit featuring
the best available equipment, including telemetry units
that monitored a variety of vital functions and provided
instantaneous reporting of each patient’s condition.
Then in May 2007, SJCH opened a much-needed
130,000 square foot patient tower. The new five-story
building expanded the Intensive Care Unit, Emergency
Department and operating areas; provided a convenient
patient drop-off and loading area; tripled the size of the
maternity care center; and added a nine-bed neonatal
intensive care unit. Once the new tower was completed,
the existing hospital building was retrofitted to meet new
seismic regulations and renovated to create more private
patient rooms.
The new tower provided SJCH with the necessary
resources to offer state-of-the-art services previously unavailable
in Kern County including advanced stroke care. In
2008 the hospital opened the county’s first nationallycertified
stroke center. To become nationally certified, the
stroke center underwent a rigorous, on-site evaluation by
The Joint Commission, which accredits and certifies healthcare
organizations and programs throughout the United
States. The Joint Commission assessed the stroke program’s
processes, quality performance, and its ability to improve
care. Healthgrades ® now ranks SJCH among the top five
percent of hospitals nationwide for stroke care. The program
has also earned the American Stroke Association’s Gold Plus
Award—the highest award for stroke care—for multiple years.
Another way in which SJCH has met the needs of San
Joaquin Valley residents is through creation of a nationally
recognized burn center. Although hundreds of burns occur
in the area each year, patients previously had to travel north
to Fresno or south to Los Angeles to receive the specialized
care required for serious burns. In 2008, SJCH announced
its intention to bring a burn center to Bakersfield, and the
center opened in 2009.
In just the first six months of service, The Burn Center at
SJCH treated three times the number of anticipated patients.
The Center now treats 400 to 500 burn victims each year
and has received enthusiastic support from local industries.
This includes a $200,000 endowment fund established by
Chevron and a $300,000 donation from Aera Energy.
The Burn Center is a clear example of SJCH’s commitment
to serving its community. Although The Burn Center operates
at a financial loss each year, and is supported through
philanthropy and hospital operations, SJCH recognizes that
it is a vital service that is urgently needed.
SJCH also serves the community through its mobile
immunization program. Immunizations are one of the most
important public health interventions in the United States.
By immunizing children at an early age, SJCH Children’s
Mobile Immunization Program decreases the occurrence of
many dreaded childhood diseases.
Since the program began in 1996, more than 55,000
children have been immunized against dangerous diseases
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
162

such as polio, measles, mumps, rubella and Hepatitis A and B.
When the program began, only 39 percent of Kern County’s
children had up-to-date immunizations. Today, that figure is
95 percent and continuing to grow.
As healthcare has changed, so has the need to diversify
services and programs. In 2010, SJCH began developing a
robust network of outpatient services with the purchase of
Quest Imaging. The most significant outpatient project to
date has been the 60,000 square foot AIS Cancer Center,
which opened in the spring of 2013.
The AIS Cancer Center was made possible through the
largest fundraising effort in the hospital’s history. The SJCH
Foundation raised more than $6 million for the building, led
by a $2 million gift from Advanced Industrial Services (AIS),
in whose honor the center was named. The center’s motto of
“You Can. We Can. Beat Cancer.” emphasizes the community
partnerships that have been so meaningful in developing this
top-notch facility.
As only the second cancer center in the community, The
AIS Cancer Center helps ensure that most cancer patients
receive treatment without leaving Bakersfield. The center
features advanced technology in a soothing environment,
exemplified by the beautiful water feature in The Cornforth
Family Pavilion. Affiliated with the UC Davis Cancer Care
Network, The AIS Cancer Center provides medical and
radiation treatment. Its teams include highly trained,
board-certified oncologists, certified oncology nurses and
radiation therapists.
SJCH is one of the largest employers in Kern County.
As of 2016, the hospital had nearly 2,100 employees and
651 affiliated physicians, in addition to approximately
287 volunteers who contribute thousands of hours of
service each year.
SJCH has seen many changes and enormous technological
advancements since it admitted its first patient in 1910.
What has remained constant is the hospital’s commitment to
quality healthcare. This dedication is rooted in the hospital’s
Christian heritage, which dates back to 1866, when the first
Seventh-day Adventist healthcare facility opened in Battle
Creek, Michigan. Today, inspired by a belief in the loving
and healing power of Jesus Christ, SJCH and its clinics
bring physical, mental and spiritual health and healing to
people of all faiths.
÷
Left: Cutting-edge technology has been a hallmark of San Joaquin
Community Hospital throughout its storied history. The Philips Ambient
experience—located in The AIS Cancer Center—allows patients to choose
colors and scenes of their choice during their imaging experience.
Below: The Cornforth Family Pavilion showcases a two-story water feature
that creates a healing environment for cancer patients and their families from
the moment they walk in.
QUALITY OF LIFE
163

KAISER PERMANENTE
÷
Above: Kaiser Permanente’s first employees and physician hired in 1987.
Below: Stockdale Medical Offices.
Kaiser Permanente’s mission
is to provide highquality,
affordable healthcare
services to improve the
health of its members and
the communities it serves.
This mission is accomplished
through market-leading performance
in quality, service
and affordability.
Kaiser Permanente provides
healthcare services to
more than 105,000 members
in Kern County at thirteen locations with nearly
1,000 employees and physicians. Since entering the
market in 1988 with one medical office building and
4,000 members, Kaiser Permanente has grown to be an
anchor institution in the community.
There are three very important
factors that make Kaiser Permanente
special—care and coverage together,
convenience and choice, and care
you can trust. Kaiser Permanente
brings together healthcare and coverage
with connected teams of doctors,
nurses, pharmacists and other
professionals. At Kaiser Permanente
locations, everything is under one
roof—visits, labs, radiology and
pharmacy—so it is easy to take care
of several healthcare needs in a single
visit. Patients may manage their
health on-line, anytime, anywhere.
Patients also have their choice of
great doctors and may change their
doctor at any time for any reason. With Kaiser Permanente,
patients have the support of an entire care team who work
together and are closely connected through electronic health
records, insuring the right care at the right time. From
preventative screenings to specialty care and treatment
for serious conditions, Kaiser Permanente members receive
the top-rated care they need to help them be their healthiest.
Kaiser Permanente is also known for its technology and
innovation, which are used to provide care to members via
a Mobile Health Vehicle that brings a range of primary
care services to outlying communities. Kaiser Permanente’s
Care Corner is a retail-based program designed to provide
convenient and affordable access to primary care services
and wellness programs. In addition, Kaiser Permanente
offers tele-health video and telephone appointments to meet
the needs of its members in an easy and convenient manner.
Kaiser Permanente also invests directly in improvements
to community health by working to increase access for the
underserved, funding safety-net agencies, disseminating care
improvements, conducting research, educating healthcare
workers and consumers, and informing public policy.
To support these priorities, Kaiser Permanente operates a
number of Community Benefit Programs in Kern County.
Among these are the award winning Educational Theatre,
which uses live theatre, music, comedy, and drama to
inspire children, teens, and adults to make better decisions
about their well-being. Kaiser Permanente believes good
health is a fundamental right shared by all and its work
in the community brings together financial resources, the
talent and commitment of its people, and more than seventy
years of healthcare and health plan experience. In Kern
County, Kaiser Permanente has contributed several million
dollars through grants and sponsorships to support people
in need through a wide range of community programs
and organizations.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
164

Henry J. Kaiser, an industrialist who was considered one
of the nation’s greatest business leaders of the twentieth
century, and Dr. Sidney R. Garfield, a noted surgeon, worked
together to pioneer the medical program that changed
the face of U.S. healthcare. Under the leadership of these
visionaries, Kaiser Permanente was born out of the challenge
of providing Americans with medical care during the Great
Depression and World War II, when most people could not
afford to visit a doctor. Kaiser Permanente applied a number
of innovative ideas, including prepaid insurance to spread
the cost and make it more affordable, and group medical
practices where physicians could maximize their abilities to
care for patients. This medical delivery system was organized
to put as much care as possible under one roof.
Kaiser and Garfield were bold, innovative individuals
who made a dramatic impact on the contemporary shape
of U.S. medicine and community health. Kaiser, who
revolutionized shipbuilding during World War II, is
remembered for his role in building the great dams of the
West—Hoover, Bonneville and Grand Coulee. His global
enterprises included automobiles, steel, cement, aluminum,
engineering and mining. Garfield was both an acclaimed
surgeon and a visionary. In 1933, Garfield opened his
Contractor’s General Hospital in the Mojave Desert.
This hospital was set up to provide medical care for
the 5,000 workers on the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California’s aqueduct, which was designed to
bring water from the Colorado River to Los Angeles.
His ideas helped define the basic principles of a healthcare
system, focused as much on prevention of illness as
caring for the sick. In the 1950s, his revolutionary
hospital designs drew international praise for their
innovations. And, in 1960, he was in the vanguard of
physicians who embraced the computer as a tool that
could radically improve the delivery of medical care.
Today, Kaiser Permanente operates the largest private
electronic medical record system in the United States.
Garfield’s ideas resonated with Kaiser, who was
‘greatly restless and restlessly great’ for a new healthcare
system. Together, they founded Kaiser Permanente for
the employees of Kaiser Industries
in 1942 and opened the health
plan to the public in July 1945.
The guiding principles of
Kaiser Permanente, developed
over more than seven decades,
include the belief that everyone
should have the opportunity to
be healthy, preventing illness is
preferable to curing after the fact,
quality drives cost down, and
partnership creates synergy. These
principles will continue to guide
Kaiser Permanente in the future as
it continues its mission to improve
the health of its members and the
communities it serves.
÷
Above: Discovery Plaza Medical Offices.
Below: Chester Avenue Medical Offices.
QUALITY OF LIFE
165

GOLDEN EMPIRE
TRANSIT DISTRICT
The Golden Empire Transit District (GET) provides safe,
accessible, reliable, courteous and affordable public transportation
to diverse customers in the greater Bakersfield area.
Although GET was officially created in 1973, Bakersfield
was served by public transit as early as 1874. That year,
Southern Pacific Railroad informed the city that the company
would not serve Bakersfield unless it was granted two blocks
of land on either side of the tracks. The city refused and the
train station was built two miles to the east of the city at
what now is the corner of Baker and Sumner Streets.
This situation created a problem for travelers and a profit
for stage drivers who charged $1 per trip between Bakersfield
and the train station. Today, the fare for a single trip on a
GET bus is $1.50, so $1 was a considerable fee for a single
ride in 1874.
Public transit was provided by private companies until
the mid-1950s when the growing popularity of the automobile
caused a significant drop in ridership and revenues. The city
took over operation of the public transit system and, in 1965,
created a transit authority.
In 1972, voters within the proposed transit district borders
approved the formation of the district by a two-to-one margin.
GET’s boundaries include the Bakersfield area. A five member
board of directors was appointed in 1972, and, in 1973, the
district began operations and was named the Golden Empire
Transit District.
Over the next five years, GET acquired twenty-five air
conditioned buses, established 300 stops and developed
a new system of routes. Ridership increased 167 percent.
The base fare was twenty-five cents.
÷
Top: Southern Pacific Railroad Station located at the corner of Baker and
Sumner Streets, 1874.
Above: One of twenty-five air conditioned buses to hit the streets in the
mid-1970s.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
166

In 1979, GET initiated a curb-to-curb service called
GET-A-Lift, which provides service to customers unable to
use the fixed route services due to disabilities.
In an effort to improve air quality, GET purchased the first
compressed natural gas (CNG) buses in 1998. In addition, a
CNG fueling station was built by GET. By March 2006, GET’s
entire fleet of buses was converted to compressed natural gas.
Today, GET has a fleet of eighty-eight compressed national
gas buses equipped with wheelchair lifts and bike racks.
GET services sixteen routes, most operating seven days a
week. More than 6 million passengers are transported each
year in the fixed route buses. In addition, GET operates
nineteen compressed natural gas GET-A-Lift buses.
In October 2012, GET implemented a new system of
routes designed to provide faster, more efficient service. GET
also added trip planning to its website at www.getbus.org.
In 2013, Golden Empire Transit District began a study of
its environmental policies and processes with the goal of integrating
sustainability practices into all aspects of its operations
through clean technologies, renewable resources and recycling.
GET adopted an Environmental Sustainability and
Management System (EMS) as a formal commitment to mitigate
environmental impacts, build and maintain a healthy and
safe workforce and ensure fiscal stability for years to come.
In addition to helping reduce pollution, the EMS program
has resulted in energy savings, fuel savings, and environmental
disaster avoidance. All of these things add up to
reduced risk and increased financial savings.
In 2015, GET added a Real Time Information System for
customers. The new system provides arrival times if a bus for
that route is due within thirty minutes. Each bus stop has a
number and a QR code. Customers may use the QR code if
they have smart phones or use the automated voice system
at 661-869-2438 if they want to call in and give the bus stop
number. Customers may also use computers and tablets to
get arrival information by going to www.getbus.org.
÷
GET buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts and bike racks and are
powered by compressed natural gas, thereby reducing pollution and
saving money.
QUALITY OF LIFE
167

BAKERSFIELD CHRISTIAN
HIGH SCHOOL
÷
Above: Stephen Dinger (president 2011 to 2016), Mayor Harvey Hall
and Jack Pandol (board chair) cut the ribbon to open the 8,506 square foot
student union on May 6, 2016, while David Spalinger (board member) and
Bob Smith (city council member Ward 4) watch the momentous occasion.
Founded in 1979, Bakersfield Christian High School is a
dually accredited, nondenominational, college preparatory
high school that seeks to develop each student’s mind, body
and spirit to his or her fullest potential through challenging
coursework, state-of-the-art technology, visual and performing
arts, competitive athletics, and spiritual training.
Four students made up the first graduating class and the
school turned out fourteen graduates by 1983. In contrast,
today’s classes typically produce between 100 and 120
graduates, and classes are expected to grow in coming years.
Enrollment has more than doubled to about 500 students
since moving in 2003 to the current forty-seven-acre campus
located in the growing west side of Bakersfield. The facility
features highlights such as a Library/Media Center, Student
Union, Fine Arts Center and a Sports Center, which houses
one of the largest high school gymnasiums in Kern County.
BCHS has a wide range of curricular offerings, which
challenge and nurture the intellectual life of each student.
Students take a college preparatory curriculum designed to
meet the subject requirements of the University of California
and California State University systems.
Most students, however, go beyond these minimum
entrance requirements, completing more than the required
number of credits and taking advantage of the school’s
Scholars Program and/or the numerous honors and
advanced placement courses. BCHS graduates are accepted
to highly competitive universities such as UCLA, USC, UC
Berkeley, Cal Poly, Pepperdine, Baylor, Georgetown, Georgia
Tech, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Yale, and the
U.S. Air Force and Naval Academies.
BCHS is equally committed to bringing the knowledge
of Jesus Christ and the truth of scripture to prepare students
to outthink their culture from a Christian worldview. It
is out of this commitment to academic excellence, which
honors God, that the individual character of the students
develops, thus producing behaviors that nurture a healthy
school culture where students can soar.
Beyond the commitment to educate, engage, and equip
students in the classroom, BCHS also places emphasis on its
arts and athletic programs as well as through student life in
the development of the whole student.
Visual and performing arts are essential for students
to receive a well-rounded education that covers more
than the full spectrum of academics. All students need the
experience of producing in the arts. BCHS offers a variety
of courses to not only meet the graduation requirement
credit hours but to help students learn and demonstrate
their God-given talents in music, art and theater.
Athletics at BCHS is a vital part of the life of the school.
One distinction that sets athletics at BCHS apart from other
high schools is the fact that the foundation on which teams
are built is Jesus Christ. The athletic field is approached
as an extension and complement to the classroom,
thus, student athletes are challenged to be outstanding
representatives of Christ in their work ethic, commitment
and citizenship on and off the athletic courts and fields.
This challenge has been met with great success including
more than 130 titles in the South Sequoia League and
more than forty titles in the California Interscholastic
Federation Central Section. Both the boys’ and girls’ tennis
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
168

teams combined have earned nearly fifty of these league
and section titles and tennis continues to be one of the
school’s most successful sports programs.
In 2006, BCHS won the Division V State Volleyball
Championship and the volleyball team has made frequent
return trips to state play-offs. In 2013 the football team won
the Division IV Southern Regional title. That game marked the
first state play-off game played in Bakersfield for any division.
÷
Far left: BCHS students show their Eagle pride as they cheer on the
volleyball team.
Above: Some BCHS alumni from the classes of 2008 to 2012 pose in
sweatshirts from their respective colleges.
Below: Lorryn Carter (class of 2018) prepares a sample to investigate the
various types of cells and vascular tissue of a starfish during her honors
biology dissection lab. BCHS students log approximately twenty lab hours in
each science class.
In accordance with the school’s philosophy of education,
the student life program seeks to provide opportunities for
BCHS students to mature in, and take responsibility for
their own intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual
growth. Therefore, all aspects of the student life program
are designed to foster a learning community.
In seeking to create an environment fertile for spiritual
growth, BCHS sets aside time throughout the year for
prayer, fellowship, worship and service. With this in mind,
the school has established various programs to help its
students cultivate a life of discipleship, which will in turn,
reflect the nature of God Himself.
Complementing the emphasis on spiritual formation is
the development of student activities that encourage a
relationship among the student body as well as with
teachers and administrators by creating avenues through
group-centered activities and competitions. BCHS is a
fun place. In addition to the activities like homecoming,
powder-puff, spirit weeks, prom, winter formal and other
quintessential high school milestones, BCHS is known for
its unique activities such as the three-day Hume Lake retreat
and a day filled with a series of crazy contests toward
the end of each school year known as Boondog Olympics.
The consistent theme throughout every decision, every
class and every relationship at BCHS is to align with the
school’s motto of honoring God and helping students soar.
For additional information about Bakersfield Christian
High School, please visit www.BakersfieldChristian.com.
QUALITY OF LIFE
169

BAKERSFIELD PATHOLOGY
MEDICAL GROUP
÷
Right: Left to right, Dr. Ellen F. Bunyi-Teopengco, Dr. Steven P. Fogel,
Dr. Lilibeth Guinto Miranda and Dr. Steven R. Jacobs.
Bakersfield Pathology Medical Group provides pathology
and clinical laboratory services to doctors and their patients
in office, surgery center, imaging service and hospital settings.
Pathology is the branch of medicine that deals with the
laboratory examination of body tissue samples for diagnostic
and forensic purposes. For example, if a skin cancer is
removed, the report will describe the type of cancer, and
whether the cancer was completely removed or not.
Although a patient does not have direct interaction with
the pathologist, the information generated by a study of
tissues and other specimens has a tremendous impact on
patient management.
The Bakersfield Pathology Medical Group was founded
by Myron A. Fisher, M.D. in 1987 when he became director
of the laboratory at Mercy Hospital. Dr. Fisher came from
Valley Hospital in Fresno. He was soon joined by Lilibeth
Guinto Miranda, M.D., who was already in practice in
Bakersfield. The two doctors developed a vision of pathology
services for the community to include surgical pathology
and gynecologic cytology. Frank Virgil, M.D. joined the
group shortly thereafter and Steven R. Jacobs, M.D. joined
the group in 1989.
In the early days, the pathology laboratory was located
on the ground floor of the Mercy Medical Plaza building in
a space about the size of a doctor’s office. “We jammed a
lot of equipment into a small space but managed to process
tissue specimens and generate reports in an efficient and
timely manner nevertheless,” recalls Dr. Jacobs. “When cancer
specialists began to practice in town, we went to their offices
and gave Tumor Board conferences onsite, which allowed
them to become accredited cancer programs.”
In addition to the service work for Mercy Hospital, the
group established a thriving outpatient pathology practice,
which involved serving most of the gastroenterologists in the
community; doctor’s offices, especially dermatologists; and
radiology (imaging) facilities. Additionally, the group was a
key resource in graduate medical education for physicians
training at Kern Medical Center by holding a joint Clinical
Pathologic conference with KMC staff.
The special skills and qualifications in cytopathology possessed
by Drs. Miranda and Jacobs resulted in an increase in
the use of thin needle biopsies of internal organs such as
lung, liver and kidney, as well as the introduction of stereotactic
brain biopsies locally. The group also participated in
the training and education of clinical laboratory scientists
from the California State University, Bakersfield program.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
170

When Mercy Hospital developed its own cancer program at
the newly constructed Florence Wheeler Cancer Center, the
group was instrumental in providing direct support by charitable
donations from its members. The group also participated
in weekly Tumor Board conferences, which resulted in accreditation
of the program by the American College of Surgeons.
The group has provided pathology services to Mercy
Southwest Hospital, as well as Bakersfield Memorial Hospital
and West Side Hospital in Taft.
Steven Fogel, M.D. joined the group in 1995 after serving
as chief resident at USC, and Ellen F. Bunyi-Teopengco
joined in 2001 after completing subspecialty training in
hematopathology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her
additional training became an invaluable asset for local
patients with cancer and blood disorders. Dr. John W. Reyes,
who formerly served as the director of pathology of Green
County Memorial Hospital in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania,
joined the practice in 2005. Dr. Jacques Dorce joined the
group in 2015 after serving a surgical pathology fellowship
at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
The group began to provide service to San Joaquin
Community Hospital and Bakersfield Heart Hospital in 2002.
The group was the first to provide liquid-based analysis of
gynecologic cytology specimens in Kern County, and this
technology was instrumental in study of HPV in patients.
During this time, the group moved its operations to an old
medical office building at 2828 H Street, but the group soon
outgrew this space and a larger 6,400 square foot building
was developed on Sillect Avenue across from Bakersfield Heart
Hospital. The modern new facility was occupied in 2008.
By providing outsourced pathology services to San Joaquin
Community Hospital and Bakersfield Heart Hospital, those
institutions do not have to operate their own pathology
laboratories. The group is one of the few freestanding
independent laboratories in the country that provide
outsourced anatomic pathology and clinical laboratory
services and is wholly owned by local doctors.
The Bakersfield Pathology Medical Group currently
employs twenty-nine people, including six physician
pathologists. The group supports a number of local charitable
activities, including American Cancer Society, Relay for
Life, San Joaquin Community Hospital Foundation, Friends
of Mercy Foundation, Stockdale High School Medical
Academy and others.
The group has grown consistently and has become the
largest pathology organization in Kern County in terms
of size an activity. “These are challenging times,” Dr. Jacobs
comments. “The number of private practitioners is decreasing
but we intend to aggressively market to doctors new to the
area, as well as establishing and maintaining relationships
with large HMOs such a Kaiser Permanente. Medicine is
increasingly specialized and so is pathology. We hope to
bring doctors with special board certification and/or training
in gynecologic pathology, gastrointestinal pathology, and
blood banking to Kern County.”
QUALITY OF LIFE
171

HOFFMANN HOSPICE
÷
Top, left: In December 2015, Hoffmann Hospice completed construction
on and opened Kern County’s first and only hospice home. The 25,000
square foot home complete with eighteen private suites and patios is designed
to provide a homelike setting to hospice patients requiring a higher level of
care than what can be provided in their own residence.
Top, right: The home also includes a beautiful chapel for quiet prayer time.
Below: Hoffmann Hospice staff helps pediatric patient Ava Weeks celebrate
her first birthday, complete with her very own cake and balloons.
Tom and Beth Hoffmann were busy business owners in
1990 when a young AIDS-stricken mother turned to their
home-health agency for help. They referred her to what was
then Bakersfield’s only hospice agency, but she was denied.
The Hoffmanns cared for the woman until her death in 1994.
Deeply touched by the experience of caring for the mother
and her two HIV-positive children, the Hoffmanns founded
their nonprofit hospice agency the following year with a pledge
that no hospice eligible patient would ever be turned away,
regardless of their illness or ability to pay.
The early years were a test of fortitude as the Hoffmanns
labored to establish their agency in the Bakersfield healthcare
community. They opened an office in east Bakersfield, sharing
space with Hoffmann Homecare, the family business.
Now the oldest and most respected hospice agency in
Kern County, Hoffmann Hospice offers the highest quality
end-of-life care to hundreds of terminally ill patients each
year and recently served its 20,000th patient. The agency
strives for continued excellence in medical, bereavement
and spiritual care, earning its accreditation through the
Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP), the
highest accreditation in the healthcare community.
“Hoffmann Hospice was born out of servicing a need that
was not being met in the community, and it comes from the
core of Tom and Beth Hoffmann’s values and principles and
what they wanted to provide the community,” explains
Gretchen Daughtery, the organization’s director of marketing.
Hospice patients are provided with physician services,
pain and symptom control, medical equipment and medications,
twenty-four-hour access to on-call hospice nurses,
social services, spiritual care, home health aides, and specially
trained volunteers.
Patients are served by a staff of over 130 including doctors,
nurses, licensed social workers, spiritual counselors, home
health aides, administrative staff, and more than a hundred
volunteers. The volunteers provide such direct patient
needs as respite care, which allows caregivers time for
their personal needs. Volunteers may also read to a patient
or simply help them talk about their lives. “One patient
loved to watch old westerns on television and one of our
volunteers spent hours watching the shows with him,” Beth
says. Other volunteers help with the behind-the-scenes
office work such as filing and answering the phone.
Feeling it is important to capture every moment, patients
are encouraged to compile a ‘bucket list’ of things they would
like to do in the time remaining to them. This list might
include such wishes as watching a grandchild graduate or
something as simple as sitting on the patio in the sun.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
172

Patients are helped to celebrate such milestone events as an
anniversary, birthday or other special occasion.
Hoffmann Hospice also focuses on the special needs of
veterans and is committed to enhancing its programs for
veterans. Its ‘We Honor Veterans’ program has earned the
highest level of certification from the National Hospice and
Palliative Care Organization.
Other services include private transportation, pet therapy
that includes regular visits from the affectionate and
well-trained ‘Hoffmann Hounds’, a soothing massage from
a licensed massage therapist or home health aide and,
most recently, a specialized ‘Starlight’ pediatric program
that addresses the needs of critically ill children.
One of Hoffmann Hospice’s long time volunteers, Claude
Greenhaw, ended up enrolling for hospice services himself.
The agency organized a Celebration of Life for Claude while
he was still living and invited all his friends and family, as
well as the hospice staff. “It was one of the most special
moments we have shared as an agency,” says Beth. “It was
like a memorial service, but before his passing.”
Some hospice patients are referred by physicians when
there is a terminal diagnosis, whether it is the patient’s
primary care physician or a physician caring for them in the
hospital. Others are referred by family or friends.
“In hospice care, we take care of the patient and family
at the same time,” explains Daughtery. “We also have a
bereavement program that helps families cope with the
death of their loved ones, including the only program in
Kern County that serves the families of pediatric patients.”
The programs provide support for up to thirteen months,
or eighteen months for families of pediatric patients.
The Hoffmanns and their staff and volunteers continually
seek new ways of serving Kern County. For many years, their
vision for the future included a free-standing hospice home
where patients would have a warm and comforting place in
which to spend their final days. This vision became reality
in 2014 when ground was broken for a 25,000 square foot,
eighteen bed facility in the Seven Oaks Business Park. The
new facility opened in December 2015.
After more than twenty years of service, Hoffmann
Hospice remains committed to its mission of celebrating the
sanctity of life, providing compassionate end-of-life care
and comforting the grieving.
For additional information about Hoffmann Hospice, see
their website at hoffmannhospice.org.
÷
Above: Hoffmann Hospice Spiritual Counselor and Veteran Wayne Meade
proudly salutes 104 year old patient and WWII U.S. Navy Veteran
William A. Kehoe. Hoffmann Hospice collaborates with the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs to serve the unique needs of our Veterans and their
families and help them celebrate their finest military hours.
Left: Hoffmann Hospice nurse accompanies patient Gilberto Hinojosa and his
wife Rosa as they fulfill a bucket list wish to see their daughter graduate from
Bakersfield High School.
Below: Longtime Hoffmann volunteer Claude Greenhaw shares a hug with
Co-Founder Beth Hoffmann during his Celebration of Life. Claude passed
away while under the care of Hoffmann Hospice.
QUALITY OF LIFE
173

BAKERSFIELD FAMILY
MEDICAL CENTER
HERITAGE
PHYSICIAN NETWORK
an Affiliated Medical Group of
HERITAGE
PROVIDER NETWORK
In today’s increasingly complex medical care system,
Bakersfield Family Medical Center/Heritage Physician Network
has pioneered the future of medicine.
Recognized regionally and nationally as an innovator of
health delivery systems, Bakersfield Family Medical Center/
Heritage Physician Network sets a standard for excellence in
healthcare for its patients in settings that promote wellness
and preventive medicine.
Bakersfield Family Medical Center was founded in 1984,
but the Heritage Provider Network actually began in 1979
when Dr. Richard Merkin was asked by a local health
plan to start a medical group in an underserved area. The
group succeeded far beyond expectations as Heritage’s
comprehensive approach to care management proved to
be exactly what was needed to provide top quality, cost
effective healthcare for its membership.
The success of the innovative medical group caught
the attention of other health plans who requested that
Heritage duplicate its success at other locations, including
Kern County. Bakersfield Family Medical Center/Heritage
Physician Network was the fourth medical group started
under the umbrella of the Heritage Provider Network.
BFMC has designed and implemented programs that
provide members with the highest quality healthcare
available anywhere. Dr. Merkin was the first to introduce
such programs as Physician Hospitalists (physicians
assigned to members while inpatient), Priority Care
(high intensity case management for high-risk patients),
and Choices (an end-of-life program). BFMC has brought
more than 150 physicians and providers to the community
and is currently contracted with over 225 primary care
physicians and specialists in Kern County alone.
Bakersfield Family Medical Center was originally located
at 515 Truxtun Avenue, but by 1986, Dr. Merkin realized
the office did not provide the adequate space needed
to accommodate patients and the facility was moved to
4580 California Avenue. At the time, BFMC had fewer than
thirty employees.
Dr. Merkin opened the first Urgent Care Center in Kern
County within a couple of years after moving into the
4580 California Avenue location. As the managed care
membership and the demand for medical care continued
in Kern County, Dr. Merkin opened the current location at
4570 California Avenue to accommodate the growing needs.
In 1992, BFMC expanded into Tehachapi by opening
Oak Tree Medical Group at 432 South Mill Street. In 2004
the BFMC Northwest location was opened at 3400 Calloway
Drive. BFMC expanded in 2006 into San Luis Obispo and
Tulare through its sister company, Coastal Communities
Physician Network (CCPN). The BFMC Northeast facility
was opened at 5601 Auburn Street in 2007.
Heritage Physician Network is an Independent Physician
Association (IPA) with locations throughout Kern County.
These IPA physicians are contracted with BFMC to provide
medical care to BFMC members, although they maintain
their own offices. Members who select Heritage Physician
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
174

Network physicians will see their doctors in their
conveniently located private offices. All members of
BFMC/HPN may access the full range of services, programs
and specialists offered by Bakersfield Family Medical
Center. Bakersfield Family Medical Center/Heritage
Physician Network began with approximately thirty
employees, including six physicians. Today, there are
more than 350 employees serving over 70,000 lives in Kern,
SLO and Tulare Counties.
BFMC/HPN is contracted with more than 75 primary
care providers and 150 specialists. CCPN-SLO is contracted
with over 70 primary care providers and 275 specialists,
and CCPN-Tulare is contracted with more than 30 primary
care providers and 30 specialists.
Bakersfield Family Medical Center/Heritage Physician
Network takes great pride in the Kern County community
and is involved with a number of charities, including the
American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and
the American Red Cross. BFMC/HPN is a platinum sponsor
of Kern County Christmas for Seniors, a program that
provides gifts and hygiene items during the holiday season
to low-income and/or isolated seniors in the community.
For more information about the Bakersfield Family
Medical Center/Heritage Physician Network, visit the website
at www.bfmc.com.
QUALITY OF LIFE
175

KERN COMMUNITY
COLLEGE DISTRICT
÷
Right: Grace Van Dyke Bird (center front row) with faculty. This dynamo of a
woman led Bakersfield College through remarkable development until 1950
and helped to see that a new campus would be built.
Bottom, right: Bakersfield College won the Junior Rose Bowl Championship
and became the 1976 National Community College Football Champion.
Below: This historic official Record of Junior College Students contained
record cards for all students of what would eventually become Bakersfield
College. This card shows the record of the second year for the college’s first
graduate, Josephine Chase. The card notes that she transferred to Berkeley.
Kern County Community College District (KCCD) serves
40,000 students each year from a district that spans nearly
25,000 miles, geographically one of the largest community
college districts in the nation.
The community colleges in the district offer courses for
associate’s degrees, certificates, and for transfer to four-year
colleges and universities. In addition, the colleges provide
workforce skills training, and they partner with businesses
and governmental entities to advance economic development.
The roots of the Kern Community College District were
firmly planted in 1913 with the creation of Bakersfield
College. Originally called Bakersfield Junior College, the
institution served fifteen students in an experimental program
for those wanting to complete requirements for the
University of California. The program was conducted on the
campus of Kern County High School, later renamed
Bakersfield High School.
As Kern County and the number of students grew,
Bakersfield College became large enough to command
a campus of its own. Constructed and dedicated in
1956, the Bakersfield College campus is located on
Panorama Drive.
Community growth also spawned change in secondary
and post-secondary governance. The Board of Trustees
jointly administering Bakersfield College and the community’s
high schools divided into separate boards for each level
of education. The year 1968 saw the establishment of the
Kern Community College District. Eventually, two other
colleges joined the district—Porterville College, founded
in 1927, and Cerro Coso Community College, opened in
1973 to serve residents of Ridgecrest and other areas of
eastern Kern County.
Grace Van Dyke Bird, perhaps the first woman to lead a
public community college in California, served Bakersfield
College for twenty-three years. She joined Bakersfield Junior
College as a teacher in 1927 and was appointed dean of the
college five years later. The title of dean evolved into college
president. Bird was awarded the posthumous title of
President Emeritus, granted by the Kern County Community
College District Board of Trustees in 1976. Bakersfield
College’s Grace Van Dyke Bird Library is named in her honor.
The district’s colleges host centers and outreach sites
offering classes in Delano, downtown Bakersfield,
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
176

Tehachapi, the Mammoth and Bishop areas, Edwards
Air Force Base and the Kern River Valley. These centers
provide convenient, localized instruction for thousands of
residents. Kern Community College District’s commitment
to distance learning and other technological advances creates
increased opportunities for education through online
instruction to individuals across the district’s service area
and beyond. Additionally, the district’s partnerships with
area high schools provide dual enrollment opportunities
where high school students complete college courses on
their high school campuses while simultaneously working
toward their high school diploma.
Fee-based community education provided by Kern
Community College District delivers a broad spectrum
of short-term, not-for-credit courses designed to teach
a skill, grow a hobby, or fulfill a desire for learning.
Community education courses afford local residents
of Bakersfield College, Cerro Coso Community College
and Porterville College service areas the opportunity to
make friends and learn something new in a welcoming
environment. Courses run the gamut from wine tasting to
watercolor painting, from community choir to computer
essentials and everything in between.
The student headcount in the KCCD colleges for 2014-15
was 28,910. In addition, 81,089 enrollments were logged
in various training and community education programs.
In the 2014-15 academic year, 1,063 students transferred
to four-year colleges and universities, 1,854 earned associate
degrees, 555 received achievement certificates, and 716
were presented with job skills certificates.
Kern Community College District operates with an
annual budget of $188.5 million and is governed by a sevenmember
Board of Trustees elected by constituents in five
counties, including Kern, Tulare, Inyo, Mono and San
Bernardino. The chancellor of KCCD is Sandra V. Serrano, J.D.,
and current board members
include Dennis Beebe, Kay
Meek, Mark Storch, Romeo
Agbalog, Kyle Carter, John
Corkins and Richard Wright,
Ed.D. Colleges in the district
employ over 1,400 people,
including more than 380
full-time faculty members.
The Kern Community
College District Board of
Trustees adopted a 2015-2018 five-point strategic plan to
guide the district’s colleges in the future. Goal one is to maximize
student success by increased completion, improved
milestone achievements and increased student engagement.
Goal two is to close achievement gaps. Goal three calls for
ensuring student access by optimizing student enrollment
and becoming a higher education option of first choice.
Strategic goal number four calls for enhancing community
connections by providing workforce and economic development
programs that respond to local industry and reflect the
communities served by the district. Goal number five is to
strengthen organizational effectiveness by providing effective
professional development, meeting and exceeding internal
and external standards and requirements, increasing trust
and creating a collaborative culture, and improving facilities
and maintenance.
The Kern Community College District remains committed
to its vision of being recognized as an exemplary educational
leader, partnering with communities to develop potential and
create opportunities. The colleges in the district believe that
successful students will strengthen their communities and,
along with faculty and staff, become life-long learners.
For additional information about Kern Community
College District, check its website at www.kccd.edu.
÷
Left: Sandra V. Serrano is the first female and first Hispanic to become
Chancellor of Kern Community College District. She is a former Bakersfield
College President.
Below: This is the Renegade Knight mosaic pylon. It was designed and
constructed by art professor Clayton Rippey and became the official depiction
of the Bakersfield College Renegade Knight. It is located at Haley and
Panorama on the Northwest corner of campus.
QUALITY OF LIFE
177

CENTER FOR THE BLIND
AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED
÷
Above: Chief Executive Officer Justin L. Cave, MPA..
For more than sixty-five years, the Center for the Blind
and Visually Impaired (CBVI) has enhanced the lives of
the blind and visually impaired citizens of Kern County. As
the only public benefit blindness facility within 110 miles
of Kern County, CBVI provides education, advocacy, peer
counseling, assistive technology education, independent
living skills education and other services for the blind and
visually impaired.
CBVI, then known as Kern County Braille Center, began
in 1950 at the St. Mark’s Methodist Church. CBVI was
founded as a volunteer-run organization to provide a
place where blind and visually impaired individuals could
enjoy fellowship and participate in educational and craft
programs. The organization’s first permanent facility at
1124 Baker Street was opened in 1982. Services were
provided at this location for nearly thirty years.
CBVI moved to its current location at 1721 Westwind
Drive in 2010. At that time, the organization was about
to close because of a lack of funding, but Justin L. Cave,
MPA stepped in and took over the management so that the
center stayed open and continued to serve the community.
Cave, who now serves as CEO, is focused on providing
services to help clients regain independence and enjoy a
better quality of life. CBVI also partnered with the
Advanced Center for Eyecare in the same year to strengthen
the partnership and build up its capacity for serving
the community.
In 2015, CBVI provided top-notch services for its
clients that included adjustment to vision loss training,
independent living skills training, orientation and mobility
training, Braille, job coaching and many other services.
Five hundred seventy-one Kern County residents, many of
whom have been employed or are enrolled in educational
institutions, continue to live independently and have learned
to manage their daily lives and gain independence because
of CBVI’s training and services.
Over the years, CBVI has hosted a variety of fundraising
events, including Abalone Adventure, Monster March,
Pancake Breakfasts, and a Holiday Bazaar. CBVI’s current
fundraisers are Appetite for Sight and Tainted Love Concert
that are well attended and exclusive fund raising events
in Kern County. CBVI’s educational campaigns continue
to raise awareness of the blind and visually impaired, eye
disease, and its management in all of Kern County.
The Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired is passionate
about its commitment to raise the independence
and quality of life for the blind and visually impaired and
looks forward to expanding its much needed services in
satellite service areas and classrooms in the rural areas of
Kern County.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
178

Imagine waking up and finding that even though you
open your eyes, you cannot see the wonderful world around
you. Imagine what this would do to your ability to care
for yourself or your loved ones. This is a scenario that may
be easily avoided with the proper preventative eyecare.
However, if you are one out of every five Kern County
residents who live below the poverty line, eyecare is most
likely an impossibility.
Advanced Center for Eyecare (ACE) was founded in 2010
by Daniel H. Chang, M.D. and Joseph H. Chang, M.D. as a
way to provide high quality eyecare to the uninsured and
underinsured residents of Kern County. In 2011, the ACE
Board of Directors hired Justin L. Cave, who has a graduate
degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management,
as the executive director who became the catalyst for the
efforts that have driven the organization’s growth from a zero
operating budget to the abundance of eyecare services and
benefits for Kern’s underserved individuals today.
One year later, ACE implemented its Kern 20/20 Vision
Project, where they were able to open their first location and
started seeing patients 5 days a week. The Kern 20/20 Vision
Project continues to provide high quality eyecare services to
the underprivileged today.
In 2012, ACE Chief Executive Officer Justin L. Cave, MPA
and Board Member Vin T. Dang, O.D. formed a relationship
with OneSight, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
improving vision for those in need through outreach,
research and education. OneSight’s outreach programs
include the delivery of vision care and eyewear to those
most vulnerable and in need.
Statistics from 2015 confirm the tremendous impact ACE
has had on the community. During the year, ACE performed
9,697 direct patient encounters and provided 1,777 school
aged children with free eye screenings and free eye glasses
through a partnership with OneSight.
One of ACE’s annual fundraising events, Appetite for
Sight, which began in the fall of 2011, has become one of
Bakersfield’s most premier events. ACE’s spring fundraiser,
Tainted Love Concert, began in the spring of 2015 and is
also very well attended. ACE also receives generous private
contributions notably from the Don C. and Diane Lake
Family, Marjorie Nixon, Donald E. and Earlene Barnes and
corporate contributions from Dignity Health, Chevron,
Kaiser Permanente and Mercedes-Benz of Bakersfield.
The team at ACE treats each patient with uncompromising,
top quality medical and surgical eyecare. Thanks to the
generosity of this community, ACE is able to continue its
mission of serving all residents of Kern County, by building
an optical dispensary for eye glasses as well as establishing
satellite school based optometry clinics, beginning in 2016
with three schools in the Greater Bakersfield area.
ADVANCED CENTER FOR
EYECARE (ACE)
QUALITY OF LIFE
179

BAKERSFIELD COLLEGE
For a community as steeped in pride and heritage as
Bakersfield, there may be no city institution more intensely
connected with those decades of tradition as Kern County’s
educational crown jewel: Bakersfield College.
Perched on 153 acres atop the scenic
Panorama Bluffs overlooking the Kern
River in northeast Bakersfield, BC boasts
a student body of more than 18,000
students, earning two-year associate’s
degrees in over 140 different career
disciplines and training programs. In
addition to the Panorama campus, BC
Renegades also receive instruction at two
BC satellite sites: Weill Institute in
downtown Bakersfield, and the Delano
Campus in Delano, thirty-five miles north
of Bakersfield.
Bakersfield College’s roots in Kern
County stretch back nearly as far as the
city’s own origin. In 1913, shortly after
Bakersfield’s own incorporation, the need
for higher education options led the
forward-thinking Kern Union High School
Board of Trustees to open Bakersfield
Junior College.
Sharing a campus with the previously
established Bakersfield High School and
sporting an inaugural class of thirteen
students, the decision to open BC not
only created Kern County’s first advanced
learning opportunity, but the college
was an immediate trailblazer among the
pioneering first wave of California’s
community college explosion during
the 1910s.
By the 1950s, Kern County’s hunger for education swelled
the booming junior college’s student body over 1,400,
requiring major action be taken to accommodate the
continued growth. Economic depression and World War II
stalled previous efforts to move the campus, but strangely
enough, it was the deadly Kern County earthquake on
July 21, 1952 that ultimately led to BC’s final relocation.
In the wake of the 7.3-magnitude quake, voters approved
a $17 million bond for earthquake reconstruction, which also
included funds for a new Bakersfield College campus.
Construction began at the Panorama Bluffs site in 1955; and
the following year, students eager to receive degrees from the
new “college on the hill” returned from 1956 spring break
to take their final courses in Bakersfield College’s glorious
new facilities.
More than 100 years after first opening its doors, Bakersfield
College remains one of the nation’s oldest continuallyoperating—and
most respected—community colleges. BC’s rich
history has cemented the college’s place in the fabric of Kern
County, contributing to generation after generation of county
residents receiving degrees and furthering their professional
opportunities as Bakersfield College graduates.
Under the direction of current Bakersfield College President
Sonya Christian, BC has reaffirmed its commitment to not
only providing a premium educational experience to its
large and diverse student body, but focusing heavily on
addressing the educational needs of Kern County’s most
under-represented population segments.
With over sixty percent of Bakersfield College’s student
body of Hispanic or Latino descent and more than half firstgeneration
college students, BC’s highly skilled team of
administrators, counselors, faculty and staffers have extensive
experience addressing the specific educational issues faced by
nontraditional students and crafting individual plans for
seeing each student achieve their academic goals.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
180

Just as it did 100 years ago, Bakersfield College’s low costhigh
return approach to improving its community through
education continues to be recognized today. In 2015 the
college was ranked first in California and sixth nationally
among other two-year institutions in the mid-career earnings
of its alumni, according to a study conducted by the
prestigious nonprofit Brookings Institute. Bottom line—no
community college in the state did more to improve the
economic value of each graduate’s career throughout his or
her lifetime than Bakersfield College.
Heading boldly into its second century, BC continues to
explore new methods in offering comprehensive education
and career training opportunities to Kern County residents,
in areas like expanded online courses as well as more
dual enrollment opportunities allowing area high school
students to receive college-level credit for high schoolbased
coursework.
As part of a state pilot program, Bakersfield College
became one of the first California community colleges offering
a full four-year degree program in 2015, allowing students
in Science in Industrial Automation the chance to complete
their Baccalaureate studies at BC.
Bakersfield College remains Kern County’s shining “college
on the hill,” both a fully realized manifestation of the region’s
thirst for top-flight academic opportunity and a fully
attainable example of the brighter future available to any
Kern County resident with the drive and determination to
achieve it.
QUALITY OF LIFE
181

KERN COUNTY FAIR
÷
Below: “KC The Bull”.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF LORRIE ROBERTS.
The Kern County Fair was officially born on August 5,
1916. Although there is record of county fairs dating
back to 1892, the Kern County Agricultural Association is
the only one that has lasted. Unlike other County Fairs, the
Kern County Fair is actually a part of the 15th District
Agricultural Association that is governed by an official
board. These board members are each appointed by
the governor.
If you attended the Kern County Fair in 1892, you had
a much different view compared to our present day fair.
Not only would the grounds be full of tents rather than
buildings, you would be at a completely different location
than where the Kern County Fair currently stands.
Originally, the Kern County Fair was located on 106 acres
off of Chester Avenue, two block north of Thirty-Fourth
Street and just south of the Kern River Bridge. This is
where the Kern County Museum, the Clock Tower, and
Sam Lynn Ball Park now reside.
Twenty thousand county school children accompanied
by a total of 65,000 patrons passed through the gates
during the six-day fair in October 1925. Throughout these
six days, the public enjoyed activities like parachute
jumps, aerialists, balloon ascension, motorcycle races, and
a fifteen-mile sweepstakes horse race. Howard K. Dickson,
also known as “Mr. Kern County Fair,” also spearheaded an
effort to organize the first youth livestock auction at this fair.
On September 24, 1930, the Sixth Annual Kern County
Fair opened their gates to 14 community exhibits, 112 Kern
County school exhibits, and 100 individual commercial
exhibit buildings. However, during the depression in the
1930s, the fair closed their gates for two years. It was
then moved from the North Chester location to the current
location in 1952. The first fair at the current location was
only a five-day event. Nevertheless, throughout the years,
the Kern County Fair continued to extend their event until
they reached their current twelve-day stint starting in 1983.
Today, the Kern County Fair consists of 168 acres,
five large exhibit buildings, auction barn, livestock show
rings, grandstand, horse arenas, outdoor theater, several
community stages, and a large, well-groomed outdoor area
where they host over 400,000 people throughout the
twelve-day event. People can still enjoy many of the same
exhibitions, sales of food, livestock, and entertainment,
just in a larger, more updated scale. The grounds stay
maintained throughout the year with blooming flowers
and various foliage to host over 120 private interim events
with an estimated attendance over 700,000.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
182

QUALITY OF LIFE
183

KERN COUNTY
SUPERINTENDENT
OF SCHOOLS
÷
Below: Student leaders from Kern’s AVID program.
Opposite, top: Kern County Superintendent of Schools Christine Lizardi
Frazier (2009–present) visits a Ready to Start preschool classroom.
Opposite, bottom: Fish Derby for Richardson Center students.
As advocates for children, the Kern County Superintendent
of Schools provides leadership, education and support for
students, school districts, and the community through
programs, services and fiscal accountability.
California’s public education system consists of three
levels—state, district, and county. Regulations, funding and
fundamental policies are established at the state level, while
the day-to-day education of students is the responsibility of
individual school districts. County offices of education
are the third level and provide an important support system
for local schools and districts. Kern County Superintendent
of Schools (KCSOS), Kern County’s office of education,
does not oversee or govern any one Kern County district,
but rather serves and supports them all.
Specifically, KCSOS audits and approves district budgets,
helps formulate new curricula, and assists with staff development
and training programs in addition to a variety
of other services. KCSOS also has the responsibility of
monitoring districts for adequate textbooks, facilities and
teacher qualifications.
KCSOS provides support to Kern County’s forty-seven
local school districts in addition to serving students
that other districts cannot serve, including students in State
preschool, Alternative Education, and Special Education.
Among its many other responsibilities, KCSOS transports
students throughout the county and services vehicles for
other districts. The Superintendent of Schools also operates
KETN, Kern’s educational television station.
KCSOS operates the California Living Museum, Kern
County’s native zoo and wildlife rehabilitation center, and
Camp KEEP, which provides hands-on learning in natural
environments for students of all ages.
The history of KCSOS dates from the very early days of
Bakersfield. When Colonel Thomas Baker and his family
moved to what would later become known as Bakersfield in
1863, there were only five houses within a mile of the city’s
present day downtown. Soon after arriving at her new
home, Baker’s wife, Ellen, started a school in her home and
education in Kern County was born. KCSOS was formally
established on April 2, 1866, with the purpose of adopting
textbooks and establishing rules and regulations governing
the conduct of schools.
Kern County’s first Superintendent of Schools was
Joseph R. Riley, a twenty-seven-year-old physician who
served only three months before moving on to a long and
successful medical career in Bakersfield. One of the most
influential early superintendents was Lewis A. Beardsley, a
former principal and teacher at Bakersfield School, who was
elected to the post in 1874. Enrollment in county schools
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
184

grew under his leadership and a bond issue was approved
to fund a new $5,500 schoolhouse. Sixty-five of seventy-six
eligible voters approved of the bond issue.
Perhaps the individual who had the most impact on
education in the county’s early days was Alfred Harrell,
publisher of the Bakersfield Californian. Harrell was elected
Secretary of the Board of the Kern County Superintendent of
Schools in 1886. During his tenure, he developed a modern
course of study, lengthened the school year, and started
personal visits to schools throughout the county. He was
elected to three additional terms before retiring in 1898.
By 1896 there were fifty-six school districts in Kern
County, serving 2,644 students. By 1918, due to the oil
boom, there were 108 school districts. Currently, there are
forty-seven school districts serving almost 180,000 students.
Today, Kern High School District is California’s largest high
school district, serving some 37,000 students. Bakersfield
City School district is California’s largest elementary school
district, serving 30,000 students. Blake is one of California’s
smallest school districts, serving only eight students.
In more recent years, Kelly Blanton, who served as superintendent
from 1986 to 1999, created statewide subsidiaries
to serve hundreds of school districts throughout California
today. For example, Self-Insured Schools of California (SISC)
provides insurance services to districts, and the Fiscal
Crisis Management Team (FCMAT) helps California’s local
educational agencies fulfill their financial and management
responsibilities by providing fiscal advice, management
services, and training.
Larry Reider, superintendent from 1999 to 2009, helped
create the Target Reading First Collaborative, Kern County’s
first comprehensive approach to addressing illiteracy rates.
He also helped organize the Ready to Start program, a public/private
partnership that prepares children with little or
no pre-school experience to be ready for kindergarten.
Current Superintendent Christine Lizzardi Frazier,
who began in 2009, is the first elected female County
Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Frazier has reorganized
Kern County’s Office of Education to meet the districts
future needs and support the development and oversight
of Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) at each
district to honor local stakeholder input and prioritize
funding for targeted services. She has also created a countywide
effort to approach a renewed focus on Career
Technical Education strategically so the school districts
can create meaningful partnerships with local industry to
help student get real jobs in the community.
Ever since state lawmakers created the office of County
Superintendent of Schools nearly 165 years ago, the primary
mission of the County Superintendent has been to tailor
local solutions that best meet the needs of the students.
This approach will continue to govern KCSOS as it meets
the challenges of the future.
QUALITY OF LIFE
185

BAKERSFIELD
ADULT SCHOOL
Adults who are ready to open the door to their future
turn to Bakersfield Adult School (BAS), where they learn
English, study the history and culture of the United States,
strengthen their employability skills, or complete their high
school diploma. To help students thrive in the new digital age,
BAS also provides innovative technology to insure students
achieve digital literacy. Adult students return to school
because they know education is the key to their success.
BAS began operation in the basement of Kern Union High
School in 1917. Bakersfield Adult School celebrates its
centennial anniversary in the 2016-2017 school year. Since
then, more than 500,000 adult students have earned a
bright future through classes at BAS, which is part of the
Kern High School District.
BAS moved its main campus to its current site on South
Mount Vernon Street in 1985. The forty-nine-acre main
campus is adjacent to the Regional Occupational Center,
Adult Based Life Experience (ABLE), and Tierra Del Sol
Continuation High School. A satellite campus is located on
‘F’ Street, and adult education classes are also held at the
Lerdo Correctional Facility, BARC, and throughout local
school sites. In the fall of 2016, the school will open a
Culinary Arts program and a working café in conjunction
with Americans Job Center. In January 2017 a ‘One Stop Job
Spot’ will open in South Bakersfield to help train and serve
adult learners in that rapidly growing area.
BAS has been blessed with strong leadership throughout
its existence. Wallace Webster was named the first principal
of Bakersfield Adult School in 1957. Webster was followed by
Daniel Soelberg in 1982 through 1984. In 1984, Clint Osthimer
became principal and oversaw the construction and move of
the main campus to its current home on South Mount Vernon
Street and Highway 58. Dr. Dennis Scott took the reins at BAS
in 1994. At that time, the campus was serving more than 20,000
adult students per year, making it one of the largest adult
schools in California. Karen Christiansen became principal in
the fall of 1996 and served until the spring of 1998. Boyce
Caffee became principal in 1998 and grew enrollment to its
all-time high of nearly 28,000 students. Susan Handy became
principal in 2002 and developed the award-winning Health
Careers program that is currently located on ‘F’ Street in
downtown Bakersfield. Mark Wyatt was appointed principal in
2010. The Adult School took a new direction under Wyatt,
focusing on innovation, on-line learning and Career Technical
Education for rapidly changing local job and industry sectors.
The school has become a leader in tablet technology, not only
within its own district, but throughout the state.
The school currently serves approximately 12,000 students
each year in and around greater Bakersfield. BAS currently
grants about 300 high school diplomas each year, along with
an additional 250 GEDs and certificates for approximately
150 medical career students, including vocational nurses.
During the economic downturn and recession of
2006-2008, adult school funding was cut drastically and
many adult schools were forced to close or cut programs.
The Kern High School District maintained funding and
showed incredible foresight in riding out the storm until
the economic turnaround of 2014. Enrollment held steady
from 2010 through 2016.
BAS is part of Kern High School District (KHSD), the
nation’s largest 9 to 12 high school district, serving more than
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
186

35,000 students with 4,000 employees. KHSD campuses
comprise nearly 3,500 square miles, about forty-three percent
of the total area of Kern County.
Founded in 1893, KHSD includes 18 comprehensive
campuses, 5 alternative education campuses, 2 career
technical education sites, 4 special education centers, and
2 adult education center.
Through its students, faculty and staff, BAS is involved
with a number of community organizations, including Kern
Adult Literacy, Kern Economic Development, Kern County
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Kern County Chamber of
Commerce, Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce, and
Kern AEBG Consortium,
The future looks bright for adult education in Bakersfield.
Bakersfield Adult School has evolved into an efficient
educational institution with the ability to focus on the needs
of the community and the adult learners it serves. The
school is prepared to give its twenty-first century students
the very latest in technology and job readiness. BAS has built
stronger relationships with its local business partners and
higher education institutions in order to focus on transitioning
students to work and educational opportunities. Bakersfield
Adult School remains a critical factor in the economic
development within the Southern San Joaquin Valley.
To learn more about Bakersfield Adult School, check the
website BAS@kenhigh.org or on Twitter @BAS4yourfuture.
QUALITY OF LIFE
187

CLINICA SIERRA VISTA
÷
Right: Migrant and seasonal workers at work in the fields.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ISTOCK PHOTO.
Below: Dr. Anuradha Rao with one of her many patients.
Clinica Sierra Vista (originally called the Kern Liberation
Movement, then Clinica de los Campesinos), was established
in 1971 to provide healthcare services to poor migrant and
seasonal farmworkers who harvest the lush agricultural fields
in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Clinica’s service area
now encompasses several thousand square miles of rural
farmland, urban centers, desert, and mountains in Kern,
Fresno and Inyo Counties. Clinica serves a geographically
dispersed, low-moderate-fixed income, ethnically diverse,
frontier-rural-urban-migrant-homeless patient population.
The service area is challenged by a host of unfavorable
socio-economic conditions—poverty, high unemployment,
increased high school dropout rates, low literacy rates, high
teen pregnancy rates, high crime rates, lack of access to fresh
quality foods, and serious environmental conditions. Among
Clinica’s patient population, nearly 70 percent live below
the federal poverty level; 90 percent live below 200 percent
of the federal poverty level. The poor health indicators facing
our communities include diabetes, hypertension, obesity,
dental caries, tobacco and substance abuse, as well as many
other conditions. The service area also suffers from a persistent
shortage of primary care physicians, in comparison to
other parts of California and the nation. Clinica’s core mission
is to provide healthcare access to the most medically
vulnerable people and improve the quality of life for
low-income, underserved community residents of all ages.
Clinica Sierra Vista is a federally-qualified health center
(FQHC), providing primary care, health education and
prevention services, perinatal care, social services, case management,
WIC, and enrollment assistance to underserved
populations and other marginalized and isolated groups. The
organization provides its patients with high-quality services
at the most efficient cost, regardless of a person’s ability
to pay. In addition to primary medical services, Clinica
provides comprehensive dental and behavioral healthcare
services. Additionally, the organization operates two fortyfoot
mobile units that are capable of providing both medical
and dental services in a variety of locations. Clinica has been
accredited by The Joint Commission, the standard-bearer
of quality for healthcare facilities, since 1998. As of 2016,
Clinica Sierra Vista provides its services in over seventy
different sites throughout its service area.
The organization has grown substantially since its inception—from
one storefront clinic in Weedpatch, California, to
one of the largest comprehensive community/migrant health
center systems in the nation. Over the course of its history,
Clinica has responded to emerging health needs by
establishing services in impoverished and often isolated
communities. As an example, one of the health centers, the
McFarland Community Health Center, was established in
direct response to a childhood cancer cluster that was
identified in the 1980s. Clinica has been responsible for
bringing much-needed healthcare services to communities
that previously had no access to care, including Frazier Park/
Lebec, Arvin, Delano, Lake Isabella, Wofford Heights, and
Shoshone. In 2008, Clinica absorbed a failing community
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
188

÷
Left: Ribbon cutting at the Baker Street Village Community Health Center.
Bottom, left: Adan Romero Lopez and Arlenis Barroso Perez,
resident physicians.
Below: The Elm Community Health Center.
Bottom: The East Niles Community Health Center & Dental Center.
health center (Sequoia Community Health Foundation)
located in Fresno. Had Clinica not stepped up, more than
40,000 low-income children and adults would have lost
access to their medical and dental homes in the greater
Fresno area.
In addition to providing direct patient care services,
Clinica Sierra Vista began the Rio Bravo Family Medicine
Residency Program in 2014, in order to participate in the
training of new physicians to help meet the great need in
the Valley for primary care providers. This “Teaching Health
Center,” accredited by the ACGME, is affiliated with the
UCLA School of Medicine.
Clinica Sierra Vista is a nonprofit organization, governed
by a community, patient-based board of directors. The
organization is consistently recognized locally and nationally
as a model of excellence. Among its accolades, Clinica
received the nation’s Migrant Health Center of the Year
award in 2010.
Clinica Sierra Vista has always embodied the characteristics
of a medical home, providing accessible, continuous,
coordinated, comprehensive, family-centered, compassionate,
and culturally-appropriate services to its special patient
populations. Clinica’s staff members are from the communities
it serves, and we are deeply rooted in our mission that
no one is denied services based on who they are, where
they live, or what they earn. Our high-performing team of
professionals has built a sustainable system of care, serving
as an anchor organization and a catalyst for making overall
changes to the improving quality of life of both our patients
and the greater community, becoming a bridge of opportunity
and hope. Wherever our patients are, we speak your
language, honor your traditions, value your experiences,
and want you to be well.
QUALITY OF LIFE
189

HISTORIC UNION CEMETERY
The oldest cemetery in Bakersfield, Historic Union
Cemetery, was established in 1872 with the burial of Colonel
Thomas Baker, the founder of Bakersfield. Colonel Baker
moved to Kern County in the middle of the nineteenth
century and ultimately settled in what was then known
as Kern Island. A prosperous lawyer, politician, and
businessman, Baker hand-selected the parcel of land as
the place he wanted to “Lay (his) bones.”
Baker’s grave in 1872 marked the beginning of Union
Cemetery, which for nearly 150 years, has been the resting
place of thousands of pioneers and settlers, Civil War
soldiers, prominent local families, cowboys, farmers, bankers
and builders—remarkable men and women who have
shaped the community’s history.
Union Cemetery is so named because, in the late 1800s,
both the City of Bakersfield and the City of Sumner had
old, neglected and rundown cemeteries. The newspaper
complained about them so much that when Colonel Baker
was buried at the present location, the townspeople wanted
that area to become the new cemetery. The
county bought the property and the name
of Union Cemetery was adopted when the
two cemeteries were united as one. The term
‘Historic’ was added to the name in 2012
in recognition of the history and heritage
preserved here.
Union Cemetery is owned and managed by
the Union Cemetery Association, a nonprofit
organization that has cared for the property
continuously since 1904. Union Cemetery
continues to serve area residents with a wide
variety of burial and cremation properties at
the eighty acre, one-of-a-kind memorial park.
The most recent additions to the park are
the new Heritage Pavilion featuring a beautiful
selection of cremation niches and an outdoor all-faiths
committal chapel, and the Garden of Innocence, a moving
and solemn burial place for unidentified infants that have
been abandoned.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
190

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF GREG IGER.
QUALITY OF LIFE
191

SAN JOAQUIN
VETERINARY HOSPITAL
Dr. Tom Willis grew up in the Lamont area of Bakersfield
and even after earning his veterinary degree and working
in the northern part of the Central Valley for fifteen years,
he always dreamed of moving back home.
Dr. Willis was raised on the family farm his father
established in Southwest Bakersfield after his return from
World War II. In addition to farming, Stanley Willis served
as president of the Kern-Delta Water Association as well
as serving on the Arvin-Edison Water Board.
Growing up on a farm exposed Dr. Willis to a variety of
animals and by the age of thirteen, he had his mind made
up—he wanted to become a veterinarian, although he was
not exactly sure what a vet did.
After graduation from UC Davis, Dr. Willis began
practicing veterinary medicine in the northern part of the
Central Valley. His main practice focused on large animals
and dairy medicine.
With deep roots and a long family history in the area,
Dr. Willis and his wife, Linda, nurtured the idea of returning
to Bakersfield. After fifteen years away from home, they
began traveling to Bakersfield at least twice a month to scope
out the best location for starting a mixed animal practice.
“The area had changed tremendously since Tom had lived in
Bakersfield, but there were still the familiar family spots—
Luigi’s, Woolgrowers, and, of course, Dewars,” Linda says.
“The first place the Lord led us to was a ten-acre parcel of
land farthest west of Bakersfield. It turned out to be the ideal
location. The projected growth rate in the area was phenomenal
and it certainly lived up to and beyond expectations.”
Groundbreaking for the new veterinary hospital at
3441 Allen Road took place at the beginning of 2000 and
the building was ready for occupancy in June.
“The first day we opened our doors, we had three client
files on the shelf,” Linda recalls. “Each time the front door
would open or the phone would ring, we answered in
anticipation of greeting another future client. We were in
a rather remote area of Northwest Bakersfield that hadn’t
seen its full growth yet, but as the years have passed the
area has become vibrant with homes and businesses and is
still growing.
“Upon arriving in Bakersfield, we discovered the
Marketplace on Ming Avenue. It was the gathering place for
shopping, moving and eating. The Northwest Promenade,
a wonderful asset to the area, had yet to be built, nor had
the Shops at River Walk. We were so thrilled at the prospect
of being in a new, thriving and growing area,” explains
Linda, who now serves as the hospital’s practice manager.
As with any new business, the early start-up times were
demanding, frustrating and fretful. The new veterinary
hospital would be empty one moment and full of clients
the next. Through advertising, but especially through word
of mouth, the practice grew steadily to its current status.
“We feel truly blessed to serve the hardworking people
of Bakersfield who have allowed us to be a part of their
pet’s care,” Linda says.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
192

San Joaquin Veterinary Hospital began in 2000 with
three clients and currently serves more than 16,000. The
facility provides full-service animal medicine and surgery,
including routine care, sick and injured treatments, dentals,
emergencies and orthopedics. The practice also cares for
equine, pocket pets and farm animals and livestock.
Boarding and grooming services are also available.
When Dr. Willis learned Kern County had an unfortunate
reputation for having a ‘high kill’ rate in its county animal
shelters, he decided to do something about it. The practices’
mobile veterinary hospital was utilized to provide spay
and neuter surgeries in many outlying areas of Kern County.
The mobile unit was set up in Maricopa, Buttonwillow,
Arvin, Lake Isabella, Tehachapi, and Portersville. Kern County
is now fast becoming a ‘No-Kill’ area.
“We love working with the many nonprofits that promote
animal welfare,” Linda says. “We have strong relationships
with local shelters that also team with some of the nonprofits
to provide spay and neuter services to dogs and cats, which
are then placed in ‘forever homes’. Through the years, we
have been able to donate our time to spay or neuter more
than 3,000 animals.”
San Joaquin Veterinary Hospital has been the consulting
veterinarian for the California Living Museum (CALM) for
many years, working with the museum’s staff to provide care
to their animals indigenous to California. This experience has
included providing x-rays for a four-month-old mountain lion.
Dr. Willis and Linda are proud of their fabulous
staff, some of whom have been with the practice since it
opened. “Our receptionists, technicians and kennel staff
are exceptional in their care of the animals they tend to.
They go above and beyond—even after hours—to provide
the best medicine possible,” Linda explains.
The Willis’ two children have also been involved in caring
for the animals. Their son, Tommy, is currently attending
Kansas State University in the pre-vet program, and their
daughter, Natalie, is a sophomore at the local high school.
“We have found Bakersfield to be a great place to raise
our children and grow our practice,” Linda says.
QUALITY OF LIFE
193

CENTRE FOR
NEURO SKILLS
÷
Right: Dr. Mark J. Ashley, founder, president, and CEO of Centre for
Neuro Skills.
Below: The Centre for Neuro Skills flagship clinic is located on Ashe Road
in Bakersfield.
In 1980, when Dr.
Mark J. Ashley founded
Centre for Neuro Skills
(CNS), he had just three
patients. All people in
need of care are vital to
him, but one in particular
was extraordinary. It was
his older brother, Steve
Ashley, who had suffered
an aneurysm while serving
in the military.
The previously gregarious Steve could not speak, walk, or
eat without assistance. He had lost control of his ability to
move and respond to his environment. Stricken by a brain
injury, he struggled to do the simple things most of us take
for granted.
In Steve’s hospital room, the Ashley family looked on in
hopelessness. The only sign of life was his chest moving up
and down as a machine kept him breathing. They knew that
the life he once lived was over.
“At the time, treatment for brain injury was very limited,”
Dr. Ashley recalls.
Steve’s stark disability triggered something in Dr. Ashley.
That something has evolved into CNS, a world-renowned
post-acute neurologic treatment facility that has provided
intensive therapy for thousands of people with brain injury.
“I’m not someone you say ‘No’ to,” Dr. Ashley says of his
tenacity. “Conventional wisdom was that Steve’s brain would
never send signals to the muscles of his body.”
But Dr. Ashley defied conventional wisdom and opened
CNS with a staff of ten. He was twenty-three years old at
the time.
Today, the corporate headquarters are in a state-of-the-art
clinical facility in Bakersfield, a 28,000 square foot building
that includes a therapeutic pool with water current features,
advanced therapeutic technology, specialized research
equipment, medical offices, counseling suites, a patient computer
and education training center, and executive offices.
The company has grown to 750 employees, and now
has locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Dallas.
CNS provides medical and rehabilitative treatment to
people who have sustained a brain injury from trauma,
hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, tumors, lack of oxygen,
and infections.
Dr. Ashley’s personal experience of caring for and treating
his brother created a family culture at CNS that extends to
staff, patients, and relatives of patients. In fact, his passion
for treating people with brain injury has inspired many
members of his family to join the company.
Sue Ashley, Dr. Ashley’s wife, is the Executive Vice
President of Clinical Services. Two of Dr. Ashley’s sons also
work with the company. Matthew J. Ashley, M.D., J.D., is a
Consulting Neurologist and Nicholas A. Ashley, J.D., is the
General Counsel.
Other relatives serve in key roles as well. They include:
Vice President Ellen Katomski, Clinical Services; National
Project Manager Steve Katomski; Controller Lindsay Ashley;
Neuroscientist Jessica Ashley, Ph.D; and Case Manager
Assistant Victoria Katomski.
Many employees have been with the company for more
than thirty years.
A crucial and unique aspect of CNS treatment focuses
on neurobehavioral intervention for patients struggling
to manage their emotions and behavior. This intensive
treatment helps people develop appropriate responses, communication
and skills that support successful community
re-entry. Staff behavior analysts are specially trained and
licensed, and work with patients daily to correct aggression
and difficulties that may impede a return to normalcy.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
194

Brain injury impairs the ability to carry out simple
duties, such as self-care, safety practices, cooking, shopping,
cleaning, learning to budget, hygiene, managing medications,
integrating into the community, and returning to work. Many
patients participate in the CNS residential rehabilitation
program, which helps individuals to regain mastery of these
meaningful skills in a home-like setting near each clinic.
This emphasis on independence is a treatment philosophy
as well as a driving force behind CNS’ success. It can
be summarized in a core company ethic—“Patients Don’t
Plateau.” All employees live by this credo.
A highly skilled, trained, and educated clinical staff
provide individualized treatment planning focused on
skill-building, achieving patient goals, and independence
post-injury. Treating the complexities of brain injury require
an interdisciplinary team that specializes in the therapy
domains of cognition, physical, occupational, speech, education,
counseling, and medicine.
CNS also has a respected research department, led by
neuroscientists whose work appears in such esteemed publications
as the Journal of Neurotrauma. Their articles focus on cost
effectiveness and traumatic brain injury care, growth hormone
deficiency in patients, and neuropathology and exercise,
among other topics that advance understanding of brain injury.
In his thirty-five years as a thought leader and patient
advocate, Dr. Ashley has become a noted expert in the field
of neurotrauma, having lectured globally on treatment
outcome, best practices, and neurodegenerative processes.
He authored Traumatic Brain Injury: Rehabilitation, Treatment,
and Case Management, now in its fourth edition.
Both the Ashleys and CNS staff are clearly driven
to accomplish great things. But as a family-owned and
operated company, CNS has never
strayed from the memory of Steve
Ashley. Having walked the path of
devastation, the Ashleys make sure
that patients’ loved ones are honored
and cared for.
“Brain injury is a shock to the
family,” Dr. Ashley says. “It disrupts
the entire home structure. The oncecompetent
parent, executive, student,
or coed is now shattered—unrecognizable
in some instances—and the
entire family must heal.”
CNS family counseling helps loved
ones acknowledge the injury and
rebuild together.
“Every one of our patients is a
Steve Ashley,” he observes. “We treat
everyone as if they are family.”
÷
Above: Two therapists demonstrate use of the ZeroG Gait and Balance
System, which helps patients to regain skills of walking and balancing.
Left: CNS’ Bakersfield clinical facility has a state-of-the-art therapeutic pool
with water current features, which helps patients regain strength and agility.
QUALITY OF LIFE
195

BAKERSFIELD FIRE
DEPARTMENT
÷
Below: BFD steam fire engine #2, c. 1900.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE BAKERSFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Below: BFD Heavy Task Force #1.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE BAKERSFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The Bakersfield Fire Department (BFD) is a multi-dimensional
public safety organization, and includes an “all-risk”
approach in its emergency service delivery system. The BFD
provides fire suppression, emergency medical services,
heavy and technical rescue, hazardous materials mitigation,
water rescue, arson investigation, fire code enforcement,
emergency medical dispatching, public service and
assistance, and other life safety services around-the-clock
to a growing community of over 370,000 citizens.
The Bakersfield Fire Department was formally established
on May 13, 1877, as the official fire department of
the then unincorporated City of Bakersfield. The department
has been in continual operation since that inception
date, and has been in operation longer than any other fire
department in Kern County.
After suffering several disastrous conflagrations in 1890,
1898 and 1904, local leaders decided they would never
allow the community to be devastated by another massive
fire again. From that point forward, the BFD began its rise
as a progressive and respected west coast fire department.
In the early 1900s, the
Bakersfield Fire Department
served the community with a
fleet of “steamer” fire engines,
hook and ladder trucks, chemical
fire engines, and hose wagons.
These early firefighting machines
were faithfully pulled by at least
twenty-five noble BFD fire horses
with names like Prince, Ned,
King and Mike. The last BFD fire
horse made its final alarm run
and was sent out to pasture in
1914, the year the department
was completely motorized.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the department grew to four
central fire stations serving a commercial core and residential
perimeter. The firefighting fleet consisted of many
state-of-the-art apparatus, including early motorized fire
engines that pumped thousands of gallons of water through
massive deck guns.
City firefighters protected the young but urbanized
Bakersfield, stopping major commercial blazes in the
downtown area through sheer will and a barrage of water
from brass nozzles. BFD Firefighters routinely found
themselves in harm’s way due to exposure to clouds of
noxious smoke and collapses of unreinforced masonry
structures that were prevalent in the central district.
Progressive chief fire officers began to rise through the
ranks and implement improvements to fire suppression
and fire alarm systems that would set the standard for
future fire protection in the City of Bakersfield. In 1956
the Bakersfield Fire Department was awarded the highest
ISO rating in the United States—and a “class 1 fire department”
designation.
Today, the Bakersfield Fire Department operates with
240 sworn, support, and reserve personnel deployed from
fourteen fire stations located throughout the city ready to
meet challenges within the community, region and state.
The BFD is an insurance services office (ISO) rated class 2
fire department, residing in the top 1.5 percent of fire
departments nationwide.
The men and women of the Bakersfield Fire Department
are among the finest the community has to offer. Newly
appointed BFD Recruit Firefighters attend the academically
rigorous and physically challenging twenty-four week BFD
Fire Academy. BFD Recruit Firefighters that are successful are
then assigned to BFD Probationary Firefighters status, and
spend a year working in the field under the guidance of
tenured BFD Fire Officers.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
196

BFD Firefighters spend a significant amount of their career
training for the complex, three-dimensional life safety problems
they will be called upon to deal with in the local urban environment.
The department is proud to offer a diverse workforce
of dedicated personnel possessing a variety of skills,
talents, and abilities. BFD personnel are motivated public
service professionals, dedicated to serving their community.
The Bakersfield Fire Department participates in regionalized
fire services and jointly operates the Emergency
Communications Center (ECC) and the Olive Drive Fire
Training Facility (ODFTF). Additionally, the BFD operates its
own Southeast Live Fire Training Site with state-of-the-art,
computerized, clean-burning, fire-fueled props that allow for
environmentally friendly and safe firefighting training sessions.
As a participating agency in the State Master Mutual Aid
System, the BFD deploys firefighters to numerous largescale
incidents across California every year. BFD Firefighters
assist, along with many other agencies, in mitigating fires
and other disasters threatening communities that require
reinforced, statewide assistance.
The BFD also provides a wide array of non-emergency
services related to fire prevention, fire safety education, fire
code inspections, and disaster preparedness. The department
values community alliances and public participation as part
of its service delivery process through collaborative mitigation
efforts with the Salvation Army and Red Cross, partnerships
with various community groups, nonprofit organizations
and governmental agencies. The BFD Community Services
Office assists with many media and public access requests,
as well as providing the timely dissemination of public
information and social media engagement.
The Bakersfield Fire Department is the parent organization
to numerous BFD nonprofit organizations that serve
the community including the Bakersfield Firefighters’
Burn Foundation (BFBF), Bakersfield Firefighters’ Relief
Association (BFRA), Bakersfield Firefighters’ Historical
Society (BFHS), and Bakersfield Professional Firefighters’
Local 246 (BPF).
The Bakersfield Fire Department is a dedicated local public
safety agency and widely respected fire service organization.
The men and women of the BFD are proud and honored
to be part of a tradition of city fire service that began over 140
years ago, and look forward to carrying out their very important
mission in this century as “Bakersfield’s Firefighters.”
÷
Above: BFD engine firefighters engage a brush fire.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TREY SPOONER.
Top, left: BFD truck firefighters deploy hoselines.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DAN MILLER.
Left: BFD engine firefighters in structural firefight.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ROY PEÑA.
Bottom: BFD truck firefighters ventilate.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DAN MILLER.
QUALITY OF LIFE
197

BAKERSFIELD PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 246
BPF is a nonprofit organization and collaborates with other
nonprofit organizations that are affiliated with the Bakersfield
Fire Department, including the Bakersfield Firefighters Relief
Association, the Bakersfield Firefighters Burn Foundation and
the Bakersfield Firefighters Historical Society. Collaboration
with the other Bakersfield Fire Department affiliated nonprofit
organizations has allowed BPF members to participate
in numerous charitable events such as “Fill the Boot” for
Muscular Dystrophy, Firefighters Creating Memories,
“Fill the Helmet” for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and a
local “Trunk or Treat” event, just to name a few.
÷
Above: BPF Station tours.
Right: BPF members support MDA Fill-the-Boot Drive.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TBC MEDIA.
Bakersfield Professional Firefighters Local 246 (BPF)
represents more than 170 uniformed personnel employed
by the Bakersfield Fire Department. BPF works in close
coordination with both the staff of the Bakersfield Fire
Department and the city manager’s office to ensure that the
highest quality of service and protection are provided to
the citizens of Bakersfield.
A majority of firefighters enter the profession because
they have a profound desire to help others and be a part of
solutions to some of life’s greatest crises. This desire to help
others often transcends into the lives of many firefighters
away from the job, compelling them to continue with their
sense of service. BPF members are a great example of the
civic minded, helpful people that many associate with being
a firefighter.
Information about the Bakersfield Professional Firefighters
may be found at www.bakersfieldfirefighters.com.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
198

Bakersfield Heart Hospital, Kern County’s heart and
vascular leader, is focused on providing the latest and most
effective technologies and treatments for its patients. By specializing
on the nation’s number one killer, Bakersfield Heart
Hospital gives patients the benefits of advanced technology
while also providing services to meet their individual needs.
The concept for a specialized heart hospital began
in 1995 when a group of local physicians organized an
ambitious project to bring a new standard of heart and
vascular care to Bakersfield. A partnership was formed and
the concept of a forty-seven-bed hospital dedicated to
patient-focused care began to take shape.
During construction of the center at 3001 Sillect Avenue
many of the first employees were actually housed across
the street in the Stevenson Building. Staff members created
policies and procedures, ordered supplies and got everything
ready to open as they watched the facility being constructed.
Staff members were used during ‘trial run’ exercises to
be sure the staff, equipment and supplies were ready prior
to opening. Some of the staff even served as mock patients
during training exercises. Bakersfield Heart Hospital opened
its doors to the community in 1999.
BHH provides 47 private in-patient beds, 3 operating
rooms with complete facilities for heart and vascular surgery,
4 cardiac catheterization labs with 1 lab equipped for
electrophysiology, 11 outpatient surgery beds, an 8-bed
emergency department, and the most technologically
advanced cardiovascular equipment.
The original focus of BHH was on cardiac care, but other
services have been added through the years to meet
the needs of the community. A Women’s Heart Center was
added in 2012 to provide education about the unique
symptoms of heart disease among women. The women’s
center provides information about heart disease risk factors
and early detection of heart disease.
A Center for Wound Healing was added in 2014 because
Kern County has a high incidence of diabetics who must
contend with wounds that will not heal. The center has two
hyperbaric chambers and podiatrists and plastic surgeons
are available for consultation.
BHH also has a Joint Replacement Program that provides
a ‘Joint Camp’ where patients and family members learn
about the procedures and hear first-hand from the care team
what to expect before and after surgery.
Bakersfield Heart Hospital is very active in the community.
Staff members participate in the Go Red for Women and
Heart Walk each year. The hospital partners with Central
Cardiology physicians to present heart health topics to various
groups, clubs and businesses. BHH also offers screenings
for businesses and has partnered with Olivia’s Heart Project to
screen teens and young adults for heart related abnormalities.
BAKERSFIELD
HEART HOSPITAL
QUALITY OF LIFE
199

GEMCARE
÷
Above: GEMCare’s Comprehensive Care Center.
Below: The GEMCare main office on California Avenue.
Today’s complicated and confusing medical care system
makes it difficult for patients to choose the best medical care
available for their particular need. Navigating today’s world of
healthcare is not easy, but GEMCare Medical Group is providing
an option for more and more individuals and businesses.
GEMCare has served the community since 1992 and now
offers a variety of plans and benefits, including more than
130 highly rated primary care centers and 200 specialty care
physicians. GEMCare serves members in Bakersfield and
the outlying communities of Arvin, Delano, Lake Isabella,
Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi and Wasco. Members have access to
Dignity Health, Mercy and Memorial Hospitals, as well as
available treatment at five urgent care locations. Equally
important is access to care management and wellness
services to keep you and your family healthy year-round.
GEMCare was first organized in 1991 when a group of
physicians saw the need for another healthcare option in
Kern County and organized as an Independent Practice
Association (IPA).
In 2010, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital and Mercy
Hospitals, in a joint venture with GEMCare physicians, created
a new organization known as GEMCare Mercy Memorial
Health System (GMMHS). This organization was formed to
provide an integrated healthcare delivery system that would
ensure a comprehensive approach to total patient care.
A key component in the integrated system is the
Comprehensive Care Center (CCC). The CCC was formed to
improve the quality of care for members through a holistic,
patient-centered, team-based collaboration of medical and
allied professionals. This clinic for medically high-risk
patients has received the highest level of national recognition
as a NCQA Patient Centered Medical Home is located near
downtown Bakersfield.
The NCQA seal is a widely recognized symbol of quality.
For consumers and employers, this seal is a reliable indicator
that an organization is well-managed and delivers high
quality care and service.
GEMCare has gathered the finest group of medical
providers, including a Physician Board Certified in Internal
Medicine and Geriatrics, Nurse Practitioners, RN Case
Managers, Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Clinical
Pharmacists and health educators. All work together to
enhance delivery of member’s healthcare. CCC members
have a thirty-five percent reduction in emergency room visits
and a twenty percent reduction in admissions to the hospital.
Patients are extremely satisfied with their healthcare,
averaging 4.8 on a 5-point scale.
GEMCare is leading the way to a new model of care delivery
by remaining true to its core values of responsibility,
compassion, education, and support.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
200

The historical documents of Greenlawn Memorial Park,
founded in 1931 by Ed Helm (1891-1952), begin with
this creed:
“We believe in Life Eternal—a life supremely happy. We
believe that those of us left behind should be glad in the true
belief that those gone before have entered into that happier
life. We believe most of all, in a God who smiles and loves
you and me. We therefore know the cemeteries of yesterday
are obsolete and that they depict an end, not a beginning.
They have consequently become antiquated places that do
nothing for humanity save a practical act.
“We therefore prayerfully resolve that we shall endeavor to
build Greenlawn Memorial Park as different, as unlike other
cemeteries as sunshine is unlike darkness, as Eternal Life
is unlike Death. We shall endeavor to build at Greenlawn
a great park, devoid of misshapen monuments and other
customary signs of earthly Death, but filled with sweeping
lawns, majestic trees, cheerful flowers, splashing fountains
and beautiful, winding roads and pathways. We
believe these things add to the general betterment
of the community.
“Greenlawn shall become a place where lovers
new and old will want to stroll and watch the setting
sun, planning for the future and reminiscing
of the past, where the sacred bonds of marriage
are solemnized; a place where children romp and
play; where artists study and sketch; and where
the sorrowing will be comforted because it will be
God’s garden. A place that shall be protected by
an adequate Perpetual Care Fund, the principal
of which can never be expended.”
With the Ed Helm Monument Company
established in 1927, Ed forged ahead with his
dream. After the opening of the cemetery
overlooking the Bluffs in Northeast Bakersfield,
construction began on a mortuary office in 1941, making
Greenlawn the first in Bakersfield to provide both the
undertaking and cemetery services in one location. After
Ed’s death, his son, Marshall Helm, carried on the vision.
The business opened a location in Hemet, California, in
1975, and the expansion continued on Panama Lane in
the Southwest part of Bakersfield with Greenlawn Southwest
Memorial Park opening in 1974 and Greenlawn Southwest
Mortuary in 1978. The groundbreaking in 2011 of the
Celebration of Life Center further expanded the Southwest
location with a chapel that seats over 500, a flower shop, and
a reception area. Greenlawn acquired Wood Family Funeral
Service in Tehachapi in 2007, and The Woods Pavilion, An
Outdoor Event Center, was opened in the summer of 2014.
Representing the third generation, Ed’s grandchildren
are involved in what is now known as Greenlawn Funeral
Homes, Cremations and Cemeteries, and the dedication to
the families of Kern County continues.
÷
Left: The Greenlawn Memorial Park Fountain of Chimes.
Below: Ed and Lucille Helm.
GREENLAWN
FUNERAL HOMES-
CREMATIONS-CEMETERIES
QUALITY OF LIFE
201

HOUCHIN COMMUNITY
BLOOD BANK
In times of illness or accident, a safe and adequate blood
supply is essential to a patient’s treatment and recovery.
Since 1953 the Houchin Community Blood Bank has
collected and provided this precious supply of blood for
residents of Kern County. Blood collected from volunteer
donors is manufactured into multiple products, including
red blood cells, platelets and plasma for human transfusion.
The Blood Bank serves eleven hospitals, cancer, burn and
transfusion centers in Kern County.
The organization’s history traces from the early 1940s
when a group of local physicians and interested residents
met at the offices of Doctors Coker, Crawley and Varney to
discuss the need for a nonprofit community blood bank.
Because of the lack of blood supply in Kern County, blood
had to be shipped from Los Angeles or San Francisco and
these deliveries could not meet the critical need for blood.
At the time, Kern General Hospital—now Kern Medical—
was the only facility equipped to draw and test blood.
In 1951, members of the Kern County Medical Society
called a meeting with C. Elmer Houchin, also a member of
the group, to discuss a permanent location for a future
community blood bank. Houchin donated a location on
G Street in downtown Bakersfield in memory of his mother,
Sarah Alice Houchin. Additional donations and endowment
funds allowed the blood bank to open in April 1952.
In the early days, there were no mobile collection buses
and blood drives were set up on tables at businesses,
churches and other locations. Most blood was collected
at one donor center in glass bottles, which did not provide
a long shelf life. Donors were scarce and sometimes had
to be called on in the middle of the night to meet urgent
patient needs. A variety of ‘donation clubs’ such as the
‘10 Gallon Donor Club’ were used to increase interest
in donations. Today, the Blood Bank has more than
1,200 donors who have given ten gallons or more.
A new donor center was constructed at 5901 Truxtun
Avenue in May 1988. Followed by a new headquarters
at 11515 Bolthouse Drive on land donated by the William
Bolthouse family in February 2013. More than a hundred
people are employed at the two locations. Greg Gallion
serves as president and CEO.
More than 18,000 volunteer donors are greeted each
year at the Truxtun and Bolthouse Donor Centers and at
mobile drives held throughout Kern County. As a result of
these generous donations, Houchin Community Blood Bank
is able to supply more than 8,000 platelets and 30,000 units
of red cells for patient needs annually as it continues to live
its motto: ‘People Live when People Give.’
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
202

It takes a special kind
of physician to treat patients
with pulmonary (lung)
diseases, and Alpha J.
Anders MD, FCCP of
Bakersfield, California, is
that type of doctor. He
opened his private practice,
Comprehensive Pulmonary
and Critical Care Associates,
seventeen years ago. He
takes pride in delivering state-of-the art personal care
to patients with various pulmonary diseases along with
Heidi He DNP, MSN, FNP-C. “We get to know our patients
personally. We have the latest diagnostic, treatments, and
technology available; at our office a human being actually
answers the telephone,” he says, smiling.
Dr. Anders, a diplomat of the American Board of Internal
Medicine in critical care, pulmonary and internal medicine,
treats any lung disease from asthma to chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) and other lung disorders
in between. Heidi He, a certified nurse-practitioner, who
obtained her doctorate in the science of nursing, assists
him with treating and educating pulmonary patients about
their diseases. They adhere to the practice’s mission of
“Where caring is an art and healing is a science.”
Lung diseases make it hard for patients to breathe; therefore,
Dr. Anders is a proponent of avoiding cigarettes and
other chemical irritants that can cause lung disease years
following exposure. “Pulmonary patients should check local
news outlets for poor air quality that can aggravate their
conditions and make breathing more difficult.
“Some patients aren’t aware they have lung disease until
they develop a cough or feel out of breath walking, climbing
stairs, or exercising. Still, exercise is a vital component for
anyone suffering from lung disease. But, it takes a special,
structured-type of exercise,” he adds. “With many chronic
lung disorders, the airflow is disrupted in and out of
patients’ lungs and reduces functionality. Many (but not all)
patients use oxygen to breathe. My practice is centered
on helping patients achieve optimal health and maintain a
good quality of life.”
Dr. Anders is triple board certified in pulmonology,
critical care, and internal medicine. He is a member of
Healthgrades’ Honor Roll, never having received board
action, sanction, or adverse malpractice issues. He has been
on the organization’s honor roll eighteen times, and received
seven Healthgrades awards.
He has served as chief of staff at both Mercy Hospitals,
and president of the Kern County Medical Society. He has
been a mentor to physicians in training. A graduate of
Cornell Medical University, he served his residency in
Denver, followed by a pulmonary fellowship at USC.
Heidi obtained her nursing degree in Bakersfield. She
holds a Master of Science degree from UCLA and a Doctor
of Advanced Nursing Practice degree from San Jose State.
She is the coordinator of the Nurse Practitioner program at
California State University Bakersfield.
÷
ALPHA J. ANDERS, MD,
FCCP
Above: Dr. Alpha J. Anders, MD, doctor of pulmonary, critical care and
internal medicine.
Below: Dr. Anders and his nursing staff.
QUALITY OF LIFE
203

BAKERSFIELD
MUSIC HALL OF FAME
Bakersfield is a city full of music history and the
Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame is dedicated to promoting
and cherishing it, from its Dust Bowl roots to its contemporary
manifestations. The Hall of Fame, located in the city’s
beautiful downtown arts district, celebrates legends like
Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Susan Raye, Billy Mize,
Hank Thompson, Bonnie Owens, Tommy Collins and Red
Simpson, to name a few. But Bakersfield is not just country.
Artists such as Lawrence Tibbett, star of the New York
Metropolitan Opera; blues great Luther Davis; jazz virtuoso
Mary Osborne; and chart-topping thrash-metal-rap act
Korn have also made their marks. Now Bakersfield has a
place specifically dedicated to recognizing them for their
contributions to our musical city.
The Hall of Fame is more than that, though. It is a
musical venue built with great, detailed workmanship. It is
a state-of-the-art performing arts theater built with sound
and lighting standards that will please the most discerning
and adventurous listener. One of the Hall of Fame’s primary
goals is to help nurture and establish up-and-coming
hopefuls, much like what the Bluebird Café has done for
musicians and songwriters in Nashville, Tennessee. Two
fully equipped recording studios capable of producing
top-caliber recordings are producing everything from
commercial jingles to music in the finest tradition of the
true Bakersfield Sound. The Hall of Fame’s founders,
Bakersfield country singer Kim McAbee and her husband,
Kyle Carter, one of Bakersfield’s finest homebuilders,
together have brought a unique and heartfelt venue to the
music community of Bakersfield.
The original building, once used by a shipping company,
is over 100 years old. The original architecture of concrete
walls, exposed ceiling trusses, exquisite hardwood floors
and wood stained slats creates the right ambiance. The
original charm is intact, but renovations have created an
intimate, up-close concert setting. Each month the Hall of
Fame hosts new performers and events; artists make their
way into one of the studios; and the gift shop bustles with
local folks’ music, books and other merchandise. Whatever
the occasion—weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries,
business conferences or social mixers—the Hall of Fame
is equipped to host it. Memberships are available to all,
whether they are musicians or music enthusiasts. This is
an establishment that will surely continue to add to
Bakersfield’s legacy of great music. Folks are already
stopping by from all over the world and you will surely
want to see the transformation as well. History is once
again in the making! For more information, visit the Hall
of Fame’s website at www.bakersfieldmusichalloffame.com.
Or call (661) 864-1701.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
204

No one deserves to be hired more than our nation’s veterans.
To help connect veterans with jobs, Chevron has partnered
with the Kern County Veterans Service Department
to design, develop, and implement the Kern Patriot
Partnership. The partnership provides an online portal to
match the skills, knowledge, and dedication of our veterans
with high quality employers who are willing to give veterans
a first look when they are looking to hire good people.
First discussed in an interview with The Bakersfield
Californian in December 2012, and again in the August
2013 issue of the Kern Business Journal, the Kern Patriot
Partnership is an idea that developed out of the Kern County
Veterans Service Department to unite veterans and businesses.
Businesses cite the strengths of veterans as very appealing
to them when seeking employees. Some of those strengths
include a strong work ethic, a sense of duty, working
well as a team, demonstrating self-confidence, and having
the ability to follow through on assignments, even under
difficult or stressful circumstances, to name a few.
A common concern among business leaders and human
resource managers is that the current process seems to be too
cumbersome or even nonexistent. The goal of the Kern Patriot
Partnership is to address those issues using innovation, technology,
good old-fashioned hard work, and proven mentorship.
Kern Patriot Partnership’s vision includes the goal of
providing as many job opportunities as possible for veterans
and transitioning military personnel. We provide personalized
service to help translate military skills to civilian terms
that hiring managers understand. Our team empowers transitioning
U.S. military members and veterans to succeed in
the civilian workforce through personalized career coaching
and employment preparation counseling. Our services are
provided at no cost to the transitioning military member and
veteran. You will be individually partnered with a highlytrained
program specialist who works collaboratively with
you to: Create a tailored civilian resume that effectively highlights
your skills and achievements; Translate military experience
into civilian terminology; Learn effective job search,
strategic networking and interviewing techniques; and get
connected with companies who want to hire veterans.
Our services are available to all honorably-discharged
U.S. military veterans, regardless of separation date and
term of service. Whether you are looking for full-time or
part-time work, internships, or training opportunities, our
team is here to help you.
We define success as helping transitioning military
members and veterans meet or exceed their employment
goals, one veteran at a time. Across America, employers are
discovering the value of hiring veterans of the United States
military who possess the training, leadership skills, and
strong work ethic they require. Each of our veterans has
made profound sacrifices to protect freedom and democracy
and to keep us safe. Pledging support to veterans is one way
to express heartfelt gratitude. We ask interested businesses
to join our Kern Patriot Partnership, not to guarantee jobs
for veterans, but to make a pledge to give veterans a first
look when their businesses are preparing to hire.
We encourage veterans seeking employment and businesses
who would like to join our Partnership to visit our website
at www.KernPatriot.org. You will find links for “Veterans”
and “Employers” along with other useful information
and resources.
KERN PATRIOT
PARTNERSHIP
÷
Above: As military members transition into civilian life, Kern Patriot
Partnership stands ready to assist our veterans seeking employment and to
connect them with employers seeking to hire and are willing to give veterans
a first look when they have job openings.
QUALITY OF LIFE
205

FOX THEATER FOUNDATION
In the early days of the motion picture industry, magnificent
theaters were built across the nation to reflect the
glamour and excitement of the movies. One of the most
opulent of these grand movie houses was the Fox Theater in
Bakersfield, where generations of movie goers enjoyed the
latest Hollywood movies and stars, from Humphrey Bogart
and Lauren Bacall to Gone with the Wind, as well as stage
performances by the most popular entertainers.
The Bakersfield Fox Theater was constructed at 2001 H
Street for Fox West Coast Theaters and opened on Christmas
Day, 1930, with the feature film, Just Imagine. Designed by
S. Charles Lee, the Fox was built as both a performing arts
theater and a movie theater. The theater featured an atmospheric
Mediterranean interior with 1,575 seats. It was one
of the most beautiful theaters of its type ever constructed.
In 1953, as television began to bite into movie theater
attendance, the Fox was modernized in an effort to lure
audiences back to the theater. Renowned designer Charles
Skouras was hired to create a new identity for the Fox and
designed the lavish Art Deco interior that still exists today.
The new design featured ornate ceiling murals in the lobby
and mezzanine, breathtaking gold leaf plumes and acoustic
cloud in the auditorium, and a blue atmospheric ceiling
with twinkling stars. The Art Deco makeover also included a
one-of-a-kind marquee with hundreds of feet of flashing
neon tubes announcing the latest attraction.
The Fox continued to prosper into the 1970s but
the arrival of multiplex theaters and continued growth of
television—combined with a decline of the downtown
area—led to the closing of the Fox in 1979.
In an effort to preserve the historic landmark, the
Fox Theater Foundation was formed in 1990 to purchase,
restore and operate the Fox Theater for the benefit of the
citizens of Bakersfield. After many negotiations over price,
the owners of the long abandoned theater finally agreed
to sell it for $500,000. A huge ‘Save the Fox’ campaign
helped raise the necessary funds and the property was
acquired in 1994. After extensive renovation to preserve
the priceless Art Deco interior, the Fox Theater reopened
in 1995.
The Fox has become a vibrant part of a renewed
downtown and is once again a magnet for children and
families wishing to enjoy popular movies, concerts, or
entertainment that cannot be seen anywhere else. The
eighty-five-year-old civic treasure also serves as a venue
for graduations, weddings, and special events.
The movies, shows and private events occurring year
round at the Fox provide an economic stimulus for
downtown, including opportunities for area businesses to
provide services to Fox audiences. Thanks to community
support, the historic Fox Theater continues to thrive,
contributing to both the vitality and livability of Bakersfield.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
206

The Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra (BSO), long considered
a ‘community treasure’, is now in its eighty-fifth season
of performing some of the world’s greatest music for enthusiastic
audiences in the Central Valley. In the 1930s, concert
music in Bakersfield was found largely in churches, high
school bands, and the occasional group of touring artists.
The seeds for what would become BSO were sown at a
piano recital in January 1932 when it was announced the
High School Musician’s Club would sponsor a concert
series by a symphony orchestra drawn from members of
the community. The inaugural concert of the Bakersfield
Community Orchestra occurred on November 22, 1932.
This was the beginning of a community’s love for wonderful
music while engaging the local talent. As an example of this
deep commitment to the BSO, one of our recently departed
patrons, Margaret Urner, attended the first concert in 1932 and
virtually every performance until her passing in January 2016.
With the exception of a hiatus during World War II, the
orchestra has filled the air with timeless and vibrant music.
In 2012 the BSO Board of Directors hired Bryan Burrow
as president/CEO to revitalize the organization. The next
four years experienced increase in average attendance of
sixty-seven percent, expansion of its student outreach,
diversification of its patrons, broader visibility within the
community, and additional concerts to the lineup. During
this exciting time, the BSO transitioned to a new conductor.
Throughout the 2014-2015 season, the Bakersfield community
participated in choosing the next conductor from
the six finalists, which were the top candidates from a
pool of 160 worldwide applicants. As the youngest music
director in the orchestra’s history, Stilian Kirov was appointed
music director of BSO beginning in the 2015-2016 season.
Kirov, a graduate of the Julliard School in orchestral
conducting, has won numerous awards and prizes for
outstanding achievements. His electric style of conducting
and strong connection with audiences propelled him as an
immediate favorite within the community.
The BSO performs an
impressive six season concerts
annually, as well as
several Pops style concerts.
These Pops concerts
reach out to all demographics
in the community.
Examples of the BSO’s
Pops concerts include:
movie themes, chamber
programs, as well as concerts
showcasing holiday
and cultural favorites.
Whether at our season
concerts or Pops concerts,
soloists have joined the
BSO from as far as the four corners of the globe to as close
as Kern County.
Outreach is an important part of the BSO’s mission.
The Young People’s Concerts hosts over 12,000 students
each year for fun and educational concerts as they add
culture and art to their curriculum. The most recent and
very successful program is called BSO Next. The BSO Next
program provides Kern County students tickets to season
concerts through the generosity of donors. This impacts over
3,000 students annually. Another program, Kid’s Discover
Music, sends BSO musicians into classrooms for a close
up interaction with the professional musicians. Finally,
the Health and Healing program hosts musicians at local
hospitals soothing the hearts of patients, families, and staff.
To learn more about the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra
and its upcoming schedule, please check the website at
www.BSOnow.org.
BAKERSFIELD
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
÷
Left: Music Director Stilian Kirov with members of the Bakersfield
Symphony Orchestra.
Below: NEXT Students attending the last concert of the season, May 2016.
QUALITY OF LIFE
207

GARCES MEMORIAL
HIGH SCHOOL
÷
Above: The Padre Garces Statue. The Kern County Historical Society,
chaired by Dr. P. N. Root, commissioned John Palo Kanga, a well-known
sculptor, to create a statue of Father Garces for the front of the school.
On November 27, 1949, the statue was unveiled and dedicated. Sheriff
John Loustalot presided as master of ceremonies and County Superintendent
of Schools Jesse D. Stockton was the guest speaker. Dr. Root unveiled the
monument and Monsignor William MacLaughlin blessed the statue.
Below: Father Garces was moved from his street location to the current
location, making him the focal point and landmark at the main
campus entrance.
For the past sixty-nine years, Garces Memorial High School
has fulfilled the mission of the church by developing students
spiritually, academically and socially in Kern County.
Garces Memorial traces its origins to the very early days
of Catholic education in Kern County. In 1910 the Sisters
of Mercy founded St. Frances Elementary School in the
basement of St. Francis Church on Truxton Avenue. In 1926
a new two-story school building was built next to the
convent. As the years passed, Pastor Leo Beacon and the
Sisters began planning a high school that would utilize a
vacant second floor in the school building.
A 9th grade was added in 1940, followed by 10th and
11th grades the following two years. The addition of a senior
class for the 1943-44 school year marked the beginning of
a fully functioning high school and generated tremendous
excitement in the community. Students made their first
strides in competitive athletics and mounted a successful
comedy production. A new science lab was outfitted and
biology was added to the curriculum. A business department
was started with classes in typewriting, and the students
enjoyed several dances.
The need for a central Catholic high school serving all of
Bakersfield soon became evident and a decision was made to
build and conduct a high school modeled on the success
of San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno. The Sisters
would teach the girls and the Brothers of the Christian
Schools would teach the boys.
In 1945 the Kern County Land Company sold the
diocese a forty-acre plot in a new residential area called
La Cresta for the sum of five dollars. Ground was broken
for a new central Catholic high school and, in 1947,
Garces Memorial High School opened as a co-educational,
interparochial high school with an enrollment of 150
students. The new school was named for Padre Francisco
Garces, a Franciscan missionary who was the first European
to enter the area known today as Bakersfield.
The high school continued to grow and develop for a
number of years until a major crisis developed in 1970.
Because of a drastic decrease in vocations, the Christian
Brothers announced they could no longer staff the school.
Due to the anticipated cost of filling this void with lay
staff, it appeared that the school would be forced to close.
However, a committee of concerned parents and other
members of the Catholic community committed themselves
to keeping the school open.
The school has continued to advance in recent years, both
academically and by expanding and modernizing its facilities.
Garces Memorial High Schools remains committed to its
mission of instilling in every student the courage to act with
faith, knowledge, compassion and justice.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
208

Getting veterans what they have earned is the mission
of the Kern County Veterans Service Department. The
Department provides no-cost services to veterans, their
dependents and survivors. These services include counseling,
advice, and assistance regarding rights, benefits, and
privileges available to veterans under federal, state, and local
laws, regulations and policies.
The Kern County Board of Supervisors established
the Veterans Service Department in 1944, during World
War II. The goal remains the same today as when it
was established—assist veterans, their dependents, and
survivors in obtaining the benefits they earned through their
military service.
“Because we see about 1,000 to 1,500 clients a month, we
know what strategies work and what strategies don’t work
when it comes to helping a veteran,” explains Dick Taylor,
the county’s Veterans Services Officer, who serves as director
for the Department. Taylor, a Bakersfield native who served
in the U.S. Marine Corps, adds that with the help of his
department, veterans can reduce the likelihood of having
to redo a claim.
Another service offered by the Kern County Veterans
Service Department is help with education for the families
of veterans. The California College Fee Waiver Program
benefits the children of U.S. veterans who have a service
connected disability. Students meeting the eligibility criteria
may get their college tuition-type fees waived if they attend
a California community college, a California State University,
or a University of California campus.
The Department can also provide information about
nonservice-connected ‘Pension with Aid and Attendance’,
a needs-based benefit for war-era veterans or their surviving
spouses. This benefit provides income for those in need
of assistance with the activities of daily life, whether through
in-home care or an assisted living facility. Not all will qualify,
but for those who do, it can be a life changing benefit.
The Department also assists veterans with many other
issues, including compensation for the veteran and family,
pensions for war-era veterans, death benefits for survivors,
dependent allowances, requests for military records and
decorations and much more.
Veterans, by nature, grow accustomed to moving through
life without complaints. Duty, sacrifice and suffering in
silence are all heroic qualities, yet also can keep veterans
from receiving support they need, deserve and earn. The
Kern County Veterans Service Department reaches out
with open arms to the distinguished veterans in our area.
“Everyone that works in this office truly has a servant’s
heart and wants to help veterans,” Taylor says. “We really
love to serve in that capacity; it’s really a joy and an honor.”
The Kern County Veterans Service Department is located
at 1120 Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield. For additional
information, visit the website at www.co.kern.ca.us/veterans.
KERN COUNTY VETERANS
SERVICE DEPARTMENT
÷
Left: Ceremonies commemorating significant events are held at the Kern
County Veterans Service Department. Our community is very supportive of
our veterans as shown in this photo from our November 10, 2015,
commemoration of the Marine Corps birthday.
Below: The Kern County Veterans Service Department was established in
1944 during World War II to serve our veteran community. The office sits
on the same parcel of land as the original building, and now occupies the
structure which was once the Kern County Personnel Office in the 1970s.
QUALITY OF LIFE
209

PETROLEUM CLUB
OF BAKERSFIELD
÷
Above: The Stockdale Tower, in Bakersfield, California.
Below: Thomas J. Fitzgerald was the Petroleum Club’s first president.
The Petroleum Club of Bakersfield has a
rich history with ties not only to the oil
industry, but the agricultural, financial, and
legal community as well. The club is the
gathering place of leaders from young to
mature, with a philosophy that reflects a
commitment to excellence in all facets. The
Petroleum Club is a group that gets things
done—with people you can count on.
The club was formed in 1952 by founding
board members George L. Bradford, a landman
and real estate developer; geologists
William D. ‘Bill’ Kleinpell, John H. Beach,
and Everett W. Pease. Thomas J. Fitzgerald,
a geologist and engineer with Gene Reid
Drilling, was the club’s first president.
The primary purpose of the club was to aid in the
association and fellowship of men connected with
the petroleum industry and to encourage and sponsor
new ideas, which would benefit the oil industry as
a whole and provide men possessing special talents
with recognition.
The club originally held its meetings at the Bakersfield
Inn from 1952 to 1969. The club then moved to the
Elk’s Lodge at 1600 Thirtieth Street next to the Garces
Circle, meeting there from 1970 to 1985. From 1985 to
1993 the club was located downtown in the Bell Tower,
a converted church in Old Church Plaza. From 1993 to
2002 the club was located in the old Cask & Cleaver
Restaurant on Truxtun Avenue. In 2003 the move was made
to the current location on the top floor of the Stockdale
Tower, the tallest building in Bakersfield.
“The club truly is a point of light for the city,”
comments current President Dave Plivelich. “I’ve lived in
Bakersfield since 1981 and the one thing that always
amazes me about this community is how connected the
people are here, and how down to earth it is.”
Prior to the move to the Stockdale Tower, club membership
totaled around 200. By 2014, membership had risen to
1,140. Weakness in the oil economy dropped membership
to around 950 in 2015, but the club has begun to see
an increase because of a wider variety of associations in
its membership.
Under the leadership of Plivelich, the club has become
the center point for all community leaders and represents
not only the oil industry but a wider variety of associations,
people and businesses. The Petroleum Club is extremely
supportive of local nonprofits and also hosts an annual
golf tournament, which provides scholarships for future
petroleum engineers. The club hosts many civic service
clubs’ meetings, including Rotary, Kiwanis, and Petroleum
Wives of Bakersfield, as well as serving as a premier location
for wedding receptions, class reunions, celebrations and
business presentations.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
210

The prologue leading to Hall Ambulance Service’s fortyfive-year
history started on a dare—literally. Working as an
orderly at Mercy Hospital in 1960, Harvey L. Hall ran into a
friend employed as an ambulance attendant. A conversation
ensued and the acquaintance dared Hall to go for a ride
along. The experience was so exhilarating; he changed his
career path and for the next ten years learned every facet of
the ambulance industry.
Hall yearned to establish his own service based on his
expectations and vision for building the best ambulance company
in America. This included how a customer should be
treated; why it is important to present yourself in proper uniform;
arriving at the medical aid request in an ambulance that
is showroom clean; and how you can make your customer’s
day better by exhibiting compassion for their situation.
With a $15,000 bank loan, two ambulances, and his
personal residence serving as headquarters, Hall Ambulance
Service commenced business on February 10, 1971.
As a Bakersfield-based company, Hall Ambulance has
purposely limited expansion to Kern County, so that they
may fully serve those in their immediate community. For
Hall, it comes down to a commitment that there never be an
unmet need for emergency medical transportation services
in the communities served by his company.
This philosophy has worked well for Hall Ambulance
Service, with several communities inviting him to become
their 911 paramedic provider, often times, when the previous
company would cease operations. Other opportunities
came through acquisitions.
Looking back at forty-five years of EMS milestones,
you can see the progress of the company split across
the decades. The 1970s brought an elevated level of care
when Hall launched the first mobile intensive care paramedic
program in Kern County. His first expansions took place
in Arvin (1975), Lamont (1976), Frazier Park (1978), and
Tehachapi (1979).
The 1980s saw the implementation of specially
configured EMS vehicles to support ambulance
operations. This included the deployment of the
first paramedic field supervisor units (1984), and
the county’s first private mobile medical communications
unit (1985).
During the 1990s, Hall Ambulance expanded its
footprint across Kern County, with service to the east
Kern communities of Mojave, Rosamond, California
City, and Boron (1994). Hall purchased Taft
Ambulance (1995), followed by Shafter Ambulance
(1999) when their respective owners retired.
Perhaps the key milestone for the company
occurred in the summer of 1999 when Hall
Ambulance became Bakersfield’s sole 911 paramedic provider
after purchasing Golden Empire Ambulance’s EOA 5 permit.
As Hall entered the twenty-first century, the company
focused its efforts on embracing technology to save lives,
and the addition of air ambulance (2001) and critical care
transport services (2009).
In 2014, Hall Ambulance expanded service towards the
northwest portion of Kern County, with the acquisition of
Kern Ambulance, serving the city of Wasco.
To commemorate Hall Ambulance’s forty-fifth anniversary,
artist Chuck Caplinger produced a nine by sixty-foot
mural depicting highlights of the company’s history, which
celebrates the accomplishments of Harvey L. Hall, widely
respected as a pioneer of modern EMS in California.
÷
HALL AMBULANCE
SERVICE, INC.
Top, left: The forty-fifth anniversary paramedic ambulances feature a
commemorative paint scheme that includes each of the company’s service
areas featured in the checkerboard design.
Above: Founder and President Harvey L. Hall, and his wife, Lavonne,
celebrate forty-five years of providing exemplary paramedic ambulance
service to Bakersfield and the majority of Kern County.
QUALITY OF LIFE
211

LINKS FOR LIFE
÷
Right: Sharyn Woods, founder and volunteer CEO from 1992 til 2010.
Below: Lace’n It Up for Links for Life to kick-off Breast Cancer
Awareness month.
What began with
a golf tournament to
raise funds for mammograms
has grown into
a solid organization,
which assists thousands
of Kern County women
and men with breast
cancer issues each year.
Links for Life was
established in 1992 by
a group of ten local
women who wanted to
create an organization
catering to the specific
breast health needs of
women (and men) in Kern County. The driving forces
behind creation of Links for Life were Sharyn Woods and
co-founder Carol Barraza. Sharyn served as the unpaid,
volunteer CEO of the organization for eighteen years before
passing away from pancreatic cancer.
Links for Life provides funding for clinical breast services
for any underinsured or uninsured person under the age
of forty. Additional support programs include a wig
boutique, breast cancer support groups, and a cancer
resource library. Links for Life also provides breast cancer
health education and outreach throughout Kern County.
Many of these programs target rural areas and minority
populations in order to provide early detection, treatment,
and general breast health information.
Links for Life has provided more than 3,500 wigs, funded
3,600 mammograms and 5,600 ultrasounds, and 442 needle
biopsies for underinsured and uninsured women in Kern
County, diagnosing thirty-seven women with breast cancer
who would otherwise had gone without treatment.
When state health officials made significant cuts to
breast screening services for low income women in 2009,
changing the coverage for breast screening from the age
of forty to fifty, Links for Life Executive Director Jennifer
Henry decided to do something about it. She urged the
board of directors to dedicate an additional $100,000
toward mammograms ultrasounds, and needle biopsies for
Kern County women.
Eleven months later, “The state reinstated the ‘Every
Woman Counts’ program to provide diagnostic screening
for women over forty,” Henry says. “That means Links for
Life is able to use our funds to pay for mammograms
for women under forty.” While the funding was frozen for
women in their forties, Links for Life diagnosed eleven
women with breast cancer. With the diagnosis they were able
to receive treatment.
Education and awareness of breast health and early
detection of breast cancer are key to improving survival rates
from breast cancer. Links for Life’s education and outreach
volunteers are passionate about educating the community
about the importance of breast health and go throughout
the community speaking and educating the public.
A breast cancer support group which meets on the first
Tuesday of each month averages twenty-five women who range
from those newly diagnosed to twenty-plus year survivors.
Links for Life is supported by contributions and revenue
from the Sharyn Woods Memorial Pro-Am Golf Tournament
and Gala, Lace’n It Up walks, the Paint the Town Pink fashion
show, grants, and donations from many philanthropic
local businesses. Links for Life is the only breast cancer
organization located in Kern County, where 100 percent
of funds raised stay in Kern County to assist women and
families facing this dreaded disease.
For more information about Links for Life, check the
website at www.linksforlife.org.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
212

The Boys & Girls Club of Kern County provides academic
support, enrichment, and social bonding activities through
after-school programs and summer camps. The club is
focused on an established youth development strategy
based on five core programming areas: character and
leadership, education and career development, health and
life skills, the arts, and sports, fitness and recreation.
More than 600 youth development professionals work
with over 7,000 school age club members on a daily basis.
Participants come from a broad socio-economic level; from
children living in homelessness to affluence.
The organization was initially established in 1966 by
local community leaders as the Boys Club of Bakersfield to
serve young men in the community. The activities were
hosted in a small warehouse and served twenty-five boys
with such activities as pool, ping-pong, and craft classes.
As the program evolved and served more young men, the
activities moved several times, finally settling down in a
small church in East Bakersfield in the late 1970s.
Recognizing the club also served the sisters of many of the
young men, the name was formally changed to the Boys
& Girls Club of Bakersfield in the mid-1980s.
The club was initially operated with a ‘gym and swim’ for
boys philosophy. In fifty years, it has transformed to be the
largest Boys & Girls Club in the nation with programs that
enrich, educate, and sustain lives. Statistics demonstrate that
‘Club Kids’ score higher than their peers in both
reading and math, and 100 percent of the teens
graduate from high school with a plan for the future.
In 1995 the club secured a $1 million grant
from the California Youth Authority and raised
another $650,000 to build a new facility to house
its growing membership. A local couple—Jack
and Monica Armstrong—invested thousands of
dollars of their own money to purchase land for
the club to ensure members had access to such amenities
as computer lab, art studio, library and teen center.
The Jack and Monica Armstrong Youth Center opened in
1997 and continues to be the hub of the club’s operations,
serving more than 200 children daily.
In 2000 a partnership was established with Bakersfield
City School District to deliver programs on school campuses
when school is not in session. The programs grew exponentially
over the next years and the Lamont Boys & Girls
Club was established with seed money from Kern County.
The next club established was the Boys &
Girls Club of Frazier Mountain. The club
was then asked to organize programs with
the Delano School District and, at this point,
the name was officially changed to Boys &
Girls Clubs of Kern County.
As of 2016 the Boys & Girls Club facilitates
sixty-two after-school programs at separate
locations in partnership with Bakersfield
City School District, Lamont School District,
Arvin School District, DiGeorgio School
District, Vineland, General Shafter, Beardsley
and Standard School Districts.
The main headquarters is at 801 Niles
Street. The club also hosts freestanding club
houses in Southwest Bakersfield and Lamont.
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB
OF KERN COUNTY
QUALITY OF LIFE
213

÷
It is not a fiesta without a mariachi band to fill the air with the folkloric sounds of Mexico.
Performers dress in traditional Charro attire and in place of a bolo tie, wear a large red bow on their chest.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
214

The Marketplace
Bakersfield’s retail and commercial establishments offer an impressive variety of choices
Kern Federal Credit Union...................................................................................216
Tel-Tec Security Systems, Inc. ..............................................................................220
Luigi’s Restaurant & Old World Delicatessen ..........................................................222
Canteen of Coastal California, Inc. .......................................................................224
Galbraith Van & Storage .....................................................................................226
Young Wooldridge, LLP ........................................................................................228
Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce .............................................................230
Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce ..............................................................231
North of the River Chamber of Commerce ...............................................................232
Visit Bakersfield.................................................................................................233
Bakersfield Downtown Business Association.............................................................234
Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace .................................................................................235
Carney’s Business Technology Center .....................................................................236
Kern Schools Federal Credit Union ........................................................................237
Guitar Masters ..................................................................................................238
Hodel’s Country Dining .......................................................................................239
Bakersfield Condors ............................................................................................240
Valley Gun, Inc. .................................................................................................241
Dewar’s Soda Fountain and Fine Candies................................................................242
Emporium Western Store......................................................................................243
Valley Republic Bank...........................................................................................244
KGET, Telemundo and the CW Bakersfield ..............................................................245
Smith’s Bakeries .................................................................................................246
Gregory Iger’s Photographic Art, Inc.
dba Iger Studio .............................................................................................247
THE MARKETPLACE
215

KERN FEDERAL
CREDIT UNION
Kern Federal Credit Union was organized in February
1949 by a small group of county employees looking for a
better way to save, borrow and invest their money.
The effort to establish a credit union was led by Howard
Delamore, who had recently retired as a Kern County
firefighter. Two years earlier, Delamore had successfully
organized the first Firefighters Union in Kern County,
a forerunner of the IAFF Local 1301. He was recruited by
several of his colleagues to investigate the possibility of a
credit union.
The first ‘vault’ for the credit union was the trunk of a
Kern County Sheriff’s Department cruiser and all operations
were done by volunteers on weekends around a kitchen
table. Deposits were taken and loan decisions were made by
county employees for county employees and their families.
Formation of KFCU provided employees of Kern County
with a strong financial foundation and the ability to borrow
for such large ticket items as homes and automobiles. It also
provided a safe place for them to save for their future.
KFCU was founded on the core principle of people
helping people, following the lead of a network of grass
roots financial institutions across the county, giving buying
and saving power to the common individual.
A credit union is similar to a bank in that it offers
financial services and savings that are federally insured.
However, there are a few key differences: credit unions
are owned by their members, like a co-operative, while
bank customers do not own any shares in the financial
institution. Credit unions are run by a volunteer board of
directors. Credit unions also are not-for-profit, which
means KFCU works to put profits back in the pockets
of its members—in the form of low rates on loans and
special discounts.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
216

In February 1980, KFCU moved into a building at
1717 Truxtun Avenue, the current home of the credit
union’s downtown branch and administrative operations.
KFCU’s first and—so far—only female CEO, DeAnn Straub,
began as a teller in 1972 and was one of only thirteen
employees at the time. She took over as CEO in 1994
after then CEO Fred Doering’s battle with cancer forced
him to leave the credit union. Straub retired in July 2015
after forty-three years of continuous service.
KFCU offers a wide array of checking and savings
options for its members, including basic, plus, and fresh
start checking, savings accounts, money market accounts,
share certificates and IRA accounts. Loans are available for
homes and autos, along with lines of credit, MasterCard
credit cards, home equity loans, and home equity lines
of credit.
Kern Federal now has $232 million in assets. It has
20,000 members and employs sixty-five people. In addition
to the main location on Truxtun Avenue, there is a
Riverlakes branch at 4180 Coffee Road.
KFCU is governed by a board of directors composed of
a volunteer group of members elected by the membership
to determine basic policies and plan for the credit union’s
future direction. The current board is comprised of Chairman
Steve Long; Vice Chairman Margo Raison; Treasurer John
Devlin; Secretary Jackie Denney; and Directors Guy Greenlee,
Glenn Basconcillo, and Debbie Stevenson.
THE MARKETPLACE
217

A supervisory committee—also a volunteer group—is
responsible for ensuring that government regulations and
Board polices, as well as good business and accounting
practices, are followed by the credit union. Lito Morillo is
chairman of the supervisory committee and Bret Black and
Ginny Krebs are members of the committee.
The CEO of Kern Federal is Brandon Ivie, who assumed
the position in 2015. Ivie is a graduate of the University of
Oregon and has worked in credit unions for twenty-five
years, starting as a part-time teller while in college. “I never
believed I would stay in credit unions once I graduated from
college, but I was offered a position in the accounting
department while still in school and since I was a starving
college student and it was more money, I jumped at it,”
he recalls. “I soon realized that I loved the family atmosphere
of credit unions and had found my calling.”
Ivie worked for three of the largest credit unions in
Eugene, Oregon, and later in Sacramento as he moved up
in his career. He joined Kern Federal in 2013 as CFO.
Ivie and his wife, Mercedes, have two children, Mercedes
(named for her mom) and Daniel.
Kern Federal Credit Union takes pride in its commitment
to Kern County. With strong alliances with the Kern County
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the North of River
Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of
Commerce, the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce
and the Downtown Business Association, KFCU is prepared
to support business owners in the area and improve the
financial wellbeing of the consumers who make the local
economy run.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
218

KFCU is also dedicated to financial literacy and devotes
countless hours each year to teaching high school students
and young parents the ins-and-outs of household finance.
The credit union has donated hundreds of thousands of
dollars to local charitable institutions whose missions are
to improve the welfare of Kern County residents. The credit
union is a strong supporter of CASA, the Kern County
Museum, Dress for Success, Cal State University
Bakersfield, Community Action Partnership of Kern County,
the Dolores Huerta Foundation, CARE, Relay for Life and
dozens of others. The mission is to improve the county
and to support charities and organizations that do the
most good.
KFCU is passionate about serving Kern County and all its
residents and feels it is imperative that its membership reflect
the county’s diverse and growing population. Kern Federal
will not let language, socio-economic status or city of residence
be a barrier between potential members and their
ability to receive low cost financial services, education, and
counseling. Through community outreach, financial education,
a strong online presence, and a diverse and welcoming staff,
KFCU pledges to be a financial haven for every resident of
Kern County. Kern Federal Credit Union is truly here to serve.
To learn more about the Kern Federal Credit Union and
details of the many programs it offers, check the website at
www.kernfcu.org.
THE MARKETPLACE
219

TEL-TEC SECURITY
SYSTEMS, INC.
÷
Above: Tel-Tec Security Systems' executive team (left to right): Vice President
of Technology, Owen Freeman; Vice President of Operations and Finance,
Patrick Bergin; President Morgan Clayton; and Director of Operations,
Brian Humes.
Below: Morgan Clayton in the beginning years.
A passion for design and determination to do more was
the driving force behind the vision for Tel-Tec Security
Systems, Inc., a Bakersfield security firm specializing in
custom security designs and integrating systems.
Tel-Tec Security Systems, Inc., was founded in 1982 by
Morgan E. Clayton, who possessed the energy and dedication
to make his vision a reality. Several key individuals joined
in Clayton’s journey, including Virgil Correl, Steve Park,
Bruce Clayton, Pat Bergin, Chris Taylor and Owen Freeman.
“An action plan with a mission and the right people was
a requirement for survival during the inception of the
business,” Clayton explains. “Failure was not an option and
the key words were ‘follow through’. The development of the
brand was essential and it was imperative a good impression
was left with each customer. Customer development was
accomplished by referrals, which had to be earned. I’ve
always believed that people do business with people they
know, they like and they trust.”
Today, Tel-Tec is an independent security firm, which
provides security solutions for thousands of clients. Tel-Tec
designs, installs, services and maintains enterprise level
security and life safety solutions. All products sold in relation
to fire, burglary, access control and cameras are installed with
the discretion of certified and experienced designers.
“Our goal is providing quality security, service and peace
of mind,” Clayton says. “We are a full service company and
we monitor the products we install through our 24/7 UL
listed monitoring center. With more than thirty-four years in
the security business, we have the competency and proven
past performance to manage various security projects.
“Our streamlined organization provides efficiency through
clean, simple and effective processes and communication,”
Clayton continues. “We have flexibility and adjust quickly
and dynamically to unanticipated requirements. We are a
local business with capabilities and experience that rivals the
performance of much larger firms.”
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
220

Tel-Tec has never been a job for Clayton; it is a lifestyle.
Putting his vision into action was never something that could
be evaluated by calculating the number of hours he invested.
Clayton showed up daily to live and share his passion with
others. He believes “there is no such thing as retirement when
you are passionate and love what you do each day.”
The success of his security business has allowed Clayton
to have greater involvement in the community and he serves
on a number of local boards and sponsors events to aide local
nonprofits that serve youth and families.
In 1998, Clayton attended the Bakersfield Business
Conference, an annual conference where nationally known
speakers discuss the business and political issues that
affect our world. After hearing General Colin L. Powell speak
on the story of America’s promise, Clayton developed
the visionary idea of founding a local youth conference
planned by young people for youth to give them a
voice and provide a forum in which to discuss issues
that impact teens. Planning for the Leaders in Life Youth
Conference began in 1999 with about fifty students
and adults. In 2000 the first conference was held with
approximately 500 students. The sixteenth annual Leaders
in Life Youth Conference was held in 2015, with more than
2,000 students attending.
Conference participants are educated about issues that are
important to them so they can make healthy and informed
decisions regarding drug and alcohol use, future career
exploration, and youth advocacy. The students are motivated
to help others make positive decisions.
Looking to the future, Tel-Tec Security Systems will
continue to reinvest in the community while building upon
its vision to expand with the demands of the industry. Its
creative and talented team of security experts who are
dedicated to the mission of providing peace of mind will
continue to propel the vision of a quality product backed by
quality service.
÷
Above: President of Tel-Tec Security Systems, Inc., Morgan Clayton.
Below: Morgan Clayton with his family.
THE MARKETPLACE
221

LUIGI’S RESTAURANT &
OLD WORLD DELICATESSEN
Luigi’s and Lemucchi Grocery has been at its present
location since 1910 and is one of Bakersfield’s oldest
continuously family-operated businesses. Joe Lemucchi, the
founder of the business, came to California from Lucca,
Italy, and started his original café on Summer Street in
1905. Joe’s nickname was ‘Biondo’ or Curley, and the
business was first named Curley’s Café.
Joe married Emelia Deguili, also an Italian immigrant,
and the couple moved in 1910 to the present location of
the business at 725 East Nineteenth Street. The original
store had family quarters in the rear where the couple’s four
children; Louis, Lena, Harry and Helen were born.
The early business featured a grocery, café, bakery, and
gasoline station. Nineteenth Street was the main thoroughfare
between Bakersfield and the then town of Sumner. The
streetcar line from Bakersfield extended east on Nineteenth
Street and terminated at the Southern Pacific Depot on
Baker Street. East Nineteenth Street also ended at the
Lemucchi Store, merging into Edison Highway, which
became the main highway exiting and entering Bakersfield
on the east side. Joe catered to the many Italian immigrant
families who came to Kern County in the early 1900s.
Some lived in the immediate neighborhood while many
were engaged in farming and drove in for their groceries.
The grocery store featured domestic and imported goods.
At the rear of his store, Joe constructed several small
cottages or apartments, which were rented by bachelor
Italian immigrants. Late afternoon and weekends would
find groups of immigrants out back of the store under
the grape arbor discussing the latest news and world events
in Italian.
The café and grocery store were always lively places
with visiting and shopping being conducted in several
languages. The now famous Luigi sandwich originated in
the café where Joe and Emelia always had fresh stew, pasta,
and minestrone for hungry customers. Small, but intimate
in the back corner of the grocery, the café was always a
popular gathering spot.
After Joe’s death, Emelia and her son, Louis (Luigi) continued
the business. The bar was added next to the old store
and the restaurant expanded into a building to the east.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the concrete and steel structure now
housing the restaurant was rented by Shell Oil Company
and at one time was their Kern County headquarters.
The newly expanded bar and restaurant were name
‘Luigi’s. Luigi was an incessant collector of photos and
sports memorabilia and he covered the walls of his business
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
222

with photos of local athletes spanning more than eight
decades. The photos displayed on the walls constitute
only a small portion of Luigi’s pictorial collection. The
pictures in Luigi’s are a constant attraction to multiple
generations of Kern County patrons who return frequently
to view favored photos with a friend, relative or member of
a new generation.
Since the death of Luigi in 1989, Luigi’s has been operated
by a new generation of the Lemucchi family: Tonia
Valpredo; Monte Valpredo; daughters, Monica and Lanette;
and son, Gino are the third and fourth generations of the
family to operate the popular East Bakersfield establishment.
“We’ve tried to continue the atmosphere and delicious
food that have made Luigi’s so popular over the years,” says
Gino. “We’ve tried to update the facilities but keep the
traditional feel of the family restaurant.”
A walk-in wine cellar was added in 2001, and the
Wine Shop at Luigi’s has become a popular destination for
knowledgeable wine enthusiasts. Lanette Valpredo Caratan,
a certified sommelier, runs the Wine Shop and is always
available to help customers select just the right wine to pair
with various menus. Lanette’s passion is old-world Italian
wines, but she is also an expert on the many fine California
wines produced in the region. Wine dinners and weekend
wine tastings are a popular feature of the Wine Shop.
Another popular section of Luigi’s is an authentic,
old-world delicatessen reminiscent of the store operated
by Joe a century ago. The deli features genuine Italian
prosciutto and salami, along with
dozens of other selections and seventyfive
different types of cheese. “All the
food is fresh and never pre-packaged,”
Gino explains. “We try to emulate the
great delicatessens you would find in
San Francisco or New York.”
Luigi’s is open for lunch Tuesday
through Saturday, and the Deli and
Wine Shop are open the same days
from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In the
evening the restaurant is available for
special events or private parties, with
delicious food and drink catered by
Luigi’s chef and staff. Off-premises
catering is also available.
Luigi’s currently employs forty-five
people including five descendants of
Joe and Emelia. Several members of
the staff have been with the restaurant
for twenty-five years or longer.
Gino and others members of the
family feel an obligation to continue the
tradition established by their ancestors
110 years ago. “We preach consistency
in the kitchen and we are all focused
on customer service,” comments Gino.
“We take pride in keeping Luigi’s among
the most popular restaurants, delis and
wine stores in Bakersfield.”
THE MARKETPLACE
223

CANTEEN OF COASTAL
CALIFORNIA, INC.
Canteen of Coastal California, Inc., a full-line vending
service company, is a family operated business with an
emphasis on excellent customer service.
The company was founded by
Gerald A. ‘Scotty’ Scott, a native
of Nebraska. He served on a mine
sweeper in the North Atlantic
during World War II. After the
war, he met and married Dorothy
Blizzard in Maryland and they
moved to California.
In 1951, Scotty began working
for a vending machine company
called Canteen and this
job led to his life-long career.
Although he was not highly educated, he was able to work
his way through the ranks of Canteen Corporation through
his work habits, attitude, honesty, and integrity, eventually
becoming the general manager of the Bay Area operation
in northern California.
In 1972, Scotty bought a small vending franchise, moved
his family to Oxnard and named his fledgling business
Canteen of Coastal California, Inc. The operation began in
one-half of a two-car garage with only thirteen accounts,
but Scotty enlisted his family’s support and the business
began to grow and moved to a warehouse in Ventura.
As a full-service vending service company, Canteen of
Coastal California, Inc., can meet all its customer’s requirements
including soft drink vending machines, vending machines for
coffee, candy and other snacks, as well as vending machines
with healthy food and beverage alternatives. Micro Markets are
the newest innovation in refreshment services and provide a
convenience store environment right in your place of business.
Canteen of Coastal California, Inc., with more than 1,300
accounts, 4,700 vending machines and nearly 100 Micro
Markets, has grown to become the largest vending operation in
Kern, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties.
The success of the canteen company has allowed the
Scott family to become very active in local philanthropies
and civic organizations. Long before there was a campus—
or even a name—for Ventura County’s four-year public university,
the Scott family was championing it. Early supporters
of the university since the 1970s, Scotty and Dotty passed
that zeal on to their children; Jerry, Mark, and Andrea.
Today, the family is a major sponsor of scholarships, events
and other gifts, providing assistance personally and through
their business. “Cal State Channel Islands is an asset to the
community,” says Dotty. “When you support the university,
you’re supporting the entire community.”
“As business owners, we have a stake in creating a
healthy community and business environment in Ventura
County,” adds Vice President and General Manager Jerry
Scott. “By investing in CI, we can be part of the effort to
create a more highly skilled, educated workforce and to
attract and retain businesses to our region.”
The Scotts and Canteen of Coastal California, Inc. are
keen contributors to CI, providing everything from scholarships
and sponsorship funds to water, sodas and snacks for
campus relays and other events. They also recently became
the lead donors for the Founder’s Court, CI’s newest
fundraising initiative to launch an intercollegiate athletics
program. Avid golf and sports enthusiasts, the family looks
forward to contributing to another significant step in
CI’s advancement.
“An athletic program is something that will really promote
health and wellness and build on CI’s culture of camaraderie
and community partnership,” Jerry says. “We love
seeing how beautifully the campus has transformed and
knowing that something tangible is happening as a result of
our involvement.”
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
224

Along with their three children, Scotty and Dotty established
the Scott Family Endowed Scholarship, which
sponsors students in their studies at CI.
The Scott family supports causes ranging from children’s
charities and food banks to cancer research, cultural institutions
and education. The Scotts want to make educational
opportunities available to deserving students in the community.
Among the organizations supported by the Scotts are
AAKP, American Cancer Society, Big Brothers & Big Sisters,
Boys & Girls Clubs, Channel Islands, Camarillo Healthcare
District, Camarillo Family YMCA, Carnegie Art Museum,
Casa Pacifica, Cato Institute, Dave & Bob’s Foster Children’s
Fund, Dogs for the Deaf, Easter Seals, Food Share,
Foundation for Retarded Citizens, Hospice, Intercollegiate
Studies Institute, Interface Family Services, Katrina Relief
Fund, KCET-TV, La Rena High School, Meals on Wheels,
Military World Games, Moorpark College Baseball Team,
Mount Vernon and the Rotary Club of Camarillo.
Jerry is a committed member of the Camarillo Rotary
Club and served as its president. The Scott family
established the Rotary Vocational Scholarship in Scotty’s
honor to help others who share the same desire to prove
that through perseverance, hard work and dedication,
they also can become successful.
Scotty passed away in 2006 after a long illness but the
business is still family-owned and operated. His wife, Dotty,
is still involved in daily operations, and their sons Jerry
and Mark, daughter, Andrea, and daughter-in-law, Loretta
are all involved in the business. Their grandmother, Nellie
Blizzard, worked in the office until she was ninety-seven.
THE MARKETPLACE
225

GALBRAITH
VAN & STORAGE
÷
Right: A vintage horse-drawn wagon used by Bekins Moving and
Storage Company.
Below: The original building of Galbraith Van & Storage.
Galbraith Van & Storage was founded in 1912, the same
year New Mexico and Arizona were admitted to the Union,
the first streetcars took to the streets of San Francisco,
and the Titanic set sail on its maiden—and final—voyage.
Galbraith Van & Storage has been family owned and operated
for over 100 years and is now in its fourth generation.
Things were far different in 1912 when George H.
Galbraith started his moving company with horses and
wagons and two ‘auto trucks’. “George used to move
commodities to the railroads with a team of horses and
wagons when everything began,” explains the company’s
current owner, Ben Geissel.
Much of the company’s early business involved transporting
agricultural products but Galbraith was soon ready to
branch out into other areas and decided to get into moving
and storage. Galbraith became the first company to sign on
as agents for Bekins Van Lines, which became the industry
leader for several decades.
George managed the business for some time before passing
it on to his son, Jack, following World War II. Jack had
been a prisoner of the Japanese during the war and somehow
managed to survive the infamous Bataan Death March.
During the time Jack was running the company, the first
Geissel family member entered the picture—Ken Geissel,
who was married to Jack’s niece, Sue. Ken was working
as a draftsman for Standard Oil when he decided to take
some time off to investigate the opportunities in the moving
and storage business. Ken liked what he saw and never
returned to Standard Oil. Ken eventually became a partner
in the company. Sue also joined the company, serving as
bookkeeper for many years.
“She was the bookkeeper, but basically did anything that
needed to be done,” Ben recalls. “The same thing went for
my dad. He was president and head of operations, but he
was also the truck maintenance guy when they needed it,
the broom pusher, you name it. At one point, they were the
two people holding the business together.”
Over time, Ken and Sue managed to build a strong staff
of dedicated employees and the company developed a
family-like atmosphere that continues today. Debbie
Fullerton has been with the company more than thirty
years. An integral part of the company, Ben has seen a lot of
changes over the years.
“When I started, there were only two warehouses and
now we have three,” Ben remembers. “One of the traditions
that will always hold true for Galbraith Van & Storage is
that everyone is treated like family. If anyone is struggling,
we try to get everyone to chip in and help out. Holidays
and birthdays are always celebrated; we know each other’s
children and have watched them grow up together. We are
definitely more like family than co-workers,” Ben remarks.
Galbraith Van & Storage was the agent for Bekins Van
Lines nearly seventy-two years, but became North American
Van Lines agents twenty years ago in 1995.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
226

Galbraith Van & Storage is a professional, full service
moving company, offering relocations from any point in
Bakersfield, Kern County, the U.S., or anywhere in the
world. Over the years, Galbraith has helped thousands of
families and businesses move to a new home or relocate to
Bakersfield. The firm was one of the major movers for State
Farm Insurance when the company opened a regional office
in Bakersfield. Galbraith was the firm entrusted with moving
the Kern County Hall of Records, and Galbraith moved the
Bakersfield National Cemetery administrative offices on the
day of its dedication by the Secretary of the Interior in 2011.
Galbraith also stores sensitive documents for doctors,
lawyers or anyone who needs reliable, safe keeping of
their records.
Galbraith Van & Storage has Pro Mover status with the
American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA) and is an
accredited business with the BBB, enjoying an A+ rating.
Galbraith is deeply involved in the community and takes
its responsibilities very seriously. The company has
partnered with United Way of Kern County and the
Bakersfield Condors for fifteen years to collect and transport
the stuffed animals that are donated at the annual
‘Teddy Bear Toss’. The company also partners with Habitat
for Humanity to move Habitat families into their new homes
and hauled truckloads of Ikea goods from the distribution
center to Habitat’s Restore facility.
Galbraith has also partnered with Guarantee Shoe Center
for twenty years, helping with the annual shoe drive that
helps the Bakersfield Homeless Center. For twenty years,
the firm has donated cartons and material annually to the
American Legion for their holiday food baskets and has
delivered 26,000 pounds of clothing and supplies donated
by the city of Bakersfield for the victims of hurricane
Katrina in Louisiana. Galbraith has also moved veterans of
Kern County gratis in partnership with the Wounded
Heroes of Kern County.
Sue was chairman of the board of the California Moving
and Storage Association (CMSA) in 1996. Ken and Ben
both served on the board of directors of the CMSA for
many years and through this association the company has
supported the Special Olympics of Southern California.
After more than a century of business, the success
of Galbraith Van & Storage is clearly explained in the
company’s motto: “People Make the Difference.”
÷
Left: A Large Galbraith Van & Storage moving truck parked outside of a
home in a residential neighborhood.
Bottom, left: A side view of a Galbraith Van & Storage small moving van.
Below: Ken and Sue Geissel.
THE MARKETPLACE
227

YOUNG WOOLDRIDGE, LLP
÷
Clockwise, starting from the top left:
Co-founder John Young in the late 1950s. Young, with a farming background,
represented a number of local agricultural clients and played a key role in
establishing the firm’s water department that now represents over twenty-five
water districts and public agencies throughout California.
Co-founder Joe Wooldridge working in his office in the late 1950s.
Wooldridge’s practice focused on representing Kern County businesses.
Young Wooldridge, LLP has been located on the fourth floor at
1800 Thirtieth Street since 1993. The firm has been practicing law in
Bakersfield, California, since 1939.
Left to right, Business Attorneys Chris W. Hamilton, Jerry W. Pearson,
Jefferson X. Eberhardt, Robert J. Noriega and Michael A. Kaia in 2016.
The business department handles a wide range of legal matters on behalf of
Kern County businesses including formation, transactions, litigation,
employment and labor law, taxation and more.
In 1939, newcomer Joseph Wooldridge had just passed the
California State Bar examination and was working downtown
in the Haberfelde Building as an insurance adjuster. When
Wooldridge arrived, Bakersfield was a typical small town, rich
in family values and community pride. Agriculture and oil
created many jobs and offered a solid economic foundation
for the city and Kern County.
Kern County native John Young, an attorney, had an office
down the hall from Wooldridge and the two met while
pursuing a claim for an injured client. The two men quickly
discovered they shared one powerful idea about the practice
of law—that it should be, first and foremost, a public service.
When the case was settled, Young and Wooldridge became
partners and their vision of the legal profession and their
friendship became the foundation for one of Kern County’s
oldest and largest legal institutions.
Young, born and raised on a farm just south of Bakersfield,
developed a circle of agricultural clients while Wooldridge
represented businesses in Kern County. Their efforts reflected
a deep understanding of the county’s economic base in
agriculture and oil and the legal needs of its residents.
For more than seventy-five years, Young Wooldridge has
represented business and corporate clients, public agencies,
families, and individuals in a broad range of legal matters.
The firm’s services include water, special districts and
public agency law, business transactions, business and
civil litigation, employment and labor law, oil and gas law,
real estate law, complex tax matters, estate planning and
probate, personal injury and wrongful death.
As the firm began to expand following World War II,
several additional attorneys joined the firm. A. Cam Paulden,
known as ‘Cam’ joined the firm in the mid-1950s and
became a partner by 1959. Robert Self joined in 1961 and
became partner within a year, and G. Neil Farr joined the
firm in 1970 and became partner in 1971.
Paulden, Self, and Farr added balance, additional expertise,
and even more energy to an already motivated and
growing organization. The firm’s practice continued to be
based on the belief that clients deserve service above and
beyond what is required.
Young and Paulden played a key role in establishing
and developing an expertise in the complex areas of water,
public agency, and land use law when State and Federal
water projects were being constructed in Kern County in
the late 1940s through the 1960s.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
228

The Water Department at Young Wooldridge continues
to build on the knowledge of Young and Paulden and has
assisted—among other things—with the development and
formation of several state water banking programs. Currently,
Young Wooldridge is general counsel to more than twentyfive
water districts and public agencies throughout California.
By the mid-1970s, the firm was known as Young,
Wooldridge, Paulden, Self and Farr. The practice continued
to evolve with new attorneys and partners throughout the
1980s and early 1990s. In 1993 the firm moved to its
current location at 1800 Thirtieth Street and reverted to its
original name, Young Wooldridge.
Today, Young Wooldridge, LLP is a mid-sized law firm
with vast experience, extensive legal expertise, and a warm
personal approach to working with clients. Though services
have expanded, the firm’s basic values remain unchanged.
The personal touch that the firm’s founders brought to
the practice of law is still part of the everyday operation.
Many of the firm’s clients are third and fourth generation,
a testament to the quality, integrity, and warmth of the
attorneys and staff.
The firm has been voted as a Favorite Law Firm in the
Bakersfield Californian’s ‘Best of Readers’ Choice Poll’ for four
consecutive years, each year since the category’s inception.
As of summer 2016, Young Wooldridge is home to thirtyeight
employees and fourteen attorneys who practice across
a variety of areas. The eight partners are Larry R. Cox,
Ernest A. Conant, Scott K. Kuney, Michael A. Kaia,
Steven M. Torigiani, Gregory A. Muir, Jerry W. Pearson and
Ned Dunphy.
Young Wooldridge is actively involved in supporting Kern
County businesses and industries. The firm supports local
chambers and organizations throughout the area including,
but not limited to: Kern County Bar Association, Greater
Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, Kern County Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce, NOR Chamber of Commerce, Society
of Human Resources Management, Water Association of Kern
County, Kern County Farm Bureau, Kern County Builders
Exchange and Taft College Foundation Petroleum Partners.
In addition to supporting our local industries, Young
Wooldridge believes in giving back to the community in
which it serves. The firm supports numerous local efforts
benefitting education and the arts, health and humanitarian
services, public safety and community development.
Attorneys and staff have worked on various community
boards in leadership positions including: Rotary Club of
Bakersfield–Downtown, South and Breakfast, Friends of
Mercy Hospital Foundation, Bakersfield Memorial Hospital
President’s Circle, San Joaquin Community Hospital
Foundation, board of directors of the Kern County Fair
Board, Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Henrietta Weill
Child Guidance Clinic Board of Directors, Brain Injury
Association of California, Kern Citizens for Sustainable
Government and Kern County Historical Society.
Young Wooldridge’s commitment to education is demonstrated
in a number of ways. Attorneys at the firm have
participated as coaches and judges in local mock trial programs
and the firm has sponsored the annual Hometown
Sports Scholar Athlete of the Year scholarship, in partnership
with television station KBAK, for over twenty years.
One of the firm’s favorite annual events supports the
American Red Cross—Kern Chapter. Each year, Young
Wooldridge hosts a reception to introduce the Heroes of
the American Red Cross, recognizing local citizens for
their heroic acts of kindness, selfless action, and exemplary
behavior in the community. The heroes go on to be
recognized at a dinner and award presentation hosted by
the American Red Cross.
For more information about the attorneys and services at
Young Wooldridge, LLP, visit www.youngwooldridge.com.
÷
Above: Left to right, the firm’s personal injury department in 2016
includes Attorney Thomas A. Brill, Investigator Frank Wooldridge, Attorney
Scott D. Howry, Attorney Gregory A. Muir and Attorney Ned Dunphy.
Below: Estate planning Attorney Larry R. Cox and Paralegal Dee Fringer.
Fringer has assisted Cox in the estate planning department for over
thirty-five years.
THE MARKETPLACE
229

GREATER BAKERSFIELD
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce has
been a strong advocate for local business since 1920.
The chamber works to engage, enhance and empower
its members by providing programs, services, and events
that will help take member’s businesses to the next level.
Whether it is meeting with lawmakers about issues that
impact local businesses, providing
opportunities for members
to connect, or working tirelessly
to keep members up-to-date
about the latest business trends,
the chamber prides itself on
being a lobbying firm, publicist
and HR department for all
its members, all rolled into
one package.
The chamber, then called the
Bakersfield Civic Commercial
Association, held its first meeting
on November 26, 1920. The
association’s main goals were,
“The appropriations of funds
to alleviate flood conditions,
housing needs, taxation to effect
a more efficient government,
highways, parks, education,
economic development and
transportation.” The chamber’s
first officials were President
Louis Oclese, Vice President
C. W. Newberry, and Treasurer
Arthur S. Crites.
The chamber has been at
the forefront of a number of
civic improvements over the
years. According to a history of Bakersfield by author
Richard Bailey, the chamber organized the campaign
that established a city manager form of government during
the early 1940s. During the 1960s, the chamber strongly
supported construction of the Civic Auditorium, which
brought conventions, trade shows, sporting events and
other activities to the city.
Currently, the chamber is known for its strong advocacy
efforts to ensure a healthy business climate for everyone.
The Government Review Council (GRC) meets weekly
to discuss and debate issues affecting the local business
community. Members may also support important political
campaigns and issues by contributing to the chamber’s
Political Action Committee.
The chamber provides several professional development
opportunities for its members, including the Leadership
Bakersfield program that provides key business and
community leaders a different perspective on what makes
Bakersfield tick. In addition, the chamber has sponsored
the Beautiful Bakersfield Awards since 1990. These awards
honor individuals and businesses that help Bakersfield
realize its slogan of ‘Life as it should be.’ The chamber
also sponsors After Hours Mixers to provide opportunities
for networking and hosts the annual Business Expo, the
region’s largest business-to-business trade show.
The chamber has more than 1,100 members, representing
nearly 3,000 member representatives. The chamber has
seven staff members who work to provide high-caliber
programs, events and services for its members. President
and CEO of the chamber is Nicholas Ortiz.
The Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce is located
at 1725 Eye Street in the heart of downtown. The chamber’s
former home on Truxtum Avenue is now home to the
Rabobank Arena, built in 1998 as an addition to the
Bakersfield Convention Center.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
230

Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce provides unique
opportunities for small and African American businesses in
low and moderate income communities to grow their business
and fulfill their business diversity, advocacy, access, and
socialization needs. The services provided by the chamber
are designed to guide small businesses to the next level of
potential wealth building through economic development.
The need for a chamber of commerce to address the
specific needs of African American businesses in Kern
County became evident in the early 2000s. Although efforts
were being made to organize a chamber in the northern
part of the valley, it was felt that a focus on Kern County
was needed. Ali and Earlena Morris and other officers of
the San Joaquin Valley Black Chamber of Commerce, based
in the Fresno area, worked with interested business owners
in Bakersfield to establish the local organization.
KBCC was founded by Ali and Earlena on July 11, 2002.
Other important leaders in the effort were Albert Prince,
Art Powell, Jeffery Palmer, Jerry Johnson, J. R. Hester,
Mary Palmer, Nate Williams and Vivienne Stanford.
Early meetings of the chamber were held in the dining
hall of St. John Missionary Baptist Church. After meeting
in several other locations, the chamber moved into its
own offices at 1222 California Avenue in the fall of 2005.
The organization’s ‘coming out’ was the first annual
Black History Luncheon.
KCBCC, currently located at 1309 L Street, has a
membership of 200 and operates with a team of five staff
and dedicated volunteers. In addition, the chamber has
an Ambassador program composed of twenty community
individuals who promote and advocate the work of the
chamber. The Board of Directors is comprised of fifteen
professionals from different industry sectors.
The California Junior Black Chamber of Commerce–Kern
County Chapter was organized in 2008 and soon began the
first Junior Black Apprentice competition. The Junior
Chamber also hosted a radio show entitled ‘Real Talk:
The Urban Life’, which played on 95.3FM Roots Radio.
Other activities of the junior chamber included the Young
Entrepreneur program as well as a series of youth forums.
In 2012, Ali retired as president of the organization and
Nick Hill took over as interim executive director. Fred Prince
became the new board chair. In June 2015, Tomeka Powell
became the new president/CEO of the organization.
The KCBCC Development Foundation, founded in 2006,
serves as the chamber’s charitable arm. The Foundation provides
a number of youth development programs including
the Junior Chamber, STEM education for kids, financial
literacy, small business development, self-esteem programs
and Leadership Empowerment for Girls.
For more information about the Kern County Black
Chamber of Commerce, please check their website at
www.kcbcc.net.
KERN COUNTY BLACK
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
÷
Below: Junior Chamber Advisory Board.
Bottom: Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce Board installation.
THE MARKETPLACE
231

NORTH OF THE RIVER
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
For more than eighty-eight years, the North of the River
Chamber of Commerce has worked to advance the general
welfare and prosperity of the North of the River area. The
members share a mutual dedication, passion and enthusiasm
for expanding business and employment opportunities for
residents of Kern County.
North of the River Chamber of Commerce was founded
on October 17, 1928, as the North of the River Club and
was responsible for many public utilities and institutions
in the area. The organization eventually evolved into the
chamber of commerce it is today.
In the early days, membership in the club was limited
to men only. Among the prominent members were
Ralph Gifford, head of the Oildale Mutual Water Board;
Don Silvus, teacher and counselor at Standard School;
Dock Hatcher, Realtor ® and member of the water board;
and Jack Scoles, secretary/treasurer of the Retail Clerk’s
Union and member of the NOR Municipal Water Board.
Judy Scoles, a retired aide in the Standard School
District, often attended meetings with her husband and
notes that she was always the only woman in attendance.
She recalls asking several questions during one of the
meetings in the early-1970s and the members, impressed by
her questions, asked her to join the club. The next meeting,
two more women attended and joined and the organization
has been open to both men and women since that time.
The ‘Oildale Men’s Club’ as the organization was sometimes
known in its early years, supported the recreation
and parks department efforts to organize the annual
Christmas Parade. The club worked with such organizations
as the Lions, Kiwanis, Optimist, and Rotary Clubs to support
the needs of residents and businesses in the Oildale area;
helping to raise funds for the North Chester Bridge, street
lighting, street numbering and creation of the entrance sign
to Oildale in 1985.
In the early 1990s, one of the NOR Chamber’s fundraisers
were to host an annual Honorary Oildale Mayoral
Race. Votes cost $1 and the organization raised an average
of $4,000 annually.
The NOR Chamber cosponsored the Graffiti Removal
Project with the Optimist and Beardsley Junior Optimist,
North High students and the Interact Club, along with the
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The North of the River Chamber kept offices in director’s
homes for many years. It now operates from a small office
within one of the member’s office.
The chamber is currently run by one part-time employee
who serves as executive director/office manager, a sixmember
board of directors and nine board members.
There are 150 members who include local businesses, nonprofits,
schools, other local chambers and the downtown
business association.
The North of the River Chamber’s annual fundraising
projects now include a business expo, golf tournament, economic
conference, football booklet and Oktoberfest. These
annual events support local students through a scholarship
program for graduates of North, Liberty, Centennial and
Frontier High Schools.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
232

Bakersfield was founded on hospitality. In the mideighteenth
century, Colonel Thomas Baker was known for
offering travelers a place to rest in the area he settled. It
was called “Baker’s Field.” From the town he plotted in 1869
to the city of more than 150 square miles today, Visit
Bakersfield, formerly the Bakersfield Convention and Visitors
Bureau, welcomes visitors to do as much—or as little—as
they would like: explore the city’s world-renowned music,
unique food, dynamic agricultural products, museums and
arts community, and exciting outdoor activities.
Bakersfield is a city of festivals, where there always seems
to be one going on—from mac and cheese to nut, bluegrass
to jazz, Greek to Scottish, Celtic to Basque, and craft beer
to wine. Bakersfield also is a city of music. While “The
Bakersfield Sound” is popular worldwide, the city’s association
with various other types of music means there are actually
Bakersfield Sounds (plural), all waiting for you to explore.
This southern gateway to California’s fertile Central Valley
is perfect for a weekend trip or week-long stay. Explore
the Bakersfield Museum Trail, a driving route that connects
four unique and family-friendly museums: Bakersfield
Museum of Art, Buena Vista Museum of Natural History and
Science, California Living Museum (CALM), and Kern
County Museum. Check out Bakersfield’s thriving arts scene
and First Friday ArtWalk downtown. With more Basque
restaurants than any other city in the
nation, indulge yourself with Bakersfield’s
unique and memorable food experiences.
Bakersfield has countless ways to
enjoy the outdoors. These include the
Kern River Parkway, the Panorama Vista
Preserve, the Panorama bluffs walking
trail, Lake Ming, and Wind Wolves
Preserve. With “‘field” in its name,
Bakersfield and sports are synonymous:
catch Bakersfield Condors AHL hockey, Bakersfield Blaze
baseball, Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (now competing
at the NCAA Division I level), and Bakersfield College
Renegades. Racing fans can watch the action at Bakersfield
Speedway, Auto Club Famoso Raceway, and Kern County
Raceway Park.
Bakersfield is in the middle of one of
the largest agricultural producing areas
in the world, and what is grown here
finds its way to points all around the
globe. For example, did you know that
almost ninety percent of California’s
carrot crop is grown around Bakersfield?
The friendly staff at Visit Bakersfield
is ready to make your stay enjoyable
with free maps, personal assistance, and
coupons for some family-friendly local
attractions. The visitor center is in
downtown Bakersfield, in front of the
Amtrak station, next to the Kern
Veterans Memorial, and just a few blocks
from the Convention Center.
One thing is certain: Bakersfield continues to deliver
more than visitors expect. That is why we say that in
Bakersfield there really is…“More to Explore!”
VISIT BAKERSFIELD
÷
Left: Visit Bakersfield is ready to welcome visitors at 515 Truxtun Avenue in
downtown Bakersfield.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF SCOTT HISLOP.
Below: Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, 2800 Buck Owens Boulevard,
is Bakersfield’s premier live entertainment venue and top tourist attraction.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF VISIT BAKERSFIELD.
THE MARKETPLACE
233

BAKERSFIELD DOWNTOWN
BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
÷
Below: Concerts at the creek, band performs at Third Thursday.
While Bakersfield has gone through an unprecedented
period of growth and expansion over the last two decades, there
is a renewed focus inward, toward developing the city’s center.
Some of the city’s most noteworthy historical structures
call downtown home, as do several financial institutions, city
and county government offices and two hospitals—Mercy
Hospital and San Joaquin Community Hospital—which
contribute so much to our community as well.
But when the office buildings close, an entire other side
of Downtown is just getting warmed up.
Downtown is the heart of Bakersfield’s dining scene. From
fine dining and steakhouses, to diners, food trucks and burger
joints. Local award-winning food from Chinese, Sushi, and
Thai cuisine, to Caribbean, Latin American, and Italian,
not to mention an assortment of pizza parlors, sandwich
shops, juice bars, BBQ and more. They are scattered all over
the downtown map, with around fifty
restaurants to choose from on any given day.
The museum, arts and entertainment
scene flourishes as well with the Bakersfield
Museum of Art, which includes not only
rotating exhibitions but a botanical garden.
The Buena Vista Museum of Natural History
houses an impressive collection of fossils
and displays highlighting Bakersfield distant
past. The new Bakersfield Music Museum
aims to capture the past and present music
scene. Downtown also features several galleries
and theaters both intimate and large.
The Rabobank Theater is home to the Bakersfield
Symphony, off-Broadway performances and concerts. The
9,000 seat Rabobank Arena houses concerts, conventions
and sporting events, including the Bakersfield Condors
hockey team. The two venues combine to bring hundreds
of thousands of people into downtown each year.
Bakersfield’s history comes alive in the heart of the city
as well with the Fox Theater, a Spanish Colonial Revivalstyled
theater built that opened in 1930. The DBA played a
major role in re-opening the Fox in the mid-1990s, and
today is one of the primary venues for live entertainment
in the city. The Padre Hotel, built in 1928, dominates the
downtown skyline and is one of the epicenters of social
activity in the city.
Central Park at Mill Creek sits as an oasis on the edge
of downtown, lined by palm trees and an expansive lawn,
it includes a fountain-filled waterway and hosts events
such as the DBA’s Third Thursday, with live entertainment,
art, vendors and more. It is also flanked by the beautiful
Bakersfield Federal Courthouse.
The DBA has recently launched a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
arm, the Downtown Bakersfield Development Corporation,
to help attend to the city’s redevelopment needs. By focusing
on the community’s desires to create a safe, secure and welcoming
city center, the DBDC will help take downtown and
the DBA forward into a new generation of growth. Turning
its sights on an urban design plan, and effecting change in
the lives of those in need among the downtown community
by fostering partnerships within the nonprofit sector.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
234

In the summer of 1969, Buck became co-host of Hee Haw,
which became one of the top syndicated television successes
of all time. In 1989, Buck had a resurgence in popularity
with a new younger group of fans and scored a number one
hit with Streets of Bakersfield a duet with his friend, Dwight
Yoakam. Subsequent generations rediscovered his music and
now keep his name shining as one of the great innovators
and true legends of country music.
BUCK OWENS’
CRYSTAL PALACE
÷
Top, left: The Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield.
Left and below: Buck Owens.
Born in Sherman, Texas in 1929, Buck Owens came West
with his family in the great “Grapes of Wrath” migration of
the 1930s. By 1951, he settled into Bakersfield, California,
and found himself playing guitar and singing in the local
honky-tonks. He quickly became a local favorite and then in
1953, Buck got a break by playing for the then hot Tommy
Collins. He started playing lead guitar on Tommy’s records,
and during the next few years became a popular session
player for Capitol Records in Hollywood. After making a few
records of his own on the Pep label, Buck signed as a solo act
with Capitol in 1957. For the next five years his hits were
steady and his star was rising, but in 1963 his career really
took off. Buck Owens & His Buckaroos had seventeen
number one hit singles over the next six years, including
Act Naturally, Together Again, Tiger By The Tail, Crying Time,
and Love’s Gonna Live Here, which stayed in the number one
slot on Billboard for sixteen weeks straight! By the late 1960s,
Buck led a huge organization based in Bakersfield, including
publishing companies, several radio stations (KUZZ AM/FM,
KCWR, and KRJK FM), television, newspapers, and more.
In 1996, Buck opened the Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace
in Bakersfield. Since then it has become famous worldwide
as an important venue of country music. Buck & His
Buckaroos played there Friday and Saturday nights until his
passing in March of 2006, and hundreds of country music
stars have graced the stage of the Crystal Palace including the
Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Brad Paisley, and Taylor Swift.
An all-in-one restaurant, museum and theater focusing
on the rich history and sounds of West Coast Country
Music, the Crystal Palace has been on national television
specials, and honored as night club of the year multiple
times by the Academy of Country Music. It features outstanding
food, fascinating memorabilia and great live
music...an amazing place to visit!
THE MARKETPLACE
235

CARNEY’S BUSINESS
TECHNOLOGY CENTER
÷
Right: From left to right, Rick, Chris and Jeff Kreiser.
Below: Our first office in 1978, from left to right, Red LeCain, Kris and
Rick Kreiser and Bob Carney.
Building on a successful career in office equipment sales
and management for other Kern-based businesses,
Bob Carney made the decision to go out on his own in
December of 1977. In a spare bedroom of his northeast
Bakersfield home, and armed with little more than a strong
reputation for providing superior customer service, Bob
realized his entrepreneurial vision and Carney’s Office
Equipment was born.
With the support of his family and loyal customers, sales
grew steadily during the fledgling company’s first few
months. In July 1978, Bob was joined by his son-in-law,
Rick Kreiser, and their first official showroom was opened
on Easton Drive. Quality products and reliable service
attracted new customers and, within two years, additional
space was needed. The company moved just across the
parking lot to larger space to accommodate their growing
business. That location served the company well until it
moved to its current home at 2001 Westwind Drive.
As the growth of technology exploded and businesses
increasingly relied on IT services, Carney’s official name was
changed to Carney’s Business Technology Center to reflect
the new direction.
“If you are like most business owners, technology is
something that you obviously need, but don’t necessarily
want to have to think about. After all, you have a company
to run,” says Rick. “Chances are, if you are thinking about
your IT infrastructure it’s because something is not working
as it should, or it’s holding your company back. We help our
clients protect their assets and improve effectiveness, efficiency,
productivity and profitability by using technology.”
Over the past nearly four decades, Carney’s has represented
best-in-class products and services from a range of top
technology partners. More than simply ‘vendors,’ Carney’s
works hard to identify the right products and solutions for
the markets it serves. Once the solution has been engineered
and installed, the effective support programs made possible
through Carney’s partner relationships keep the project
delivering results well beyond client’s expectations.
Carney’s leadership is transitioning to a third generation
as Rick’s sons, Chris and Jeff, continue to chart the company’s
direction with a keen eye on future trends while keeping
true to the values upon which the business was built.
Kern County is a great place to live and work and
Carney’s believes that giving back to the community helps
strengthen the business environment while achieving a sense
of personal fulfillment. To this end, Carney’s leadership
and team members support business, professional, and
community service organizations at a variety of levels.
Among these organizations are the Greater Bakersfield
Chamber of Commerce, the Bakersfield College Foundation,
Kern Economic Development Corporation, Bakersfield West
Rotary, and the Friends of Mercy Foundation.
Over the years, Kern County has experienced explosive
growth and technology has changed every aspect of the way
we live and do business. But one thing remains the same as
it did on that winter day some forty years ago—Carney’s
commitment to the Kern County business community.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
236

Kern Schools Federal Credit Union has served the needs
of its Members and the entire Kern County community for
nearly eighty years. Since its humble beginnings in 1938,
when a small group of dedicated and concerned teachers met
to form a financial cooperative for school employees and
their families, Kern Schools has embodied the credit union
philosophy of, “People Helping People.”
Originally known as Kern County School Employees
Federal Credit Union, Kern Schools was granted a federal
charter in 1940. The first Kern Schools “office” was actually
a small room located in the library of Bakersfield High School.
A single volunteer conducted all the operations for the Credit
Union, with Member transaction receipts kept in a shoe box
and locked in a desk drawer after hours. By the end of its
first year, Kern Schools had 141 Members, approximately
$1,300 in assets, and was well on its way to serving the school
employees of Kern County with a lifetime partnership through
quality financial products and services.
Although the name was shortened to Kern Schools Federal
Credit Union in 1969, the goals of the organization remain
the same: helping people throughout the community achieve
their dreams.
Membership does make a difference! Unlike a conventional
bank, which is driven by shareholders and profit, a credit
union is a not-for-profit entity designed to assist the financial
needs of its members through smaller fees, higher dividends,
and lower loan rates. Similarly, a credit union board of
directors consists of unpaid volunteers, as opposed to large
shareholders, who are elected by the membership to lead
the organization.
Today, Kern Schools is the largest member-owned financial
institution headquartered in Kern County, with more than
150,000 Members and $1.3 billion in assets. The Credit
Union is open to all Kern County residents.
From a single volunteer, the Credit Union has grown to
more than 400 team members whose sole purpose is to
provide the best Member service possible. With ten branch
offices and more than seventy ATMs, Kern Schools provides
a wide array of products and services, including extensive
home and auto loan programs, the latest in online and
mobile technology, as well as wealth management services.
Kern Schools is ready to serve Kern County for another
seventy-eight years and beyond.
Come find out why Kern Schools has been voted “Best
Financial Institution in Kern County” for more than twenty
years in a row. Members of Kern Schools experience personal
service and attention each day and every time they visit
because, “Together, we have something special.”
To learn more about becoming a Member of Kern Schools,
please visit our website at www.ksfcu.org.
KERN SCHOOLS
FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
÷
Left: Warren Hall located on the campus of Bakersfield High School.
Below: Kern Schools Federal Credit Union’s administration building located
at 11500 Bolthouse Drive.
THE MARKETPLACE
237

GUITAR MASTERS
÷
Above: Tommy Emmanuel.
Right: Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo.
Guitar Masters, LLC, an ongoing community concert
series, was born of a simple desire to present the finest musicians
in the world—primarily guitarists—in an intimate ‘listening
room’ environment.
Guitar Masters began in 2011 and grew out of local
businessman Rick Kreiser’s love for guitar music and
performances. “In the summer of 2010, my wife Lorie and
I decided to take in something called a ‘house concert’ in
Los Angeles featuring an exceptionally talented musician,
Paul McCartney’s former lead guitarist, Laurence Juber,”
Rick explains. “I looked around the room, counted the
number of seats (forty-six), did some simple math (door
donations times the number of people) and thought—
we could do this! So I asked the artist if he would consider
performing in Bakersfield. He said he’d love to.”
Rick soon realized there was no way he could fit fifty
people into his house for a concert, so he started looking for
a private, music-friendly venue and settled on an old church
turned social club called The Bell Tower.
There was no budget for publicity, so they tapped
the power of social media—and the phone—to contact
everybody they could think of, and nearly 150 people
turned out for the very first Guitar Masters show. Today,
most of the shows are sellouts in the beautifully reimagined
Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame.
“We’ve learned a few things along the way,” Rick says.
“Key among them is the fact that almost all musicians live
to play for appreciative audiences. I don’t know of a single
artist who wouldn’t jump at the chance to return to
the Guitar Masters stage. They know they will be well taken
care of and every detail of their show will be handled
with professionalism.”
Rick emphasizes that the success of the Guitar Masters
concerts has been possible only through the faithful support
of sponsors, patrons and guest musicians. He also credits
the encouragement of his family. “My sons, Chris and
Jeff, capably operate the family business so I can pursue
this passion, and my daughter, Katie, captures each show
with her beautiful photography. And, Lorie’s friendly smile
greets visitors at each performance.”
The mission of Guitar Masters goes deeper than just
providing outstanding and unique musical offerings to the
community. Whenever possible, the artists are invited to
give a short lecture or guest clinic at one of the high schools
or colleges during their stay.
“Perhaps the most important measure for us is the
increasing number of dedicated patrons and sponsors,”
Rick says. “Over the past five seasons, we have provided
the highest quality live performances for more than
7,000 fans.
“Guitar Masters will live on as long as artists want to
play for us and patrons want to be there to hear them.
We keep our ticket prices reasonable by design, allowing
guitar fans from around the central valley (and beyond)
to gain an appreciation for world-class music.”
For more information about Guitar Masters, check the
website at www.guitarmasters.org.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
238

a Bakersfield institution for fifty
years, is a story of achieving success through perseverance,
hard work, and a strong faith in God.
Today, Hodel’s is a multifaceted operation on Olive Drive
in Bakersfield where people up and down the state enjoy
the savory flavors of Hodel’s fine food. With banquet rooms
seating ten to 400 people, Hodel’s restaurant provides many
organizations and groups a quiet and pleasant atmosphere
with exceptional service and delicious food. Hodel’s also
caters many large local events, receiving high marks for the
quality of food and creative presentation.
The story of Hodel’s begins with Lydia Bartel Hodel,
whose determination to persevere despite enormous obstacles
created the culture that still guides the organization
today. Lydia’s life began in hardship when she lost her mother
during the flu epidemic of 1917. Lydia was only eleven
years old but had to take over the cooking, cleaning and
bottle washing for her family, which included nine children.
Beginning with this experience, ‘Mom Hodel’ lived a life of
service to others.
Her family escaped the dust bowl of Oklahoma and
moved to California in 1921 and Lydia found a job cooking
for hay harvesting crews. In the late 1920s, she and her
sisters became domestic help in Bakersfield. One of her
employers was property investor Arthur Crites, an accomplished
amateur chef, who sensed Lydia’s natural abilities as
a cook and taught her many helpful teaching techniques
including sharing recipes from the White House.
Lydia married Sam Hodel in 1928. The couple settled in
Bakersfield just in time for the Great Depression of the
1930s, when jobs were hard to come by. Lydia found a job
with the Gettle family and when they decided to move to
Beverly Hills they offered Sam a job as chauffeur if Mom
Hodel would continue as cook and nanny. Mom Hodel
prepared many fine meals for the Gettle family and their
distinguished guests, who included department store founder
JCPenney. Their three children, daughters Beverly and Darlene
and son Bob were born during their stay in Beverly Hills.
The family returned to Bakersfield in 1942, where
Sam earned the reputation as a quality custom hay bailer.
Mom Hodel went to work as manager of the new Greeley
School cafeteria, a position she held for twenty-one years.
At the school, she produced such delicious and nutritious
meals that the federal government investigated to determine
how she could meet the dietary requirements at a cost
of only fifteen cents per student. Upon her retirement,
she received a lifetime membership in the PTA with the
statement: “We are glad you are retiring because we are
tired of the children asking why the food is better at school
than it is at home.”
Mom Hodel retired in May 1967, but when her son
Bob opened Hodel’s Valley Plaza Restaurant in September,
she joined the family business and
worked for another twenty-one years.
During the 1970s, several other
Hodel’s Restaurants were developed,
including the very popular Hodel’s
at Northridge Fashion Center Mall
for a nineteen year run.
There is much more to the story
and heritage of Hodel’s but it
is important to understand the
values and standards of the original
staff and the example set by
Lydia and Sam. The Hodel family
is thankful for its heritage and
firmly believes that its blessings
have come from God’s grace. They
continue to seek His blessings in
their future endeavors.
HODEL’S COUNTRY DINING
THE MARKETPLACE
239

BAKERSFIELD CONDORS
This is Condorstown. For nearly two decades, the top
sports draw in Bakersfield, and one of the best outlets for
FUN in all of Kern County, has been the Bakersfield Condors.
The Condors began play in 1998 and have earned a
reputation in Kern County as one of the top draws for
family friendly entertainment, and nationwide for their
attention-grabbing promotions.
Nearly 4 million fans have passed through the turnstiles
to see the Condors since 1998. The team’s commitment to
the community is at its core, contributing nearly $5 million
in cash, goods and services to local schools and nonprofits
during their history. Annual events, such as Tip-A-Condor,
golf tournaments, and Jersey Off Our Backs auctions inject
needed funding into the coffers of local charities and connect
the players to the fans.
No event embodies both Condors community involvement
and the passion of the Condorstown fans like the annual
Teddy Bear Toss. Held each year on the Saturday after
Thanksgiving, fans are invited to bring stuffed animals to the
game and when the Condors score their first goal, throw them
onto the ice. The teddy bears are collected by the United Way
and distributed throughout the county to dozens of agencies
in need throughout the holidays and beyond. Teddy Bear Toss
is annually the biggest game of the season, and over 100,000
stuffed animals have been collected in the event’s history.
Meanwhile, the Condors have proven to be second to
none in generating nationwide—or even global—attention
for their promotions. Famous for offering Canadian-born
pop star Justin Bieber a contract, bringing out a live condor
on the ice (and the bird getting loose from her handler),
hosting a Charlie Sheen Night, or sporting a slew of
extraordinary specialty jerseys, the Condors have never
taken themselves too seriously, nor missed an opportunity
to steal a moment of the spotlight.
It was just that international recognition, and the team’s
support from the community, which led to the purchase of
the team in 2014 by the five-time Stanley Cup Champion
Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League. Already
having graduated a dozen players to the NHL from the
“AA” level, the Condors on-ice product was about to receive
an unexpected boost from the top of the sports world.
In October 2015 the Oilers made the Bakersfield
Condors part of a newly-created Pacific Division of the
American Hockey League—the primary development
grounds for the NHL. The new division included five
teams from California, and brought the AHL right into the
backyard of the West Coast NHL teams.
The AHL is the proving ground for hockey’s future stars,
with nearly ninety percent of players in the NHL first
learning the ropes in the AHL. The role Bakersfield is to
play in building hockey’s future was evident immediately,
with nearly twenty players moved back and forth between
Bakersfield and the NHL in the team’s first AHL campaign.
The reception from the fans followed suit, with the Condors
posting their highest attendance in five years.
Keeping their eyes on the prize on the ice, combined with
a spirited connection to the community off the ice, is sure
to make Bakersfield remain Condorstown for years to come.
BAKERSFIELD—It’s The People, And A Whole Lot More
240

A gun shop that began in a little shack more fifty-three
years ago has grown to become the favorite destination for
Kern County shooters. Valley Gun, Inc., Kern County’s only
existing second generation, family-owned gun shop, has
become successful by providing services others do not and
by treating clients the way they would want to be treated.
Valley Gun, known originally as Valley Gun Shop,
opened for business in 1963 in a small, wooden building at
301½ East California Avenue. The business was organized