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Colorado Springs Directory
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Bakersfield & Kern County Background
Bakersfield is the county seat of Kern County, California, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total
population of 247,057. The city’s economy thrives on agriculture, petroleum extraction, and refining. It is one of the fastest
growing of the larger cities of the United States. As of 2005 the population is estimated at 307,471 according to local municipal
sources. It is California’s third largest inland city after Fresno and Sacramento.
History
The Yokut Indians were the first people to settle in the San Joaquin Valley, some 8000 years ago. In 1776, the Spanish missionary
Father Garces was the first European to reach the area. In 1851 gold was discovered in the Kern River, and in 1865 the first
discovery of oil was made in the valley. Settlements grew up, and the place soon became known as "Colonel Baker's field", after
one of the local settlers. When Colonel Tom Baker was given the assignment of surveying a township in 1869, the town was given the
official name of "Bakersfield".
The town continued to grow, and reached a population of about 300 by 1869, and 800 by 1871. Adversities such as the floods of 1867
and 1893, and the fires of 1889 and 1919, did not reverse this trend. On May 27, 1898, the San Joaquin Valley Railroad arrived in
Bakersfield, giving a great boost to population. Then, in the 1930s, the Dust Bowl brought a great influx of migrant workers from
the Great Plains, taking work mostly in agriculture and the oil industry. In later years, farm work in the area has mostly been
conducted by Mexican immigrants. In the 1960s, César Chávez led the fight to improve working conditions for migrant farm workers.
The great earthquake of 1952 changed the appearance of Bakersfield, promoting the flat, sprawling style of building that dominates
the city today.
In 1965, a university in the California State University system was founded in Bakersfield. California State University, Bakersfield
today has some 7,700 students, with a special focus on business and administration.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren was raised in Bakersfield, and would later go on to decide such cases as Brown v. Board of
Education and the Miranda decision.
Geography
Bakersfield is located at 35°21’26" North, 119°1'54" West (35.357276, -119.031661), at 120 m (400 ft) in elevation. It lies
near the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, and the southern tip of the Sierra Nevadas are just to the east.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 296.3 km² (114.4 mi²). 292.9 km² (113.1 mi²) of it is land
and 3.4 km² (1.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.14% water.
The Kern River (dubbed the "Killer Kern" due to its dangerous swimming conditions) is a river in eastern California in the United
States, approximately 250 km (155 miles) long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed
by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through the Kern River Valley and Lake Isabella, including the nearby towns of Lake
Isabella, Wofford Heights, Onyx, Bodfish, Mountain Mesa and Kernville before continuing through scenic canyons in the mountains and is
a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking. It formerly emptied into the now-dry Buena Vista Lake at the southern end of
the Central Valley, but it is now entirely diverted for irrigation leaving it with no natural outlet.
Bakersfield lies approximately 160 km (100 mi) north of Los Angeles (about a 2-hour drive) and about 500 km (300 mi) southeast of the
state capital, Sacramento (about a 5-hour drive).
Bakersfield is one of the largest cities in the United States that is not directly linked to an Interstate highway, although Interstate
5 runs just west of it while another north-south freeway, State Highway 99, bisects the city.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 247,057 people, 83,441 households, and 60,995 families residing in the city. The population density
is 843.4/km² (2,184.4/mi²). There are 88,262 housing units at an average density of 301.3/km² (780.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is
61.87% White, 9.16% Black or African American, 1.40% Native American, 4.33% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 18.68% from other races, and 4.43%
from two or more races. 32.45% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 83,441 households out of which 42.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.1% are married couples living together,
15.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 26.9% are non-families. 21.5% of all households are made up of individuals and
7.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.92 and the average family size is 3.41.
In the city the population is spread out with 32.7% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and
8.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 30 years. For every 100 females there are 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18
and over, there are 90.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $39,982, and the median income for a family is $45,556. Males have a median income of
$38,834 versus $27,148 for females. The per capita income for the city is $17,678. 18.0% of the population and 14.6% of families are below
the poverty line. Out of the total population, 24.4% of those under the age of 18 and 8.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty
line.
Bakersfield is generally a politically conservative city with a large population that can trace its family roots to the western exodus of
farmers from the American midwest during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. These individuals were know as "Okies" because so many of them hailed
from Oklahoma which was hard hit by the dust bowl. John Steinbeck’s masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath is an accurate illustration of their
plight.
Local Amenities
Bakersfield is home to California State University, Bakersfield and Bakersfield College. The Kern County Museum, which boasts an extensive
collection of regional artifacts, is located on Chester Avenue, just north of Downtown Bakersfield. Bakersfield is also home to the
Bakersfield Blaze, a minor league baseball affiliate of the Texas Rangers, who play at the historical Sam Lynn Ballpark. In downtown
Bakersfield there is the major civic center, the Rabobank Arena. This arena hosts a symphony orchestra, an af2 team, the Bakersfield
Blitz, and an ECHL hockey team, the Bakersfield Condors. Rabobank Arena also hosts the men's and women's basketball teams of CSU Bakersfield,
who compete in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in Division II of the NCAA. Also downtown is Jerry’s Pizza, which is
known across the country for supporting the underground music scene much like the influential CBGB. Bakersfield’s main airport is
Meadows Field Airport, which currently has a new terminal under construction, replacing the long outdated one. The increasing number of
metropolitan amenities is due to the city’s fast pace growth.
Culture
Bakersfield has a large Basque population in and around the city and most of Bakersfield’s oldest and most historic restaurants are
Basque and a noticeable portion of the population have Basque ancestry.
As with many cities in the Central Valley of California, many Bakersfield residents have ancestors who migrated to the area from the Great
Plains during the Dust Bowl. In John Steinbeck’s historical novel The Grapes of Wrath, Bakersfield is one of the locations that the
protagonists pass through. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road deals with the conditions of migrant workers in this part of California on a
later date.
In the 1950s, local country musicians such as Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Wynn Stewart helped invent a rock and roll-influenced country
music style called the Bakersfield sound. Their influence was so great that Bakersfield is second only to Nashville, Tennessee, in country
music fame. Bakersfield continues to produce famous country music artists.
Despite its country music fame, Bakersfield has also turned out its fair share of hard rock, most notably Korn and Adema.
Bakersfield has another culture: Off Road Riding. Whether by dirt bike, quad, horse or 4wheeler, the thrill of riding the terra firma
foothills and canyons is a culture to the city’s residents.
Whether by dirt bike, quad, horse or 4wheeler, the thrill of riding the terra firma foothills and canyons is a culture to the city’s
residents. Bakersfield has always been home to a large population of Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) enthusiasts. The California Department
of Motor Vehicles reports as of May 2001, there are over 18,000 OHVs registered in Kern County Kern Off Highway Vehicle Association. On
May 26, 2005, the City of Bakersfield and the State of California Parks department obtained an assignable option using a grant from the
OHV Trust funds to purchase a prospective 11,000 acre (45 km²) site for an OHV park. Ruth Coleman, Director of California State Parks
State remarked, "This project responds to the needs of the Bakersfield community for increased recreation opportunities and will provide
a cornerstone for the Central Valley Strategy". Friends of Kern Open Space state that there are several educational programs available
to train youth in proper OHV operation, including National 4-H and the California Off-Road PALS program. Friends of Kern Open Space.
Trivia
- The Rolling Stones sing of Bakersfield in "Far Away Eyes," and John Hiatt mentions the town in "Tennessee Plates." The rock artist
Henry Rollins mentions Bakersfield in one of his spoken word pieces, titled The Virtues of Black Sabbath. Martina McBride’s song
Cry on the Shoulder of the Road opens with the line I’m rolling out of Bakersfield. Buck Owen’s famous "Streets of Bakersfield", later
performed with Dwight Yoakam, is naturally about Bakersfield.
- The 1973 book The Onion Field, by Joseph Wambaugh, is a true story about a pair of Los Angeles Police Department officers abducted
and killed in farmland near Bakersfield. The Onion Field was made into a move in 1979.
- In 1949, future presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush lived in Bakersfield, on Monterrey Street just west of Mount Vernon.
- The Fox Network broadcast "Bakersfield P.D." (1993), a sitcom about police officers in Bakersfield (one an African-American transplant
from Los Angeles, the other a local white officer) which was critically acclaimed but only lasted 17 episodes.
- The movie The Running Man opens with the Bakersfield Food Riots, where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character is framed as
"The Butcher of Bakersfield."
- One film shot in Bakersfield is The Cell. This blockbuster is about a serial killer that videotapes his victims before drowning them.
The equipment used in the victims’ demise has a plate stamped "Made in Bakersfield".
- Other films shot in and around Bakersfield include: The "X-Files" (1998), "K-PAX" (2001), "North by Northwest" (1959),
"Thelma & Louise" (1991), "Wag the Dog" (1997), "The Break Up" (1998), "Prime Target" (1989) and "Psycho" (1960).
- Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks, has a porta-potty outhouse wall that says Bakersfield on the side.
- In the movie Where the Heart Is, the characters in the beginning are en route to Bakersfield before stopping at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma.
- Any reference to Bakersfield by the writer Stephen King usually does not end up in a positive light.
- Bakersfield is notorious for some of the worst wintertime tule fog in the entire West Coast region, with visibility sometimes dropping
to 3 m (10 ft).
- Bakersfield has among the worst air quality in North America.
- NASCAR Driver Kevin Harvick hails from Bakersfield.
- Quarterback David Carr, #1 draft pick of the Houston Texans in the 2002 NFL Draft, played football at Stockdale High School in Bakersfield.
- In the CRPG Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game, the ruins of Bakersfield are called Necropolis and are inhabited with ghouls,
human beings mutated horribly by radiation.
- Twin sisters from Bakersfield, Lynx and Lamb Gaede, make up the white supremacist recording duo Prussian Blue.
Source: wikipedia.org
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