Where ever I go, I know I will find something interesting to see. Bakersfield is a large city in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley. It’s got agriculture, oil and it’s own brand of country music, the Bakersfield sound. It’s famous musicians were Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Buck Owens created the Crystal Palace and it’s still quite busy, as a restaurant with performances. Sort of like Dinner theater – but with music.
What brought me to Bakersfield was a quilting retreat. We spent two days at Thimble Towne sewing away. You know me, a retreat is fine, but before I got there, I had to stop off in downtown Bakersfield to see the sights.
First stop was the old Woolworth’s. Today it is an antique mall. There are plenty of antique shops here, many specialize in records. Another legacy of the Bakersfield sound.
I had a burger and fries sitting at the lunchette counter. I will admit to not being able to take any of the cool aid, I guess I was chicken and was worried that my teeth would fall out. All I could think of is sugar overload.
There was a cute couple next to me, they were visiting from Ireland, on their way to Sequoia and Yosemite. They found this place on Yelp.
I wandered around a couple of the stores. Old quilts and an old machine. It was selling for $190, I don’t know how good that is. It isn’t a featherweight, it is larger than that. Maybe if it is in good condition than it would be worth the money. The label says it’s from 1947.
I need to clean my camera lens! All these spots are my fault! Anyway, this is the Kress building, an office building across from Woolworths. Really lovely Art Deco. Pay attention to the street signs, I’ll be mentioning them again.
Look at the gorgeous Art Deco details. Love the design, love the color, of course I’m wondering if it’s Gladding McBean tile. There must have been other tilemakers in California. 
OK, so if you noticed the street signs in the previous picture, you see that the number streets go east-west and the letter streets go north-south.
Someone has a sense of humor, this is Eye St. what otherwise would have been I street.
There doesn’t seem to be any irony here. I happen to like it, but I can’t find any explanation for who was the creative person who came up with this. Btw, Thimble Towne is in a modern Industrial area, it’s on Unicorn St. right off Pegasus St. That is it for the mythical horses, but other streets nearby are named for Zeus, Mars and other Gods.
An old theater that is brightly painted. It was built in 1925. Today it is called Cinema 19 and it’s an Adult theater. I found an older image online, it wasn’t brightly painted then and it had 100 channels, not just 60. See what the internet has done! I guess it’s not just for viewing movies, but they also sell stuff now. Also, the Tattoo parlor used to be a pawn shop.
Built in 1906 as the Bakersfield Opera House, it was renovated in 1937 by famous Theater designer S. Charles Lee. He added the Art Deco facade and town as well as turning it into a movie theater. It has faired much better than the Virginia, today it is a Church.
And then we have the Fox Theater, The luckist of them all. Also designed by S. Charles Lee, this theater opened in 1930. It survived an earthquake, it survived the 1970’s when box theaters in malls were the rage. It sat empty for a while, until 1990 when The Fox Theater Foundation bought and refurbished the property. Today it is an events venue, for both live and movie performances.