Historic Bakersfield, CA

Larry and I had a good time in beautiful Bakersfield. We concentrated on exploring the vintage side of town....downtown. There are many intact historic buildings as well as excellent examples of post-WW II, 50's 60's architecture. We really liked all the great old neon signs!

Our first lunch was at a hamburger place called Happy Jack's Pie and Burger. Any restaurant that has "pie and burger" in its name has to be good. And it was. Of course, the Pie 'n Burger in Pasadena is really my fave burger in the greater L.A. area, but Happy Jack's was just fine.

We ate dinner one night at a historic Basque restaurant called The Pyrenees Cafe. It was bountiful. The amount of food served for two people would be enough for 4-6 people! The interior of the restaurant is great....there's an old-fashioned long bar and a dining room with red-checked tablecloths. All meals are served family style.

We also visited a few antique stores. No bargains. Bakersfield is hip to their vintage legacy...shopowners know that they can charge L.A. prices.

The big highlight was visiting Buck Owens' Crystal Palace. The show was excellent. Buck's house band started the show and then he joined in and sang some favorites and a few new tunes. The man is a real entertainer....his singing is good, his playing is great and it looks like he's having a hee-haw good time on stage. Every seat at The Crystal Palace is good, the food is good too. You can order everything from sandwiches and burgers to steak and ribs. Buck performs on Fridays and Saturdays, but has guests during the week. We would definitely travel up here again for a good show!

Of course, I had to look for some yarn while I was in Bakersfield. I found one LYS, Classy Knits and Yarns, 1833 "F" St. The shop was packed on a Saturday morning. They had a very good selection, but I didn't see anything that I couldn't buy in Los Angeles. The prices were about the same as L.A. too. We did hit a Michael's in one of the suburbs of B-Field...excellent selection.

At Guthrie's Alley Cat Bar in downtown Bakersfield we spotted some suspicious initials carved right into the bar. Hmmmm? I wonder who would have done such a thing?

We were back in Los Angeles by Sunday night. More about our L.A. adventures tomorrow!