I was driving the other day when a radio spot came of for the Comfort Suites hotel out by the highway...
"If you're visiting Bakersfield for business, or just a long vacation..."
??????
A vacation? In Bakersfield?
I can't imagine anyone wasting a vacation in Bakersfield, let alone a "long" one.
There isn't anything to see or do here. Bakersfield is what you pass through on your way to somewhere better. My parents came to visit months ago and I was able to give them the grand tour of the city in under 20 minutes. Maybe there's a whole part of the city I'm unaware of. The interesting part.
But here's the thing - when I was digging online for the postcard image at the top of the post I discovered a lot of vintage photos of the city and by all appearances this place used to actually be, you know, interesting. Take a look...
It's almost... dare I say it.... pretty.
So what happened? Earthquake baby. 1952. Apparently it took out all the cool stuff, and the city fathers of the day decided to replace everything with drab, Soviet style concrete bunkers. I mean, this was the Kern County courthouse before the earthquake...
And this is what they chose to replace it with...
And it's just been down hill from there.
Such a shame. Such a lack of vision.
It's sad to imagine what could've been here. Instead they've just settled for being...
"The Crappiest Place On Earth."
