Bakersfield Citywide Historic Context Statement_July 2025 (TO CITY).pdf — Finance, Economic Development and Jobs Committee, November 10, 2025 (part 1 of 2)

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Historic Resources Group

CITY OF BAKERSFIELD

CITYWIDE HISTORIC CONTEXT STATEMENT
Revised July 2025

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND
This historic context statement has been developed as part of the City of Bakersfield Cultural Resource Survey, conducted by Historic Resources Group. The cultural resource survey is a two-part project, consisting of a citywide historic context statement and a field survey of four geographic areas selected by the City of Bakersfield: Downtown Bakersfield, East Bakersfield, Oleander/Sunset, and Westchester/Riviera. This project has been managed by Cecelia Griego, Principal Planner for the City of Bakersfield’s Economic and Community Development.

Oversight and review of this project was the purview of the City’s Historic Preservation Commission: Eileen Diaz, Michael McCoy, Cathy Butler, Stephen Montgomery, and Susan B.

Stussy. The goal of this project is to serve as a foundation for historic preservation planning efforts in the city going forward.

Historic contexts and surveys are critical tools for understanding, identifying, evaluating, and protecting those resources that give each community its individual character and sense of place.1 As noted in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation, “the development of historic contexts is the foundation for decisions about the identification, evaluation, registration and treatment of historic properties, and surveys.”2 Preservation best practices acknowledge that the development of a historic context statement and accompanying field survey is an iterative process, with each component benefitting from the other. A historic context statement provides important background that assists survey teams in understanding what they see in the field. Likewise, observations made during fieldwork may also raise questions about what, why, and how what remains in the built environment originated or evolved.

1 “Historic Contexts & Resource Surveys,” California Office of Historic Preservation, https://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23317 (accessed March 2, 2023).
2 U.S. Department of the Interior, “Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation, National Park Service,” September 29, 1983.

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PURPOSE
In order to understand the significance of the historic and architectural resources in the City of Bakersfield, it is necessary to examine those resources within a series of contexts. By placing built resources in the appropriate context, the relationship between an area’s physical environment and its broader history can be established.

A historic context statement analyzes the historical development of a community according to guidelines written by the National Park Service and specified in National Register Bulletin 16A.

A historic context statement contains information about important historical trends and patterns of development, organized by important themes and chronological periods of time.

Because historic contexts are organized by theme, place and time, they link historic properties to important historic trends. In this way, they provide a framework for determining the historic, social, cultural, and/or architectural significance of a specific property and its potential eligibility for historic listing or designation.3 A historic context statement is linked with tangible built resources through the concept of “property type,” defined as a grouping of individual properties based on shared physical or associative attributes.4
A historic context statement is not a comprehensive history of the area. Rather, it is intended to highlight broad historical trends and patterns of development critical to the understanding of the existing built environment. It should identify the various historical factors that shaped the development of the area, which may include historical activities or events; historic personages; building types; architectural styles; construction technologies and materials, and patterns of land use and physical development.

The purpose of the City of Bakersfield Historic Context Statement is to provide a framework for the continuing process of identification, evaluation, and preservation of significant historic properties within the context of the development of Bakersfield, Kern County, and the larger southern San Joaquin Valley region. It is meant to form the foundation of a comprehensive preservation program, serving as a guide for citizens, planners, and decision makers in their ongoing efforts to protect important aspects of the City of Bakersfield’s built environment.

METHODOLOGY
This historic context statement was prepared by Historic Resources Group. Sian Winship, Senior Architectural Historian, was the primary author, supported by Christine Lazzaretto, Managing Principal; Kari Michele Fowler, Senior Preservation Planner; and Alexandra Perlman, Senior Architectural Historian. All are qualified professionals who meet or exceed the relevant Secretary of the Interior’s Standards Professional Qualification Standards.

This historic context statement would not have been possible without the extensive existing scholarship on the history and development of the City of Bakersfield and the larger Kern

3 U.S. Department of the Interior, National Register Bulletin 16A: How to Complete the National Register Form (Washington D.C.:

National Park Service, 1997), 4.
4 U.S. Department of the Interior, National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 1997), 53.

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County region. This project was greatly enhanced by the contributions of the many historians, planners, preservationists, curators, academics, residents, and concerned citizens, whose longstanding efforts to discover, recognize, and share Bakersfield’s unique history have proved invaluable to the understanding of Bakersfield’s existing built environment. Notable among these are Fatima Bugharin, historian; David Coffey, Bakersfield Built; Donato Cruz, California State University, Bakersfield; Gilbert Gia, author and historian; Rachel Hads, Curatorial Department at the Kern County Museum; Ken Hooper, author and historian; Chris Livingston, California State University, Bakersfield; David Lyman, Manager of Visit Bakersfield; and Lori Wear, former Curator of Collections at the Kern County Museum. Additional thanks to City Fellow Sergio Carreno for providing available historical building permits.

Research collections, archives, and other materials consulted in the preparation of this historic context statement include primary and secondary sources relating to the history and development of the City of Bakersfield and Kern County. Primary sources include annexation records, city building permits, city directories, county tax assessor rolls, Census and voter registration records, oral histories, land use records, and historical newspapers and other periodicals. Secondary sources include published narrative histories and biographies; academic works such as theses, dissertations, and journal articles; environmental review documents, such as DEIRs and technical reports; previous historic resources surveys and studies; and previous historic evaluations, nominations, and designations. Visual materials included historical photographs (including historical aerial photographs and postcards), and historical maps (including Spanish and Mexican land grant maps, Sanborn Insurance Co. maps, and tract and subdivision maps).5
In conducting research for this historic context statement, the following records, collections, repositories, websites, organizations, and other sources were consulted:
 American Institute of Architects Historical Directory of American Architects  Ancestry.com
 Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
 The Bakersfield Californian Online
 “Bakersfield Built” tour and symposium
 Bakersfield College
 California Digital Newspapers Collection, UC Riverside  California Historical Society
 California Office of Historic Preservation Built Environment Resources Directory (BERD)
 California State Library
 California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB)
 Calisphere
 City of Bakersfield building permit records

5 A comprehensive list of resources consulted is listed in the bibliography.

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 City of Bakersfield “Historical Sites” files
 City of Bakersfield planning documents and zoning code  Getty Research Institute
 Hathi Trust Digital Library
 Historical Bakersfield City Directories
 Huntington Library
 Internet Archive
 JSTOR
 Kern County Historical Society
 Kern County Library
 Kern County Library, Beale Memorial Library, Local History Room  Kern County Museum Collections
 Kern County Office of the Assessor
 Library of Congress
 Los Angeles Public Library
 Los Angeles Times Historical Archive
 Newspapers.com
 Newspaper Archive.com
 Online Archive of California (OAC)
 Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD)
 Sanborn Insurance Company fire insurance maps
 San Francisco Chronicle Historical Archive
 University of California, Los Angeles Library Special Collections  University of California, Santa Barbara Architecture and Design Archive  University of Southern California Digital Library
 U.S. Census records
 U.S. Modernist Library

SCOPE & ORGANIZATION
The study area for this historic context statement is the current city boundaries of the City of Bakersfield. The historic context’s period of study extends through 1974, in order to identify potential historic resources that are 50 years of age or older.

It should be noted that only a portion of the City of Bakersfield was surveyed in coordination with the development of this citywide historic context statement, and thus the observational input into the historic context from the field surveys is limited to the four survey areas as determined by the City: Downtown Bakersfield, East Bakersfield, Oleander/Sunset and Westchester/Riviera. As such, this historic context provides important information to support these concurrent field surveys, and may serve as the basis for future survey efforts elsewhere in the city.

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The historic context statement is organized by chronological periods of development. For each chronological period, a narrative describes the historical development patterns, important events or activities, and important individuals and groups that influenced Bakersfield’s history, in order to establish the potential historical significance of properties associated with that period.

For each period that has a population of existing resources, the context establishes a series of themes relating to specific property types developed during that period: residential, commercial, civic/institutional, and industrial. Each theme includes specific eligibility standards and integrity thresholds which provide guidance for the ongoing identification and evaluation of potentially eligible properties under that theme for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, California Register of Historical Resources, and/or for local designation as a City of Bakersfield Cultural Resource or Area of Historic Interest and listing in the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places. Themes have been developed only for those periods for which there are believed to be extant examples of built resources in the City of Bakersfield today. Where appropriate, themes include eligibility standards for properties associated with an important person and/or an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield’s history and development.

The chronological periods identified for this historic context statement date from the region’s earliest known settlement to the present, as outlined below. Those periods marked by an asterisk (*) are significant historical periods of development for the City of Bakersfield, and thus have associated themes.
 Native American Period
 European Exploration, 1542-1768
 Colonization During the Spanish and Mexican Eras, 1769-1848  Settlement, the Railroad, and City Incorporation, 1849-1898*  The Great Oil Rush and Agricultural Boom, 1899-1928*
 Depression and Resilience in Bakersfield, 1929-1940*
 Bakersfield During World War II, 1941-1945*
 Postwar Prosperity and Expansion, 1946-1952*
 Disaster, Rebuilding, and Expansion, 1953-1974*
 Bakersfield Today, 1975-present
Discussions of some of the earliest periods are provided here to serve as historical background for the development periods that follow. The Native American Period, in particular, is a separate area of study and warrants its own historic context statement in order to guide the identification and evaluation of potential archaeological resources. The last period is provided to bring the story of Bakersfield up to the present day.

Following the chronological periods of development, there is a separate context addressing properties that are notable for architectural merit and/or as the work of a notable architect, throughout the historic context’s period of study. This context, “Architecture and Design, 1860

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to 1974,” establishes a series of themes for the various architectural styles represented in Bakersfield’s existing built environment, and identifies noted and master architects known to have made important contributions to this built environment.

EVALUATION CRITERIA
A property may be listed or designated as historic by national, state, and local authorities. In order for a property to qualify for historic listing or designation, it must meet one or more identified criteria for evaluation. The property must also retain sufficient integrity to continue to evoke the sense of place and time with which it is historically associated.

This historic context statement provides eligibility standards and integrity thresholds for each theme for which there are believed to be extant examples of built resources in the City of Bakersfield today. These eligibility standards also identify the relevant evaluation criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and California Register of Historical Resources, and for local designation as a City of Bakersfield Cultural Resource or Area of Historic Interest and listing in the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places. The evaluation criteria for each of these programs are provided below for reference.

National Register of Historic Places
The criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) follow established guidelines for determining the significance of properties. The quality of significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity and:

A. That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or
B. That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or C. That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or
D. That have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.6
For listing in the National Register, a property that has achieved significance within the last 50 years must be of exceptional importance.7

6 National Register Bulletin 15, 2.
7 The National Register Criteria for Evaluation generally exclude properties that achieved significance within the past 50 years unless they are of exceptional importance. 50 years is a general estimate of the time needed to develop historical perspective and to evaluate significance. This consideration guards against the listing of properties of passing contemporary interest and ensures that the National Register is a list of truly historic places. The phrase "exceptional importance” does not require that the property be of national significance. It is a measure of a property's importance within the appropriate historic context, whether the scale of that context is local, state, or national.

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California Register of Historical Resources
The criteria for listing in the California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR) are based upon National Register criteria. Properties eligible for listing in the California Register must meet one or more of the following criteria:

1. Associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local or regional history or the cultural heritage of California or the United States.

2. Associated with the lives of persons important to local, California or national history.

3. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region or method of construction or represents the work of a master or possesses high artistic values.

4. Has yielded, or has the potential to yield, information important to the prehistory or history of the local area, California or the nation.8
Resources eligible for listing in the California Register must retain enough of their historic character or appearance to be recognizable as historical resources and to convey the reasons for their significance. It is possible that resources lacking sufficient integrity for listing in the National Register may still be eligible for the California Register.

Bakersfield Register of Historic Places
The Bakersfield Register of Historic Places (BRHP) includes National Register-listed properties within city limits, as well as locally designated Cultural Resources and Areas of Historic Interest. Any improvement, building, structure, sign, feature, site, place, or object may be designated as a cultural resource and any grouping of such may be designated as a historic district or an area of historic interest if it meets one or more of the following criteria:
a. It exemplifies or reflects special elements of the city, community or neighborhood’s historical, archaeological, cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering or architectural development; or
b. It is identified with persons or events significant in local, state, or national history; or c. It embodies distinctive characteristics of style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; or d. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, architect, engineer, landscape architect, interior designer, artist or craftsman; or e. Its unique location or singular physical characteristic(s) represents an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community or the city; or f. It is an archaeological or paleontological site which has the potential of yielding information of scientific value.9

8 California PRC Section 5024.1.
9 Bakersfield Municipal Code Section 15.72.050

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Historic Eligibility
Note that the mention of a property in this historic context statement does not necessarily indicate eligibility for historic listing or designation. In order for a property to be found eligible for historic listing for designation at the local, state, or national level, it must be evaluated using established criteria, including a determination of historic significance and an assessment of historic integrity. As noted above, the current Cultural Resource Survey project includes field surveys of four geographic areas selected by the City: Downtown Bakersfield, East Bakersfield, Oleander/Sunset, and Westchester/Riviera. Only properties within these survey areas have been evaluated as part of this project. For these evaluations, contact the City of Bakersfield for the results of the survey.

PREVIOUS EVALUATIONS, SURVEYS & OTHER STUDIES
This historic context statement has also reviewed previous evaluations for historic listing, historic resources surveys, environmental review documents, and other related efforts.

Individual property evaluations include nominations for local listing in the Bakersfield Register of Historical Place, as well as nominations and determination of eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. Previous historic resources surveys include a series of historic inventory forms prepared in 1984-86 by Christopher D. Brewer of Brewer’s Historical Consultants; and a cultural resources survey of East Bakersfield conducted in 1988 by the City’s Economic and Community Development Department and Brewer’s Historical Consultants with assistance from Citizen Volunteers from Bakersfield, and updated by the Historic Preservation Commission in 2004. More recently, a documentation update effort was undertaken by the Historic Preservation Commission in 2016.

In 2017, the California High Speed Rail Authority published their report on the potential impacts of planned high-speed rail in California. The Fresno to Bakersfield Section identified several potential historic resources in the City of Bakersfield. The following year, the California Department of Transportation published JRP Historical Consulting, LLC’s Key Postwar Housing Tracts Within the Greater Bakersfield Area, 1945-1973. In March 2012, a Historic Property Survey Report (HPSR) was prepared by California Department of Transportation District 6 for the 24th Street Improvement Project. This HPSR included a Historical Resources Evaluation Report (HRER), prepared by LSA Associates, Inc. All of these environmental reports were reviewed for relevant information for this historic context statement.

INTERSECTIONALITY
Intersectionality is “the multivalent quality of lived experience…the complexities of identity and the multiplicity of communities with a stake in the preservation and interpretation of any given historic property.”10 The concept of intersectionality suggests that seemingly homogenous communities are anything by homogeneous. They are diverse with many voices and affected by layers of nuanced history of specific communities and the world writ large. By their very nature, theme studies can often lend themselves to the minimization of cross-group connections and

10 Donna Graves and Gail Dubrow, “Taking Intersectionality Seriously,” The Public Historian, Vol. 41, No 2, (May 2019), 290.

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intersectional identities. Associating resources with one group of people over another “…runs the risk of denying the layering of history and the shared streets of the present.”11 As described by historians Donna Graves and Gail Dubrow, “applying a single lens of gender, race or ethnicity, sexuality or any category of social analysis to the practice of historic preservation risks misrepresenting the layered history of place and forecloses possibilities for political mobilization across identity lines in the interest of fostering greater social cohesion.”12 This is true in a city like Bakersfield, where many different cultural communities have settled in the city and populations have waxed and waned over time. For example, Chinatown’s evolution and its tangential relationship to “Jap Alley” suggest a complex relationship among Asian American residents of Bakersfield. The location of Basque and Italian immigrants in East Bakersfield, both drawn by work on the railroad, acknowledges their cultural differences alongside their common reality as residents of Sumner. While such nuances of overlapping identities and layers of history are beyond the scope of this document—the City of Bakersfield’s first citywide historic context statement—these issues and stories are worthy of future study.

ETHNIC/CULTURAL TERMINOLOGY
The discussion below outlines the approach to terminology relating to various ethnic and cultural groups as used in this historic context statement.

Native American
In recent years, historians and archeologists have developed an evolved language for talking about tribal and cultural resources. This includes a movement away from less precise or misleading language such as encountered, recruited, organized, employed, or participated, in favor of more accurate and descriptive terms like colonized, enslaved, displaced, forced labor, and disenfranchised. The latter terms have superseded their counterparts to acknowledge the true nature of the events, policies, and activities that have impacted the Native American community.

African American/Black
As the population of the United States has become more diverse, some consider the term African American is too restrictive to describe the American’s current Black population, which includes many immigrants from Africa or the Caribbean. The term African American originally came into use to reflect the experiences of people whose origins were on the African continent, but whose lived experience was on the American continent. The Black population that historically settled and resided in Bakersfield and Kern County were in fact the descendants of enslaved people who had migrated from the southern United States. As such, the term African American is used in this historic context statement. The terms African American and Black are used interchangeably, and the term Black is capitalized.

11 Graves and Dubrow, 310.
12 Graves and Dubrow, 313.

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Latina/o and Chicana/o
Over time, terms to describe the Latin American communities of the United States have evolved. In recent years, the term Latinx has been adopted by some as a non-gendered term describing both men and women whose heritage is tied to the countries of Latin America.

However, recent studies have shown that most Americans of Latin American heritage do not widely identify with term Latinx. Therefore, this document uses the more traditional terms Latina/o.

The recent use of the terms Latinas/os also reflects an increasingly diverse group of immigrants from Latin America, including those of Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, and Cuban descent.

Historically, however, the Latin American population of California during the late-19th through the mid-20th century were overwhelmingly of Mexican heritage. As such, the historic context statement uses the terms Mexican or Mexican American as appropriate to more accurately describe this population.

The historic term Chicana/o is also used in this document to represent the chosen identification of some persons of Mexican American descent, emphasizing an indigenous/mestizo heritage and anti-establishment political view during the 1960s and 1970s. The term Chicana/o was adopted by people of Mexican descent who did not fully identify either as Mexican or American.

The term Chicana/o is used in this historic context statement when culturally and historically appropriate.

Japanese American
With respect to Japanese American history and sociology, generational terms are important for the reader to understand. The first-generation immigrants are known as Issei. Historically, this population came to the United States between 1890 and 1924 and were steeped in Japanese culture and tradition. Few attended American schools, except for those who came specifically to pursue a college education. English proficiency varied among this generation. The children of Issei are the Nisei, or second generation. Nisei were born in the United States, primarily between 1910 and 1940. They grew up during the Great Depression and were teenagers during World War II. They attended local public schools, and many attended Japanese language schools (gakuen). The third generation is the Sansei, or members of the post-World War II baby boom. Many Sansei have American first names. Most came of age at the height of the student protest movement of the 1960s, and many attended college and became working professionals.

The fourth generation is the Yonsei. They were born in the mid-1960s, came of age in the post- Watergate years, and had the highest rates of interracial marriage of any previous Japanese American generation.

Over time, the preferred vocabulary for describing events relating to the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II has evolved to more accurately reflect these events and experiences. As such, the terms forced removal, incarceration, incarceration camp, and illegal detention center are preferred over previous terms like internment, evacuation, and relocation.

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It should also be noted that the term “Jap” appears in several places in this report. Widely recognized as a derogatory term for Japanese Americans, it appears in this report as part of quotations from historical sources or in place names.

Filipino American
With respect to the Filipino American community, the spelling of Filipino with the letter “F” is the most commonly used to represent the people and language of the Philippines. When referring to the country and islands, the spelling of Philippines, with the letters “Ph” is used because the name stems from Philip, the English equivalent of Felipe, referring to Spanish King Felipe II for which the islands are named. People from the Philippines also refer to themselves and their national language as Pilipino with the letter “P,” as most Filpino language and dialects do not include phonetics for the letter “F.”13

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR BAKERSFIELD
Sumner, Kern City & East Bakersfield
The area now known as East Bakersfield has had several names over the last 150 years. As described further in the Historic Context Statement below, this area originated at the town of Sumner, then became known as Kern City, before being annexed to the City of Bakersfield as the community of East Bakersfield.14 When discussing this area in the historic context, it is identified by the place name appropriate for that historic period. For purposes of this historic context statement, Sumner is used from 1874 until about 1893; Kern City is used from about 1893 through 1910; and East Bakersfield is used from 1910 to the present.15 Addresses & Street Name Changes
As in many cities, there have been a series of street name changes throughout Bakersfield over time. This is particularly the case in East Bakersfield, which (as noted above) originated as the town of Sumner, then Kern City, before being annexed into the City of Bakersfield. In fact, in some instances, street names may have been changed more than once.

Historical research conducted for the preparation of this historic context statement has revealed a number of these street name changes. However, this information is likely incomplete as there does not appear to be a comprehensive list of street name changes over time. Known street name changes are listed in the table below for reference. Where differing historical and current street names are known, this is referenced in the body of the context statement. This information is more likely to be known for properties located within one of the four geographic areas being surveyed as part of the current project—Downtown Bakersfield, East Bakersfield, Oleander/Sunset, and Westchester/Riviera—as these properties have the benefit of property- specific historical research as well as current field survey. For properties located outside of

13 “Filipino, Pilipino, Philippines-What’s The Difference?” Center for Philippine Studies, University of Hawaii, Manoa, http://www.hawaii.edu/cps/filipino.html (accessed January 17, 2023). 14 The area is also commonly known as Old Town Kern. 15 These date ranges have been established based upon the presence of a Sumner Standard newspaper, as well as the place names used on Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. maps.

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these survey areas, street addresses are often gleaned from historical sources, such as city directories or Sanborn maps, and would need to be confirmed as part of a future field survey effort.

Figure 1. Known Street Name Changes
Historical Current
A Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Alpine Street
B Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Butte Street
C Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Chico Street
Cottonwood Road S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard D Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Dolores Street
D Street (south of California Avenue) Oleander Avenue E Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Eureka Street
F Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
E. 18th Street
G Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Grove Street and E. 19th Street (at different
times)
Grove Street E. 19th Street
H Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Humboldt Street and E. 21st Street (at
different times)
Humboldt Street E. 21st Street
I Street (in Downtown Bakersfield) Eye Street
J Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Jackson Street
K Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Kentucky Street
L Street (between Tulare Street and Beale
Avenue in East Bakersfield)
Lake Street
Lakeview Avenue S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Railroad Avenue Truxtun Avenue

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NATIVE AMERICAN PERIOD
The range of the Yowlumne was the largest and their tribal life the most organized of all Yokuts tribes. Their range was in every direction from their central village, Woilu, located about where now (1973) stands the Santa Fe passenger station in Bakersfield…The Yowlumne hunted on the hills as far north as Poso Creek. To the south they ranged to the shore of Kern Lake southeast to present Greenfield and across the south shore of Kern Lake. To the southeast they ranged to within a few miles of where Tejon Creek leaves the foothills.16 Frank F. Latta, Handbook of Yokuts
Indians
The Yokuts of the San Joaquin Valley
The City of Bakersfield is located in the southern region of the San Joaquin Valley, which is the ancestral home of the Native American group today referred to as the Yokuts. The Yokuts language is classified as a member of the California Penutian language family and their name is derived from the word for “persons” or “people.”17 Yokuts are typically divided into three geographical groups: the Northern Valley Yokuts, Southern Valley Yokuts, and Foothill Yokuts.

The City of Bakersfield is located in the area that was inhabited by the Southern Valley Yokuts.18
For over 8,000 years, the Southern Valley Yokuts inhabited the area comprising Tulare, Buena Vista, and Kern lakes, their connecting sloughs, and the lower regions of the Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern rivers. Most of the known Southern Valley Yokuts villages were located along the Kern River northeast of present-day Bakersfield, or near Kern and Buena Vista lakes south and southeast of Bakersfield. This area was characterized by its combination of tule-rich marshlands and drier plains with sage, greasewood, and bunchgrass.

The Southern Valley Yokuts were split into self-governing local groups, or tribelets, each of which spoke a unique dialect and had a special name for itself. Tribelets typically averaged 350 members and occupied some 250 square miles of territory. This land was collectively owned by members of the group. Several settlements were combined to form a political unit, and approximate locations of over 50 Southern Valley Yokuts settlements are known from archaeological and ethnographic sources.19 However, it is estimated that approximately 90 percent of all archaeological sites associated with Yokuts have been destroyed.20

16 Frank F. Latta, Handbook of Yokuts Indians (Santa Cruz, CA: Bear State Books, 1977), 275. 17 Alfred L. Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California (New York, NY: Dover Publications, 1976), 488. 18 Michael Silverstein, “Yokuts: Introduction,” in Handbook of North American Indians 8: California, ed. Robert F. Heizer (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institute, 1978), 446.
19 William J. Wallace, “Southern Valley Yokuts,” in Handbook of North American Indians, 454. 20 Francis A. Riddell, “The Status of San Joaquin Valley Archaeology,” in Essays in California Archaeology: A Memorial to Franklin Fenega, ed. William J. Wallace and Francis A. Riddell (Berkeley, CA: University of California Archaeological Research Facility, 2002).

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Southern Valley Yokuts established permanent villages and resided in single-family oval- shaped houses of post-frame construction covered with tule mats. Political positions within the tribelets consisted of a central chief or two co-chiefs (one from each totemic moiety), captains, dance managers, tribal spokesmen, and spiritual leaders. The position of chief was typically passed through patrilineal inheritance. The chief was responsible for directing celebrations and ceremonies, mediating disputes, and hosting visitors, among other roles. In addition to the chief, spiritual leaders also held power and authority over the tribal community and took a leading role in many public rituals. Spiritual leaders were important for their ability to heal the sick through various methods that varied by practitioner. A system of reciprocal relations frequently existed between chiefs and spiritual leaders.21 The Yokuts’ subsistence practices focused on fishing; hunting waterfowl; and collecting shellfish, roots, and seeds.22 Fishing was typically accomplished by using tule nets and rafts, basketry traps, and spearing. Snares were used to catch geese, ducks, mud hens, and other waterfowl. Wild seeds and roots provided a large portion of the Southern Valley Yokuts’ diet.23 The Yokuts practiced controlled burning of freshwater marshes to clear out old reeds, recycle nutrients, provide open land for waterfowl, and stimulate new plant growth.24 Tule was an important natural resource for the Southern Valley Yokuts, who relied on the plant for the manufacture of baskets, cradles, traps, and houses, among other goods. Wood and stone were not common in the region and were typically acquired through trade with neighboring tribes. Tools such as knives, projectile points, and scraping tools were made from bone or imported lithic materials.25 Transportation was both by foot and via canoe-shaped rafts, or balsas,26 fashioned from tule reeds.

21 Wallace, 454, 457-458.
22 Jeffrey S. Rosenthal, Gregory G. White, and Mark Q. Sutton, “The Central Valley: A View from the Catbird’s Seat,” in California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity, ed. Terry L. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar (Lanham, MA: Altamira Press, 2007), 155.
23 Wallace, 450; Kat Anderson, Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005), 178. 24 Anderson, 145.
25 Wallace, 451; Rosenthal et al., 155.
26 This name is of Spanish origin.

Yokuts women weaving baskets at Tule River Reservation, c. 1906. (Huntington Library)

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Food and trade were important components of the Yokuts’ economy and featured in tribal legends. Both individuals and families could serve as professional traders, often covering great distances. Items traded included elk and deer skins, baskets, steatite, acorn flour, and marine shell beads from the coast, and obsidian, sinew-baked bows, moccasins, salt, pine nuts, and mountain sheep skins from the Owens Valley region.27 Several “interface centers” were established in the San Joaquin Valley to function as regional centers for trade and mourning ceremonies, which could attract hundreds to thousands of people.

Native American Communities in Bakersfield
The Yowlumne (also known as Yawelmani or Yauelmane)28 were a group of Southern Valley Yokuts that occupied the upper region of the San Joaquin Valley. The Yowlumne tribe had four permanent villages in their 350 square miles of territory.29 The main village of the Yowlumne was Woilu/Woilo, located on a knoll along the old channels of the Kern River within the city limits of present-day Bakersfield.30 A second village was located across the river to the west of Woilu; these villages were often collectively identified as a single center.31 These villages were likely located near the present-day intersections of 16th and F streets and 16th and A streets. Because Woilu was the head village it was also the seat of the Yowlumne chief and an important trading location. As remembered by Wahumchah, the last full blood Yowlumne:

My father told me he was born right where Bakersfield is now. His people had two villages there, one on each side [of the] river. One was [on the] high knoll close by river. It was my father’s business to trade and to run anywhere his Teah (Chief) wanted him to go. He was Winatun (Messenger).32 Other villages were scattered around the plains that are now occupied by the City of Bakersfield, although these villages were not permanent, as the occupants were forced to move when the Kern River flooded. Other permanent villages included Wawcoye on the south banks of the Kern River, and Hawsu and Tsinleu on the north banks.

The Yowlumne arranged their tule houses, or dumlus, in a row, with each house containing a single family.33 The Yowlumne also occupied lake tule houses, which were long wedge-shaped tents that could reach a length of four hundred feet and house a dozen or more families.34 They hunted badger, fox, deep, antelope, rabbits, and squirrels. Belonging to the group identified by

27 Anna H. Gayton, “Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnography,” University of California Anthropological Records, 10, 56, 215; Brooke S. Arkush, “Yokuts Trade Networks and Native Cultural Change in Central and Eastern California,” Ethnohistory 40, no. 4 (Duke University Press, 1993), 623.
28 This context uses the name “Yowlumne” which is the tribe’s name as identified by Wahumchah, the last full blood Yowlumne as recorded in Frank F. Latta, Handbook of Yokuts Indians (Santa Cruz, CA: Bear State Books, 1977), 203. 29 Latta, Handbook of Yokuts Indians, 205, 63.
30 Wallace, Fig. 1, 448; Latta, 64.
31 Latta does not provide a name for this second village. Latta, 278, 310. 32 Wahumchah as recorded by Latta, 309.
33 A.H. Gayton, Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnography I: Tulare Lake, Southern Valley, and Central Foothill Yokuts (Berkeley, CA:

University of California Press, 1948), 13.
34 Latta, Handbook of Yokuts Indians, 244.

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Latta as the “River Culture,” the Yowlumne were more abundantly supplied with fish, game, and plant food than other Yokuts tribes.35

THEMES
There are no extant built resources in the City of Bakersfield dating from this period.36 Therefore, no themes have been developed for this context.

35 Latta, Handbook of Yokuts Indians, 251-252.
36The study of archaeological resources is outside the scope of this project.

Map of Southern and Central Yokuts by Alfred Kroeber, 1901. (Internet Archive)

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EUROPEAN EXPLORATION, 1542-1768
The Cabrillo expedition claimed more than 800 miles of coastline for Spain. It did not find a route to the Spice Islands, the mythical passage, or gold. What Cabrillo did accomplish had long lasting importance for Spain…the Spanish exploration gave way to the Colonial Era.37
Cabrillo National Monument,
National Park Service
Although the territory we know today as California was already inhabited by Native Americans, by the 1500s Spain was motivated to take possession of the Pacific Coast amid concerns that if they failed to do so, the land might be claimed by competing foreign powers. In 1542, King Carlos dispatched Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to explore the West Coast of North America on behalf of the Spanish Empire. Cabrillo set sail in June of 1542 and arrived in what is now San Diego Bay in September of that year. In doing so, Cabrillo became the first known European to set foot on California soil, claiming the territory for the Spanish Empire.38 In 1579, a competing claim of the Pacific Coast was made by Sir Francis Drake for England, prompting two more Spanish expeditions, by Sebastián Rodríguez Cermeño in 1596, and by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602.

By the 1760s, Spanish political and economic conditions—as well as leadership—had changed.

Spain was now facing a greater territorial threat from England and Russia. At the same time, Jesuit missionaries were attempting to convert the Native Americans to Christianity.39 In 1767, Spain’s King Carlos III issued a proclamation ordering all Jesuits to be expelled from Spanish territories. Gaspar de Portolá was named Governor of the Californias (Alta and Baja) and dispatched to the region to dispossess the Jesuits and turn California over to the Spanish Franciscans.40
Following the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), the Spanish Crown made the transition from exploration to permanent settlement of Alta California. In this war, Great Britain gained several territories in the Americas, undermining Spain’s dominance in the region. In response, Spain charged the Franciscan order with leading the settlement of Alta California in the mid-18th century.

37 “Cabrillo National Monument,” National Park Service, http://npshistory.com/publications/cabr/index.htm (accessed October 31, 2022).
38 Some sources state that both the Hernando de Alarcón and Melchor Díaz expeditions may have entered present-day California in 1540.
39 Zoeth Skinner Eldredge, The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco (San Francisco: The California Promotion Committee, 1901), 2021.
40 Eldredge, 23.

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THEMES
There are no extant built resources in the City of Bakersfield dating from this period.41 Therefore, no themes have been developed for this context.

41 The period of European Exploration focused mainly along the California coastline. Although the explorers had frequent interactions with the Native Americans along the way, there is no documentary evidence that they had cause or inclination to explore the present-day San Joaquin Valley. That would come during the period of Spanish colonization.

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COLONIZATION DURING THE SPANISH & MEXICAN ERAS,
1769-1848
I descended further, accompanied by three Indians whom I met on the road, and reached a position wherefrom I perceived a rancheria on the other side of the river…The people of the rancheria had a great feast over my arrival, and having regaled me well I reciprocated to them all with tobacco and glass abundant beads...On this famous river, which I named Rio de San Felipe, there are pastures, famous woods, and much irrigated ground.42
Francisco Garcés, Franciscan Priest
In 1769, the Spanish government dispatched an expedition led by Captain Gaspar de Portolá, the newly appointed governor of the Californias, and Franciscan Father Junípero Serra to establish the first Spanish settlement in Alta California. Portolá established a military outpost at the Presidio of San Diego, thereby claiming Alta California as Spanish territory. Within the month, Serra also founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá at Presidio Hill, the first of the twenty- one missions that would be established in Alta California by the Spanish and the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823. Following establishment of the Presidio of San Diego, Portolá set out with a small group of explorers on an overland expedition along what would become known as the El Camino Real (“The Royal Road”), which ran close to the Pacific Coast, west of the central Valley.

The earliest documented interaction between Yokuts and Spaniards was in 1772, when Captain Pedro Fages and a detachment of soldiers traveled through the southern San Joaquin Valley.

Four years later, in 1776, Franciscan priest Padre Francisco Garcés (1738-1781) led a second Spanish expedition into the San Joaquin Valley.43 Garcés had been dispatched to explore the Central Valley to find a better route between Mission San Gabriel and Monterey.44 Garcés traveled to the Yowlumne Yokuts village on the northern bank of the Kern River near present- day Bakersfield.

Garcés proved a fearless explorer and a tireless missionary. He made five entradas, or journeys of discovery, into the mysterious lands that lay to the west of Mission San Xavier del Bac, near Tucson. Between 1768 and 1776, he traveled through Arizona, and Southern and Central Mexico and Arizona to the west coast.45
It was on his fifth and final entrada that Garcés passed through present-day Bakersfield. He sought a place to cross the river, selecting one where there were Indian rancherias on either side. The water was high and swift and Garcés could not swim. The Native Americans agreed to help him and managed to pull Garcés across, transporting his robes and possessions in

42 Elliot Coues, On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer: The Diary and Itinerary of Francisco Garces (Missionary Priest) in his Travels Through Sonora, Arizona, and California 1775-1776, vol.1 (New York, NY: Francis P. Harper, 1900), 281-283. 43 Arkush, 623-624.
44 Richard C. Bailey, Bakersfield: Heart of the Golden Empire (Bakersfield, CA: Kern County Historical Society), 14. 45 Raymund F. Wood, “Francisco Garcés Explorer of Southern California,” Southern California Quarterly Vol. 51, No. 3 (September 1969), 202.

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caritas, or baskets water-proofed with pitch found in the petroleum-rich area.46 The present- day site of Garcés Circle is the approximate site of the Indian rancheria visited by Garcés on May 7, 1776. Padre Garcés named the spot San Miguel de los Noches por el Santa Principe.

Garcés died five years later in the Yuma Massacres, in which the Native Americans revolted against groups of Spanish settlers and soldiers who tried to colonize Yuma with settlements.

More Spaniards would pass through the San Joaquin Valley in the following decades, but recorded visits were not known to have occurred until the early 19th century. By this time, the Spanish planned to extend the mission system inland into the San Joaquin Valley. Early expeditions in 1806 to establish favorable sites for mission settlements were unsuccessful, and several Yokuts groups were forced into the existing Soledad, San Luis Obispo, San Antonio, and San Juan Bautista missions. As native populations at the missions fell—largely due to disease brought by the European settlers, declining birth rates, and defections—military detachments were sent into the interior to capture runaway neophytes, recover stolen horses, and seek out new recruits. The brutality of these campaigns is evident in the diary of Father José Viader of Mission San José, who traveled to the San Joaquin Valley in October 1810:

Before dawn we assaulted a village on this side of the river and only one person escaped, a San José Christian named Bernardo. He, having gone to sleep some distance from the village, jumped into the water and swam in great haste to warn those at the dance. For this reason, we immediately fell upon the other village, which was on the opposite side of the river, and took it entire. The prisoners in all included 15 San José Christians, 18 heathen men, and 51 heathen women.47
As these campaigns increased in frequency and violence, the Yokuts offered armed resistance to the expeditions. Yokuts resisted Spanish and Mexican domination with an independence maintained through raids; Yokuts raided horses from mission herds to sustain their economic independence while also employing guerilla warfare tactics to resist punitive Spanish military expeditions.48
Despite their resistance to Spanish colonization and the mission system, the Yokuts did incorporate some aspects of Euro-American material culture into their traditional societies.

Yokuts traders played a pivotal role in the introduction of Euro-American trade items among native groups in central California and the eastern Sierra Nevada. Specifically, Yokuts increasingly used Spanish glass beads as currency, and adopted the horse into their lifeways to increase their political and economic influence.49
The first American visitor to the San Joaquin Valley was Jedediah Strong Smith In 1827. He was followed by a trapper named Edwin Young in 1830, who was traveling with Kit Carson. In 1844, John C. Fremont explored the valley, reaching the present-day Kern River on April 12,

46 Wood, 202.
47 Sherburne F. Cook, “Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California: Central Valley, 1800-1820,” University of California Anthropological Records, 16, 259.
48 Arkush, 626.
49 Arkush, 620; Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer, Jr., We Are the Land: A History of Native California (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2021), 97.

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1844, at which time Fremont commented, “It is about thirty-five feet wide with a stony and gravelly bed, and the swiftest stream we have crossed since leaving the bay.”50 The following year, Fremont was again asked to make an exploration of the area and selected 60 men to accompany him. One of the men was Edward “Ned” Meyer Kern, a Philadelphian. He was 23 years old and a talented artist who sketched pictures for the expedition. Fremont named the Kern River after him in 1845.

The Mexican Secularization Act of 1833 directed the closure of the California missions. The regulations intended to return the land to the indigenous inhabitants, assigning them one half of the mission lands and property to Native Americans in grants of 33 acres of arable land, along with common land sufficient enough to pasture their stock. However, the distribution of mission lands did not unfold in the way that the regulations anticipated. Local men assigned to distribute the lands to the indigenous people systematically denied indigenous peoples’ access to the nearly eight million acres of mission lands.

In order to attract settlers to the region, Mexico established a system of land grants that divided the land into large tracts known as ranchos. The Mexican government granted these ranchos to private individuals who were Mexican soldiers, settlers, or financiers. Kern County had five such ranchos: San Emigdio, La Liebre, El Tejón, Rancho Castac, and Los Alamos y Agua Caliente. On July 14, 1842, Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado granted Jose Antonio Dominguez the four-square league Rancho San Emigdio at the south end of the San Joaquin Valley. The rancho eventually ended up in the holdings of the Kern County Land Company.51 By 1840, Mexican families were living just south of present-day Bakersfield. Historian Eugene Burmeister notes that one of these was the Cuen family.52 Perfecto Cuen (1858-1933) was born to Ventura Cuen and María Jesús Moreno Cuen.

Yokuts relations with Mexican colonizers were similar to those of the Spanish colonizers they had replaced. Yokuts continued to conduct raiding parties as a means of resisting colonization, even trading stolen Mexican horses with American traders. By this means, Yokuts used the presence of Americans in the region to further resist the Mexican military.53 In 1833, an American party of fur trappers introduced an epidemic disease to the area, likely malaria, decimating the population of Yokuts in the San Joaquin Valley.54 It is estimated that over 20,000 Central Valley Yokuts, Miwok, Wintun, and Maidu Native Americans perished in the epidemic.55 As recorded by Colonel J.J. Warner, who traveled through the epicenter of the plague:

Late in the summer of 1833 we found the valleys depopulated. From the head of the Sacramento to the great bend and slough of the San Joaquin we did not see

50 Bailey, Bakersfield: Heart of the Golden Empire, 21. 51 Chris Brewer, Historic Kern County (San Antonio, TX: Kern County Museum Foundation and Historic Publishing Network, 2001),

9. 52 Eugene Burmeister, City Along the Kern-Bakersfield, California 1869-1969 (Bakersfield, CA: Kern Publishing House, 1969), 2. 53 Akins and Bauer, 109.
54 Arkush, 629.
55 “Short Overview of California Indian History,” State of California Native American Heritage Commission, https://nahc.ca.gov/resources/california-indian-history/ (accessed October 19, 2022).

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more than six or eight live Indians… uninhabited and deserted villages had been converted into graveyards…56
During the Mexican American War (1846-1848) and the fight for American statehood, several Yokuts, led by José Jesús, joined with Americans on the side of the California Republic.57 Following American victory, indigenous people signed 18 treaties with the United States, reserving 7.5 million acres of land. These treaties were ultimately rejected by the U.S. In turn, over the following years, Americans systematically enslaved thousands of Native Americans across the state through forced labor and indentured servitude. The country then moved to a system of mission-like “temporary” reservations under the leadership of Edward F. Beale. These reservations were limited in size to 25,000 acres and sought to instruct Native Americans on the “benefits of work and labor” while keeping them “under federal agents and the United States Army’s watchful eye.”58 At the end of the Mexican American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the United States a huge tract of land, including present-day California.

THEMES
As there are no known extant built resources in the City of Bakersfield dating from this period, no themes have been developed for this context.

56 Frank T. Gilbert, History of San Joaquin County, California (1879), 11-12, as cited in: S.F. Cook, “The Epidemic of 1830-1833 in California and Oregon,” University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 43, no. 3 (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1955), 318.
57 Akins and Bauer, 129.
58 Akins and Bauer, 146.

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SETTLEMENT, THE RAILROAD & CITY INCORPORATION,
1849-1898
This is God’s country! Someday it will be filled with happy homes. The largest town south of Stockton will have its site here. Three or four lines of railroads will come through the mountain passes and center here. This place is rich in future possibilities.59
Col. Thomas Baker, 1862, as remembered
by Mrs. Mary Ellen Baker Tracy,
Bakersfield Morning Echo, 1904.

Early Settlement
The history of Bakersfield’s development is inextricably linked to the Kern River, flooding, and drought. Early settlers were drawn to Bakersfield by the rich and fertile soil, but the fickle river would dictate lives and livelihoods. For this reason, Bakersfield’s early name was “Kern Island.” In 1853, General Edward Fitzgerald “Ned” Beale (1822-1893), California’s first Superintendent of Indian Affairs, established the first of multiple reservations on Rancho el Tejón lands at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, approximately 30 miles south of present-day Bakersfield. As recounted by historians Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer, Jr.:

Tejon was a military reservation, chosen because officials believed that restricting Yokuts to a reservation would protect Los Angeles area ranchers from their widespread horse raids. The Yokuts were the most populous indigenous group in California at the time of first European contact, but their population was in steep decline, and reservation life contributed to that. From approximately fourteen thousand in 1848 the population of Yokuts fell to around six hundred by 1880.60
In 1863, Beale purchased Rancho el Tejón for private use, and many Yokuts were forcibly removed from the land. Some relocated to the Tule River Indian Reservation established in 1857 near Porterville in Tulare County, while several remained in Tejón.61 Beale was a figure of national and international importance. He was a naval officer, military general, explorer, frontiersman, Indian affairs superintendent, California rancher, and diplomat.

The landscape that had sustained the Yokuts for thousands of years was also changing during this period. The removal of many Yokut land stewards to reservations, the encroachment of private irrigation, and a series of floods in the 1860s, all dramatically reduced water availability in the area. The state subsequently turned over the land to agricultural and ranching opportunities. In turn, diminished grasslands challenged the Yokuts’ adaptation to the horse over the previous century. In 1873, the Tule River Indian Reservation was moved approximately

59 Bailey, Bakersfield: Heart of the Golden Empire, 35. 60 Akins and Bauer, 147.
61 “Our History,” Tejon Indian Tribe, https://www.tejonindiantribe.com/our-history/ (accessed October 19, 2022); Gayton, 46.

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ten miles southeast of its original location.62 Originally, the majority of the Yokuts at the reservation were the Yaudanchi and Wikchamni tribes.63
Permanent settlement of what would become the City of Bakersfield is generally regarded as beginning with Christian Bohna (1805-1872), who moved his family into a hunting cabin originally built by Thomas Fitzgerald. Bohna built a home for his family on a site near present- day intersection of 20th and K streets in downtown Bakersfield. Sparrell W. Woody, another early settler who came to Kern Island to farm, married Bonha’s daughter, Sarah Louise. Other early settlers included Robert Gilbert, John McCray (farmer and stock raiser), Harvey K. Skiles (who planted the first cotton in 1862), Thomas Banes (who planted the first alfalfa in 1864), Edward Tibbet, Wesley W. Shirley, and Lewis Reeder. Gilbert, who moved to present-day Bakersfield in 1860, was also credited with being the first to discover of the Kern River oil district.64
The Yowlumne village of Woilu was located on a knoll where Lewis Reeder built a two-story house; the site became known as Reeder Hill. Eventually, the house burned, and the mound was removed when the Santa Fe Railroad was constructed through Bakersfield. As recorded by ethnographer Frank R. Latta:

Trainloads of sandy soil were hauled from the mound to build the railroad grade in both directions from Bakersfield. During this work many hundreds of stone mortars and pestles and Indian burials were uncovered and scattered along the grade from Wasco to Caliente.65
Perhaps the most important early settler, however, was Col. Thomas Baker (1810-72), founder of the town of Bakersfield. Born in Zanesville, Ohio, Baker became one of the first settlers in Iowa. Although he had little formal schooling, he studied and became a frontier lawyer and surveyor. Prompted by the death of his wife and gold rush fever, Baker headed for California where he founded the town of Visalia. Baker also had political ambitions. He served in both the California State Assembly and in the State Senate, representing Tulare and Fresno counties in the early 1860s.

Baker also served as receiver for the United States Land Office, where he became an expert in the Swamp and Overflow Lands Act of 1857. Under the terms of this Act, brothers Joseph and William Montgomery and two other partners were authorized to reclaim all state-owned swamp and overflow land between Kings River Slough and Tulare Lake. They promised to build navigable canals, and once they did, would receive rights to the land. However, the brothers’ plans were derailed, first by the great flood of December 1862, which washed away the settlers’ adobe homes, and then by drought. Col. Baker and Harvey Brown subsequently purchased the

62 “Tule River Indian Reservation,” historical plaque, Tule County Historical Society, October 16, 1949, Internet Archive, https://ia902806.us.archive.org/25/items/cvicl_001688/cvicl_001688_access.jpg (accessed October 20, 2022). 63 A large migration of Yowlumne Yokuts from Bakersfield to the reservation at the end of the 19th century influenced the language at the reservation, so that by 1905 Yowlumne was the most commonly spoken dialect. 64 “First Settler In Bakersfield Returns After A Long Absence,” The Daily Californian, June 21, 1902, no page. 65 Latta, 279.

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brothers’ interests. Baker then bought out Brown and secured a one-year extension from the government.

In 1854, Lt. Robert Stockton Williamson was dispatched to identify transportation corridors for the railroad. As part of this work, he identified the Tejon Pass and the Grapevine (Canada de las Uvas). Many old wagon roads and Indian trails were identified. Ultimately, one of these roads would become part of the Sumner-Los Angeles Road (Cottonwood Road and present-day Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard).66
On September 10, 1863, Baker moved his new wife to Christian Bohna’s house and hired Native Americans to help him reclaim 400,000 acres of swamp and overflow land. He built a head gate on the river, a levee, and a dam. He also built a home near present-day 19th and N streets. He farmed corn, beans, potatoes, and other crops. Baker fenced off ten acres—bounded by present-day 17th Street, 14th Street, P Street, and M Street—and planted alfalfa for travelers in the area. The area became known as “Baker’s Field” (later revised to “Bakersfield”), and it was the only stopping point between Visalia and Los Angeles.

Water continued to control the destiny of Bakersfield’s development. After five dry winters, in late 1867 it began raining. Then, on December 23rd, the rain stopped and the Kern River went dry. A natural dam had formed upriver and on Christmas Eve it broke, unleashing a wall of water between 60 and 100 feet high down the river gorge.67 The mostly adobe homes along the riverbanks were washed away, and the flooding rerouted the Kern River to the path it holds today.

After a second reclamation project was derailed the following year, this time by the government, Baker pivoted and went into the real estate business. He mapped out a new town site, with streets measuring 82.5 feet wide and avenues 115 feet wide, wider than in other city where he had observed that horses and buggies barely had room to pass one another.68 From his last reclamation project, Baker had retained 80 acres for a homestead and sold or donated the rest of the land for the new city. The exact location of the townsite was determined by General William Palmer of the U.S. Topographical Corps. As depicted in the original tract map, the townsite extended from E Street on the west to N Street on the east, and from 12th Street on the south to 26th Street on the north.

In 1866, Kern County officially broke away from Tulare County and established Havilah as its county seat. By April 1869, the town of Bakersfield had a population of some 600.69 The first stores were opened by Livermore & Chester in 1865, and by Jacoby & Co. in 1869. Other early establishments included a photographic gallery, a blacksmith shop, a telegraph office, and a post office. These enterprises all occupied wooden, vernacular-style buildings.

66 Fatima Bugharin, email to Cecelia Griego, March 14, 2023. 67 John Arthur Maynard, Bakersfield: A Centennial Portrait (Encino, CA: Cherbo Publishing Group, Inc., 1997), 13. 68 Burmeister, 7.
69 Burmeister, 8.

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“Map of Bakersfield, Kern County, Cal. Incorporated May 7th, 1873.” (Kern County Public Works)

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In 1870, Bakersfield was re-surveyed and shade trees were planted at each corner lot. Also that year, the California State Legislature passed a bill to move the county seat from Havilah to Bakersfield, but Governor Henry H. Height refused to sign it. The Bakersfield Club, the forerunner of the Chamber of Commerce, ultimately sued, causing an election and subsequent recount. The Kern County seat was officially moved to Bakersfield in February of 1874, and a Beaux Arts-style courthouse was erected in 1876. However, Col. Baker would not live to see the transformation; he died of typhoid in 1872.

Col. Baker’s passing marked the beginning of Union Cemetery.70 Col. Baker himself selected the ground in which he was to be interred. Prior to 1972, Bakersfield and Sumner had neglected, run-down cemeteries. Kern County bought the property and united the two existing cemeteries into “Union Cemetery.” It became the resting place for hundreds of Kern County pioneers whose names are on the city’s streets. In addition to Baker and numerous early Bakersfield pioneers, Union Cemetery is the resting place hundreds of Civil War veterans from both the Union and Confederate sides of the conflict in an area designated as the “Grand Army of the Republic.” In 1904, the nonprofit Union Cemetery Association purchased the land and administered the historic site. The cemetery remains in use to this day.71 Bakersfield officially incorporated as a city in 1873. Alexander Mills was hired as the new municipality’s first marshal. By many accounts, Mills was a testy figure who had a penchant for airing people’s dirty laundry. In order to get rid of him, Bakersfield decided to discorporate in 1876, effectively eliminating his job. For the next 22 years, the community was managed by a citizens’ council. Bakersfield ultimately reincorporated in 1898 and never looked back.

70 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 2012. 71 “Historic Union Cemetery,” American Cemetery & Cremation, November 2014, http://www.interment.net/data/us/ca/kern/union- cemetery-bakersfield-history-article.pdf (accessed February 28, 2023), 18-19.

Kern County Courthouse, no date. (Kern County Museum)

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Early Chinese Community
Beginning in the late 1850s, Chinese laborers were being recruited to work in the Kern River mines. According to Mary Ming, Bakersfield resident and Chinese community scholar, the first group of Chinese men came to Kern County in 1857. The next large group came in 1860. They were farm laborers contracted by ranchers including Col. Thomas Baker.72 By the end of 1862, Chinese were moving to Kern County in large numbers to work the placer diggings along the river and in gulches.73 By 1870, there were 50 Chinese residents in the City of Bakersfield, working as cooks, laundrymen, gardeners, and farm laborers. Col. Baker employed two Chinese residents: Choo Ly and Sue Hee. Instead of paying them in cash, Baker gave them land upon which they developed vegetable gardens, selling their harvest in town. Soon, the local Chinese community would become Bakersfield’s main source of vegetables.

By the early 1870s, Bakersfield’s Chinatown was taking shape. In its early days, it was an all- male enclave consisting of wooden buildings along 20th Street between K and L streets. The largest group of Chinese to settle in Bakersfield were the Southern Pacific Railroad workers who built the Tehachapi line from 1874-1876.74 By the 1880 Census, there were 250 Chinese living in the Bakersfield township. By this time, the local Chinese community included families,

72 Linda Wong, untitled article, The Bakersfield Californian, August 5, 1978, D11, clipping from “China Alley” Historical Sites file, City of Bakersfield.
73 William Harland Boydand Mary Sue Ming, The Chinese of Kern County, 1857-1960 (Bakersfield, CA: Bakersfield Historical Society, 2002), 8.
74 Wong.

Bakersfield street, c. 1882. (Security Pacific National Bank Collection, Los Angeles Public Library)

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with Chinese workers employed as merchants, butchers, restaurateurs, herbalists, and gamblers.75
Arrival of the Railroad…in Sumner
Urban development during the 1870s and 1880s was often dictated by the railroads. Railroad companies typically built their lines where they could get land concessions. However, Bakersfield refused to pay to play with the railroads, and as a result the city was bypassed and became largely isolated.

In 1874, Bakersfield got its Southern Pacific rail connection—two miles east of the town in a place called Sumner.76 The last spike in the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco line was driven in September of 1876, the same year Sumner opened its first post office. Sumner was a company town of the Southern Pacific, with the railroad depot as its focal point. A business district quickly developed along the railroad tracks near the present-day site of Sumner and Baker streets in what is now East Bakersfield. Among the earliest stores in Sumner were Amy & Ardizzi, Dugan & Ryan, and J.J. Murphy’s store. Hotels included the Noriega, Central, Lindsay, and Verdier. There was a saloon and dancehall on Baker Street.

In 1888, A.R. and C.D. Jackson built horse-drawn streetcar lines along Chester Avenue, 19th Street, and Baker Street, linking downtown Bakersfield with the new sprawling Richardsonian Romanesque-style Southern Pacific Railroad Depot [700-730 Sumner Street], completed in 1889.77 At this time, the Southern Pacific expanded into the east side of the San Joaquin Valley with a line from Fresno to Porterville, then on to the main line. The depot and adjacent hotel were built of brick by Curran and Swan (the precursor to the Bakersfield Sandstone Brick Co.).

75 Boydand Ming, 49.
76 Sumner was also known as Kern City, and then as East Bakersfield. 77 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Sumner Southern Pacific Railroad Depot postcard, no date. (Card Cow)

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According to historian Christopher D. Brewer, the building was expanded and altered in 1895, and again in 1941.78 Railroad Road (now Truxtun Avenue) became the route for cattlemen to drive their steers to the depot for transport throughout the country.79 Growth of the Chinese Community
The arrival of the railroad in Sumner would also increase the Chinese population in Bakersfield, as even more Chinese laborers were recruited to help build rail infrastructure. Those who opted to remain local created their own community centered on 20th Street between K and L streets.

As the population of Chinatown grew during the 1880s, the enclave did not expand outward or build upward, but rather dug cellars under their existing buildings for additional living space.

Sanborn fire insurance maps show a substantial Chinatown already established by 1885, with dozens of stores and two Chinese laundries. The west side of 20th Street was densely developed with small one-story shacks. Reports of illegal gambling operations run by the Chinese were a consistent feature of local newspapers at the time.

Historically, Bakersfield’s “red-light district” was located just east of Chinatown, across L Street and adjacent to nearby saloons. By 1892, it was consolidated just north of Chinatown, comprising nearly a quarter of a city block, centered at the southwest corner of 21st and L streets. Historical accounts suggest that the district was quite robust in the 1880s and 1890s. In 1889, a two-story church mission was established for members of the Chinese community at 23rd and L streets.80
Various histories of Bakersfield suggest that there were “tunnels” beneath Chinatown. Local historians Gilbert Gia and Stephen Montgomery recount the Chinese often digging basements for additional space or heat relief, since they were barred from purchasing property outside Chinatown by restrictive covenants. Evidence of these basements, with their own separate entries, was exposed after the 1904 Chinatown fire.81
Basque Immigration
The French Basque colony established itself in Sumner in 1873, almost concurrent with the arrival of the railroad. French Basques are identified as those coming from three French regions:

Lapurdi, Behe-Nafarro, and Zuberoa.82 While there were Basque farmers as far back as the

78 “Southern Pacific Railroad Depot,” California DPR Form, prepared by Christopher D. Brewer, 1988, “Southern Pacific Railroad Depot” Historical Sites file, City of Bakersfield.
79 Ralph Anthony, “Pioneer Memory Days,” oral history, interview by Ralph Jester, Bureau of Land Management, October 30, 1977, 6, California State University, Bakersfield, https://csub-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/123030/Anthony_Ralph _U80.pdf?sequence=5.
80 Gilbert Gia, “Bakersfield and the Anti-Chinese Pogroms of 1893,” 2013, 5, Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, https://www.historicbakersfieldandkerncounty.com/_files/ugd/caae83_8c6558261fd3460793964c58cb4950ee.pdf (accessed January 18, 2023).
81 Gilbert Gia, “Underground Bakersfield (v.6),” 2012, 4-5, Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, https://www. historicbakersfieldandkerncounty.com/_files/ugd/caae83_27f097e6cfcd4e3bb82d79e88bbfa2c2.pdf (accessed January 18, 2023). 82 These regions are known today as Labourd, Basse-Navarre, and La Soule.

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Spanish and Mexican periods, it was during the 1870s when a large influx came to Bakersfield.

The largest groups came to the city between 1872 and 1914.83 Although some Basques came to California as part of the gold rush, the majority immigrated to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The decision to immigrate was partially a reaction to the Spanish Carlist Wars, mandatory military service imposed by Napoleon III, and the Industrial Revolution that lowered demand for Basque goods. As with many immigrant populations, initial Basque immigrants were single men between the ages of 18 and 25.84 Young Basque men were often agriculturalists and herders of sheep. The Miller & Lux Ranch and the Kern County Land Company were responsible for drawing many Basques to Kern County between 1870 and 1900, employing them as sheepherders and effectively establishing a Basque pipeline to Bakersfield.85 Non-Basques in Bakersfield and throughout the county viewed the Basques as interlopers, and competition for grazing space fueled many clashes, mostly outside Bakersfield. Tensions eased somewhat by the 1880s when a severe drought drove many of the Anglos out of the sheep business.

As described by authors Gordon Morris Bakken and Alexandra Kindell, the French Basque colony in East Bakersfield started in 1873 with the construction of the Basque-owned French Hotel. Soon there were other hotels, including the Pyrenees, Metropole, and the Noriega Hotel86 and Restaurant [513-531 Sumner Street]. Faustino Mier Noriega (1856-1922) worked for Miller & Lux in 1882 and eventually became a foreman at one of their Kern ranches. In 1893, Noriega and Fernando Etcheverry opened the Iberia Hotel, with 13 rooms for boarders on the second floor and communal washrooms at either end of a long corridor.

These Basque businesses were concentrated in a one-block area between Baker Street and Humboldt Street (now East 21st Street), from 19th Street to what is now Highway 178. For new Basque immigrants arriving by train, the hotels served were known as osatuak—literally, “home away from home.” Basque hotels offered room and board, with a family-style meal held at noon and at 6 p.m. They acted as employment agencies as well as cultural and social centers for the growing community. They also provided a place where the Basque community could play pelote, or handball. The handball court next to the Noriega Hotel was constructed in 1933 and remained in constant use until 1975, when the Kern County Basque Club built a new facility [2301 S. Union Avenue].87 Immigrant Basque women typically found employment as cooks and housekeepers in Basque hotels and restaurants. Bakken and Kindell credit Basque women who worked in the hotels with being “the creators of a Basque cultural enclave in East Bakersfield.”88

83 Gordon Morris Bakken and Alexandra Kindell, Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2006), 250.
84 Bakken and Kindell, 248.
85 Jeronima (Jeri) Echeverria, “California-Ko ostatuak: A History of California’s Basque Hotels,” (PhD Diss., North Texas State University, 1998), 95.
86 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 87 Bakken and Kindell, 249.
88 Bakken and Kindell, 249.

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In 1898, an arsonist set a fire in East Bakersfield that destroyed the entire business district.89 The community soon rebuilt, and by this time Basques were working in various other industries, such as butchery, bakery, blacksmithing, and restaurants. The present-day Pyrenees French Bakery [717 East 21st Street],90 originally known as the Kern City French Bakery when it was founded in 1887, was both a bakery and a saloon. The Pyrenees Café originally opened as a boarding house for Basque immigrant sheepherders dating back to 1901, and perhaps earlier.

Italian Immigration
In addition to the Basques, there was also a significant influx of Italian immigrants to the city during this period. They were primarily from the Tuscan community of Lucca. These men, young and old, came alone to seek better lives. The railroad offered many jobs and the industry was well suited to those who did not speak English. In addition to the railroad, Bakersfield’s agricultural activity also provided a draw for these rural Italian residents. Italian–born Clementine Borsi immigrated in 1869. He owned the Union Hotel [220 21st Street]. According to author Eugene Burmeister, Borsi raised grapes in his backyard, and Borsi and friends stomped the grapes and made wine for the hotel.91
The railroad sparked a thriving Italian community in Sumner. Small colonies of Italians developed around the shops and the roundhouse of the railroad. In 1876, Victory Amy, a Frenchman, and Beneditto Ardizzi, a Swiss Italian, became partners in a mercantile firm at the corner of Sumner and Baker streets. In addition to the store, Amy and Ardizzi loaned money to farmers and Basques, and ran a hotel on the second floor. Amy died in 1881, and Ardizzi took on

89 Bakken and Kindell, 249.
90 The bakery moved into its current building on the same site in the 1960s; the original wood-frame building was moved to Pioneer Village.
91 Burmeister, 34.

Pyrenees French Bakery, no date. (Kern County Museum)

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a new partner, Louis Virgin Olcese. The latter was fluent in French and thus was able to do business with the Basque community. In 1893, Ardizzi was appointed postmaster of Sumner.

In 1898, fire erupted in the old California House on H Street (present-day E. 21st Street), spreading quickly through the wooden buildings of Sumner. The Ardizzi & Olcese store was saved. Other merchants were not so lucky: J.L. Depauli received $4,000 in insurance, but A.

Cuneo had no coverage and lost everything.92 According to the Bakersfield City Directory of 1899, by the end of the 19th century there was a substantial Italian community in the city. They owned stores, restaurants, hotels, and saloons.93
The Latino Community
As described by historian Fatima Bugharin, “According to the census records for Bakersfield in 1870, the Mexican community in Bakersfield was large and mostly composed of Sonoran- Mexican families and a few single Sonoran Mexican men who were well trained Vaqueros (cattlemen).”94 These men worked on the ranchos scattered throughout the area. Ventura Cuen (1831-1918), an early Mexican farmer and rancher, opened a livery stable business and aided with cattle transportation. He owned land in Sumner, south of the Older Sumner Railroad Depot, which he eventually sold to Basque and French immigrants.95 During this period, the local Latino community would have been comprised almost exclusively of Mexican immigrants and Americans of Mexican descent. In 1874, there was a large Latino settlement known as Panama, some seven miles south of Bakersfield proper.96 As land was becoming more valuable for the cultivation of crops like cotton (see below), Latino residents were pushed northward and settled in La Colonia (the Colony), in what is now East Bakersfield.

During the 1890s, the First Congregational Church of Bakersfield began outreach with various “missions” to the communities of color in and around Bakersfield. The Latino community was no exception. They made outreach to find protestant Mexican preachers who would be willing to come to the area.

Panama also had its own cemetery, which was abandoned around 1887. In the 1970s, a mass grave was discovered at the intersection of DeEtte Avenue and Krista Street, west of Highway 99 and about three quarters of a mile north of Panama Lane in southwest Bakersfield.97 Through intensive analysis, it was determined that the mass grave was a re-interment of graves from Panama Cemetery, which had likely been located on land owned by the wife of Pablo Galtes, north and west of Panama.98

92 Donna Tessandori Weeks, The Italians of Kern County (Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation, 2011), 39. 93 Weeks, 36.
94 Bugharin.
95 Bugharin.
96 “110 Anniversary of Sociedad Juarez Mutualista Mexicana,” video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25x-k5F9-cI (accessed November 9, 2022).
97 Alan P. Garfinkel, Ph.D., “Native Americans and the Panama Cemetery Tracing the Local Roots of Catholicism in Bakersfield, Part 1,” Kern County Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, Winter 2007, 1. 98 Bugharin.

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Cotton Comes to Bakersfield
Despite the fact that the railroad bypassed downtown Bakersfield, the town continued to grow.

San Francisco financiers James Ben, Ali Haggan, and Lloyd Tevis sent their representative, W.B.

Billy Carr, to acquire properties in Bakersfield with the intention of bringing large-scale farming to the region. The cultivation of cotton in the San Joaquin Valley began around 1884, although some scholars suggest the first crop of cotton may have been planted on Kern Island by Harvey Skiles as early as 1862. As cotton cultivation increased, Chinese laborers were recruited to work the fields, but there was still a labor shortage.

Haggin and Tevis envisioned the valley as another cotton-producing south.99 To that end, they began working with agents in the southern and eastern United States to recruit African Americans to come to Bakersfield. Due to many factors—including the collapse of Reconstruction, the failure of the crop-lien system and resulting debt servitude, Western boosterism, and the rise of Jim Crow—many African Americans sought new opportunities in the West. In March 1884, the Kern County Californian noted “fifty-six colored men with three women arrived here from Memphis, Tennessee.”100 A couple of weeks later, 200 African Americans arrived by railroad, and were taken to Haggin’s Cotton Ranch.101 This group included significantly more women and children along with a “clergyman” and a physician.

Some newspapers reported that soon after arrival, many of the workers left the region for other parts of the state, likely a reaction to the meager $12 per month pay they were given when similar work was paid at a rate of $25 to $35 per month.102 At one point, Haggin and Tevis intended to attract some 10,000 Blacks to work the cotton fields, but the actual number that came was far less.103 Still, a substantial African American community was established in Bakersfield. In 1892, Black businessman W.H. Walker was hiring people from the South, and helped provide work for many as domestic servants.104 The African American community was quick to establish their own fraternal orders and civic clubs. In 1894, R.W. Houston, H.H. Gillem, and A.W. Vessell established the Bakersfield Lodge of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows.

In 1905, the San Joaquin Lodge, Prince Hall Freemasonry was founded.

Canal Construction
After Col. Baker began the first canal project, agricultural interests in and around Bakersfield began digging their own canals and building their own levees. An early example of this was the Kern Island Canal constructed by Horatio P. Livermore and Julius Chester in 1871. The canal ran from the foot of the Panorama Bluffs to a flower mill owned by Livermore.105 Haggin and Tevis purchased the Livermore canal during the acquisition of nearly 60,000 acres of land.106

99 There is conflicting information as to whether the entity was Haggin and Tevis or Haggin and Carr. 100 “Thursday Night...,” Kern County Californian, June 7, 1884, no page. 101 “Arrival of the Colored Immigrants,” Kern County Californian, June 7, 1884, no page. 102 Gilbert Peter Gia, Race, Sports and Black Unity: 1875-1988 (Bakersfield, CA: Gilbert Peter Gia, 2019), 12. 103 Gia, Race, Sports and Black Unity, 14.
104 “Notice to the Public,” Daily Californian, May 7, 1892, no page. 105 City of Bakersfield Water Resources Department, “The Kern River Purchase,” Bakersfield, CA: City of Bakersfield, December 2003, 6.
106 City of Bakersfield Water Resources Department, 6.

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Construction of the Kern Island Canal began in 1874; it ran from the Panorama Bluffs, through Central Park, and southward.

The completion of the Kern Island Canal spurred other farmers to begin to dig their own irrigation ditches. Because there was no organized system of development at this time, new canals often diverted water from old ones. In 1875, Oliver P. Calloway started to build a canal on the north side of the Kern River. Financial difficulties forced the abandonment of the project, but Haggin, Tevis and Carr laid claim to the Calloway Canal, completing it in 1879. The 1870s also saw the construction of the Stine Canal and Pioneer Canal.107
Some of the smaller canals even ran directly through downtown Bakersfield. Sanborn maps from 1892 show a rather large irrigation ditch running down 23rd Street with bridges at Chester Avenue and K Street. At K Street, the ditch dipped southward only to climb back north of 23rd Street. Another irrigation ditch was dug just south of 22nd Street, from Chester Avenue to M Street.

As the town became more developed, many of these smaller canals were filled in and paved over.

Such was the fate of a canal on Chester Avenue that was covered by sidewalk in 1903.108 With the growth of the area in the 1920s, more canals were constructed, including the Friant-Kern Canal.109 Historian Gilbert Gia notes that in 1924, “…Myers & Stoll were awarded the contract to build a cement culvert bridge over the James Canal and a concrete syphon at the intersection of Kern Island Canal and 18th Street.”110 Canal construction continued during the 20th century.111 Great Fire of 1889
Disaster came to Bakersfield on July 7, 1889. A building fire at 20th Street and Chester Avenue spread throughout the entire downtown business district, burning for three hours. Ironically, it was once again water—or lack thereof—that would dictate the town’s destiny. Because there was insufficient water to fight the fire, it razed 120 buildings, rendered 1,500 people homeless, and caused over $1,000,000 in damage. The fire destroyed 147 businesses, 44 homes, and five hotels, including the original Southern Hotel (at the northwest corner of 19th Street and Chester Avenue).112 The Baker adobe was also destroyed. Only a few churches were saved, including St. Francis (at 17th and K streets) and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (on the northeast corner of 17th and present-day Eye streets). Scribner’s Water Tower (on the southeast corner of 17th Street and Chester Avenue) was also saved.

Prior to the fire, Bakersfield resembled a western town filled with vernacular wooden buildings.

The rebuilding effort now focused on fire-resistant brick buildings. The first Southern Hotel

107 “Our Fluid History With Water,” The Bakersfield Californian, December 1, 2016. 108 Gilbert Gia, “History in Bakersfield Sidewalks, 1893-2011 v. 3,” 2016, Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, https://www.historicbakersfieldandkerncounty.com/_files/ugd/caae83_5e9bb9784a184585a81013d971b08f60.pdf (accessed April 17, 2023), 5.
109 “Our Fluid History With Water.”
110 Gia, “History in Bakersfield Sidewalks,” 5.
111 The Cross Valley Canal, constructed by the Kern County Water Agency in 1975, runs from the California Aqueduct into Bakersfield.
112 Maynard, 31.

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had been something out of the Old West. The new Southern Hotel was a lavish wood and brick structure of 84 rooms with hot and cold running water. The elaborate Victorian-style edifice featured turrets and spires.

The Great Fire of 1889 had no effect on Sumner. By 1892, Sumner had blossomed into a large company town, with a passenger depot, a freight depot, and several hotels, all located south of the railroad tracks. There was also a four-block commercial area with its own red-light district of saloons and houses of prostitution. This commercial area was bounded by the present-day Union Pacific railroad yard on the north, E. 19th Street on the south, King Street on the east, and Kern Street on the west. North of the railroad tracks, there were several blocks of residential development consisting of small bungalows along present-day Jackson and Kentucky streets between Tulare Street and Beale Avenue. By 1899, Sumner was listed as “Kern City” on Sanborn fire insurance maps and enjoyed a population of some 1,600. By comparison, Bakersfield at this time had some 5,500 residents.113 In 1898, Bakersfield finally got its own railroad line: the San Francisco and San Joaquin Railroad brought its tracks from the north into the city proper. A $10,000 depot was built on the site of the Southern Methodist Church, which was moved to another location.114 Against this

113 U.S. Census, 1900.
114 Burmeister, 22.
19th Street and Chester Avenue, 1898. (Kern County Museum)

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backdrop, Bakersfield developed its early institutions, commercial district, industries, and residential neighborhoods.

Outside of the downtown area, a number of “colonies” and ranches developed during the late 19th century. While many of these colonies and ranches were established on land that is now part of the City of Bakersfield, years would pass before they would become officially absorbed or annexed into the city.

Panama Ranch
Panama Ranch was an early ranch established by Miller & Lux. Located in what is now the southern part of Bakersfield, the Panama area is one of the earliest known areas of Mexican settlement. Ventura (a.k.a., Bentura) Cuen, a native of Sonora, Mexico, settled in the area in 1869.115 According to historian Fatima Bugharin, his land was located in the northeast section of Stine Road and Panama Lane.116 The 160 acres of land was sold to Cuen under the auspices of the U.S. government’s Agri Scrip Patent act to establish colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanical arts, and signed by Ulysses S. Grant. Cuen sold to Miller & Lux.

Rosedale Colony
In the late 1880s, enterprising developers began planning large residential/farming “colonies” that would attract settlers and immigrants. The Rosedale Colony, approximately eight miles west of downtown Bakersfield was one of these developments. Some of Rosedale has since become part of the annexed land of the City of Bakersfield.

The mastermind of the Rosedale Colony was the British-born S.W. Fergusson who worked for Lloyd Tevis and James Haggin, owners of thousands of acres in Kern County. Fergusson had previously planned communities such as Paso Robles and worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad creating planned residential developments. Although no master plan for Rosedale survives, Fergusson master planned all of his previous endeavors. For Rosedale, Fergusson divided the acreage in the manner common to railroads: a grid.117 More than 250 palm trees were planted to add visual interest to the development.

Fergusson set up a sales office in the Southern Hotel and also recruited buyers from England.

Brochures and advertisements touted the merits of Rosedale as land good for farming, easy to clear, and far from the fog of the moors. Many of the early settlers of Rosedale were, in fact, English transplants. The first train of English transplants arrived in 1889. They began building homes and quickly established a school and an Episcopal Church.118 By early July of 1889, sales of the 20-acre plots were booming.119 The land sold for $20 per acre.120 Early settlers included J.H. Hunt, William C. Hunt, Albert L. Renfro, Mr. and Mrs. William T. Allen, C. Battey, W.E.

115 “Heritage Important to This State Appointee,” The Bakersfield Californian, February 8, 1976, 27. 116 Bugharin.
117 A good example of railroad land subdivision was the grid of Palm Springs that was ultimately used to delineate land for development and a Tribal reservation.
118 “The Rosedale Colony,” Shafter Press, November 3, 1976, 1B. 119 “The Rosedale Colony,” Bakersfield Magazine, August 11, 2015. Clipping from the Palm Cross File, City of Bakersfield. 120 “Bakersfield in 1891,” The Bakersfield Californian, August 13, 1910, 12.

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Underwood, and J.D. Bruton. S.W. Fergusson built himself a large home. A Mrs. Johnson built a large mansion and was the center of Rosedale social life.

Ultimately, Rosedale Colony was a failure. Its non-contiguous development plan was unsuccessful, the farming families were not well-versed in irrigation techniques, the fruit trees and crops they planted took too long to mature, and a period of serious drought made farming extremely difficult. By 1894, land values were falling significantly.121 Many of the settlers defaulted on their land, returning the acreage to what had now become the Kern County Land Co. Fergusson was replaced with Henry A. Jastro, who ceased marketing and selling Rosedale Colony. During the 1910s, a resurgence in interest in alfalfa cultivation in Rosedale sparked the building of dozens of pump and tank houses.122 When oil was found near the community, the Kern County Land Co. elected to hold onto acreage rather than sell it.

Over the years, many the buildings associated with Rosedale disappeared. Many buildings appear to have been moved. A one-story hotel was moved away. The Episcopal Church was relocated to the Kern County Museum. Around 2021, JRP Historical Consulting Services was able to identify only three homes built as part of the colony. The Cross of Palms, some eight miles northwest of downtown Bakersfield, is one of the few remnants of the original Rosedale Colony development.123
Virginia Colony
In the early 1890s in East Bakersfield, another colony, the Virginia Colony, was established. A large, irregularly-shaped tract, it was roughly bordered by the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks on the north, Virginia Avenue to the south, Jefferson Avenue to the east, and Washington Avenue to the west. The eastern end of the colony was bisected by the diagonal railroad tracks and East Side Canal as shown in the tract map filed in 1893. The area was subdivided by real estate men, R.E. Baughman and Douglas L. Wildy,124 however, Virginia-born John T. Bayse (1849-1944) appears to have had a hand in the Colony’s development.125 Early residents of the Virginia Colony included Emily Morrison, Annie B. Douty, and William Upton. By the early 1900s, the Bakersfield Morning Echo recounted the presence of several alfalfa and fruit farms in Virginia Colony.126 The Colony contained alfalfa farms of 20 and 60 acres with farmhouses.

Rio Bravo Colony
During the late 1890s, the Rio Bravo Colony was established west of the Rosedale Colony.

Pioneer Rio Bravo Colony families filed claims on land they obtained from the government.127

121 “Which Assessor Stood for People?,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, September 25, 1906, 4. 122 “Erecting Fine Tank House in the Rosedale Colony,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 25, 1911, 6. 123 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Place in 1997, and listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 2021.
124 As evidenced by their presence on the tract map for the Virginia Colony. 125 “Rites Held for John T. Bayse,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 12, 1944, 7. 126 “Kern Residence Properties,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, February 5, 1903, 7. 127 “Crops Growin Wide Variety When Great Water Supply Comes,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 9, 1924, 4.

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Early farmers and landowners in the Rio Bravo Colony included the Rio Bravo Vineyard, E.G.

Stetson, H.G. Parsons, E.C. Baker, E.B. Jewett, E. Chaffee, E.E. Underwood and E.O.

McClellan.128 Initially, irrigation water was supplied by the Kern County Land Co. Orchards, vineyards, and alfalfa was farmed there. When the Land Company water was diverted to other areas, farmers were forced to put in pump plants of their own. Windmills were the earliest pumps. Progress was slow and many farmers left the area. A steam plant was eventually built by Willis Baker, but farmers continued to leave the area.129 By 1900, there were only two children left in the local school.130
Rio Bravo Colony remained very rural throughout the period. During the first decade of the 20th century, it established a schoolhouse and organized a Congregational church.131 It had taken almost forty years for Bakersfield to realize the potential that Col. Thomas Baker envisioned for the place. It was now ready to leave the 19th century behind and step firmly into the 20th century. “Black gold” and “white gold” would lead the way.

THEMES
THEME: Pre-Incorporation Civic/Institutional Development The county courthouse schools, and houses of worship were among the first civic and institutional buildings erected during this period. The Kern County Courthouse (Chester Avenue between 16th Street and present-day Truxtun Avenue) was an elaborate structure. Its location a few blocks south of downtown saved it from burning down in the Great Fire of 1889.

The Kern Island School District was founded in February 1867. Seventeen students attended during the 1867-68 school year.132 By 1888, Bakersfield had its first public school, Railroad Avenue School (south side of Railroad Avenue between K and L streets). The four-room, Italianate-style building was constructed in 1876.133 On May 3, 1882, the Kern Island School District was renamed the Bakersfield School District, with an average daily attendance of 100 students.134 In July of 1892, Bakersfield’s second public school was under construction in the northwest part of town. The new H Street School (between 21st and 22nd streets) was larger than Railroad Avenue School. These schools were for younger children. There was no high school, and typically farm families expected their children to work in the fields as they approached adulthood. Alfred M. Harrell brought high school to Bakersfield for the first time in 1893, in two rooms on the second floor of Railroad Avenue School. In 1895, “Kaycee Hi” (for Kern County High School) moved to its own new building in the center of Elm Grove, the present-day site of Bakersfield High School .135

128 “Gas Extension; Menonite Plan,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, August 23, 1911, 1. 129 “Crops Growin Wide Variety When Great Water Supply Comes,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 9, 1924, 4. 130 “Crops Growin.”
131 The Congregational church was established by Dr. John F. Kenngott of Los Angeles. 132 Burmeister, 31.
133 Railroad Avenue School was damaged in the 1952 earthquake and demolished to make way for the Civic Center. 134 Burmeister, 33.
135 Bakersfield High School has had several names over the years. Between 1893 and 1915, it was known as Kern County High School.

From 1915 until 1945, it was known as Kern County Union High School. In 1945, the name was changed to Bakersfield High School.

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Religious organizations were building their first houses of worship during this period. The Methodist Episcopal Church (at the southeast corner of present-day Truxtun Avenue and H Street) was built in the Spring of 1874. The first Catholic mass in Bakersfield was held in 1871 in the rear of Galtes Store on 19th Street between Chester Avenue and K Street; services continued in that location for years.136 The first purpose-built Catholic Church was completed in 1882 at 17th and K streets. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was founded in 1879; services were held at Railroad Avenue School until a dedicated church building was constructed in 1886 at 17th and Eye streets. The First Baptist Church was established in 1889 and met at George Wear’s Opera House until services were moved to the courthouse. In 1889-90, a purpose-built church was built at 22nd and Eye streets.

To serve the city’s African American population, the Cain African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church was organized in 1884; services were held at the corner of Sumner Street and Union Avenue until a dedicated church was constructed at California Avenue and O Street. The Second Baptist Church (a.k.a., Colored Baptist Church) was founded in 1892.

The first Joss House (Chinese temple) was built during the 1870s in the middle of a strawberry patch across Kern Island Canal from the Kern River Mill, where 17th Street runs today.

According to author Eugene Burmeister, it was a one-story structure of rough unpainted lumber, 16 feet wide and 20 feet deep with a front porch, two small single-paned windows, and a Chinese-style peaked roof.137 Sanborn fire insurance maps reveal the location of several Joss Houses in Chinatown through the years. A March 1889 Sanborn map shows a Joss House at the northeast corner of 10th and K streets and remained in this location through 1892.

One of the earliest doctors in Bakersfield was Dr. Lewis S. Rogers (c. 1835-1914), who resided in the city around 1870. In 1876, the G Street Hospital was built and managed by Dr. Henry S.

136 Donna Tessandori Weeks suggests that these locations also served the Italian immigrants, who were primarily Catholic. 137 Burmeister, 37.

Kern County Union High School, c. 1895. (Online Archive of California)

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Bachman, who became County Physician. In 1895, the County purchased six acres at 19th and Oak streets and built a 40-bed gabled-roofed hospital building.

Bakersfield also developed clubs and institutions early on. By 1888, the Masonic Lodge operated out of a small space near the northeast corner of 19th Street and Chester Avenue.

The Woman’s Club of Bakersfield was organized on March 2, 1896 in a meeting at the new Southern Hotel. By the following year, they had 125 members.138 Club meetings were scheduled in the parlors of the Southern Hotel, the Odd Fellows Hall, the Episcopal Church, and other locations. The Woman’s Club was instrumental in bringing about the re-incorporation of the City in 1898, the establishment of the first public library and reading room, and the first free kindergarten.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period pre-1898
 Is one of the few remaining examples of civic/institutional development from the pre- incorporation period in Bakersfield
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the founding and/or early development of Bakersfield
 May also be associated with an important early ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield, such as the local Chinese, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community  In East Bakersfield, may also be a rare remnant of Sumner or of Kern City  Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, feeling and association. Due to the rarity of extant examples from this period, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable.

THEME: Pre-Incorporation Commercial Development
As previously mentioned, early Bakersfield looked like an old western town, composed of vernacular wooden buildings. Unlike many cities, whose center was at First and Main streets, Bakersfield’s primary commercial corridor was 19th Street between Chester Avenue and L Street. This established a pattern of commercial development for downtown that would persist well into the 20th century. A Sanborn map from 1885 indicates that the city was largely

138 “Woman’s Club History Told,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, March 9, 1934, 7.

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commercial in nature, with very few residences in the downtown area—recalling the city’s essentially rural agricultural roots.

By 1885, Bakersfield had four hotels: the Arlington Hotel (at the southeast corner of 19th Street and Chester Avenue); the Montrose Hotel (18th Street between Chester Avenue and K Street); the S.T. Jones Hotel (19th Street between K and L streets); and the French Hotel (southwest corner of 19th Street and Chester Avenue). The 19th Street corridor was home to several general merchandise stores. Several saloons were located on 19th Street. The small Kern County Bank (at the corner of 18th Street and Chester Avenue) was the first bank in the city. Horse-related businesses—including carriage repair shops, saddleries, and stables—were scattered throughout the community. The presence of the horse in Bakersfield can still be felt today by the presence of several remaining metal hitching rings embedded in concrete curbs— known extant examples include one located near the Pyrenees French Bakery at 705 E. 21st Street, and the other in front of Luigi’s Restaurant and Delicatessen at 725 E. 19th Street. Also, a concrete sidewalk panel bearing the impressions of horseshoes and farrier tools is extant in front of former blacksmithing shop [1000 18th Street]. By 1888, entertainment and recreational opportunities included a skating rink, a bowling alley, and Wear’s Opera House.

In 1889, the Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. returned to Bakersfield to map the city’s growth, manifested as both increasing density and geographical expansion north and south of downtown. Fortuitously, the company mapped the city in March 1889, just five months before it would be razed by the Great Fire of 1889. The map below offers a picture of early Bakersfield as a thriving Central Valley city.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period pre-1898
 Is one of the few remaining examples of commercial development from the pre- incorporation period in Bakersfield
Sanborn fire insurance map, detail of 19th Street between Chester Avenue and L Street, March 1889. (Sanborn Fire Insurance Company)

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 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the founding and/or early development of Bakersfield
 May also be associated with an important early ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield, such as the local Chinese, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community  In East Bakersfield, may also be a rare remnant of Sumner or of Kern City  Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

THEME: Pre-Incorporation Industrial Development
Infrastructure helped drive industrial development in Bakersfield. In 1883, the Bakersfield Water Company began operating the town’s first water system, including an octagonal water storage tower at 17th Street and Chester Avenue. In 1889, the first public gas lighting appeared in Bakersfield. The following year, the first electric lighting in Bakersfield was produced in 1890 in a plant built by the Bakersfield Gas Company.

The first industrial development appears on Bakersfield Sanborn maps in 1888. The northeast corner of 20th and M streets had the former City Brewery that had become a bottling works.

Denver’s Carriage Factory (at the southeast corner of 18th and K streets) was no longer operational by 1888. The following year, the Kern River Flour Mill was built along Railroad Road (present-day Truxtun Avenue). By 1888-1889, what was now known as Kern City was also home to the Sumner Grain, Bailed Hay and General Merchandise warehouse. The brick Kern County Land Company Warehouse [210 Sumner Street] dates from this period.139 Further to the northwest, the undated brick Union Ice Company warehouse [3401 Chester Avenue] appears to be a rare remaining example of early industrial development along the railroad tracks.

Another important industrial property in the city was the Bakersfield Sandstone Brick Co. (E. 18th Street and Sonora Street). Formed in 1886 by James Curran (1862-1952), it was originally located on 40 acres. The facility included a lumber planing building (on Sonora Street between Eureka Street and E. Truxtun Avenue) and other buildings. During the 1920s, the planing mill burned down but other buildings were not affected. The company originally manufactured common red brick, using clay mud that was first sun-dried and then kiln-fired. After a few years, the company started manufacturing sandstone brick, which involved a special machine that compressed the sand and lime and cooked in steam kettles. For many years, all brick used

139 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

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for building in Bakersfield was from the Bakersfield Sandstone Brick Co. The Beale Memorial Clock Tower was one prominent structure that used the sandstone brick. Another building made of sandstone brick was the 1927 James and Mary Curran’s Residence [222 Eureka Avenue].140 The company continued to manufacture sandstone brick until World War I, when getting replacement parts for the European-made compressing machine became impossible.141 Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period pre-1898
 Is one of the few remaining examples of industrial development from the pre- incorporation period in Bakersfield
 May be associated with an important early industry in Bakersfield, such as agriculture or oil
 May be a substantial feature of a larger municipal or regional infrastructural system, such as water, power, or transportation (rail or horse)  May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the founding and/or early development of Bakersfield
 May also be associated with an important early ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield, such as the local Chinese, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community  In East Bakersfield, may also be a rare remnant of Sumner or of Kern City  Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

THEME: Pre-Incorporation Residential Development
Between 1885 and 1888, the town roughly doubled its geographic footprint—mostly growing in a southerly direction. This period marks a transition in the community’s development, slowly evolving from a rather isolated commercial downtown into more of a residential community. In 1885, the number of dwellings appearing on Sanborn maps is minimal, suggesting that most of

140 “Curran House” Historical Sites file, City of Bakersfield. This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1993.
141 Extant brick made by the Bakersfield Sandstone Brick Company is quite rare in Bakersfield today as the 1952 earthquake reduced most of the city’s unreinforced masonry buildings to rubble.

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the people who lived in town were the local merchants and shopkeepers and the large Chinese community. Three years later, the town had added a number or additional dwellings to the north and south. After Col. Baker’s death, his widow married Ferdinand August Tracy and they built a grand Victorian-style house (22nd and O streets). The residence survived the Great Fire of 1889, only to succumb to another blaze in 1949. The Jastro Residence [1811 20th Street] is a rare extant example of early residential development in the downtown area of the city.142 Originally located at 19th and G Streets, it was moved in 1917 for the construction of the Jastro (Standard Oil) Building [1800 19th Street].143 Jastro was one of the most influential men in Bakersfield from the 1890s through the 1920s. He was the head of the Kern County Land Company (a.k.a., Tenneco West), and also served as the Chairman of the Kern County Board of Supervisors, among many other posts.144
By 1892, Bakersfield had grown in virtually all directions. However, the majority of the residential growth was to the west and south of the downtown. New residences tended to be large Victorian-style homes centered on large parcels, with as few as four homes on a city block. Residential development to the south and east of the downtown was denser, with smaller-sized houses.

Between 1892 and 1899, residential growth in the southeastern portion of Bakersfield continued apace. Not only did residential densities increase, but the area devoted to residential development expanded, with houses now located as far west as D Street and as far south as 15th Street, along which the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad had laid their tracks. Residences spanned the gamut of popular architectural styles of the period. The Stark/Spencer Residence [1321 N Street],145 constructed in 1898 in the Queen Anne style, is an example of this period of residential development in Bakersfield.146 Additional residential development was added in the northwestern portion of the city, reaching as far as F Street. During this same period, residential development in Kern City grew substantially in the area north of the railroad tracks. Many of these residences were modest Residential Vernacular dwellings. A residence [2509 E. California Avenue] from 1898 is just one example. While individual houses remained modest in size, overall residential densities increased significantly during this period. Sanborn maps from 1899 reveal the relative rarity of multi-family residential development during this period, noting just a handful of boarding houses, including at 2029 I Street (present-day Eye Street) and at 1308 21st Street.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period pre-1898

142 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 2005. 143 This property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1994.
144 “Jastro House,” California DPR Form, prepared by Christopher D. Brewer, 1984, “Jastro House” Historical Sites file, City of Bakersfield.
145 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1995. 146 California High-Speed Rail Authority, Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS: Fresno to Bakersfield Section, November 2018, 3.17-61.

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 Is one of the few remaining examples of residential development from the pre- incorporation period in Bakersfield
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the founding and/or early development of Bakersfield
 May also be associated with an important early ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield, such as the local Chinese, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community  In East Bakersfield, may also be a rare remnant of Sumner or of Kern City  Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

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THE GREAT OIL RUSH & AGRICULTURAL BOOM, 1899-1928
Bakersfield has changed from the days of the frontier settlement, with its happy- go-lucky cowboys and miners tying their ponies to battered hitching posts while cattle roamed the plains. Today she stands a hustling, bustling modern city with wide paved streets and sidewalks, miles of shade trees and lawns, beautiful homes, roses galore, business structures of pleasing architecture, schools and churches of the type made famous by California, fully equipped playgrounds where young America develops, swimming and wading pools, golf courses, civic and service clubs, and fraternal organizations, business and women’s clubs, factories, railroads, new modern hotels, a county library of over 200,000 volumes and with two city branches, and all the things making life so worthwhile.147 Bakersfield City Directory, 1929.

During the 19th century, Bakersfield was on a steady path of moderate growth. However, towards the end of that century, the city found itself economically transformed by the discovery of oil and its impact on the nascent agriculture industry in Kern County. From 1900 to 1910, Bakersfield’s population tripled from 4,836 to 12,727. In 1910, Kern City was incorporated

147 1929 Bakersfield City Directory, 12.
19th Street looking west from Chester Avenue, with the Fish Building (left) and the Southern Hotel (right), 1907. (Kern County Museum)

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into the City of Bakersfield, becoming “East Bakersfield.” The foundations of “oil and ag” as the underpinnings of the city’s economy brought wealth, population growth, development, and the economic stability that would support the city for the better part of the 20th century. The wealth of companies like the Kern County Land Company can be seen in their Renaissance Revival style office building [1712 19th Street] (a.k.a., the Tevis Block) designed by architect Henry A. Schultze from 1893.148
Figure 2. Bakersfield Population Growth 1890-1920
Year Population Percentage Growth
1890 2,626 N/A
1900 4,836 84.2%
1910 12,727 163.2%
1920 18,638 46.4%
Source: U.S. Census
Oil Strike
The first signs of oil in the region were discovered on the west side of Bakersfield near McKittrick and Taft. Initially, the oil was not the star. Rather, people mined the sands for asphalt and the area earned the name, “Asphalto.” In May of 1889, however, James and Jonathan Ellwood struck oil on the property of Tom Means. This was the first discovery of the Kern River Oil Field and the first time a large supply of oil was found close to a rail line that led to San Francisco.149 Clusters of tents and shacks quickly appeared in the hills and along the riverbank.

148 This property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. 149 Maynard, 38.

Kern River Oil Field. (Kern County Museum)

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In less than two years, Bakersfield was a certifiable boomtown. By June 1901, newspapers reported there were more than 500 wells in the Kern River Oil Field and 100 more in process.

The fields were yielding 12,000 barrels per day.150 By 1910, the city directory listed 95 separate oil companies.151 The price of farmland sky-rocketed due to its oil producing potential. By 1904, the Kern River Oil Field produced more than any other field in California—17.5 million barrels.

This caused a glut and oil prices dropped, driving some small firms out of business. In 1904, they banded together to form the Independent Oil Producers Agency.152 By 1908, Bakersfield was the recognized center of the California oil industry.153 People and money flowed into the city at an accelerated rate, fueling the construction of beautiful homes and impressive commercial and public buildings. The Southern Hotel served as the “nerve center for the nascent industry.”154
Chinatown & the Tenderloin
During the first decade of the 20th century, Bakersfield was struggling with its identity. Part Wild West and part new west, an influx of oil workers fueled the city’s vice industry. Sanborn maps dating from 1899 show there were effectively two Chinese enclaves in Bakersfield. Stores and lodging lined the north and south sides of 20th Street between K and L streets. An additional, less dense block of Chinese development appears between 21st and 22nd streets, M and L streets. This was also the site of two Joss Houses. The vast majority of the Chinese in Chinatown were day laborers in agriculture. Another area of Chinese concentration was in the block bordered by 18th and 17th streets, R and Q streets, where Sanborn maps identify a number of Chinese shanties.

In August 1889, Dr. Lewis S. Rogers, Bakersfield’s first physician, who was friendly to the Chinese, constructed a building for eight businesses and nearby property was purchased by Chinese. Leong Yen opened one of the first groceries. Din Toy sold Chinese and American groceries and opened a restaurant. Because this was outside the existing Chinese enclave, the area would become known as “New Chinatown.”155 New Chinatown attracted Chinese with different dialects than in Old Chinatown. Families who migrated to New Chinatown included the Leong Gee Ping, Jung Sing, Jung Wong Chee, Sam Yick, and Jung Chut families.156 Both Chinatowns had an unofficial mayor who could speak English, navigate the non-Chinese world around Chinatown, and settle disputes within the community. These liaisons to and within the Chinese community included Choo Li (a.k.a, Choo Ly), Sam Yick, Sam Yop, and Say Yup.

The area in and around Chinatown had long flourished as a red-light district offering liquor, gambling, prostitution, and drugs. At the turn of the century, the boomtown that Bakersfield

150 Maynard, 39.
151 1910 Bakersfield City Directory, 152-3.
152 Bailey, Bakersfield: Heart of the Golden Empire, 78. 153 Maynard, 44.
154 Bailey, Bakersfield: Heart of the Golden Empire, 78 155 This area should not be confused a later Chinese enclave oriented around the intersection of 18th and Q streets. 156 Boyd and Ming, 66.

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had become from the discovery of oil filled the town with overnight millionaires, big money speculators, and an army of single male oil workers looking for recreation. Matters frequently turned violent, with robberies, beatings, and deaths becoming commonplace.

By 1904, the tenderloin was bounded by 22nd and 19th streets, between M and L streets. This area included a dozen different dance halls (including Big Bertha’s), numerous saloons, gambling houses, cribs for prostitution, and opium dens, often in the basements of legitimate businesses. Patronage of these establishments actually interfered with oil production, as crews were often unable to work after a weekend in Bakersfield.157 Side-by-side, one-room attached apartments known as “cribs” faced the alley that ran from L to M streets between 19th and 20th streets.158 The configuration of these rooms was that the window and door fronted on the alley, where prostitutes could solicit passersby.159 Well-known madams and prostitutes of the late-19th and early 20th centuries included Marie Brignaudy, Jennie Foxtet, and Louise de Yough.160
One of the most notorious incidents was the shooting of James McKinney in 1903. McKinney— known as the “Last Badman” or “Last of the Outlaws”—was a violent drunkard responsible for shooting several men in several states. His chief skill was marksmanship, and McKinney did odd jobs and worked security to earn money for his drinking and gambling. He lived in Visalia, frequented Bakersfield, and served time in San Quentin prison. But mostly, he evaded the law after he gruesomely shot two men in Arizona. Subsequently, a reward was offered for McKinney and a series of posses tracked him to Bakersfield where he was hiding in a Joss House on L Street. On April 19, 1903, vigilantes, in concert with local Bakersfield sheriffs, raided the room where McKinney was hiding and shot him. McKinney would not go down without a fight. Two deputies were killed and numerous others wounded.

The incident propelled the town into regional and national news as a vice-filled, lawless place and was, thereafter, regarded by many as bringing to a close the Old West’s outlaw tradition.161 In the aftermath, the citizens of Bakersfield instituted a reform movement. Officials raided eight to ten Chinese places suspected of dealing in gambling, prostitution, or opium. They served notice to non-Chinese drug lords to clean up or suffer consequences. Every social, civic, and business organization backed reform efforts. As a result, “the worst offenders sought more convivial surroundings elsewhere and night life in the tenderloin became less frantic.”162 According to historian Gilbert Gia, the term “Tenderloin” ceased to be used for the area after World War I.163

157 Joseph E. Doctor, Shotguns on Sunday: The True Story of the West’s Last Badman (Bakersfield, CA: Brewer–Pipkin Publications, 1988), 27.
158 Gilbert Gia, “Mme. Brignaudy In the Bakersfield Tenderloin, 1905-1933 (v.15),” Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, 2019, https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/ hc:23495/ (accessed January 18, 2023), 3. 159 Guy Hughes, Battle of the Joss House (New York, NY: Carlton Press, c. 1968), quoted in Gilbert Gia, “Mme. Brignaudy In the Bakersfield Tenderloin, 1905-1933 (v.15),” 2019, 3.
160 For more on this topic see Gilbert Gia’s “Mme. Brignaudy In the Bakersfield Tenderloin, 1905-1933 (v.15),” Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, 2019.
161 Doctor, 13.
162 Doctor, 205.
163 Stephen Montgomery, email to Cecelia Griego, January 17, 2023.

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While Bakersfield’s red-light district continued to thrive well into the 1930s, it ceased to be the violent Wild West version of itself. Prostitution remained but was driven out of the cribs and into the hotels. Even the horse-drawn trolleys were officially replaced in 1901 when the Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway was established.

Fire of 1904
On September 7, 1904, Bakersfield experienced another large fire that burned down three city blocks. Ironically, the fire was started by a drunken man who laid down in a storage shed behind a fire station. The man fell asleep while smoking a cigar and the blaze grew rapidly out of control. The fire consumed most of Chinatown reducing the buildings north of what was then termed “Jap Alley”—a small enclave of Japanese immigrants located south of 10th Street, between K and L streets—to rubble.164 Japanese replaced many Chinese agricultural and railroad workers in the late 19th and early 20th century. While some non-Japanese business owners were affected, it was the Chinese community that took the hardest hit. The merchant, Choo Li, dubbed “the richest Chinaman in the city” by the Stockton Independent, lost property valued at $15,000 (almost $400,000 in today’s dollars).165 Choo Li (c. 1836-1908) came to Bakersfield in 1872. At the time of his death in 1908, he was Bakersfield’s oldest Chinese resident, and as such, was often called-upon to settle disputes within the Chinese community. His funeral was a lavish affair with a procession including a marching band, a Chinese cavalry of six mounted marshals and a hearse. More than 1,000 non- Chinese attended the procession and funeral, which received page-one coverage in The Bakersfield Californian. At the time of his passing, his estate was estimated at $40,000 in cash and property along 20th Street.166 Li’s body was ultimately shipped back to Hong Kong for burial.

Other known merchants in Chinatown during this period included Chow Yee, a restaurant owner, Wan Low, Charley Leow, Leong Sow, Chung Gee, and Foo Chu. The vast majority of Chinese living in Chinatown was composed of male day or farm laborers. A very few were employed as cooks in private homes or as laundrymen. During this period there were approximately 450 Chinese males living in and around Chinatown.167 After the 1904 fire, many Chinese began to rebuild on less valuable land to the north of the site of the fire-ravaged Chinatown between L and M streets and between 20th and 22nd streets. By October, Sue Hee, an early employee of Col. Baker, was constructing a row of small wood- frame buildings for business purposes along what would become known as “China Alley,” comprising present-day 20th Place between L and M streets.168 The 1906 San Francisco earthquake also caused an influx of Chinese into the Bakersfield community. Among them were Wong Gun, Chick Po Lum, and K.C. Choy.169 Many Bakersfield

164 “Bakersfield in Ashes and Two Lives Lost,” Stockton Independent, September 8, 1904, 1. 165 “Bakersfield in Ashes,” 1.
166 “1,000 Curious Americans Saw Choo Li’s Funeral,” The Bakersfield Californian, August 24, 1908, 1. 167 Based on counting individuals born in China as enumerated in the 1900 U.S. Census for the township of Bakersfield. 168 Boyd and Ming, 50. “China Alley” was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1992. 169 Wong.

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Chinese were farmers. Yen Ming was known as the Chinese Potato King of Kern County. He operated Ming Ranch. During the teens, Ming received $10,000 for his potato crop—making him one of the richest men in Bakersfield. Jim Chow Dai had a farm on land that was later used for Central Park. During the 1920s and 1930, many of these farmers were also truck farmers— taking their produce to sell in Los Angeles. Still other Chinese in the community had related businesses in trucking; Jung Sun Joke formed C&J Trucking.170 In addition to the two Chinese enclaves in the downtown area, 1910 Sanborn maps reveal the presence of a series of “Chinese and Mexican bunkhouses and kitchens” housing railroad workers on the north side of Sumner Street just east of Beale Avenue, just south of the tracks.

Bakersfield’s Chinese developed a number of community institutions, including the Ying On Association [2110 L Street], a benevolent association originally named the Suey On Tong, to help obtain jobs; and the Bin Kong Tong, a collective banking association at a time when other institutions would not loan money to the Chinese. Ying On was originally housed in a small wooden building constructed before the turn of the century.171 Sing Lee was a charter member of the Ying On Labor and Merchants Association.172

Quest for Respectability
During the late 19th century, Japanese residents were slowly creating a presence in Bakersfield.

After the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese men began immigrating to California to fill the jobs once occupied by Chinese. The Japanese newcomers, numbering approximately a dozen, appear to have found rooms along “Jap Alley” between K and L streets, and 18th and 19th streets.173 They were all day laborers and farm workers. Additional Japanese farm workers

170 Boyd and Ming, 94.
171 Ginger Cowenhoven, “Ying On Remodel Will Double Building Size,” The Bakersfield Californian, no date, F2, clipping from “China Alley” Historical Sites file, City of Bakersfield.
172 Judith Mince, “Chinese Americans In Kern County,” clipping from “China Alley” Historical Sites file, City of Bakersfield. 173 Based on the location of “Jap Alley” described in the 1926 and 1927 Bakersfield City Directories.

Ying On Association, 1953. (The Chinese of Kern County, 1857-1960)

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may have lived in the fields and more rural areas around the city, as it was a frequent practice to build small, vernacular structures near the fields in which they worked.

Along with reform efforts inspired by the McKinney incident and ongoing population growth, there came a rise in social and civic organizations and an expansion of religious organizations.

On January 17, 1900, the cornerstone was laid for the Woman’s Club Hall of Bakersfield at 1600 H Street. This early, purpose-built building was a significant achievement for the group that was founded in 1896 at the old Southern Hotel by 18 women. Early on, the Club focused mostly on arts and cultural activities, but gradually stepped into “civics” related arenas.

One of the early campaigns of the Woman’s Club was a 1912 resolution against the removal of Beale Memorial Clock Tower from the middle of Chester Avenue. In 1904, Truxtun Beale had the 64-foot, Moorish-influenced clock tower, designed by Clinton Day of San Francisco, erected in honor of his mother. A few years prior, Beale had also financed the Beale Memorial Library, the city’s first purpose-built library building, at Chester Avenue and 17th Street, in memory of his father, General Edward (Ned) F. Beale. Truxtun Beale also donated five acres for Bakersfield’s first city park (Beale Park) at Oleander Avenue and Dracena Street. In addition to the land, Beale also donated materials for landscaping, a swimming pool, and a Greek theater for performances.174 In appreciation for the younger Beale’s generosity to the people of Bakersfield, Railroad Road was renamed Truxtun Avenue.

174 Ken Hooper, “The Generous Truxtun Beale,” Bakersfield.com, https://www.bakersfield.com/bakersfield_life/the-generous- truxtun-beale/article_0ae613c2-4437-543c-92a4-f8263472ab76.html (accessed February 28, 2023).

Beale Memorial Clock Tower, c. 1905. (USC Digital Library)

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By the late 1910s, the Woman’s Club had outgrown their original clubhouse, and on November 19, 1921, opened their new Woman’s Club of Bakersfield building, designed by prominent local architect Charles H. Biggar [2030 18th Street/1806-1808 D Street].175 The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (W.T.C.U) of Kern County was founded in 1891. They met in members’ homes or at churches, such as the First Methodist Episcopal Church or First Baptist Church.

Given the various undesirable activities of Bakersfield’s tenderloin district, the W.T.C.U. was a popular club among the city’s women.

The American Red Cross established a chapter in Bakersfield in April of 1917. During World War I, as thousands of soldiers passed through the region on troop trains routed over the Tehachapi Pass, the local Red Cross provided “canteen activity”— serving food, drinks, and leisure articles—from kiosks at the Southern Pacific Depot. The Bakersfield Red Cross also provided care for those taken ill during the Spanish Flu epidemic, staffing pop-up care facilities during the worst of the pandemic. By 1918, a Bakersfield American Red Cross Negro Chapter had also been established.176 This specialized chapter also provided canteen service and was “the only group of colored canteen corps of workers in the country…Bakersfield was the lone city that took care to see that the country’s colored soldiers were cared for by members of their own race.”177
In addition to women’s civic groups, their male counterparts continued to be active early in the century and to experience membership growth. Virtually all of them formed building committees including the Knights of Pythias, the Elks Club, the International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), and the Bakersfield Club. Many of these clubhouse buildings did not come to fruition until the 1920s. These social-civic organizations engaged prominent local architects to build large, multi-story edifices. The first two decades of the 20th century represented a golden age of civic clubs in the city.

175 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1992 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
176 J. Garth Milam, “Plague in the Boomtowns: The Spanish Influenza in Bakersfield and Kern County, 1918-1920,” M.A. History, California State University, Bakersfield, Fall 2012, https://scholarworks. calstate.edu/downloads/db78tg947 (accessed August 30, 2022), 62.
177 “Canteen Closes Career With Luncheon,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, November 22, 1919, no page.

Woman’s Club of Bakersfield, c. 1930s. (Woman’s Club of Bakersfield Archives)

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African American fraternal organizations in Bakersfield continued to congregate during this period as well, with Bakersfield becoming an early hub of civil rights activity. The city was the site of the assembly of delegates of the Afro American Congress in 1902 and the California convention of the Afro American League in 1912. The Colored Citizens League of Kern County was founded in 1912. Pearl Lowrey came to Bakersfield around 1910, joined Mt. Zion Church, and became Bakersfield’s resident reporter for the California Eagle, an African American newspaper in Los Angeles. She headed the Golden West Colored Woman’s Club, bringing many early speakers on women’s rights and civil rights.

Religious institutions flourished in the city during this period as well. In 1915, a group of Bakersfield’s Jewish citizens gathered in a home, establishing the Jewish Congregation of B’nai Jacob, the first Jewish congregation in Kern County. Five years later, they purchased the former Woman’s Club building at 16th and H streets as their new house of worship. The congregation had previously met in the Knights of Pythias Woddmen’s Hall and other buildings associated with fraternal organizations. Early religious and civic contributors included Oscar Rudnick, Alphonse Weill, Morris Himovitz, Sam Orloff, Max Himovitz, Fred Mooney, and L. Rubin.

Many religious denominations experienced growing congregations during this period that exceeded the capacity of their existing facilities. By 1916, there were 23 houses of worship in the city.178 Many of these institutions built new church buildings during the early decades of the 20th century, often designed by Bakersfield’s foremost architects.

The diverse but segregated communities of Bakersfield are represented in their church congregations. In 1909, Reverend Uchida of San Francisco and Reverend Kino of Fresno established a Japanese Buddhist mission at the corner of M and 22nd streets with a membership of about 70.179 The Japanese Buddhist Church of Bakersfield [2207 N Street] also served the community. As early as 1912, the Japanese Mission purchased a site at 1016 22nd Street, and by 1925 they had complete their Japanese Methodist Episcopal Church building.

Churches catering to the African American population included the Cain AME Church [1001 California Avenue, present-day 630 California Avenue], the Second Baptist Church [900 13th Street], and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church [815 Fremont Street/present-day E. 18th Street]. These churches were the recognized centers of African American political and social activity between 1910 and 1930.180
In 1925, Father A.C. Stuhlmann established a Spanish-Mexican Mission for Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and constructed a church building near California Avenue and Baker Street in East Bakersfield. Over time, a parish school, grotto, and recreation hall were added [601 E.

California Avenue]. By 1929, a Mexican Evangelical Church 415 Fremont Street/present-day E. 18th Street was established. A Chinese Mission [1010 O Street] was established as early as 1921, offering services and Sunday school in both English and Chinese. Reverend Leang and Miss H.F. Buss presided over the instruction.181

178 1916 Bakersfield City Directory, 38.
179 “Japs Establish Buddhist Mission,” The Bakersfield Californian, April 19, 1909, 12. 180 Gia, Race, Sports and Black Unity, 23.
181 “Chinese Mission,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, March 12, 1921, 8.

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Significant population growth during the first two decades of the 20th century had real repercussions for the Kern County School District, resulting in the near-constant expansion of existing schools and construction of new schools. During these years, Emerson School [1313 Truxtun Avenue], Lowell School (10th and H streets), and Bryant School (21st and H streets) seemed to be in a continual state of expansion. Population growth in East Bakersfield was cause for school construction there. Another important factor was the national educational trend toward vocational training, which often required non-traditional classroom settings as students learned trades and domestic science.

During this period, there were several major bond issues to fund projects for the school district, including a $90,000 bond issue in 1917, a $300,000 bond issue in 1920, and a $350,000 bond issue in 1925. The school district then awarded these projects, large and small, to a cadre of talented Bakersfield architects, including J.M. Saffell, Orville L. Clark, and Thomas B. Wiseman.

During the 1920s, Bakersfield architect Charles H. Biggar was integrated into the mix. Most of the schools constructed during this period were wood-frame and brick.

Clarence C. Cullimore, Sr., Architectural Educator
School expansion and national trends toward vocational education would ultimately draw to Bakersfield a young man that would have a profound influence on the architecture of Bakersfield and beyond. In 1910, a young graduate from the University of California arrived in Bakersfield for his first job, as the teacher of freehand and mechanical drawing at Kern County High School. Having just completed a rigorous Beaux Arts education in architecture at the University of California in Berkeley, the 25-year-old Clarence C. Cullimore (1885-1963) seized the opportunity. Over the next forty years, Cullimore trained a cadre of young architects who would go on to populate the architectural programs of prestigious universities and ultimately shape the built environment of Bakersfield and beyond.

Cullimore’s architecture program went far beyond the mechanical drafting requirements of vocational education. It was just the second true architectural design program in California, after Los Angeles’ Polytechnic High School. It was also unique in that most architectural training at the time was exclusively a collegiate affair. During his decades at Kern County High School, Cullimore nurtured architectural talent that would go onto study architecture at Ivy League and other prestigious schools, including the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California (USC).

Unlike his own traditional Beaux-Arts training in the atelier of John Galen Howard—which focused on drawing the Classical orders and designing projects for old-world problems— Cullimore established a pragmatic and practical pedagogy for the Kern County High School students. They were given contemporary building typologies, programs, and budgets as parameters for design projects. Cullimore wrote his own drafting textbook, Elementary Courses in High School Drafting, which was adopted as a supplementary text for students at the University of California, Berkeley in 1922 and reprinted by a San Francisco publishing house the following year for wider distribution. Cullimore also nurtured his budding talent by creating an annual Student Architectural Association (SAA) design competition open to Kern County High

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School and Bakersfield College students with a perpetual trophy cup. The names that appear on the cup comprise a veritable Who’s Who of Bakersfield architects.

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Cullimore produced 20 future American Institute of Architects (AIA) members. By 1939, there were more graduates of the USC School of Architecture working in Bakersfield than any other city except Los Angeles. Through his educational efforts, Cullimore created a unique pipeline of talented professional architects who would return to Bakersfield and shape the architecture of the city for decades to come. “Bungalow Town”
During this period, Bakersfield significantly expanded its geographic footprint, growing outward from downtown in all directions. By 1905, there was significant development south of the railroad tracks extending as far as Dracena Street. By that same year, buildings extended roughly to 28th Street to the north and Cedar Street to the west, with commercial development creeping eastward toward Union Avenue. Just seven years later, in 1912, Sanborn maps show development extending north to 31st Street, east to Union Avenue, and west to Spruce Street.

East Bakersfield grew exponentially during this period, more than quadrupling its extent. By 1912, development reached Main Street to the north, Dolores Street to the south, Virginia Street to the east, and Union Avenue to the west. What were once two separate burgs were now one solid mass of development, holding its first consolidated city election in July of 1910.

Results included the paving of 19th Street, thus connecting the two business centers of the now combined City of Bakersfield.

In 1910, The Bakersfield Californian reported that industrial and wholesale businesses were “…moving northward on Chester Avenue,” retailers were swooping in to occupy vacated blocks, expanding the commercial footprint of downtown.182 The residential construction boom in Bakersfield during the oughts and teens, was chiefly composed of Craftsman-style California bungalows. A Californian headline read “Bungalow Town to Be Realized.”183 The proliferation of the ubiquitous California bungalow was fed in part by the rise of “kit homes.” As the name implies, individuals could purchase a building site and order a kit house from a mail-order catalog, such as Sears & Roebuck Co., to be delivered by rail. A typical kit included some 12,000 pre-cut pieces and an instruction manual for the assembly of a modest yet complete single-family residence. Kit homes were popular with middle and working class families during this period.

Michigan-based Aladdin Homes, started by brothers William and Otto Sovereign in 1906, was a pioneer in pre-cut kit homes. Pacific Ready Cut Homes dominated the market in the west.

Between 1908 and 1940 they sold 37,000 read-cut, ready-to-assemble homes from 1,800 plans.

Plans were mostly one-story bungalows, but they also offered plans for 2-story houses, duplexes, bungalow courts, apartment houses, hotels, gas stations, and offices. The Los

182 “Retailers Seek Good Location,” The Bakersfield Californian, April 7, 1910, 11. 183 “Much Building This Fall,” The Bakersfield Californian, July 11, 1911, 7.

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Angeles-based Bungalowcraft Co. advertised extensively in the Bakersfield Morning Echo. In the early 1920s, Pacific Ready Cut established a showroom on G Street in downtown Bakersfield. The kit homes movement lasted well into the 1920s—all through the boom years of Bakersfield. Local builders known to have specialized in bungalows and cottages were Dave Hirshfield and F.H. Leifitz.

In 1910, some 500 homes were built in Bakersfield proper; 195 new buildings were constructed in East Bakersfield.184 Areas of greatest development included along Orange Street; along 18th and 19th streets west of F Street; and more generally on the west side of town, where homes costing as much as $20,000 were erected.185 In 1915, a large tract northeast of downtown was developed as the Homaker Park Tract. Centered around 31st and Q streets, developers led by C.L. Clafin offered “pretty bungalow lots” with the option of having C.W. Newbery build the bungalow.

Deed Restrictions & Racial Covenants
In the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, private developers participated in institutionalized racism by attaching restrictive covenants to their new residential developments. Restrictive covenants were legal clauses written into property deeds dictating that a property owner could only sell or rent a property to “Caucasians,” otherwise the owner could lose the property. In some covenants, the excluded groups were mentioned by name, and invariably included “African Americans, Mexicans, Asians, and Jews.” A typical covenant lasted for 20 to 50 years.186 Local, state, and federal jurisdictions all became involved in promoting and enforcing restrictive covenants. Restrictive covenants were challenged in the California and U.S. Supreme Courts in 1919 and 1926, but were ultimately upheld as constitutional, unleashing their widespread use.

184 “Millions of Dollars in New Buildings,” The Bakersfield Californian, December 23, 1910, 1. 185 “Millions of Dollars,” 1.
186 City of Los Angeles, Office of Historic Resources, SurveyLA: African American Historic Context Statement, 2018, 38.

Bakersfield: City of Beautiful Homes, 1910. (Hathi Trust Digital Library)

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The real estate industry also reinforced discriminatory practices and the “color line.” In 1924, the National Association of Real Estate Boards established a “code of ethics” which prohibited realtors from introducing “members of any race or nationality” to a neighborhood if it would threaten property values. This resulted in the practice known as “steering”—not showing properties in White neighborhoods to people of color. The penalty for not adhering to the ethics code, which stayed in effect until the late 1950s, was loss of license.187 Restrictive covenants and discriminatory real estate practices were widespread in Bakersfield during this period.

Around 1917, the Brandt Investment Co. developed the Laguna Square Tract, one of the earliest large tracts to be subdivided and one of the first in the county to advertise its racial covenants as an amenity. The tract was bordered by the south side of Bank Street to the north, the north side of Brundage Lane to the south, the west side of H Street to the east, and the west side of Oleander Avenue to the west. Vacant parcels and spec homes were offered for sale. Homes were built mostly in the Craftsman style, with some later Period Revival designs.

Amenities included extra-wide lots, the elimination of alleys, and the laying of sidewalks next to the curb.

Other racially restricted neighborhoods included the Burnetta Park Tract from 1921. The practical reality is that most subdivisions and tracts had deed restrictions, but these specific developments called them out as selling points. Other restricted neighborhoods advertised in the newspapers included the Consuelo Park District in the Lowell Addition; as well as the Beardsley, Alta Vista, Oleander Park, South Bakersfield, River View, Industrial Acres, and Airport tracts.188
Ridge Route from Los Angeles
In 1915, Bakersfield’s relative isolation would begin to decline with the opening of the Ridge Route through the Grapevine, the first reliable automobile link between Bakersfield and Los Angeles. The 20-foot-wide roadway was carved out of the mountains with horse-drawn dirt scrapers. As historian Fatima Bugharin describes, “Building a highway from Los Angeles over a ridge and on sandy soil to reach Bakersfield was no easy task.”189 The loose, sandy surface of the soil made regular construction methods difficult and innovative ideas by Guy F. Atkinson Co. were employed in the construction.190 Only a dirt road initially, the Ridge Route was fully paved by 1919.191 The posted speed limit was 15 miles per hour. Despite the tough driving conditions, the Ridge Route helped to limit Bakersfield’s isolation by enabling agricultural products and oil to be distributed in Southern California. It was also vital as a conduit for the

187 SurveyLA: African American Historic Context Statement, 40. As Richard Rothstein points out in his book, The Color of Law, the state licensure of these realtors did not make them government agents but in effect the state did contribute to de jure segregation by licensing organizations that utilized these practices. Rothstein, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (New York, NY: Liveright,/W.W. Horton, 2017). 188 Gia, Race, Sports and Black Unity, 32.
189 Bugharin.
190 Harrison Irving Scott, The Ridge Route: The Road that United California (Torrance, CA: H. I. Scott, 2015), 46. 191 Paul Duginski, “The Grapevine is the Heart of California’s Freeway System. It is also Vulnerable.” Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2019.

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migration of dust bowl workers who came to Kern County to work the fields. As described by author Harrison Irving Scott, the Ridge Route was “The Road that United California.”192 Basque Town, Italian Immigrants & East Bakersfield
By 1900, Bakersfield was home to 213 Basques and four Basque hotels.193 Basque Town was highly concentrated south of Sumner Street in East Bakersfield, with many hotels and other stores clustered near the railroad depot. This location directly across from the train station was the key to welcoming new Basque arrivals into the established Basque community.

Noreiga and Etcheverry renegotiated their partnership and built their second Basque hotel, named The Pyrenees, a brick building costing $9,000.194 The partners leased the Iberia Hotel to other operators, but the Noriega and Etcheverry families continued to live there. In 1906, they changed the name of the Iberia Hotel to Noriega’s.195 The Noriega Hotel [513-531 Sumner Street] remained relatively unchanged for many years. In 1920, a fire damaged the hotel and in 1928, another fire damaged the livery area and handball court. In the Crash of 1929, local Basques Jean and Graciana (Grace) Elizalde lost their sheep and turned to managing the Noriega Hotel.

Francisco “Frank” Amestoy migrated from the Basque region to Southern California in 1904, making his way to Bakersfield and working in the Iberia/Noriega Hotel. Frank and his wife, Anselma, were among the proprietors who ran the Noriega Hotel during the 1920s. In 1927, while still working at the Noriega, the Amestoys purchased the nearby Cesmat Hotel [622 E.

192 Scott, 1.
193 Jeronima Echeverria, Home Away From Home: A History of Basque Boarding Houses (Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press, 1999), 40.
194 Echeverria, Home Away From Home, 40
195 Basque scholar Mary Grace Pacquette traces Faustino Noriega to living at 1325 Baker Street in 1901.

Map of Basque Town. (Echeverria, Home Away From Home: A History of Basque Boarding Houses)

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21st Street],196 moving into the hotel the following year.197 They continued to run the Noriega until 1931, when they left to take over management of the Cesmat, renaming it the Amestoy Hotel. The Amestoys had become prominent members of the local Basque community, and with assistance from Ardizzi and Olcese, they established an informal East Bakersfield financial institution that helped many Basques with loans and financing. Their hotel/restaurant became a popular gathering place known for their steaks and authentic Basque fare. Frank and Anselma operated the Amestoy Hotel until 1953.

During the mid-1920s, the second-story Metropole Hotel (corner of Sumner and Baker streets) was run by Jean Estribou, as well as Jacques and Grace Iriat. In contrast to Noriega’s and the Amestoy—where French, Italians, and Basques regularly attended Saturday night dinners and dances, the Metropole was not as much of a social center for the local immigrant community.198 During prohibition, the French hotels of Bakersfield continued to serve alcohol to Basque patrons, mostly in the form of homemade wine.

East Bakersfield was home to more than just Basques, it also had thriving Mexican and Italian populations. The years of the Mexican Revolution, between 1910 and 1920, brought many Mexicans to California, including the Central Valley. The Borgwardt Tract, established in the late 1890s, bordered by California Avenue to the north, the south side of 9th Street to the south, the east side of King Street to the east, and Union Avenue to the west, was an early Mexican residential area. Latinos were allowed to purchase property in this subdivision, and many did so at the turn of the 20th century.

The Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railways employed many Mexican railroad workers. Others were employed in the agricultural industry. Efforts to help these migrants were made by the Mexican Evangelical Church [415 Fremont Street/415 E. 18th Street] and the Sociedad Juarez Mutualista Mexicana [815 Fremont Street/815 E. 18th Street].199 J.C. Nava came to Bakersfield in the early teens and became a leader within the community. In 1910, he helped found the Portofirio Diaz Club/Juarez Mutual Aid Society for the purpose of raising money for charitable aid, social engagement, and celebration of Mexican culture and history. In addition to Nava, founders included. J.V. Garcia, Manuel Ortega, and Fermin Silva.

J.V. Garcia was an early and prosperous businessman who owned the Bakersfield Employment Bureau [1501 E. 19th Street] that brokered workers for oil fields, mines, ranches, dairies, hotels, and restaurants. Another early Mexican businessman, Fermin Silva, owned a saloon at [1300 20th Street], at the corner of 20th and L streets, as early as 1902. Early on, the club held events at other locations, like the Armory Hall. By the 1920s, membership was growing and the Juarez Mutual Aid Society severed its connection with the Protestant church and engaged with Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. They needed a building of their own. The Spanish-

196 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 197 This building was originally constructed in 1899 as the second Cesmat Hotel. In 1894, French immigrant Marius Cesmat erected a 22-room hotel on this site along Humboldt Street (now E. 21st St) near Baker, with a stable across the street. Both buildings were severely damaged in the Sumner fire of 1898 and immediately rebuilt.The reconstructed Cesmat Hotel was a two-story brick building with Neoclassical detailing. In 1900, the hotel was visited by President William McKinley while on a railroad tour, and he spoke from the balcony. Five years later, Cesmat was shot and killed by a deranged sheepherder. 198 Echeverria, Home Away from Home, 211.
199 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

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speaking community of Bakersfield also had a Spanish-language newspaper at this time, El Centenario.

During this period, Italian immigration to the United States increased nationally, a trend that was reflected in Bakersfield. By 1910, the census enumerated more than 100 Italian men, plus an additional 50 wives and children. A majority of the men were working for the railroad in capacities such as boilermakers, pipefitters, blacksmith, and other laborers.200 Women often took in laundry for the railroad workers to earn extra money or ran boarding houses for the men.

The 1920 Census shows a residential concentration of Italians in the 1200 block of Kentucky Street, and along Robinson and Miller streets. An example of one of the early Italian immigrant homes is that of John Banducci and his family [1228 Kentucky Street]. Banducci was a machinist for the Southern Pacific and his home was directly across from the tracks. The 1920 Census shows that in addition to his wife and three children, Banducci also housed three Italian-born boarders (a machinist, blacksmith, and trucksman for the railroad, respectively).

With an increasing number of Italians in the community, more Italian stores, cafes, and markets emerged; physicians and lawyers soon followed. Important members of the community included Antonio Pasquini and his wife Amelia. They opened a restaurant for a time, but by 1900 Antonio was working for Angelo Pierucci as a cook at the Union Hotel. Around this time, they bought 60 acres on H Street between Ming Avenue and Terrace Way. There they farmed and made wine which they sold to stores and restaurants. Their two sons, Frank and Pete, opened Pasquini Brothers Grocery [1209 19th Street]. They catered to the many Italians in the growing community by carrying items that other markets did not. Frank eventually went into business with Fred Banducci, buying the Mission Bar [1131 19th Street].

Another early Italian merchant in Bakersfield was Attilio Bertolaccini (1887-1949) who operated a dry goods store [1216 19th Street]. He came to Bakersfield in 1907.201 During the early 1900s, Giuseppe “Joe” Lemucchi (1881-1951) worked at several cafes in Bakersfield until he opened his own place. By 1910, he had both a café and a grocery store [725 E. 19th Street].

Giuseppe and his wife Emelia lived on the premises of the grocery store as was common for early merchants. During the 1920s and 1930s, the bar was added next to the old store and the restaurant expanded into the building to the east. The expanded business was then renamed “Luigi’s.” It remains one of Bakersfield’s oldest continuously-operating legacy businesses to this day.

Amy and Olcese continued to flourish, providing much needed capital in the Italian and Basque community. In 1918, the government stepped in and required Olcese to organize legally as a bank. It became known as the Alley Bank. It was later bought out by the Bank of Italy. By 1922, the Societa Dante Alighieri was founded as a mutual aid society to support the Italians of Bakersfield. The Bakersfield Californian also documented the social occasions sponsored by the society. Formation of the “Dante Society,” as it was known, was also an opportunity to share in

200 Weeks, 36.
201 “Pioneer Merchant Succumbs At 62,” The Bakersfield Californian, May 28, 1949, 27.

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the old ways. Over the years the Society remodeled the old 1909 Stine School into Dante Hall [4415 Wilson Road].

Suffrage, Temperance & Representation in Bakersfield
The defeat of suffrage late in the 1800s cooled the fervor of the suffrage movement, but by 1910 California women were ready to take another run at gaining the vote. Women were accorded the right to vote in California on October 10, 1911 by a margin of 2,051 votes.202 In Kern County, the majority in favor of suffrage was much narrower—1,759 for and 1,592 against—passage by just 170 votes.203
In 1919, Bakersfield elected one of the first four women to serve in the California State Legislature, Grace Storey Dorris (née Greed) (1887-1968). Born in Ventura, Dorris graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1909. She was an early suffragist and appeared on the scene in Bakersfield in the mid-teens as a teacher of ancient and modern languages at Kern County Union High School.

In 1918, Dorris decided to run for State Assembly on a pro-Prohibition, pro-labor, pro-suffrage platform, and on local issues regarding water and farming. Winning her election, she began serving in 1919, ultimately serving two terms. Dorris was also the first woman in the California legislature to introduce legislation. The bill limited the hours of service of a domestic servant to ten. While serving in the Assembly, she resided in a Craftsman-style bungalow at 1917 2nd Street. She later served in a leadership position for the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of Women Voters.

The Klan
During the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan began a national recruitment campaign for members.

In June of 1921, Homer R. Pitts arrived in Kern County to recruit members. Pitts was very successful, recruiting 400 people from the county and nearly 250 from Bakersfield.204 Although the Klan is regularly associated with racial violence, the Bakersfield klavern (i.e., chapter), known as the Kern River Klan, was more concerned with moral indiscretions related to sex and marital infidelity. Regardless, the Bakersfield Klan’s activity quickly turned violent, drawing negative attention from the local newspapers and the ire of District Attorney Jess Dorsey, who mounted a campaign to prosecute local members.205 As described in the Historic Kern Quarterly Bulletin, “…the west Kern Chapter of the Ku Klux Klan has the dubious distinction of being the first chapter in the history of the famous militia organization of being expelled for being too violent.”206

202 “County Majority Is For Suffrage,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, October 13, 1911, 1. 203 “County Majority Is For Suffrage,” 1.
204 Alicia E. Rodriguez, “No Ku Klux Klan for Kern,” Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 99, No 1, 14. 205 Jess R. Dorsey also served in the State Senate.
206 Kern County Historical Society, Historic Kern Quarterly Bulletin. Vol. 72, No 1, Fall 2024, 4.

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Initially the Kern River Klan met at the home of Harry D. Reynolds [921 Niles Street]. As it grew, meetings moved to the Taylor Building [1660 Chester Avenue] and the name of the organization was changed to the innocuous-sounding “Kern River Club.” Jean Eyraud, the Basque who operated a cigar and soft drink stand, was the first person in Bakersfield subjected to Klan violence, but he was not the last. As violence increased, Jess Dorsey was motivated to step up his investigation, eventually exposing the names of the members of the secret organization and prosecuting several of them. Some of the city’s most prominent citizens appeared on the list of members including Chief of Police Charles A. Stone, County Supervisor Stanley Abel, several deputy sheriffs, and two justices of the peace.

Dorsey’s indictments and trials served to effectively shut the organization down in Bakersfield within 13 months of the formation of the organization.207 By the mid-1910s, the primary employers of African American men in Bakersfield were the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads.208 In 1918, just four years after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in Los Angeles, a Bakersfield chapter was established. The President was Mansion Hall and meetings were held in Winters Hall.209 The chapter hosted many regional and national speakers throughout the 1920s, some of whom would also lecture at Cain AME Church.

In 1927, George A. Handis became Bakersfield’s first African American doctor since the first wave of agricultural workers was brought to the region by Haggin and Tevis. The city’s first African American dentist was W.M. Pillow, who moved to Bakersfield from Los Angeles in 1933.

Agriculture, the Automobile & Suburbanization
The discovery of oil in Bakersfield coincided with the rise of the automobile in America and the insatiable demand for gasoline that came with it. Californians especially embraced the new mode of transportation. However, oil also drove innovation in farming. As oil ushered in electricity, it became possible to pump water from deep in the water table, thus freeing farmers from the irrigation canals and enabling crop rotation that increased production. With the lack of water no longer an issue, there was more flexibility regarding which crops could grow, and many Kern County farmers turned to cotton. Wofford B. Camp (1894-1986) founded the Cotton Experiment Station in nearby Shafter, where he eventually discovered a type of Mexican cotton called Acala, which was ideal for the growing conditions around Bakersfield.

This discovery perfectly dovetailed with a nation-wide cotton shortage. As agricultural pursuits increased, buildings related to cultivation and harvest were erected or expanded. Similarly, buildings and structures related to oil production became more visible on the landscape.

A series of factors—including discovery of oil, the completion of the Ridge Route, and the rise of the automobile—combined to spur the suburbanization of Bakersfield during this period.

During the early 1920s, moneyed investors started buying and developing residential tracts for

207 Rodriguez, 37.
208 Gia, Race, Sports and Black Unity, 38.
209 “Colored Citizens Will Meet Monday,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, August 18, 1918, no page.

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the sale of lots. Locations outside the existing city limits were especially attractive as they offered more affordable land prices and relief from city taxes. With the advent of the automobile, tracts no longer needed to be served by the streetcar, thus opening up land further from the city center for subdivision and development. Also during this period, Chester Avenue became Bakersfield’s “automobile row,” with new brick buildings constructed for dealerships, and livery stables converted for auto sale and service.210 Examples of suburban development from the early 1920s include Primavera Park. Located on the former Julius Newman estate, the 250-acre development in East Bakersfield opened in February of 1922. Marketed as “The Hollywood of Bakersfield,” model homes were erected to show what could be built for $2,500, $3,500 and $5,000. House designs were by Los Angeles- based architect Frank A. Brown,211 and the Spanish Colonial Revival style was encouraged. The development consisted of hundreds of parcels northeast of Niles Street at Mount Vernon Avenue including Oregon, Pacific, Locus Ravine, Camino Primavera, Quincy Drive, and Cypress Circle. Another large tract from this period was the approximately 350-parcel Descanso Park subdivision. Recorded in 1923, it was bounded by Niles Street to the north, Center Street to the south, Oswell Street to the east, and Barlow Street to the west.

The Sunset Park Tract, with over 300 parcels, was subdivided in 1925. Bordered by the south side of California Avenue to the north, the north side of Chester Lane to the south, the east side of Pine Street to the east, and Oak Street to the west, Sunset Park was another neighborhood of relatively modest bungalows. A model home was constructed at [2702 Park Way] in 1926 to lure potential buyers. To the north, the Highland Park Tract was subdivided in 1925. Divided into nearly 200 parcels, it was located on Douglas Street, Highland Drive, Francis Street and Arvin Streets between Wells Avenue and N. Chester Avenue. Other East Bakersfield subdivisions from this period included the Descanso Park Tract, the Watson Subdivision, and the Virginia Tract.

Bakersfield’s Central Park212 [500 19th Street] was first established in August of 1921 between 19th and 21st streets next to R Street. Shortly after it opened, the W.C.T.U. donated a public drinking fountain in the park. In 1925, San Francisco architect A. Foluboff prepared a design for a Japanese garden for Central Park, including a tori gate, bamboo garden houses, a tea house, and a pagoda.213 It is unclear if this was ever built.

During the 1920s, U.S. Route 99 (Highway 99), the premiere north-south road through the Central Valley, incorporated Union Avenue north of Brundage Lane. As a result, a number of automobile-related businesses and services began to populate the area. At the time, the State Route took a westward turn at 18th Street and jogged north along Chester Avenue. This coincided with the development of a number of light industrial and auto-related businesses along 18th Street (see below).

210 Bailey, Bakersfield: Heart of the Golden Empire, 85. 211 “Pin Money For the Ladies,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, October 29, 1922, 10. 212 Also known as Central Park in Mill Creek.
213 “Election of New Club Officers to Take Place at Meeting Tomorrow Evening,” The Bakersfield Californian, May 7, 1925, 9.

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By the end of the 1920s, Bakersfield’s population had doubled from 17,000 to 34,000.214 It had a thriving oil and cotton industry. As author and historian John Maynard described the situation, “Bakersfield not only had Black gold, but White gold as well.”215 With that came expansion in civic, institutional, commercial, industrial, and residential development. The prosperity that came from local industries, combined with the quest for respectability, meant Bakersfield’s physical development was on overdrive during this period. This included the construction of the Chamber of Commerce Building [3801 Chester Avenue], designed by Charles H. Biggar and completed in 1929.216 This Spanish Colonial Revival-style structure was located adjacent to the county fairgrounds and featured a large Exhibition Hall that was used to showcase Bakersfield’s agricultural bounty as well as its contribution to the oil industry.217 Thus, during the period 1899 and 1928, Bakersfield transformed itself from a Wild West outpost to a respectable, if sprawling, city with an impressive downtown. By 1929, there were some 34,000 residents within the city limits. Wealthy citizens hired talented local architects, as well as the occasional Los Angeles or San Francisco professional, to build residential, commercial, and civic/institutional buildings that reflected the town’s prosperity. During this period, Bakersfield became known as “The Queen of the San Joaquin.”

214 Maynard, 60.
215 Maynard.
216 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 2008. 217 In 1941, the Chamber invited local residents to bring historical items and materials to the building in an effort to start a museum.

The effort picked up speed after World War II and in 1945, the Kern County Museum officially opened in the building.

Route of Highway 99 through Bakersfield, 1928-1933. (The Bakersfield Californian)

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THEMES
THEME: Early Civic/Institutional Development
Population growth required new civic and institutional development. A new Kern County Courthouse designed by Frederick Mayer in the Beaux Arts style was constructed around 1912 with a budget of $400,000. Mayer also drew the landscape plan. During the early teens, the city purchased the elaborate Victorian-style former county courthouse (7th and present-day Eye streets) for use as its city hall. Thomas B. Wiseman was engaged as architect for the remodeling.

The Baker Street branch of the Kern County Free Library [1400 Baker Street] was constructed in East Bakersfield.218 The Beaux Arts-style building was designed by architect Orville L. Clark and opened to the public in 1915.

In December of 1912, ground was broken for a new Mercy Hospital (at Truxtun Avenue and C Street). Designed by Orville L. Clark, the three-story structure, described in the Bakersfield Morning Echo as “Spanish Renaissance,” was conceived as a cross between the missions and modern hospital design. The building contained the city’s first elevator. Dedication of the building in November of 1913 drew Catholic Church dignitaries from Los Angeles. Five years later, Kern County Hospital required the building of an additional ward and engaged Orville L.

Clark to prepare the plans.

218 This property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Kern County Free Library, Baker Street Branch, no date. (Kern County Museum)

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Kern County High School (present-day Bakersfield High School) continued to grow and expand. When Kern County High School opened in 1893, classes were held in two rooms on the second floor of a building at Truxtun and L Street.219 In 1895, a three-story Richardsonian Romanesque building with a fourth floor tower opened. As the campus grew, this building became known as the Commercial Building (razed in 1936). A large Beaux Arts Revival-style Administration Building (Charles H. Biggar, 1906) served as classrooms, auditorium and study hall.220 In 1915, a separate auditorium was constructed. That same year, the name of the school was officially changed to Kern County Union High School.

Around 1917, Orville L. Clark designed a boys’ and girls’ gymnasium and in 1918, an addition to the manual training building. The school was continually increasing its student body, and thus continually outgrowing its facilities, often turning to local architect Charles H. Biggar. In 1920, Biggar drew plans for two one-story buildings containing eight classrooms.221 Ludden Hall was added in 1922 offering home economics classrooms.222 Spindt Hall was designed by Biggar in 1924, when he also drew plans for additions to the school’s central heating plant. In 1924, Science Hall was added to the campus. In 1929, a new Mechanical Arts Building was constructed.223 That same year, a new, separate, Junior College building started construction. In 1936, Biggar designed additions to the Girls Gymnasium.

Kern County High was the county’s only high school for many years, and as a result a number of its students did not live locally. Sometimes, a parent would relocate to the city while children attended. In other cases, students rented rooms with local families as boarders. The high school

219 “History of Bakersfield High School,” Bakersfield Alumni Association, https://bakersfieldalumni.org/history-of-bhs (accessed February 28, 2023).
220 This building was damaged in the 1952 earthquake; today the site is occupied by the cafeteria building. 221 “New Classrooms at High School,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, July 11, 1920, 12. 222 The Oracle, 1951, no page.
223 The Oracle, 1951, no page.

Kern County Union High School (later Bakersfield High School), c. 1920s. (Kern County Museum)

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made an unprecedented move when it decided to establish dormitories for students who did not live close by. In 1913, a dormitory designed by Clarence Cullimore was established on the school’s 27-acre farm.224 In another case, a local family, the Blodgets [924 C Street], donated their home in 1918 as the first girls’ dormitory.225 In 1919, another girls’ dormitory was established when the high school bought Mrs. Callie McDonald’s property and was later moved to [1207 C Street].226 A boys’ dorm was established in 1922 at 2230 California Avenue and later moved to 1205 G Street.227 Eventually all of the buildings were sold/razed/moved.

Another important local institution, Bakersfield College, was established in 1913, and remains one of the oldest community colleges in the nation. Various accounts suggest that the board of trustees for Kern County High School (present-day Bakersfield High School) may have approved junior college classes as early as 1910, just three years after California State Senator Anthony Caminetti sponsored a law to create junior colleges throughout the state. The initial Bakersfield College program offered a one-year curriculum. In 1915, the trustees authorized a second year of junior college and normal school courses. The purpose of the school was to “provide the first two years of regular four-year college courses” and “enable pupils who have not planned to go away to college get two years of schooling at home.”228 As an outgrowth of the Kern County High School, Bakersfield College was originally located on what is now the campus of present-day Bakersfield High School.

The first two decades of the 20th century saw a proliferation of social and civic organizations in the city, many of which erected dedicated clubhouses during this period, often designed by Bakersfield’s leading architects. Notable buildings included the Elks Lodge [1531 17th Street]; the Woman’s Club of Bakersfield [2030 18th Street/1806-1808 D Street] by Charles H. Biggar; the Caledonia Masonic Lodge [718 Oregon Street] by Orville L. Clark; the multi-story Bakersfield Club (19th and F streets) by T.B. Wiseman; and the Odd Fellows Hall (Chester and 17th Street), also by Wiseman.

A three-story Masonic Temple [1920 18th Street], designed by San Francisco-based architect Carl Werner, opened in 1924. The Renaissance Revival-style building cost over $300,000. Clad in marble, it was “embellished with the symbolical figures of the Masonic order.”229 The lavish interior featured travertine and mahogany. The third floor featured a large auditorium with seating capacity for 1,600. The basement housed a banquet hall capable of seating 1,000.

With significant population growth during this period, many churches expanded or built new sanctuaries. These large and imposing structures were key to the character of the built environment in Bakersfield in the early decades, as they conveyed a sense of the permanence and prosperity fitting a respectable city. In 1902, a new St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (17th and

224 Gilbert Gia, “Bakersfield High’s Dormitories 1915-1955 (v.7),” 2005, 2017, Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:15154/datastreams/CONTENT/content (accessed January 20, 2023), 3. 225 Gia, “Bakersfield High’s Dormitories,” 5.
226 Gia, “Bakersfield High’s Dormitories,” 8.
227 Gia, “Bakersfield High’s Dormitories,” 12.
228 The Bakersfield Californian, July 26, 1913, quoted in Emily Claffy, “Bakersfield College Centennial: 100 Years of Higher Education, https://www.bakersfield.com/bakersfield_life/bakersfield-college-centennial-100-years-of-higher-education/article_87b99d70- e468-519c-949e-019fa1329ad4.html (accessed March 27, 2023). 229 “Masonic Temple to Be Dedicated Monday in Italian Type,” The Bakersfield Californian, May 31, 1924, 9.

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present-day Eye streets) was designed by architect Ben MacDougall, and the 1886 church on the site was relocated to Kern City.230 Like many of Bakersfield’s early churches, St. Paul’s did not survive the 1952 earthquake. St. Joseph’s Catholic Church [1515 Baker Street/720 Pacific Street] met a similar fate. Built in 1923 and designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival-style, it was constructed of hollow clay tile and was rendered uninhabitable not by the main temblor, but by one of the aftershocks.231
In 1910, the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church [1707 17th Street/present-day 1705 17th Street] were working on plans for a new sanctuary with Train & Williams, a Los Angeles-based firm that opened a branch office in Bakersfield.232 Plans for a Tudor Gothic Revival-style structure were drawn by Thomas B. Wiseman, who had recently relocated to Bakersfield for the firm of Train & Williams. In late 1919, the church was consumed by fire and architect John Galen Howard (1864-1931) was called in to consult on its replacement.

In 1910, the First Church of Christ, Scientist (17th and G streets) was dedicated in service to the community, designed by Los Angeles-based architect Elmer C. Andrus. Eleven students of Christ Science established the church just six years prior. Around 1911, St. John’s Evangelical Church erected a small sanctuary and bell tower [2119 20th Street/1916 C Street]. During the 1920s, another out-of-town architect, Robert Orr of Los Angeles, was tapped to design the First Christian Church [1603 I Street, present-day Eye Street] and First Methodist Church [1701 Truxtun Avenue]. In 1920, a more modest church was erected for the Mormon congregation, the American Colonial Revival-style Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [800 Monterey Street].

The population growth and expansion that fueled the development of social, civic, and religious buildings during this period also significantly impacted Bakersfield schools. Between 1906 and 1929, many schools were built, among them Thomas Jefferson School [816 Lincoln Street] by Thomas B. Wiseman, c. 1917); Lincoln School [801 Eureka Street] by Charles H. Biggar and Thomas B. Wiseman, c. 1921); and Roosevelt School [2300 Verde Street] by Eugene K. Martin, c. 1922.233
Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1899-1928
 Is one of the few remaining intact examples of civic/institutional development from this early period in Bakersfield
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period

230 With its relocation, it became known as St. Barnabas Chapel. 231 Elements such as the historic stained glass window, stations of the cross, some oak pews, and some roof tiles were salvaged and used in the new building.
232 “Presbyterians Accept Plans for New Church,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, February 1, 1910, no page. 233 It appears that nearly all of these schools were replaced by more modern designs after the earthquake.

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 May also be associated with an important early ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 In East Bakersfield, may also be a rare remnant of Kern City  Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Early Commercial Development
During the early 1910s, Bakersfield’s commercial development sky-rocketed, fueled by the oil and agriculture money. The Bakersfield Morning Echo featured numerous stories of wealthy businessmen building three- and four-story buildings in the downtown area and moving eastward. Buildings typically had retail storefronts on the ground floor and apartments, hotel rooms or offices on the upper floors. They were commonly of brick construction, with stone or marble on their primary facades. Many existing buildings were expanded or built multi-story additions.

One example was the Dinkelspiel Bros. building [1600-1612 19th Street], built by German-born brothers Louis and Emile Dinkelspiel, prominent members of the local Jewish community.234 Constructed around 1894, the Bakersfield Morning Echo described it as “one of the most substantial brick business houses in the city.”235 The two-story building housed the brothers’ general mercantile store on the ground floor with rooms above.236 The general store closed around 1906,237 after which the retail space was occupied by the Haberfelde Furniture Co. In 1912, the building was purchased by the Hay family and remodeled.

Like the Dinkelspiels, other early merchants in the city were also pioneering members of the Jewish community in Bakersfield. In 1915, Hosia Shapiro purchased the Red Front Store [1316 19th Street], remodeled the front and opened it as the Star Clothing Company later that year.

Soon he was working the business with Osias Shapiro. The Shapiros were Romanian jews who spoke Yiddish; Osias was an early member of the local B’Nai Jacob congregation. By 1923, Osias’ son Benjamin “Bennie” Shapiro (1904-1989), had opened his own men’s furnishings store [1529 19th Street]. Four years later, when Osias retired, Benie operated both businesses.

234 “Second Amputation of Leg Necessary,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, July 14, 1906, 6. 235 “His Death Was Sudden,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, June 30, 1906, 2. 236 Hay Building plaque, Kern County Historical Society, dedicated 2015. 237 Hay Building plaque.

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Other examples of early commercial development included the three-story Scofield Building (east side of Chester Avenue, opposite the Hall of Records) by T.B. Wiseman; the 1910 S.

Brodek Building (corner of 18th and K streets) by architect J.M. Saffell; the Harding Building [1517-1521 19th Street] designed in 1910 by Bemus & Clark; and the 1910 Bakersfield Security Trust Company Bank [1800 Chester Avenue] designed in the Beaux Arts-style by Frederick H.

Meyer. One of the most elegant buildings was the Standard Oil Building, also known as the Jastro Building [1800 19th Street], designed by Everett M. Hinshaw. Bakersfield’s place in the California oil industry was solidified when Standard Oil moved its Central Valley operations from Fresno to this location.

An exemplar of commercial development in downtown Bakersfield was the 1927-1929 Haberfelde Building [1700-1706 Chester Avenue/1412-1414 17th Street]. Designed by local architect Charles H. Biggar, the five-story office building was owned by George Haberfelde and his daughter Clarisse. The building offered 80 offices for business and professional services, and for years was the city’s premiere address for doctors, dentists, lawyers, and architects. Sitting prominently on a corner lot, the ground floor was lined with glassed-in retail storefronts along 17th Street and Chester Avenue. When completed, it was one of the tallest buildings in the San Joaquin Valley. George Haberfelde (1871-1962) also owned a thriving Ford dealership and was Mayor of Bakersfield from 1923 to 1925.

During these early decades, Bakersfield served as the urban center for much of Kern County.

As such, the city was home to five-and-dime stores, large department stores, and other commercial retailers. Examples include the 1920 Hochheimer & Co. [1918 Chester Avenue/1415 20th Street] by Orville L. Clark, which became Brock’s Department Store in 1924;238 and the Redlick Brothers Department Store (corner of 18th and Chester Avenue) by E.L. Jefferson.

The period also spawned the development of several hotels In Bakersfield. In 1911, plans for the Renaissance Revival-style Palace Hotel [1407 19th Street] were drawn by architects Jefferson & Griffiths, with more than 200 guestrooms, a ballroom, dining rooms, and card

238 Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=55116 (accessed August 1, 2022).

Security Trust Company Bank, c. 1910. (Kern County Museum) Haberfelde Building, c. 1960. (Kern County Museum)

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rooms. That same year, the three-story brick Hotel Kosel [1102 19th Street] was designed by Bemus & Clark for Peter Kosel. In the mid-1920s, preparations began for the development of a “community hotel” for which funds were raised from investors within the community. Known as the El Tejon Hotel (at the corner of Truxtun and Chester avenues), it was designed by T.P.

Morehead in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Opened in May of 1926, it was an instant success and talk of building an annex immediately commenced. In 1928, the eight-story Padre Hotel [1702 18th Street/1801-1813 H Street] was designed by Los Angeles architect John M.

Cooper in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, with Art Deco and Mission Revival influences.

For many Kern County residents, Bakersfield was also an entertainment draw. The Bakersfield Opera House [1721 19th Street] was erected in 1906 and featured 800 electric light bulbs over the sidewalk; in 1938 it would be remodeled into the Nile Theater. By 1909, Chester Avenue was known as theater row. Along the avenue were Morely’s, Para’s, Scribner’s, Grogg’s, the Empire, and the Lyceum. During the 1920s, new theaters were built including the Elite Theater (at 17th Street and Chester Avenue), the Rex [1305 19th Street], the Virginia Theater [1224 19th Street], and the C&S.

During this period, local architect Charles H. Biggar (1882-1946) received commissions for some of Bakersfield’s most prominent buildings. They included the 1925 Beaux Arts-style First National Bank [900 Baker Street], and the 1926 The Bakersfield Californian Building [1707 Eye Street/1614 17th Street], designed in the Renaissance Revival style.239 In addition to the building boom in downtown Bakersfield, the commercial strip in East Bakersfield grew and expanded. By 1925, the 700, 800, 900, and 1000 blocks of Baker Street boasted grocery stores, men’s furnishings, a furniture store, and various other small retailers.

Orville L. Clark designed the remodel of the Bank of Italy [824 Baker Street], when the financial institution opened its East Bakersfield branch. Thomas B. Wiseman designed the Kern Plumbing Co. [950 Baker Street] and the First Bank of Kern [801 Baker Street]. The Spanish Eclectic-style Granada Theater [616-618 Kentucky Street] was the first “movie palace” built in

239 This property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The Bakersfield Californian Building, 1926. (Kern County Museum) Virginia Theater, c. 1920s. (Kern County Museum)

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this part of the city in 1927. It was built for novelty shows as well as the screening of silent films.240
Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1899-1928
 Is one of the few remaining intact examples of commercial development from this early period in Bakersfield
 May be a rare remaining example of early auto-related commercial development from the period
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important early ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 In East Bakersfield, may also be a rare remnant of Kern City  Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact commercial development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Early Industrial Development
The expansion of the agriculture and oil industries resulted in more industrial development during this period. The presence of so many farms (and to a lesser degree ranches) around Bakersfield resulted in the construction of a number of buildings associated with the cultivation, storage and processing of crops such as cotton, alfalfa, fruits and vegetables.

According to A Historical Context and Archaeological Research Design for Agricultural Properties in California, virtually all farms would have had one or more barns. Some of these would have been associated with livestock and some for storage. In addition, farms usually

240 Gilbert Gia, “Jim Spohn’s Old Granada Theater (v.5),” 2012, 2, Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, https://www.historicbakersfieldandkerncounty.com/_files/ugd/caae83_d1ef5305a49145e4af6d0a5e75342de4.pdf (accessed March 4, 2023).

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included a number of shed buildings that would be associated with individual crops such as drying sheds or smokehouses. The vast majority of these structures were constructed from rough-sawn milled lumber, although adobe may have been used in some cases. Other common agricultural system features would have included fencing, corrals, pens, fields, orchards, activity areas, trash dumps, water conveyance systems/irrigation, silos, water storage tank sheds, and artesian wells.241
The Historical Context and Archaeological Research Design for Agricultural Properties in California distinguishes ranches from farms, as the primary product of a ranch relates to animals (cattle, sheep, eggs, milk, etc.). In addition to barns, ranches may also include watering troughs, dairy barns, milk storage houses, etc.242
With respect to worker housing, rural worker housing was generally located on-site, particularly in the days before automobile and truck transportation. In some cases, especially with seasonal crops, workers camped. Yet other farms had vernacular farm laborer cabins. Still other workers cobbled together temporary housing for themselves from cardboard boxes, crates, or other found materials. Owner/farmer/rancher housing would also commonly be on the farm itself in a range of architectural styles, often using mail-order kit houses or designed in a vernacular style.

Oil fields contain many structures necessary to continued extraction of oil and gas. The most common structure, the wooden oil derrick, became an iconic symbol of Bakersfield’s oil boom.

During the 1920s, the development of the pump jack “revolutionized the business of oil extraction.”243 A pump jack is an oil drilling apparatus that supports oil extraction when wells are in a depleted pressure state. An early example, and likely the first device to use the term pump jack was the Simplex Pumping Jack developed in 1913 by the Oil Well Supply Company of Oil City, Pennsylvania. In 1925, Walter Trout of the Lufkin Foundry and Machine Co. of Texas developed the counter-balanced pump jack. These kinetic metal structures take many forms, including the “nodding donkey,” the “horse head” or the “thirsty bird.”244 Other oil-industry related buildings and structures include steel tanks, piping networks, fractionation towers (that remove chemical compounds), offices, and maintenance buildings.

The rise of the oil and agriculture industries in Bakersfield also supported related industrial development. One important company was the Bakersfield Iron Works [23rd and M streets], which built oil field machinery. In 1910, The Bakersfield Californian reported they had so much business that the plant consistently worked overtime and on Sundays to meet demand. That same year, the Iron Works hired Bemus & Clark to design an additional building at 23rd and L streets. Other oil well supply companies in Bakersfield during the teens included Fairbanks Morse & Co., National Supply Company, and Oil Well Supply Company, all located in the 1900 and 2000 blocks of Chester Avenue.

241 California Department of Transportation, A Historical Context and Archaeological Research Design for Agricultural Properties in California, Sacramento, CA, 2007, 154-155.
242 California Department of Transportation, 146.
243 City of Los Angeles, Office of Historic Resources, SurveyLA: Citywide Historic Context Statement: Industrial Context, 1850-1980, 2018, 85.
244 SurveyLA: Industrial Context, 1850-1980, 86.

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Like many cities, much industrial development in Bakersfield developed along the railroad tracks with short spurs on which they could load and offload materials. Along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe tracks that ran east/west south of downtown, facilities included A.W.

Bannister Hay Grain & Storage, Union Lumber Co., the Ranier Bottling Works, Maier Brewing Co., Wieland’s Bottling Works, and the Bakersfield Lumber Co. On the south side of the Southern Pacific tracks, the King Lumber Co. operated a large mill, and the Kern County Land Company operated a large warehouse next to several smaller independent warehouses and oil well supply firms. The San Joaquin Compress and Warehouse Company [4130 State Road]245 constructed the first building on its 36-acre property in 1925. The complex expanded in ensuing decades during the company’s dominance of the cotton compress business.246 Light industrial development also flourished east of downtown along 18th, 19th and 20th streets. Many of these businesses were related to the increasing popularity of the automobile, including automotive service, auto repair, and tire installation. Typically, these were one-story commercial vernacular style structures of brick or wood. One example was the Bakersfield Machine Shop Co. [903 18th Street].

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1899-1928
 Is one of the few remaining intact examples of industrial development from this early period in Bakersfield
 May be associated with an important early industry in Bakersfield, such as agriculture, farming or ranching, or oil and gas
 May be a substantial feature of a larger municipal or regional infrastructural system, such as water, power, or transportation (rail or automobile)  May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important early ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 In East Bakersfield, may also be a rare remnant of Kern City  Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

245 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 246 California High-Speed Rail Authority, Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS: Fresno to Bakersfield Section, November 2017, Page 3.17-29.

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Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Early Residential Development
Bakersfield’s reputation as a “Bungalow Town” was well-deserved. The proliferation of single- family houses throughout Bakersfield’s residential tracts during this period typically took the form of the modest Victorian cottages or the Craftsman-style bungalow. Owners who did not purchase kit homes typically engaged builders and/or architects to design and construct custom residences.

Architect-designed examples included the W.W. McGregor Residence by J.M. Saffell [1615 Baker Street]; J.H. Wagner Residence by Orville L. Clark [2929 22nd Street]; F.L. Repologle Residence by architect E.H. Lieritz [1215 L Street]; Philip Klipstein Residence by Thomas B.

Wiseman [216 D Street]; and the John Nelson Residence by architect G.H. Thurber [907 Monterey Street]. Two rare, intact examples of the Victorian cottages that once populated Bakersfield’s earliest residential neighborhoods are the James McKamy Residence [2124 E Street],247 and the adjacent R.L. Brown Residence [2128 E Street], both designed in the Queen Anne style.248
The wealth that flooded into the city as a result of the oil and agriculture economies also meant that a number of wealthy patrons (typically doctors, lawyers, bankers and other professionals) engaged architects to build custom homes in the city. Typically ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 in budget, these homes were larger and built in the popular architectural styles of the day. For example, an American Foursquare-style residence was designed by E. Bemus and Orville L.

Clark for dentist P.S. Wilbur [2300 18th Street]. Clark also designed a Tudor Revival-style residence [2128 18th Street] for oilman J.W. Brisco, and a residence [present-day 1627 Baker Street] in East Bakersfield for J.B. Cauzza. Although the architect of the Queen Anne-style Spencer/Stark Residence [1321 N Street] is unknown, its elaborate detailing suggested the wealth and stature of its original owners.

During the first decade of the 20th century, some of Bakersfield’s wealthiest and most prominent citizens began building large homes and residential estates in the strip of the original township that extended southward along Oleander Avenue between California Avenue and Chester Lane, in what is now the city’s Oleander/Sunset neighborhood.249 Ads for these lots first appear in the Bakersfield Morning Echo in May of 1904. A 1905 Sanborn map of the area identifies just one large home in this area, at the southwest corner of California and Oleander avenues, while a 1912 Sanborn map depicts multiple developed residential properties, suggesting that development along this stretch of Oleander Avenue was largely concentrated

247 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 2010. 248 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 2010. 249 At the time, Oleander Avenue extended northward from California Avenue, but these homes tended to be smaller dwellings on smaller parcels.

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between 1905 and 1912.250 It is this collection of impressive residences that have earned Oleander Avenue the moniker “Avenue of Opulence.”251
The neighborhood became home to some of the city’s most accomplished professionals. The area attracted a number of oilmen, including Hugh A. Blodget [925 Oleander Avenue] and Samuel A. Johnson [809 Oleander Avenue]. Others were involved in banking and finance, such as Arthur C. Crites [1001 Oleander Avenue], a budding executive at the Kern City Bank. Calvin Vance Anderson, a well-known lawyer [920 Oleander Avenue], ultimately became an executive with the Bakersfield Abstract Company, which managed loans and insurance. Mrs. Celia Holtby, the widow of Robert Holtby, presented herself as a “capitalist” who offered loans when the census taker visited [700 Oleander Avenue]) in 1910. Around 1920, George Haberfelde, who had diversified his furniture business with a Ford dealership, purchased the Hugh A. Blodget Residence and expanded it into the palatial residence that exists today. The publisher of The Bakersfield Californian, Alfred Harrell, was living in this neighborhood [1121 Oleander Avenue] by 1900, cementing his position in Bakersfield society. The unique Mission-style residence of Samuel F. Smith [1002 Oleander Avenue] was befitting his position within the community as a physician and surgeon.

New homes continued to be developed along Oleander Avenue through the 1920s—some subdivided on existing parcels and others on new parcels extending southward. In 1921, Henry Brandt, a developer who built many homes in the Oleander/Sunset area, moved into one of his own residences in this neighborhood [729 Oleander Avenue]. The Bakersfield Californian identified Brandt as a man who “built more homes in Bakersfield than any other.”252 He was president of the Kern County Board of Trade, and donated land for school construction in the city. He also had agricultural land holdings outside of the city and was a leader in the Masonic Temple.

250 Oleander Avenue was known as D Street in City Directories from the early 20th century. 251 Morgan Steger, “Avenue of Opulence: The Homes of Oleander,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 12, 2016, Bakersfield.com, https://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/avenue-of-opulence-the-homes-of-oleander/article_4eaf77ff- 9d18-5b34-97a9-530d81685c25.html (accessed March 27, 2023). 252 “Is Master Builder,” The Bakersfield Californian, April 12, 1924, 3.

Bakersfield: City of Beautiful Homes, 1910. (Hathi Trust Digital Library)

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As previously discussed, tracts were soon being developed to the south, east, and west of the Oleander Avenue homes. One of the few tracts to fully develop homes in a concentrated period of time was the Westpark Tract. Subdivided in 1910 by George Hay, an aggressive sales campaign resulted in a high build-out rate, whereas lots in other nearby tracts often remained unimproved for decades. A sales promotion conducted in concert with The Bakersfield Californian included a free lot in the subdivision.253
In addition to single-family residences, Bakersfield was also home to a large number of apartment buildings. These included furnished lodging houses designed to accommodate transitional populations as the town expanded, as well as more traditional apartment buildings of various sizes. Examples of the latter include the 1911 Smartt Apartments; and the Orville L.

Clark-designed Scofield Apartments (Chester Avenue between Truxtun Avenue and 17th Street). In the Westchester/Riviera neighborhood alone, there was The Georgian Building [2025 18th Street]; the Colonial Apartments [1701-1705 B Street];254 the Manley Apartments [1906 18th Street]; and the McGill Building [1821-1829 B Street].255 The 1920 City Directory listed 75 furnished rooms/boarding/lounging houses.256 They were clustered in downtown Bakersfield and in East Bakersfield’s commercial area. Extant examples of rooming houses from this period include the 1910 Orville L. Clark-designed Decatur Hotel [2027 19th Street]; the Grand Hotel [2018 Chester Avenue]; and the Noriega Hotel [513-531 Sumner Street].

Although the majority of the multi-family residential properties took the form of mid-size apartment houses, a few bungalow courts were built around the city. The El Reposo Court (C and D streets near 23rd Street) was a group of eight cottages built in 1913 and designed by

253 Advertisement, The Bakersfield Californian, December 24, 1910, 3. 254 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1992. 255 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1992. 256 While some of these buildings had “hotel” in their names, they were listed in the City Directory as rooming houses, functioning more like residential hotels or apartment houses rather than as temporary lodging.

Bakersfield: City of Beautiful Homes, 1910. (Hathi Trust Digital Library)

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Thomas B. Wiseman in the “Spanish” style, with a central pergola and landscaped walkways.257 The Mission Revival-style St. Elmo Court [1800 Forrest Street] was constructed in 1919.

A multi-family residential court [1300-1316 H Street] in the Craftsman style built around 1915 is a rare extant example of early multi-family residential development located south of the railroad tracks.258
Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1899-1928
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of single-family residential development from this early period in Bakersfield
 Is one of the few remaining intact examples of multi-family residential development from this early period in Bakersfield
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important early ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 In East Bakersfield, may also be a rare remnant of Kern City  Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact residential development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

257 “Platz Is Building Bungalows,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, January 26, 1913, 3. 258 California High-Speed Rail Authority, Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS: Fresno to Bakersfield Section, November 2018, page 3.17-60.

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DEPRESSION & RESILIENCE IN BAKERSFIELD, 1929-1940
After the joys and hopes of leaving the poverty of the farm then coming to a new life and finding out that things were no better money wise, in fact they were worse, they had to go on relief. It was devastating. It was bad enough to have to be on relief without being treated like dirt, which is what they did. I was a young teenager then but I was mortified seeing it reflected in my mother’s face—but we had to have the help.259
Elizabeth May Garber Day, arrived from
Nebraska in 1932
With the stock market crash of 1929, the nation ushered in a period of economic turmoil, joblessness, and bread lines. However, with its twin industries of “oil and ag,” Bakersfield fared better than most cities. The wealth and relative stability that came with oil and agriculture meant that the effects of the Great Depression came more slowly. Businesses were hard hit, but no banks within the city failed. Author John Maynard, attributes the worst effects of the Depression to the eventual bankruptcy of Kern County itself.260 Bakersfield was one of the few places where there was work to be had. When farmers and farmworkers in states such as Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Arkansas reeled from a period of severe drought and massive dust storms, thousands of families of “Okies,” as they were called, drove across the United States to California between 1935 and 1942. Those who landed in the San Joaquin Valley were agricultural workers drawn to a place where crops still needed to be planted and harvested. The “Dustbowl Migration” reached its apex in the mid-1930s, comprising one of the largest population shifts in the world.261 Figure 3. Bakersfield Population Growth 1930-1940
Year Population Percentage Growth
1930 26,015 n/a
1940 29,252 12.4%
Source: U.S. Census
The Okies found themselves picking fruit and other crops in the Central Valley for poverty wages. With nowhere to live, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) intervened and built federally funded labor camps. The most famous of these was the Weedpatch Camp in nearby Arvin from 1935. The proud Okies brought their style of folk music along with their tales of hardship, and it is from this tradition that the Bakersfield Sound would emerge. The Okies faced discrimination, as the term became a pejorative stereotype associated with accents and

259 Elizabeth May Garber Day Interview, California Odyssey Oral History Program, California State College, Bakersfield, Interview by Stacey Jagels, May 2, 1981, 23.
260 Maynard, 61.
261 Robert E. Price, The Bakersfield Sound: How a Generation of Displaced Okies Revolutionized American Music (Berkeley, CA:

Heyday, 2018), 6.

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slovenly appearance. A transient relief camp was also established at the Kern County Fairgrounds in the early to mid-1930s.262
Escapism & the Movies
Like millions of Americans, Bakersfield residents found respite from the hard-scrabble reality of the Great Depression through the escapist entertainment of the movies. They flocked to theaters and dance halls—which all prospered during the decade. The romances and musicals that filled the screens in the big, dark caverns of the movie houses were seldom realistic and often set in imaginary worlds or exotic locales. The architecture of the movie theaters of the late 1920s and 1930s strove to extend the fantasy experience from the screen to the sidewalk.

Places such as the Fox Theater [2001 H Street/1700 20th Street]263 and the Nile Theater [1721 19th Street], both by master movie palace architect S. Charles Lee, were just as fanciful as what was playing on the big screen. During this decade, when so much was second-hand, worn down, and just plain exhausted of hope, the theater where moviegoers saw a film was almost as important as the film itself.

New Deal Programs
During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to jumpstart the national economy and to put Americans back to work with the New Deal. The 1933 Public Works Administration (PWA) focused on the construction of highways and public buildings.

262 Gilbert Gia, “Transient Relief Camp at Kern County Fair Grounds, 1930-1937,” 2020, 6-9, Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, https://www.historicbakersfieldandkerncounty.com/_files/ugd/caae83_ 08021e284a07463e99f2edb75efbf93a.pdf (accessed January 18, 2023).
263 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1994 and determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

Fox Theater, 1946. (Security Pacific National Bank Collection, Los Angeles Public Library)

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The largest of these programs, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), was created in 1935 and designed to fund much-needed infrastructure projects, employing a largely unskilled workforce. Additional New Deal-era programs included the Civic Works Administration (CWA) and the 1935 State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA).264 These programs were the source of commissions for architects and artists alike during an otherwise bleak period for building, resulting in the construction of countless new bridges, schools, and libraries, among other projects.

School buildings were a high priority in California following the devastating impact of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake on the region’s elementary, junior high, and high school building stock.

Many of the older, multi-story structures designed of unreinforced brick were destroyed. As a result, the California Legislature acted quickly. Within a month, they passed the Field Act, which required tougher building standards for new schools and seismic retrofitting for older schools. More than fifty school projects were built in the greater Bakersfield area during the 1930s. Many of these projects were funded in part by Federal PWA/WPA money and labor.

Harvey Auditorium at Bakersfield High School [1241 G Street], designed in 1939 by Charles H.

Biggar, remains an outstanding local example of PWA Moderne-style school architecture.265 While Harvey Auditorium was designed in a pre-war style, construction of the building was not completed until 1948.

For architects, the opportunity to remake California schools challenged conventional notions about form and materials. The era of multi-storied brick buildings with double-loaded corridors of traditional classrooms gave way to the low-rise, low-density campus planning approach, where individual classrooms were directly accessible from outside. Additionally, the use of reinforced concrete construction and minimalist exterior decoration provided for greater safety for students.

A notable exception to this was the design of East Bakersfield High School [2200 Quincy Street]. A PWA project, the multi-story Spanish Colonial Revival-style building with PWA Moderne details, bucked avant-garde architectural trends for California schools after the 1933

264 “Projects in Pomona,” The Living New Deal, https://livingnewdeal.org/us/ca/pomona-ca/ (accessed March 2022). 265 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

Harvey Auditorium, rendering by Charles H. Biggar, and photograph as built. (Kern County Museum)

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Long Beach earthquake. Completed in 1938, government funding for such projects was often easier to obtain for projects of more traditional architectural styles.

National Housing Act of 1934 & the FHA
Another arm of Roosevelt’s strategy to combat the Great Depression was to stabilize and expand the housing market. To that end, Congress passed the National Housing Act of 1934, which established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to insure home mortgage loans.

This legislation incentivized financial institutions to issue more loans under more favorable terms for average working Americans. Prior to the establishment of the FHA, home loans were only accessible to the wealthy, as buyers could only borrow 50 percent of the cost of the home with a five-year repayment term that often terminated with a large balloon payment. With FHA loan guarantees, mortgage loans were made available for as little as 10 percent down with a loan life of 25 years.

As noted in Key Postwar Housing Tracts Within the Greater Bakersfield Area, 1945-1973, housing construction in Bakersfield in the late 1930s was aided by the FHA’s small house program, which established standards for the design and development of small houses, and the affordable FHA-backed mortgages.266
Redlining, Immigrant Communities & Communities of Color Federal programs also played a significant role in systemic racism. Two New Deal housing institutions, the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the FHA, founded in 1933 and 1934 respectively, were both created to encourage homeownership and to protect homeowners at risk of foreclosure during the Great Depression. In practice, however, they only provided protection for White property owners. Through an overt practice of denying mortgages based upon race and ethnicity, the FHA played a significant role in the legalization and institutionalization of racism and segregation.

The FHA insured bank mortgages that covered 80 percent of purchase prices. To be eligible, the FHA conducted an appraisal of the property in order to select properties that had a low risk of default. The guidelines included a “Whites only” requirement. The FHA underwriting manual for its appraisers also recommended against “an infiltration of inharmonious racial or nationality groups,” and discouraged loans in older, urban neighborhoods.267 The 1936 FHA underwriting manual recommended that “deeds to properties for which it issued mortgage insurance should include an explicit prohibition of resale to Black citizens.”268 To fulfill their missions of refinancing mortgages and granting low-interest loans to those who had lost their homes, the agencies began rating neighborhoods as “security risks.” What emerged was a racial ranking of neighborhoods that relegated African American, Mexican, Japanese, and Chinese neighborhoods to the bottom. Although other factors such as class, the presence of industry, density, housing stock, and tax blight were also considered, racial

266 JRP Historical Consulting, “Key Postwar Housing Tracts Within the Greater Bakersfield Area, 1945-1973,” 4. 267 Rothstein, 67.
268 Rothstein, 84.

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composition was a key factor in ranking, or coloring, those neighborhoods red (hence the term “redlining”). These areas were barred from receiving federal assistance, effectively segregated, and plunged into a vicious circle of decline.

A large number of African Americans also migrated to Bakersfield during the 1930s from the American South, due to the availability of agricultural work, and in particular, cotton harvesting. The living conditions that they found there, however, were likely not much better than those they left behind in the rural South. Dirt-floor sheds and lean-tos were common.

People lived in tents and discarded streetcars and boxcars.269 Largely barred from living within the city limits, many African Americans settled southeast of the city, adjacent to cotton fields in what became known as the Sunset-Mayflower (a.k.a., Lakeview-Mayflower) district.270 The area was located east of Union Cemetery, generally bounded by California Avenue to the north, East Brundage Lane to the south, the Sunset Western Railroad tracks to the east, and S. King Street to the west. Within this area were two residential tracts: the Sunset Tract and the Mayflower Addition. Because these tracts were outside the city limits, there were no city services such as sewer connection, trash collection, police, or fire protection. For shelter, residents constructed shacks and other vernacular structures that they could afford on their poverty wages. Although Bakersfield was not among the California cities for which redlining maps were produced, the Sunset-Mayflower area would have met FHA criteria for redlining.

Basques continued to immigrate to Bakersfield during this period, albeit at slower rates than earlier in the 20th century. Frank Maitia came to Bakersfield in 1930 and herded sheep until he raised enough money to buy the French House. He renamed it the Basque Café and it quickly

269 Johnie Mae Parker Oral History, California State College, Bakersfield, 1971. 5. 270 This area was alternately known as the Cottonwood Area because of Cottonwood Road (present-day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard), or as Carver’s Belt.

Sunset Tract prior to its razing for public housing, 1940-41. (Housing Authority of the County of Kern) as shown in Donato Cruz “‘America’s Newest City’: 1950s Bakersfield and The Making of the Modern Suburban Segregated Landscape.”

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became a landmark within the Basque community, with Frank and his family living upstairs.

Maitia also acted as a de facto employment agent for the ranchers. He wired Basque associates in the old country with the number of hands needed, and then arranged lodging for them at the Noriega or Amestoy hotels. Maitia also organized handball matches within the community.

Another important community figure during the Depression was Graciana (Grace) Elizalde, who continued to manage the Noriega Hotel. Well known for her kindness and compassion, she helped hundreds of community members during this difficult decade.271 Bakersfield’s two Chinatowns continued to operate simultaneously during the Great Depression. A surprising number of businesses were established by members of the Chinese community during the 1930s. One prominent family was the Choy family, who lived in China Alley in old Chinatown. Windsor Quon Choy and Annie Lee Choy had three children: Wallace, Leland, and Anna May. The Choys operated Canton Café (20th and L streets) during the 1930s.

K.C. Choy and Earl Wong opened the Mandarin Cafe nightclub [1322 20th Street] in the 1930s in a space previously known as the Lido Cafe. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy used to play the Mandarin Café’s lounge.272
Lincoln Market [1930 L Street] was owned by the Earl Q. Wong family. The family is remembered for extending credit to the Latino workers who lost their jobs during the Depression. The Chinese benevolent association also handed out rice to members of the Chinese community who could not afford it.273 Some of the prosperity within the Chinese community was the result of the operation of illegal gambling operations. Often, these establishments looked like cigar stores from the street, but had gambling in the back room. In oral histories with community members, it was said that the police would allow such establishments in the alley between 20th and 21st streets, known as China Alley.274 Many Chinese from East Tehachapi moved to East Bakersfield during the Depression. Gan Pon opened a Chinese laundry [717 Baker Street] and there was a Chinese Kitchen restaurant near the train station.

The Latino presence in East Bakersfield continued during the 1930s. Early Latino business owners included Trinidad and Santos Gamez (often misspelled Gomez), who immigrated from Mexico in 1915. By 1930, Santos was a servant in a private home and Trinidad was the proprietor of a grocery store. Ten years later, he operated a retail gas station in town. Mrs.

Santos Gamez started making homemade tortillas for wholesale sale. That home-based business eventually became Mexicali Restaurant.275
Mexican American social organizations from this period included the Comision Honorifica Mexicana-Americana and the Mexican Aéreo Legion Club. Members included Alfonso H.

Gonzales, Salvadore Rodriguez, and Alfred Sanchez. During the 1930s, Lincoln School teacher Alfredo Chavez (1908-1991) was an important figure within the local Mexican American community. Chavez was an advocate for Mexican cultural activities, music, and the arts. During

271 Echeverria, Home Away From Home, 109.
272 Boyd and Ming, 94.
273 Boyd and Ming, 190.
274 Boyd and Ming, 124. This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 1992. 275 Mexicali was originally located at the corner of Baker and Eureka streets in 1941. By 1957, it had moved to 1401 California Avenue.

In 1957, the Gamez family purchased the Towne House Café on 18th Street; this is the present-day location of Mexicali Restaurant.

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the late 1930s, he hosted a local radio program called “Mexican Memories” on the FM station KPMC.276
The Italian American Foundation became very active in the city during the 1930s. The group held a multiplicity of events throughout the year including picnics, dances, lectures, and they fielded a baseball team. The Foundation had no purpose-built meeting place and so held their functions and meetings in various locations, such as St. Joseph’s Hall, the Woman’s Club, the Eagles Hall, and private homes. The Foundation continued well into the 1950s.

According to the 1939 New World Year Book, a directory of Japanese Americans and their businesses, the Japanese community in Bakersfield was centered in the area bordered by 23rd Street and 19th Street, between O Street and L Street. A small cluster of Japanese also lived around 25th and N streets. Two of the cultural institutions in the community were the Japanese Buddhist Church and School [2207 N Street] and the Japanese Mission/Japanese Methodist Episcopal Church [1016 22nd Street].

As of 1939, this Japanese enclave contained four markets, a drug store, hardware store, barber, and a nursery. These enterprises were mostly concentrated south of 20th Street between L and M streets. As was common for the period, many Japanese merchants lived behind or above the shop, or in local rooming houses. In addition, the 1939 New World Year Book lists approximately 20 Japanese living in rural Bakersfield, likely as farmers, truck farmers, or farm hands on larger agricultural properties.

Labor Strikes
Despite the Depression, working conditions for many people (in and around Bakersfield) were oppressive. There were a number of labor strikes in the early 1930s and more in the later half of the decade. These agricultural strikes were led by the workers of color. When Pedro Subia, a Mexican striker, was murdered, his funeral was held at the old Bakersfield City Hall. Workers came from all the labor camps around Bakersfield in his honor.

Filipinos working in agricultural jobs around the San Joaquin Valley also participated in these strikes. The 1930s census reveals a few dozen Filipinos living and working in Bakersfield proper.

Unlike other cultural groups who lived in enclaves, the Filipinos of Bakersfield appear to have been more dispersed, often renting rooms downtown and in East Bakersfield. The majority of Filipinos living in the city were employed in hospitality jobs related to hotels, hospitals, or restaurants. Early religious and cultural organizations appear to have been centered in nearby Delano. Filipino institutions in Bakersfield seem to have been very rare.

Infrastructure improvements continued to help Bakersfield feed California during the Great Depression. In 1933, the state opened a new three-lane highway that eschewed the Tejon Pass summit of the Ridge Route for the canyon and gorges of Piru Creek. It became known as the “Ridge Route Alternative,” or U.S. Route 99 (Highway 99), and shaved nine miles and 45 minutes off the travel time. The new road was also at a much lower elevation than the Ridge

276 “Chavez to Continue Large Fiesta Here,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 2, 1939, 9.

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Route and thus was less susceptible to snowfall. The original Ridge Route was effectively abandoned during the winter months.

Bakersfield’s experience through the Great Depression was unusual. Unlike most cities, where construction was effectively halted, Bakersfield had enough economic activity to sustain upgrades in commercial development and enough PWA/WPA funding to upgrade infrastructure and develop other civic/institutional projects. A review of Bakersfield’s built environment during the 1930s tells a powerful story about the people and the place.

The Great Depression was a difficult period for architects generally, including in Bakersfield.

AIA membership files from those practicing in the city at the time include correspondence regarding non-payment of dues because of lack of work. Despite a definite slowdown, the City of Bakersfield managed to build more civic/institutional, commercial, industrial, and residential projects than many other cities of similar size during this period.

Bakersfield architecture from this decade reveals the influences of national and international architectural movements, along with some quintessentially regional ideas. A generation of Kern County public schools bore the identifying architectural language of these movements. Often under the umbrella of optimistic New Deal programs, these new styles evoked confidence in institutions and infrastructure with a modern twist. Downtown Bakersfield went upscale, transformed by escapist movie palaces and the modernization of retail storefronts. Residential development continued apace as Bakersfield’s financial strength was reflected in the new homes commissioned by its professional class, many of whom invested in avant-garde designs, including romantic adobe structures made modern through their plan, materials, and construction techniques.

THEMES
THEME: Depression-Era Civic/Institutional Development
Despite economic struggles, improvements to Bakersfield did not completely halt in the years between the Great Depression and World War II. Some civic/institutional work continued during the early years of the Depression as well. In 1931, Edwin Joseph Symmes designed the Meadows Field Airport Hangar. (Online Archive of California) Horace Mann School, c. 1930s. (Kern County Museum)

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First Church of Christ, Scientist [2201 18th Street] in a hybrid Beaux Arts/Spanish Colonial Revival style. Population growth in East Bakersfield fueled the establishment of new chapters of familiar organizations such as the Masonic Temple designed by Orville L. Clark and opened in 1939.

Bakersfield architects definitely benefited from the PWA and WPA programs. The Kern County Airport Hangar at Meadows Field (near Skyway Drive) was the largest single-span hangar in California at the time of its construction. Some 50 WPA men worked on the reinforced concrete project that opened around 1937.277
A number of WPA/PWA projects in Bakersfield were schools. In 1938, Greeley Elementary School [6601 Enos Lane] was designed and constructed by Franklin & Kump. The same year, East Bakersfield High School [2200 Quincy Street] was designed by Charles H. Biggar and constructed by the PWA. Around the same time, Biggar also designed the PWA Moderne-style Horace Mann School [2710-2718 Niles Street].

Another highly visible project from this period was Charles H. Biggar’s design for Harvey Auditorium at Kern County High School. Biggar designed the auditorium in 1939 in the PWA Moderne-style. During World War II, construction stopped due to a lack of materials. The building was eventually completed in 1948 and dedicated to the memory of T.N. Harvey, President of the Kern County Union High School District, who died in July of 1948. In 1940, demand for increased capacity at the high school was such that the school board planned to erect seven temporary classrooms.278
Two firehouse projects were funded by the WPA during this period. The Bakersfield Central Fire Station, a.k.a. Fire Station No. 1 [2101 H Street], designed by Charles H. Biggar in the PWA Moderne style, was constructed in 1939.279 The East Bakersfield Fire Station, a.k.a. Fire Station No. 2, [716 E. 21st Street], designed by Charles H. Biggar, was completed the following year; it

277 “Kern County Airport Hangar,” The Living New Deal, https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/kern-county-airport-hangar-bakersfield- ca/ (accessed June 16, 2022).
278 “Board Approves Plans for Seven New Classrooms,” The Bakersfield Californian, June 11, 1940, 9. 279 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

Fire Station No. 1, 1945. (Kern County Museum)
Fire Station No. 2 under construction, 1939-40. (Kern County Museum)

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replaced a two-story brick firehouse built around 1913.280 This period also saw the completion of the Bakersfield First Baptist Church [1200 Truxtun Avenue] designed by Charles H. Biggar in a combination of the Romanesque and Mission Revival styles.281 Among the WPA projects was the construction of a cluster of buildings at O Street and Golden State Avenue known as the Division of Forestry Service Office. There was a sizable adobe office building and some shops and storage buildings built in 1942.282 The PWA also funded buildings for the Kern County Fair (Chester Avenue, two blocks north of 34th Street). There was even a separate WPA project to manufacture adobe blocks for public works projects. Ingredients for adobe blocks were inexpensive and the process was labor intensive, so it fit perfectly with efforts to employ more people during the Depression.

Adobe construction experienced something of a renaissance in Bakersfield during this period, chiefly through the efforts of architect Clarence C. Cullimore, who advocated that adobe was a suitable building material in Bakersfield due to its thermal properties.283 During this decade, Cullimore would begin experimenting with adobe construction in his residential projects on and around Oleander Avenue. He developed new technologies for strengthening its ability to withstand earthquakes. After World War II, he submitted a master’s thesis at USC on this topic and was ultimately elevated to Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), not for his architectural designs or role in education, but for his advances in modern adobe technology.

280 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 281 This property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. 282 California High Speed Rail Authority, Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS: Fresno to Bakersfield Section, November 2017, page 3.17-29. 283 Another adobe building built with federal WPA funds during this period was the Hart Park Ranger House by W. Francis Parsons in 1939, also known as the “Peacock House.” Hart Park itself was a WPA project. Between 1932 and 1938, up to 200 WPA workmen were there building rock work, a swimming pool, roads, curbs and a large boat lake. At least one and possibly three adobe restrooms were also constructed, as was a workshop. This project is outside the city limits of Bakersfield.

Father Garcés Statue postcard, no date. (eBay)

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One of Bakersfield’s most visible works of the WPA program is the statue of Father Garcés.284 Garcés was the first known white man to reach this region in 1776 while traveling in search of a new route between Sonora, Mexico and Monterey, California. The sculpture, designed by artist John Palo Kangas, stands 22 feet tall and is carved from Indiana limestone set on a Carnelean granite base. Dedicated on May 7, 1939, it was originally a prominent feature along Highway 99.

However in 1955, it was moved 55 feet to accommodate the construction of a new overpass. It now sits at the southern edge of Garcés Memorial Circle at the intersection of Chester Avenue, 30th Street, and SR 204/Golden State Avenue.285 It is California Historical Landmark No. 277.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1929-1940
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of civic/institutional development from the Depression era in Bakersfield
 May be an example of a project associated with a New Deal program, such as the PWA, WPA, CWA, or SERA
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Depression-Era Commercial Development
While the Depression was a difficult time financially for Bakersfield businesses, there was some commercial building activity downtown during the early 1930s. The Spanish Colonial Revival- style Fox Theater [2001 H Street/1700 20th Street] by S. Charles Lee, opened on Christmas day in 1930. In 1931, architect Edward F. Sibbert, Jr. designed the new Art Deco-style S.H.

Kress Building [1401 19th Street].286 The C.E. Houchin Building [2601 F Street] was designed

284 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. 285 “Garces Circle Statue,” The Living New Deal, https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/garces-circle-statue-bakersfield-ca/ (accessed June 16, 2022).
286 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

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by local architect Edwin J. Symmes around 1934. At about the same time, Symmes designed the Sholar & Sholar Grocery (18th and Eye streets) for the Mattson Brothers, which was the first real supermarket in downtown Bakersfield. By 1930, Bakersfield was also home to four Italian grocery stores: Paccini & Maloni’s Grocery [1306 19th Street], City Grocery (also on 19th Street), and two Fannucchi stores.287
The Bakersfield Californian documents a number of commercial façade modernizations during the period as well. Despite the economic difficulties, many downtown merchants took the opportunity to upgrade and remodel their older storefronts in the popular styles of the period.

As Henry B. DeLacy, President of the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, wrote in January of 1939:

Nineteen thirty eight has given Bakersfield a most aggressive transformation in its main business streets—Chester Avenue and 19th Street—in new buildings, modernized and attractive exteriors and store fronts. The face of many of the old structures have been lifted and modern treatment applied, and new buildings are replacing the old antiquated structures—all of which gives Bakersfield the appearance it deserves—that of a modern, progressive and prosperous city.288 Another modern addition to the downtown area was the 1930 Bank of America building [1931 Chester Avenue] by architects Swasey & Hayne. The PWA Moderne-style building dominated this important intersection. Around 1938, Charles H. Biggar designed a Sears, Roebuck & Co. department store for Bakersfield [1317 19th Street]. In 1940, original main façade of the 1908 Kern County Hall of Records [1655 Chester Avenue] was modernized by local architect Frank Wynkoop. The Fish Estate Building of 1938 [1501-1515 19th Street/1831 Chester Avenue] designed by Charles H. Biggar and constructed by noted local builder Henry Eissler, replaced the original Fish Building on the same site.

287 Gilbert Gia, “Life on Kentucky Street, 1930,” 2009, 2, Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, https://www. historicbakersfieldandkerncounty.com/_files/ugd/caae83_fcf9076ba35b420d976826778b615927.pdf (accessed January 18, 2023). 288 “Chamber of Commerce Achieves Much in Year Just Past,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 2, 1939, 18.

Bank of America rendering by Swasey & Hayne, and photograph upon completion in 1930. (Kern County Museum)

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When local businessman Hugh Sill was ready to build a commercial office building in downtown Bakersfield for his successful agriculture business, he turned to the architects of his Bakersfield home, Franklin & Kump. Kump’s modern design sensibilities were fully flourishing, as demonstrated by the 1939 Streamline Moderne-style Sill Building [1500-1516 18th Street/1801 Chester Avenue] demonstrated. Its three horizontal bands of brick seamlessly unite the west and south facades. The Sill Building was widely published in architectural trade magazines at the time. More recently, revered architectural historian David Gebhard favorably compared the Sill Building to the Johnson Wax Company Building by Frank Lloyd Wright.289 The cantilevered floor plates are key to the open plan of the offices.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1929-1940
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of commercial development from the Depression era in Bakersfield
 May be a rare remaining example of auto-related commercial development from the period, particularly along Union Avenue
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period

289 “Bakersfield Built: The 1930s,” California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield Art Museum, and Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter, 2014, 18.

Sill Building, 1940. (Sian Winship Private Collection)
Sill Building, no date. (University of California, Berkeley)

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 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact commercial development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association. Modernization of retail storefronts may be acceptable if they remain intact from this period.

THEME: Depression-Era Industrial Development
Industrial development in Bakersfield was often tied to the petroleum or agriculture industry and involved products or by-products of these businesses. One writer in 1939 commented on the “smokestacks over Bakersfield today,” as evidence of the city’s strong industrial economy.290 The writer goes on to say that in 1930, there were 87 industrial plants in the city, and that by 1938 the number had increased to 200, employing some 3,500 people.291 Not all industrial development was related to oil or agriculture. In 1939, Bakersfield became the new home of a 7-Up Bottling Co. plant [230 E. 18th Street]. Designed by F.W. De Foy (1887- 1954), the Streamline Moderne-style plant featured a central tower with a sign featuring the 7- Up logo.

290 “Preamble,” The Bakersfield Californian, December 9, 1939, 2. 291 “Preamble,” 2.
7-Up Bottling Co. Plant, no date. (Pinterest)

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Another relatively rare example of an industrial building from the period is the Republic Supply Co. (a.k.a., Golden Empire Gleaners), a pipe and supply business serving the petroleum industry.

The Republic Supply Company warehouse [1326 30th Street] was built in 1937 and expanded in 1946.292 Republic first entered the Bakersfield market in 1928, with their purchase of the Associated Supply Co. Many of the light industrial buildings constructed during the period were not designed by architects but rather by contractors. James F. Moore, a local general contractor, was a specialist in industrial buildings and storefronts. Guy Hall, another Bakersfield contractor, operated his business from a light industrial building.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1929-1940
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of industrial development from the Depression era in Bakersfield
 May be associated with an important industry in Bakersfield from the period, such as agriculture, or oil and gas
 May be a substantial feature of a larger municipal or regional infrastructural system, such as water, power, or transportation (automobile)
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Depression-Era Residential Development
Although the issuance of building permits overall dipped to a historic low, a surprising number of single-family residences were built in Bakersfield during this period. These Period Revival- style homes were typically designed for professionals, such as doctors, dentists, and oil or agriculture executives. Many of these homes can be found in the Oleander/Sunset and

292 This property was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

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Westchester/Riviera neighborhoods of the city, with more modest houses built in La Cresta Heights and the Alta Vista Tract in the bluffs northeast of the city.293 The go-to architect for many of these houses was local practitioner Clarence C. Cullimore, Sr., FAIA. Cullimore’s own residence and studio [101 Oleander Avenue] was completed in 1930, designed in the Spanish Colonial-inspired California Ranch style. Cullimore made an extensive study of the adobes of California, traveling, sketching, and drawing existing examples. He used the adobes as inspiration for both the design and construction of his residential projects during this period, although he was equally as facile working in other styles. Examples include the E.C.

Zimmer Residence [527 Oleander Avenue] from 1937, said to have been the inspired by a whaling cottage; the adobe Alfred Ames Residence [2929 21st Street] from 1932; the adobe Chase Residence [2123 1st Street] in 1935; the George Gilmore Residence [2115 1st Street] from 1937; the Neoclassical-style Dr. McKee Residence [3031 21st Street] from 1937; and the Spanish Colonial Revival-style Johnson Residence [629 Holtby Road] from 1935. Cullimore’s work, especially his use of modern adobe construction, was widely published in California Arts + Architecture, and Architect and Engineer.

293 Alta Vista and La Cresta Heights were annexed into the City of Bakersfield during the 1940s.

City of Bakersfield proposed annexation map, May 15, 1946. (The Bakersfield Californian)

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The Sill Residence [3109 20th Street], designed for Hugh Sill in 1937, is a rare residential project by Ernest Kump, Jr. (1911-1999), son of architect Ernest Kump, Sr. The younger Kump was born in Bakersfield and studied architecture at Kern County High School under Cullimore.

Charles Franklin hired Kump, Jr. in 1937 and they established an architectural partnership.

The homes along Oleander Avenue continued to attract the wealthiest residents of the city.

During the 1930s, Oscar Rudnick (1890-1950) moved his family to 315 Oleander Avenue. He came to Bakersfield as a Russian Jewish immigrant in 1918 and built a large meat packing business. All of Rudnick’s sons worked in the family business and they were the topic of a Life magazine article in 1951. His daughter, Elynor H. Rudnick (1923-1996), later became a pilot and her airstrip became the Bakersfield airport294
It wasn’t just local architects, however, that found work in Bakersfield during the 1930s. Frank and Kay Davis visited Richard J. Neutra’s small exhibit on the International Style at Bullock’s Wilshire in Los Angeles, mounted as a follow up to Neutra’s participation in the seminal Museum of Modern Art show in 1932. After their visit, the Davises sought out Neutra to build them a modern house in Bakersfield. Frank Davis was the area distributor for Norwalk Gasoline. The Davis Residence [2914 21st Street] was completed in 1937 and featured all the trademarks of the International Style—alternating bands of stucco and horizontal groupings of identical commercial steel casement and fixed windows.295 In 1947, Frank Davis returned to Neutra to have him design a service station, Norwalk Service Station [800 Oak Street].

The west end of the city saw substantial multi-family residential development during the late 1930s. Several residential courts were constructed on D Street between 24th Street and 22nd Street during this period, including Swanson Court [2100-2110 23rd Street]; Finlayson Court

294 For more information about Elynor H. Rudnick, see the section on World War II below. 295 Minor additions to the rear of the house were made by local architect Frank Ghezzi during his ownership of the property.

Davis Residence as photographed by Julius Shulman, no date. (Getty Research Institute)

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[2300-2320 D Street]; and Spreyor Court [2210-2216 D Street].296 Also nearby was Ye Olde English Village Apartments [1823 Myrtle Street].

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1929-1940
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of single-family or multi-family residential development from the Depression era in Bakersfield
 May be a rare remaining example of worker housing in Bakersfield from the period  May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact residential development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

296 “Purchase Ground for Third Six Unit Court in West Bakersfield,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 30, 1937, 5.

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BAKERSFIELD DURING WORLD WAR II, 1941-1945
Declaring that a state of war exists between the imperial government of Japan and the government and people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute same.

U.S. Congress Declaration of War,
December 8, 1941
Like many communities, Kern County was touched by the war effort. In 1941, Minter Field in nearby Shafter was constructed as a flight-training center for the U.S. Army, ultimately graduating more than 11,000 flyers.297 During this period, the City of Bakersfield also developed its share of war-related industries, from manufacturing ammunitions boxes to the production of K-rations for military use. The 19th Street USO [419 19th Street] provided social activities and entertainment for the servicemen working at the Lamont POW Camp and other servicemen from nearby Muroc Air Force Base.

In June of 1943, the Kern County Dehydrating Company opened in Bakersfield. It was the largest plant of its kind on the Pacific coast, processing more than 50,000 tons of Kern County vegetables per year, including potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, rutabagas, and cabbage.298 Using the old Bakersfield Packing Company building [1016 E. Brundage Lane] as a base for expansion, the company actively recruited women not already employed in the defense industry, employing more than 500 workers at its peak.

In early 1943, George Haberfelde negotiated a lease for his Bakersfield Ice Arena [423 Golden State Avenue] with Burbank-based Vega Aircraft. The Vega plant produced sub-assembly parts for B-17 bombers. Lockheed also occupied a 23,000-square-foot warehouse building [426 California Avenue].299 By late 1943, when Lockheed and Vega merged, the company was operating additional sub-assembly plants in Oildale and Taft. Hiring for the Bakersfield Vega plant was managed by the U.S. Employment Service office [1300 17th Street].

Japanese American Incarceration
Within hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by the Empire of Japan, prominent Japanese American businessmen, clergy, school teachers, and others declared by the U.S. government to be enemy aliens were rounded up in FBI sweeps. On February 18, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that authorized the Secretary of War and any military commander designated by him “to prescribe military areas…from which any or all persons may be excluded.”300 Although the order did not specify the exclusion of Japanese Americans, the intention was clear.301

297 Maynard, 70.
298 “Big Plant Sets April Opening,” The Bakersfield Californian, February 16, 1943, 7. 299 “Bakersfield to Get Its First Industry of 1963,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 16, 1963, 1. 300 Brian Nilya, “Executive Order 9066,” in Densho Encyclopedia, https://densho.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqoibBhDUARIsAH2Op WgRDP85UMzp10sX4vmBTueR8Da-h-Z2cRmoI66ZMQbH8T9r7Js9QkaAgs 5EALw_wcB# (accessed January 9, 2017). 301 City of Los Angeles, Office of Historic Resources, Japanese Americans in Los Angeles, 1869-1970, August 2018, 50.

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As in many cities, some Bakersfield residents fell victim to mass hysteria associated with the Japanese. In January of 1942, Kern County officials began investigating Japanese who had placed land titles in the names of their Japanese American children who were not barred from owning land. A month later, the newspapers were atwitter with concerns about a growing Japanese population in Bakersfield who had relocated there in an effort to move away from coastal areas.

In May of 1942, many of Bakersfield’s Japanese American residents were evacuated to Parker, Arizona. Members of the local Japanese Citizens League pledged their loyalty to the city and the country and vowed to return in an open letter published in The Bakersfield Californian.

George Ogata, Raymond Tatsuno, Nellie Mitai, Marion Uyetani, and Edith Takahashi all signed the letter.302
The Chinese community also suffered from anti-Japanese sentiment. In oral histories presented in the book The Chinese of Kern County, 1857-1960, community members remembered making and wearing badges and car signs that identified them as Chinese to avoid personal and property violence against them. Despite discrimination, at least one Chinese entrepreneur opened a new business during this period; the Far East Café [1816 18th Street] opened in 1942.303
Lamont Prisoner of War Branch Camp
During World War II, with 15 million Americans having been called into military service, agricultural labor was scarce. The labor shortage was particularly acute for Kern County farmers whose harvesting was hand-labor intensive. The U.S. Army came up with an unusual solution; it brought German prisoners of war (POWs) from England to America to fill the labor gap.

Thousands of German POWs were brought to America and housed in camps in the South, Southwest, and California. The nearest POW camp to Bakersfield was Camp Cooke (on the current site Vandenberg Air Force Base). With the long commute, the Army established a series of “branch camps,” including 16 for Camp Cooke, so that the POWs could be closer to their work. Two branch camps were established in Kern County: one in Shafter, housing 650 German prisoners, and another approximately 17 miles from Bakersfield to serve the Arvin- Greenfield-Panama region.

The seventh branch camp for Camp Cooke, the Lamont Branch Camp, was established in December of 1944 at the five-acre site of a federal labor camp on Di Giorgio Road, behind Ribier Market. Over 40 wooden barracks were constructed to house the prisoners. Other buildings included mess halls, a chapel, laundry, and shower facilities for up to 1,000 men. The acreage was enclosed by barbed wire with four guard towers at the corners of the rectangular lot. The facility was commanded by Captain C.W. Chappell. The prisoners harvested whatever seasonal crop was available: potatoes, cotton, tomatoes, grapes, or sugar beets. Farmers were responsible for training the workers, while guards from Lamont supervised. In June of 1945 the

302 “Japs Send Message,” The Bakersfield Californian, May 23, 1942, 1, 2. 303 Jeff Nachtigal, “Saving a Landmark,” The Bakersfield Californian, June 20, 2007, A3.

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camp held 945 prisoners; by September 1945, there were some 600 prisoners, many from the German expeditionary force known as the Afrika Korps.304 Local farmers formed associations that employed a coordinator who routed the labor on a daily basis. The farmers paid current farm labor wages to the government, and the government, in turn, gave each laborer 80 cents in camp currency.

The prisoners were credited with saving the cotton crop of 1945 and local farmers requested additional prisoner help in fall of that same year. Later that year, the German prisoners were returned to Camp Cooke at Lamont and were replaced with Japanese POWs and a few Korean prisoners. At this time, Lamont Camp staff was succeeded by individuals experienced in dealing with Japanese prisoners, including Major Paul Johnson, the commanding officer. The Lamont Camp was also headquarters for two other branch camps in California.

In October 1945, Lamont was turned over to the base POW Camp at the Pomona Ordinance Depot in Pomona, California. Camp Lamont was officially closed on March 23, 1946. In January of 1954, 47 buildings from the Lamont POW Camp were put up for sale to nearby farmers as “suitable for storage or other farm needs.”305 Many were presumably relocated to sites in and around Bakersfield.

The War Effort: Labor & Materials Shortages
With men called into the service, Southern California women were often employed to fill open positions in the defense plants traditionally held by men. These “Rosie the Riveters” were less commonplace in Bakersfield. An article in The Bakersfield Californian from 1941, describing the employment of women in places like Los Angeles and Long Beach, suggested this line of employment was not suitable for the city’s women.306 However, the reality of labor shortages began to set in and the Bakersfield employers such as the Santa Fe Railroad, taxi companies,

304 Jeffrey E. Geiger, German Prisoners of War at Camp Cooke (Mechanicsburg, PA; Sunbury Press, Inc. 2018), 194. 305 Classified advertisement, “47 Buildings,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 8, 1954, 35. 306 “Girl Cab Drivers, Messengers Appear,” The Bakersfield Californian, July 18, 1941, 9.

Barracks at the Lamont Camp, August 31, 1945. (The Bakersfield Californian)

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banks, and the local post office began hiring women. By 1942, Kern County Union High School established a mechanical arts class especially for women.307 Running counter to this trend, Bakersfield police hired their first policewoman in 1941. Mary Holman Dodge (1912-2006) was born in Bakersfield, daughter of a local blacksmith, and graduated from Bakersfield Junior College in 1933. The local League of Women Voters pressured the police force to hire a woman officer. Dodge worked traffic and juvenile details and was later promoted to Lieutenant.308
Another important piece of women’s history occurred during World War II, when Elynor Rudnick (1923-1996), daughter of ranching pioneer Oscar Rudnick, returned to Bakersfield bitten by the aviation bug. During the War, she worked in airplane manufacturing plants and trained to become a pilot. On her father’s farm property near present-day Union Avenue and Watts Drive, she built an oil-dirt landing strip and a private airport. From here, she operated a successful crop-dusting business. In 1948, Elynor was recruited to train pilots at the Bakersfield Airpark for the Haganah Air Service—an early iteration of the Israeli Air Force. From March to June 1948, she trained thirteen pilots who became the Israeli Air Force essential players in the establishment of Israel. The city’s Jewish community rallied around her efforts providing uniforms and meals as support. Elynor’s Bakersfield Air Park was purchased by the City of Bakersfield in 1985.309
One of the challenges facing the Bakersfield police department during Dodge’s early tenure was the Zoot Suit movement. The wearing of baggy Zoot Suits became popular among young Mexican American and African American men and popularized by entertainers like Cab Calloway. Servicemen and many other people viewed the profligate use of fabric in making the suits was anti-American and a waste of wartime resources. This resulted in a number of violent clashes with an underpinning of racism. In June of 1943, Los Angeles experienced a series of incidents that became known as the “Zoot Suit Riots.” On June 11th, 200 zoot-suiters participated in several disturbances at the Kentucky Street carnival in East Bakersfield.310 No arrests were made.

Like many cities, building in Bakersfield practically ceased during World War II, as Americans focused on the war effort and labor and materials shortages were the norm. Only two building permits were issued in Kern County in 1941, no permits in 1942, three permits in 1943, and 37 permits in 1944.311 While the war effort brought economic stability to the region, it did not bring a significant increase in population. In 1940, the population of the greater Bakersfield area was estimated at 74,000. By the close of the war, it had increased less than ten percent.312 However, by the end of 1944, the City of Bakersfield reported the beginning of a local building

307 “School Shop Course for Girls Lauded,” The Bakersfield Californian, December 16, 1942, 9. 308 Mary Holmand Dodge Interview by Betty Parker, October 23, 1977, California State College, Bakersfield. 309 “Powerful Israeli Air Force Has Roots Here,” The Bakersfield Californian, June 7, 2013, D1-2. 310 “Police Quell Near-Riot by 200 Zoot Suit Enthusiasts,” The Bakersfield Californian, June 12, 1943, 1. 311 “October Building Hits Five-Year Record High,” The Bakersfield Californian, November 7, 1945, 9. 312 JRP Historical Consulting, 8.

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boom, with more than 60 residential permits issued in December alone, compared with just 80 permits during the preceding 11 months.313
During this period, African Americans continued to be restricted to living primarily in the Sunset/Mayflower area. Those who could afford a mortgage were unable to obtain bank loans and typically bought “on contract.” Buying on contract was a predatory loan practice, in which predominantly white owners (often real estate agents) “sold” a home on a rent-to-own basis and title was never officially transferred.314 One such broker who operated in the Sunset/Mayflower neighborhood was Claude Blodgett (1878-1972). He sold real estate in the city from 1918 until the early 1970s. He was a member of the Bakersfield Board of Realtors and developed Tract 1286/Mayflower Annex adjacent to the Mayflower area.315 In 1944, Elmer Karpe, a white real estate agent, developed new homes in the Mayflower area with a new twist on restrictive covenants: homes were not to be sold to white buyers, only African Americans.316 They were located in Block 10 of the Mayflower Addition bordered by Graham Street to the north, Texas Street to the south, Nixon Street to the east, and Augusta Street to the west. They numbered some 48 parcels in total.317 Johnie Mae Parker, an author and activist, credited Karpe with causing “white flight” in the Mayflower neighborhood as a result of the development covenant.318 De facto segregation during this period extended beyond residential exclusion. Users of Central Park were almost exclusively African American and were the only ones to use the pool there. Black moviegoers were also relegated to the balconies of the Fox and Californian theaters.319
It was also during this period that five men met at a Basque restaurant in Bakersfield and formed the Kern County Basque Club. Established in 1944, the club sponsored cultural events in the community.320 Early leaders of the club included John Ansolabehere, Frank Maitia, Sr., Felix Etcheverry, Raymond Castanchoa, and Inocencio Jaurena.

THEMES
THEME: Wartime Civic/Institutional Development
Soon after Pearl Harbor, Kern County Union High School established classes designed to prepare students for war work. During the 1930s, the high school and Bakersfield Junior College had embraced aviation, offering classes in related mechanics and spawning a young student aviators club. By March of 1941, 187 former students of these two institutions were

313 JRP Historical Consulting, 9.
314 Donato Cruz, “‘America’s Newest City’: 1950s Bakersfield and the Making of the Modern Suburban Segregated Landscape,” Master of Art History, California State University, Bakersfield, 2020, 50-51. 315 Cruz, 50-51.
316 Elmer F. and Florence J. Karpe, “Block Restrictions: Mayflower Block 10.” City Hall Records (14018133) July 25, 1944, 21-22, quoted in Cruz, 17.
317 “Only Two Weeks Old,” The Bakersfield Californian, March 23, 1940, no page. 318 Johnie Mae Parker, How Long? Not Long! The Battle to End Poverty in Bakersfield (Bakersfield, CA: Johnie Mae Parker, 1987), 2, quoted in Cruz, 17.
319 Gia, Race, Sports and Black Unity, 162-163, quoted in Cruz, 17. 320 Mary Grace Paquette, Basques to Bakersfield (Bakersfield, CA: Kern County Historical Society, 1982), 93.

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employed in aircraft factories throughout California.321 It is likely that this vocational training program was an influential factor in Lockheed/Vega’s decision to open the plant in Bakersfield.

Regardless, the educators had powerful alliances with the manufacturers. By 1944, Vultee was providing an actual dive-bomber, the Vultee Vengeance, for the Advanced Aviation Mechanics class to work on. These classes took place at a hangar at the Kern County Airport leased by the school district. However, not all aviation mechanics classes were located off campus; an army liaison plane, a Taylor Craft L-2A, was housed in the Mechanical Arts Building (14th and F streets) where boys learned repairs and maintenance.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1941-1945
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of civic/institutional development from the wartime period in Bakersfield
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Wartime Commercial Development
Currently, there is little evidence that there was significant commercial development in the city during the World War II period. A review of The Bakersfield Californian suggests that the city’s prewar commercial development was sufficient to sustain the community during a period characterized by shortages and rationing. In other smaller communities, such as nearby Tehachapi, some commercial development did occur.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e

321 “Airplane Work is Lauded By Boys From KCUHS,” The Bakersfield Californian, March 18, 1941, 8.

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Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1941-1945
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of commercial development from the wartime period in Bakersfield
 May be a rare remaining example of auto-related commercial development from the period, particularly along Union Avenue
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

THEME: Wartime Industrial Development
In addition to the location of major defense companies like Lockheed/Vega, the Kern County Chamber of Commerce organized an industrial council. In 1941, a plan by San Jose-based Harrison B. Judd attempted to organize and pool small industrial shops’ skills and facilities for defense production. Judd conducted a survey, the purpose of which was to determine how small manufacturing facilities could be combined to offer competitive bids for defense contracts. It is currently unknown which, if any Bakersfield industrial organizations participated or how successful this plan may have been.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1941-1945
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of industrial development from the wartime period in Bakersfield
 May be associated with an important industry in Bakersfield from the period, particularly defense-related and other wartime industries

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 May be a substantial feature of a larger municipal or regional infrastructural system, such as water, power, or transportation (automobile)
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact industrial development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Wartime Residential Development
As with many cities, residential development in Bakersfield ground to a virtual standstill during World War II. Existing housing stock was sufficient to support the small increases in population described above. What was not sufficient, however, was housing for war workers who came to Bakersfield and Kern County during the period.

Adelante Vista under construction, c. 1942. (Housing Authority of the County of Kern) as shown in Donato Cruz, “‘America’s Newest City:’ 1950s Bakersfield and the Making of the Modern Suburban Segregated Landscape.”

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The Housing Authority of the County of Kern was founded to supply temporary housing to people who relocated to the area for temporary employment in the late 1930s.322 During the 1940s, construction focused on war worker housing. Projects included Santa Fe Homes [2617 B Street], which provided 50 housing units. Another, the Rio Vista Homes [517 Roberts Lane/McArthur Drive and Wainwright Drive], provided 60 units. Adelante Vista [1405 E.

California Avenue] provided 50 units and housed primarily African Americans.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1941-1945
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of single-family or multi-family residential development from the wartime period in Bakersfield
 May be an intact example of war worker housing in Bakersfield  May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

322 Cruz, 69.

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POSTWAR PROSPERITY & EXPANSION, 1946-1952
As Bakersfield music began to evolve in the 1950s, so did the life of the established Okie. A strong economy…and the freewheeling honky-tonk narrative so common in West Coast country music—a reflection of a more confident and strongly defined Okie culture—was something postwar America was ready to embrace. The result was one of those rare confluences of people, place, and time, a melding of talent, opportunity and purpose that built Bakersfield into a city transformed by music.323
Robert E. Price, The Bakersfield Sound
The end of World War II signaled a period of long-awaited peace, prosperity, and optimism for the United States. In many ways, California was the symbolic and tangible benefactor of these ideals. Returning GIs flocked to the sunny state to start families and partake in the economic boom. However, no matter where they went they were met with a serious housing shortage.

The same was true in Bakersfield.

To help ease this crisis, the federal government established the 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, known as the “G.I. Bill.” The G.I. Bill provided residential mortgages to returning servicemen, administered by the Veterans Administration (VA), whose requirements closely paralleled the guidelines of the FHA program. The net result was that veterans could combine the two mortgage vehicles, thus eliminating the need for any down-payment. Also, in mid-1946, Congress passed the Veterans Emergency Housing Act (VEHA) that expedited the availability of housing for veterans by providing private industry subsidies for construction materials as a way of addressing materials shortages.

As a third strategy for kick-starting housing production, the FHA provided incentives for large- scale builders of residential subdivisions in the form of governmental credit and financial subsidies that made the construction of homes, not just the subdivision of land, more profitable. Thus, a new class of “merchant builders” was born that transformed California’s vacant land into suburban housing tracts for the everyman. Closer to home, in 1943 Kern County established the Postwar Planning Council to address the housing shortage and plan for growth on a local basis. However, its efficacy was likely limited as the Council was disbanded by the end of 1945.

California Way of Life
Peace, prosperity, and optimism fueled California’s architectural design even before the war ended. Architecture and design magazines, as well as popular media and newspapers, fueled consumer demand for the “California way of life.” Reliant upon the state’s temperate climate, architects evolved the ideas of modern design from before the war into a full-blown movement of Mid-Century Modernism. Inspired by Southern California’s aerospace industry, architects

323 Price, 27.

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incorporated new methods and materials into their projects, resulting in one of the most experimental periods of avant-garde architectural design.

Many of these projects received widespread acclaim in the national trade and popular media, thus reinforcing the promise and appeal of California living. One of the leading architectural trade magazines of the period, Arts + Architecture, sponsored the highly influential Case Study House Program to encourage experiments in American residential architecture. Founded by magazine editor John Entenza, the Program lasted from 1945 until 1966 and produced 36 residential designs and 26 built projects. Southern California’s most innovative and avant-garde architects were invited to design and construct a house that would be open for display to the public prior to being sold. Participating architects included Richard J. Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Craig Ellwood, Rodney Walker, J.R. Davidson, Jones and Emmons, and Charles and Ray Eames.

The designs were experienced in person by thousands of visitors, and by millions more through the art photography of Julius Shulman, transforming a number of these houses into popular icons of Modern Movement.

While the Case Study House Program was perhaps the most innovative of these programs, newspapers, magazines and construction products sponsored hundreds of smaller but similar showcase home projects. It was against this backdrop that veterans and their wives viewed the tract developments that sprang up in the former fields and citrus groves throughout California.

While the FHA and VA programs often restricted the use of some modern design elements— such as flat roofs—the large subdivisions of California Ranch homes often incorporated large expanses of glass, open plans, and other modern elements into their more traditional designs.

Still other architects turned to prefabrication ideas to solve the housing crisis. Cliff May and Chris Choate’s Ranch House Supply Corporation was one of the few architect-owned companies that was successful. By 1954, it was demonstrated that the houses could be erected by two carpenters and two laborers in one day.324
In 1949, Kern County reported that most of the 34 new subdivisions recorded with the County that year were in and around Bakersfield. Thus, the value of Bakersfield’s agricultural land was now clearly established: the new bumper crop would be houses.

Bakersfield Architects & the USC School
In addition to providing low/no cost home mortgage loans to veterans, the G.I. Bill also offered former servicemen the opportunity to continue their education. By providing generous tuition relief for college study, the G.I. Bill enabled hundreds of thousands of veterans to earn university degrees. Among them were scores of Kern County Union High School graduates who had studied architecture with Clarence Cullimore, Sr. An entire generation of former Cullimore students used the G.I. Bill to fund or continue with their architectural education.

Many of them turned to the USC School of Architecture, where they could now apply G.I. Bill funds to their tuition.

324 Katie Papineau, “The Carefree Californian: Cliff May Homes 1952-1958,” in Carefree California: Cliff May and the Romance of the Ranch House (NY, Rizzoli, 2012), 187.

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Even prior to World War II, USC had transformed its architecture curriculum from the traditional Beaux Arts style of education to one that embraced modern design and contemporary problem-solving. The Beaux Arts system was derived from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris which involved copying Classical orders of columns, designing in Classical styles informed by the Greeks and Romans, and creating studio designs based on elaborate or fanciful projects, such as for the wealthy nobility. Prior to the war, USC Dean Arthur C. Weatherhead was one of the first to reform college curriculum, teach modern design, and anticipate real- world problems, such as low-income housing or the postwar house. With the arrival of Dean Arthur Gallion, the program abandoned any vestiges of the Beaux Arts and set about delivering a practical curriculum that would train the next generation of modern architects.

It was into this environment that a steady pipeline of talented Cullimore students marched.

Many of them excelled. They included Allan Choy, William Paynter, Loren Durr, Clifford Harding, Eugene Hougham, and Clarence Cullimore, Jr.325 At USC, they were trained in the ways of post-and-beam construction. In the summers and after graduation, they inevitably returned to Bakersfield where they were employed and mentored by local architects in practice, as the postwar housing shortage and building boom in Bakersfield meant there was plenty of work for local firms.

By late 1952, there would be even more work for local architects. Two major earthquakes hit the city, laying waste to its downtown, the majority of which had been built during the early boom years and thus was constructed of unreinforced masonry or hollow-clay tile. Many buildings that did not immediately fall down in the first tremor were so structurally compromised that they collapsed during the second one, or during one of a series of large aftershocks. All told, these events rendered hundreds of buildings throughout Bakersfield uninhabitable.

The Bakersfield Sound: A National Identity for the City Bakersfield is known to millions of Americans as the birthplace of country music’s “Bakersfield Sound.” As a result, the city’s nickname was “Nashville West.” Enabled by the Dust Bowl migration of Okies during the 1930s, the development of the Fender Telecaster guitar, and the continued hard-scrabble life of migrant workers and their descendants, the city produced a wave of distinctive country music that was twangier, sharper, and rawer than was being produced by the commercial treadmill of Nashville in the 1950s.326 The Sound was fostered both by Bakersfield natives, and some transplants, who found local inspiration and audiences for their music.

One of the most visible proponents of the Bakersfield Sound was Buck Owens (1929-2006).

Owens moved to Bakersfield in 1951, formed a band called the Buckaroos, and began performing in the city’s dozens of honky-tonks. Between 1963 and 1967, Owens had 19 No. 1 hit songs on the Billboard Country Chart. He also was a studio musician in Los Angeles, and he parlayed appearances on local Bakersfield television shows into appearing on the nationally

325 Clarence “Cully” Cullimore, Jr., had a successful career in Sacramento with the state architect’s office. He was chiefly known for helping to develop California’s State Historic Building Code. 326 Price, 14.

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syndicated show Hee Haw, and ultimately into his own Buck Owen’s Ranch Show. Early residences for Owens included 206 Harding Avenue and 204 Jones Street; during the late 1960s and mid-1970s he lived at 309 Panorama Drive.

Another Bakersfield Sound legend was Merle Haggard (1937-2016). Born in the nearby town of Oildale, Haggard had 38 No. 1 songs between 1966 and 1987. His hard edges were in part the result of a stint in San Quentin Prison after breaking into Fred & Gene’s Café [3317 State Road] in 1957. Like Owens, Haggard also performed in Bakersfield’s many honky-tonks. In fact, Haggard and his band, the Strangers, recorded with local label Talley Records before securing a contract with Capitol Records. The small house Haggard grew up in, later known as “Hag’s boxcar,” was originally situated about 250 feet from the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks; it now sits at the Kern County Museum. Haggard credited the house with being the influence for many of his classic songs.327 During the 1970s, Haggard lived at 18200 Highway 178.

Bakersfield enjoyed a lively club scene during the 1950s. The Blackboard [3603 Chester Avenue] was the most famous club, welcoming the many entertainers associated with the Bakersfield Sound. Opened by Joe Limi and Frank Zabaleta in 1949, The Blackboard featured a mirrored bar, jukebox, wooden dance floor, and shuffleboard table. Frequent performers included Tommy Collins, Fuzzy Owen, Lewis Talley, Billy Mize, Bonnie Owens, Jean Shepard, Wanda Jackson, Roy Nichols, and Red Simpson. The Blackboard closed in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

The Lucky Spot [2303 Edison Highway] was another one of the clubs where Merle Haggard entertained early in his career and “where the Bakersfield sound was forged.”328 The Clover Club [2611 Edison Highway], operated by Thurman Billings, was another one of the clubs along Edison Highway. Tex’s Barrel House [1524 Golden State Highway] took its name from a building at oil refineries that store refined oil awaiting transport. The Rainbow Gardens [2301 S.

Union Avenue], situated along the Highway 99 Tourist Corridor (see below) attracted out-of- town talent including Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzell, as well as locals like Ferlin Husky. Another important club was Trout’s [805 N. Chester Avenue].

Another important contributing factor to the popularity of the Bakersfield Sound and its associated singers, songwriters, and musicians was local television and radio stations. In the late 1940s, Herbert “Cousin Herb” Lester Henson started a live daily musical program on Bakersfield-based station KERO-TV known as Cousin Herb’s Trading Post. Another rival program was The Jimmy Thomason Show. Local radio station KUZZ Studios [406 Chester Avenue] broadcast country music, and specifically the Bakersfield Sound, beginning in 1960.

The radio station’s call letters, KIKK, were changed to KUZZ to play on the popularity of “Kuzzin Herb.”
A number of local record labels were created to foster the Bakersfield Sound. They included Mar-Vel, Grande, Kord, Global, Pike, Rose, Stereoscope, Super Sonic, Three-Star, Hillcrest, Bakersfield, and Talley Records. Talley Records Studio was originally established at 601 E. 18th Street by Lewis Talley and Charles Fuzzy Owen in 1954. Around 1955, Talley Records was

327 Price, 228.
328 Price, 231.

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located at 911 Baker Street. In 1957, Talley built a new recording studio his backyard at 419 Hazel Street.329 The Bakersfield Civic Auditorium [1001 Truxtun Avenue] was also an important site for the Bakersfield Sound. In 1963, Capitol Records recorded the Country Music Hootenanny live album, featuring Collins, Owens, Haggard, and many other local musicians.

Although Owens and Haggard are the most well-known musicians associated with the Bakersfield Sound, there were many others that played important roles in the movement. They include singer/songwriter Tommy Collins, singer Bonnie Owens, musician Red Simpson, entertainer Bill Woods, and musician Ferlin Husky, all of whom were Bakersfield residents.

Tommy Collins lived at 2600 21st Street.

Early Civic Unity Activism
Poverty in the neighborhoods around Bakersfield was linked to the substandard living conditions experienced by many farmworkers. The Kern County farmworker population of the late 1940s was multi-racial and included African American migrants from Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as whites, Mexicans, and Mexican Americans.330 During the immediate postwar years, the Kern Council for Civic Unity (KCCU) was formed to address civil rights in Bakersfield and beyond. The KCCU drew significantly on the larger efforts of the California Federation for Civic Unity (CFCU). In January 1950, CFCU leader Rabbi Sanford Rosen of Temple Beth El [2906 Loma Linda Drive] highlighted the difficulty of organizing the KCCU.

Another driving force against discrimination and segregation was the Greater Bakersfield Ministerial Association. Their key issue was to ban the display of discriminatory signage in restaurants and businesses. Led by Rev. Lynn Wood of the First Methodist Church, Rev. John Whiteneck, Jr. of the First Congregational Church, and the local NAACP chapter secretary Clara Howard, the association lobbied the City Council to pass Ordinance 860 on February 14, 1950. They lobbied for a similar practice with the Kern County Board of Supervisors. In addition to the Greater Bakersfield Ministerial Association, the NAACP was instrumental in instituting the ban. President H.H. Collins and Clara Howard lead the fight for that organization. Another important civil rights organization formed in Bakersfield during the late 1940s was the Mexican-American Community Service Organization (CSO).331 Expanded public housing was another key issue that mobilized urban civil rights groups in Bakersfield. In March 1953, a heated political battle emerged regarding the construction of the Oro Vista Housing Project. A local referendum—Measure 4, which sought to rezone areas for public housing—was defeated. While this did not affect the partnership between the Kern County Housing Authority and the City of Bakersfield, it did, however, delay the project.

329 Louie Talley also operated coffee shops around town, including the Louis Talley Café (2111 Edison Highway). These addresses are from the Price book on the Bakersfield Sound. No corroboration was found in local newspapers. 330 Oliver A. Rosales, “Civil Rights ‘Beyond the Fields,’” in Civil Rights and Beyond, ed. Brian D. Behnken (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2016), 44.
331 Although some sources credit Cesar Chavez with founding the Bakersfield chapter of the CSO, the Californian indicates the CSO was active in Bakersfield proper in 1955—before Chavez would have been associated with the organization.

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Sunset-Mayflower and the Lakewood Avenue Music Scene
During the late 1940s, the impoverished conditions of the Sunset-Mayflower district outside the city raised concerns in Bakersfield. Slum clearance efforts were reinstated after the war. On February 22, 1945, the Sunset-Mayflower Progressive Club was formed by the area’s African American residents, with Ben Fields as the founding President. The club’s purpose was to advocate for physical improvements to the area—such as sidewalks, streetlights, sewers, garbage pick-up, and other infrastructure. The Club also worked for annexation into the City of Bakersfield.332
By the mid-1940s, the district’s population was estimated at 3,500 residents, the majority of which were living in substandard housing conditions.333 Some families adaptively reused abandoned railroad cars for shelter. It was estimated that there were approximately 1,700 dwellings in the area, with 1,300 of them deemed substandard.334 Newspaper accounts suggested the boundaries of the area generally ran from E. California Avenue on the north, Brundage Lane on the south, the railroad tracks on the east, and Union Avenue on the west. In some accounts, the area included adjacent property belonging to the California Cotton Cooperative Association.335 In early 1951, annexation efforts were successful and Sunset- Mayflower became part of the city proper. The impact of the annexation can be seen by comparing the city’s 1950 and 1960 African Americans populations: 1,495 in 1950 and approximately 7,500 in 1966.336
That same year, Franklin H. Williams reported on the living conditions at Sunset-Mayflower for the NAACP magazine, The Crisis. Williams stated, “In all of my experience as an NAACP worker throughout the deep South, I have never seen conditions as dreadful and unsanitary, and depressing as those under which thousands of Negro migrant workers have to live on the outskirts of Bakersfield.”337 Williams indicated that there was no sanitation and no lighting in the area populated by approximately 10,000 Black residents.

A study of the 1950 U.S. Census for the Sunset-Mayflower neighborhood reveals that the majority of African American men were employed as farm laborers. Black women who worked were engaged primarily as domestic servants. However, the census reveals that many of those living in the area were unemployed.

Discussion of how to resolve the substandard housing conditions in Sunset-Mayflower were a hot topic of the mid-1950s. Some advocated for low-income housing projects such as the five- acre, 50-unit Adelante Vista project [1405 E. California Avenue], built in 1941 by the Kern County Housing Authority, and Rio Vista (517 Roberts Lane/McArthur Drive/Wainwright Drive) in 1942. Rio Vista was designed by Charles H. Biggar and Ernest L. McCoy. In 1953, the first 70 units of the Oro Vista Housing Project [1104 S. Robertson Street] opened its doors.

332 “Residents of Sunset-Mayflower Area Push Annexation Action,” The Bakersfield Californian, March 8, 1949, 20. 333 “City Planners Approve Two Annexation Proposals,” The Bakersfield Californian, March 10, 1949, 19. 334 “Rapid Rehab Work Said Remarkable,” The Bakersfield Californian, December 31, 1953, 40. 335 “Annexation Problems, Rezoning Bids Up Before City Planners,” The Bakersfield Californian, April 6, 1949, 21. 336 “Negro Youths Battle Police in Bakersfield,” Madera Tribune, May 1966, 2 337 Franklin H. Williams, “The Bakersfield Community,” The Crisis, vol. 58, no 4. (April 1951), 231-232, quoted in Cruz, 89.

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Concerns that application requirements were too high for area residents to meet, community advocates expressed outrage.

Another approach to quickly remediating the substandard housing in the area were plans to bring in surplus dwellings from the emergency houses built by the Public Housing Administration during World War II. Two different developers attempted this approach. The first attempt resulted in just three of the houses being established by Texas-based Bishop Brothers. The second attempt was met with resistance by the City’s planning department and local contractors because the homes did not meet Bakersfield’s building code. Although two sample houses were erected at E. Brundage Lane and Bliss Street in August 1954, they were rejected by Kern County Officials and ordered to be dismantled.

As previously discussed, the Bakersfield Sound dominated the city. However, a lesser known, but no less important set of venues within the Black community were the bars and music clubs that lined Lakewood Avenue (present-day S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) between East California Avenue and E. Brundage Lane. These clubs were part of the commercial district that served the Sunset-Mayflower district populated by African Americans.

Lakeview Avenue was the center of the Black community’s nightlife. The clubs attracted big- name African American performers from the Chitlin’ Circuit. The clubs included Mom’s Place [515 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard]; Delwood Café [619 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard]; Pastime Club [621 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard]; Ruby’s Place [625 S. Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard]; the Blue Note Café [508 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard]; and the Cotton Club [624 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard]. Performers at these clubs included Little Richard, Fats Domino, B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Etta James, the Platters, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Nat King Cole, Wilson Pickett, Ike Turner, and others. By the early 1970s, the Lakeview clubs began to disappear. The Delwood Café was destroyed by fire.

The Lakewood area was also home to other Black-owned businesses including barbershops, liquor stores, service stations, and grocery stores, including Jerry’s Grocery [502 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard]. However, the period after the war proved to be one that limited the demand for Black farm labor. The U.S. government implemented the Bracero program, which allowed valley farmers to hire seasonal guest labor from Mexico. At the same time, mechanized cotton harvesters and chemical defoliants limited the role of humans in cotton harvesting. In 1958, mechanical cotton harvesters picked less than 40 percent of the cotton in the San Joaquin Valley. By the mid-1960s, almost no cotton was picked by hand, impacting the fortunes of the local African American community.338
Highway 99 Entertainment & Tourist Corridor
By 1952, a three-mile stretch of Union Avenue was home to 23 motels, 29 restaurants, and 44 gas stations or automotive repair shops. Many of these businesses had neon signs to attract

338 Michael Eissinger, “The Transplantation of African American and Cotton Culture to California’s Rural San Joaquin Valley During the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” presented at the 29th Annual Conference of the California Council for the Promotion of History, Monterey, California, October 22-24, 2009, 13.

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passing motorists that gave the area a “Vegas-like” feel. Some called it “The Broadway of Bakersfield.”339 The Highway 99 Tourist Corridor had its roots in early automobile culture.

During the 1920s, the automobile supplanted the railroad as the preferred means of vacation transportation. In the 1920s, the automobile was the leading consumer product in the country and by 1925 there was one automobile for every six Americans.340 The automobile and the freedom it represented touched the American spirit of individualism and exploration. The new “motor-tourist”—upper and middle-class alike— was lured by the promise of adventure and unencumbered by the routes and schedules of the railroad.

Beginning in the 1930s, a stretch of present-day Union Avenue between Ming and California avenues began developing as an entertainment and tourist corridor. At the time, Highway 99, the chief inland route between Northern and Southern California, ran along Union Avenue in Bakersfield, bringing a steady stream of tourists to the city.341 In 1930, Oscar and C.L. Tomerlin built the Bakersfield Inn [1100 Union Avenue], a lavish hotel in the style of a Spanish Villa. Over time, the Inn grew from 26 rooms to approximately 325 rooms—spanning both sides of Union Avenue and connected by the pedestrian bridge that was the first “Bakersfield” sign. The original sign was 130 feet long and weighed 30 tons.342 The Highway 99 Entertainment and Tourist Corridor was at its pinnacle by mid-century. Other motels along Union Avenue included the mid-1950s El Adobe Motel [251 S. Union Avenue], which later became the Hacienda Motel, a sister operation to the Hacienda Hotel in Las Vegas

339 Price, 55-56.
340 “Transportation—General 1923-28: Automobiles and the Highways,” Calvin Coolidge Papers, American Memory Collection, Library of Congress.
341 In 1963, Highway 99 was officially rerouted two miles west of Union Avenue as a freeway, bypassing the corridor. 342 Price, 55-56.

Bakersfield Inn postcard, c. 1952. (Online Archive of California)

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and Hacienda Motels in Fresno and Indio.343 By 1968, the Hacienda was joined by the Desert Star Motel [516 S. Union Avenue]; the El Don Motel [800 S. Union Avenue]; the Star-Liter Motel [900 S. Union Avenue]; the Sunland Motel [1000 S. Union Avenue]; the Eden Roc Inn Motel and Coffee Shop [1010 S. Union Avenue]; the Fairgrounds Motel [1102 S. Union Avenue]; the Sunset Motel [1108 S. Union Avenue]; Motelodge [1219 S. Union Avenue]; the Palms Motel & Cocktail Lounge [1338 S. Union Avenue]; the Ritz-El Motel, Coffee Shop and Service Station [1501 S. Union Avenue]; Hi-Way Motel [1635 S. Union Avenue]; the Fryer’s Motel [110 Truxtun Avenue/1641 Union Avenue]; and the Globe Motel [1701 S. Union Avenue].

Among the Union Avenue nightclubs was the Rainbow Gardens (mentioned above). Many of these clubs attracted entertainers and acts from Los Angeles or Las Vegas, and Bakersfield developed a reputation as a good place to try out new material or polish a set before going out on the road. Union Avenue was also home to what was considered the finest restaurant in the city: Maison Jaussaud French Restaurant and Nite Club [1001 S. Union Avenue]. It was built in 1949 by Dermide Jaussaud and was in continuous operation until it was sold in the mid-1980s.

The restaurant was also famous for having hosted the Shah of Iran for lunch during the mid- 1970s.344
Other hot spots along Union Avenue included the Saddle and Sirloin [101 S. Union Avenue], and the Crystal Inn near S. Union and Planz Road. These classic fine-dining restaurants served traditional American food and entertainment by a piano player or small combo. Union Avenue’s

343 For more on the El Adobe, read Gilbert Gia’s “El Adobe and Crystal Inn Nightclubs, 1936, 1958 (v.6),” 2014, Historic Bakersfield and Kern County, https://www.historicbakersfieldandkerncounty.com/_files/ugd/caae83_a805a9506fca4b198f5ebc689392a11a. pdf (accessed January 23, 1023).
344 “Wednesday Bako Bits: a trip down memory lane with Maison Jaussaud, Saddle and Sirloin and that time when the Shah of Iran stopped by for some food and libation,” Bakersfield Observed, April 24, 2017.

Fryer’s Motel postcard, no date. (Card Cow)

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association with vacationers traveling by automobile also meant that it was a popular area for drive-in restaurants.

In 2010, a Historic Resource Evaluation Report for the Relinquishment of State Route 204, four roadway bridges were identified as possessing historic value illustrating the evolution of road and bridge engineering and construction: the Union Avenue Underpass Bridge (Bridge No. 50- 0004), the Kern River Canal Bridge (Bridge No. 50-0033), the Stine Canal Bridge (Bridge No. 50- 0208), and the Calloway Canal Bridge (Bridge No. 50-0209).345 East Bakersfield
The Basque community benefited from postwar prosperity as well. Leo Narducci and Lino Tessandori built a market [1322 Kentucky Street] in 1948. In 1950, they sold it to Gino and Tony Ceccarelli and it became known as Gino and Tony’s. By now, all of Robinson Street was filled with Italian families with homes that had large gardens and numerous animals. New social organizations were formed in Bakersfield’s Latino community, including Acción Católica Mexicana, a young men’s group, and the Juventud Católica Feminina Mexicana (JCFM), for young women.346 The Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic parish was also quite active in the community in organizing social and sporting activities. As was the case in many California communities, Bakersfield’s Japanese community dispersed after their incarceration. By the 1960 Census, just 144 Japanese lived in Bakersfield.

345 All four of these bridges were determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Place as contributing elements of State Route 204. Chris Brewer, California Department of Transportation, District 6, Historic Resource Evaluation Report for the Relinquishment of State Route 204, August 2010, 10, 16. 346 The Bakersfield Californian documents the “Juventud Católica Feminina Mexicana” in its pages; the organization was often referred to as “J.C.F.M.”
Maison Jaussaud restaurant sign, no date. (Bakersfield Observed)

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Like so many southern and central California cities, Bakersfield was poised to propel itself into a period of postwar growth. Still fueled by the dual industries of oil and agriculture, and now poised to annex in new tracts of land on its periphery, Bakersfield was positioned to advance its status as the “Queen of the San Joaquin”. However, Mother Nature had other plans, as a powerful earthquake would soon rock the city, changing the trajectory of its postwar growth in a unique way—one that would distinguish Bakersfield from many other California communities.

THEMES
THEME: Postwar Civic/Institutional Development
Bakersfield’s postwar population growth and expansion were bound to lead to the need for new civic and institutional buildings. During these early postwar years, however, the city continued to be served by the buildings that had served the community for decades. While plans for expansion of existing structures and new ones to serve the rapidly growing eastern end of the city were likely on the boards, it took the earthquake of 1952 for city and county leaders to re- envision what the civic center of downtown required. In the meantime, small projects proceeded as restrictions on building materials eased.

By January of 1941, the need for secondary education for returning Bakersfield servicemen was acute. Plans were to expand the two-year Bakersfield Junior College program on the campus of Bakersfield High School to a four-year program. Initially, the intention was to build a new high school on a 37-acre site at 4th and P streets and absorb the existing high school for use by the college.347 By August 1946, enrollment in the Junior College was 1,100 students—the largest in the institution’s history.348
Plans for expanding East Bakersfield High School were also in play by 1947. By 1948, East Bakersfield High School enrollment reached 1,200 pupils while Bakersfield High School enrollment topped 3,800 students.349 By 1949, the school district acknowledged its anticipation of continued growth of the junior college, and began to rethink options for how best to utilize the its various school facilities and school funds to serve an ever-growing student population with increasingly varied education needs.

Around 1951, two of Bakersfield’s Black physicians built a medical clinic [234 Baker Street]. Dr.

Ernest W. Williams, Jr., M.D. had been a front-line surgeon during World War II. In 1947, he came to Bakersfield to build a practice. In 1949, he advertised in a Bay Area professional journal for a partner in medicine. Dr. Homer Myles answered the call, and for many years was the only African American dentist between Los Angeles and San Francisco.350 Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e

347 “School Growth Program Told,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 1, 1946, 8. 348 “Returning Veterans Swell Student Registration at High School, College” The Bakersfield Californian, August 22, 1946, 8. 349 “Rush Back to School Greatest in History,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 7, 1948, 15. 350 Gia, Race, Sports and Black Unity, 197.

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Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1946-1952
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of civic/institutional development from the postwar period in Bakersfield
 May be associated with the burgeoning local music scene and the development of the Bakersfield Sound
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Postwar Commercial Development
The modernization of storefronts and façades downtown continued during the early postwar period. Also during this period, downtown got two new dedicated department store buildings.

J.C. Penney [1504-10 19th Street/1901 Chester Avenue] built a 4-story building at the northwest corner of 19th St and Chester Ave in 1947, designed in the Streamline Moderne by Harold S. Johnson. A new F.W. Woolworth Co. department store building [1400 19th Street], was constructed in 1950, also designed in the Streamline Moderne style.351 This was the third commercial building at the northwest corner of 19th and K streets to contain a Woolworth’s store. In East Bakersfield, the Tejon Theater [1200 Baker Street] opened on June 17, 1947. In addition to the movie theater, there were four attached storefronts designed by Charles H.

Biggar, C.B. Alford, and William J. Thomas two years prior.352 In addition to building new commercial buildings, some merchants expanded and upgraded their existing stores. After World War II, Bennie Shapiro (retired from being a merchant, now living in Los Angeles) turned Bakersfield developer. In 1945, he engaged Charles H. Biggar to design a commercial store [1122 19th Street]. The new Shaprio’s Department Store opened in

351 This property was listed on the Bakersfield Register of Historic Places in 2022. 352 “Opening Tuesday for Tejon Theater,” The Bakersfield Californian, June 16, 1947, 12.

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April of 1948. In 1950, Shapiro also built restaurant space for the Clock Café [1717 Chester Avenue].353
The large new postwar residential subdivisions required supportive commercial development that typically took the form of suburban shopping centers. A prime example of this was the Westchester Village Shopping Center (F Street between 30th Street and Golden State Frontage Avenue). Houchin Development Company developed the large shopping center with a department store, drug store, furniture stores, ladies’ apparel, men’s and boys’ stores, restaurants, a service station, and other suburban shops.

On April 14, 1951, Hillcrest Shopping Center opened its doors with 16 businesses. Developed by Col. Howard Nichols, it served the nearby Hillcrest residential development. With its slogan, “Parking is always a pleasure,” it embodied the move toward suburban shopping destinations in the postwar period.354 By 1955, Hillcrest had doubled the number of businesses serving the community and now included men’s and women’s clothing stores, hardware store, radio and appliance store, Tot-to-Teen shop, supermarket, jewelry store, Laundromat and malt shop.355 Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1946-1952

353 “Veteran Restaurateur Reveals Opening of New Establishment,” The Bakersfield Californian, March 4, 1950, 3. 354 “Hillcrest Center Celebrating Its Fourth Birthday,” The Bakersfield Californian, March 29, 1955, 20. 355 “Hillcrest Center.”
19th Avenue looking west from K Street with F.W. Woolworth’s at right, c. 1950. (Kern County Museum)

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 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of commercial development from the postwar period in Bakersfield
 May be a rare remaining example of auto-related commercial development from the period, particularly along Union Avenue
 May be associated with the burgeoning local music scene and the development of the Bakersfield Sound
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact commercial development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

THEME: Postwar Industrial Development
During the period after World War II, Kern County leaders and members of the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce developed a campaign to lure more industrial development to Bakersfield. California’s growing population suggested that demand for industrially-produced products would increase. Companies were beginning to recognize that the west would be an important new market in the late 20th century.

Despite Bakersfield’s proximity to the railroad, city fathers quickly identified that it would be difficult to find industrial development sites in the city with all of the modern facilities that businesses would require. One area that was identified for new industrial development was the Mt. Vernon area, just east of the California Cotton-Cooperative plant. Over time, the district has grown to be bounded by Virginia Avenue to the north, just south of present-day Highway 58 to the south, Oswell Street to the east, and present-day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard to the west.

Among the industrial facilities located in this general area, the Kurth Battery Company was an example of the approximately 100 Kern County industries that employed 20 persons or less.356

356 “Kern Produces More Than Spuds, Battery Firm Says,” The Bakersfield Californian, May 11, 1950, 22.

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Until the Chamber of Commerce developed a coordinated and cohesive campaign to attract industrial development, the manufacturing facilities in the city were mostly small and light industrial. The real estate pages of The Bakersfield Californian also offered suggestions for locations for industrial facilities including along the Fruitvale and Rosedale highways.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1946-1952
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of industrial development from the postwar period in Bakersfield
 May be associated with an important industry in Bakersfield from the period, such as agriculture, or oil and gas
 May be a substantial feature of a larger municipal or regional infrastructural system, such as water, power, or transportation (automobile)
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact industrial development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Postwar Residential Development
To address the housing shortage in the Bakersfield area, developers turned to agricultural land outside the city center, and even beyond city limits. This pattern in turn led to a series of annexation movements. In addition to the lack of available land within the city’s existing boundaries, building outside Bakersfield proper allowed developers to avoid compliance with city ordinances regulating new construction. According to Postwar Housing Tracts Within the Greater Bakersfield Area, 1945-1973, “the development pattern of postwar subdivisions in the

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greater Bakersfield area shows concentric rings around the pre-war Bakersfield city limits for each decade of the postwar period.”357
Among the many young couples that came to Bakersfield during the postwar period were George and Barbara Bush. In 1949, George Bush was employed as an oilfield salesman by Dresser Industries. He and wife Barbara rented a house at 2101 Monterey Street; they stayed just three months. While the Bush’s residency in Bakersfield was short-lived, many others were coming to stay, work, and raise families. Thus was the intense need for houses that were quick to build and affordable to the average working American. By the mid-1950s, new residential development in the greater Bakersfield area was primarily concentrated northeast and southeast of the city center.

Figure 4. Tract Housing Developments 1945-1952
Development Subdivider Architect Date
Subdivided
Date Built
Out
Westchester Houchin & Bradford (C.

Elmer Houchin and
George L. Bradford)
Possibly Wilson Call;
worked with Gannon
Construction Co.
1945 1948-c. 1964
Gannon Gardens
No. 1 and No. 2
Ralph Smith Company
(Ralph L. Smith)
Attributed to Wilson
Call
1949-1950 1950
Hillcrest Howard Nichols 1948-1958 1948-c. 1955
Washington Park James Leslie Dandy Possibly Wilson Call 1949 1950-c. 1951 Rancho Vista Roland Curran and
Hugh Curran
Hugh Curran/
Mobilhome
1950 1950-c. 1956
Planz Park Rex Whittemore Harold J. Bissner, AIA;
E.R. Kufus
1950-1953 1953-c. 1959
Kavalier Court
Homes
Kavalier Development
Corporation
Robert Eddy c. 1952 c. 1952
Crestline Homes MVM Construction
(Floyd Ming)
Cliff May/Chris Choate 1952 c. 1953
Source: Key Postwar Housing Tracts Within the Greater Bakersfield Area, 1945-1973, supplemented by original research in The Bakersfield Californian.

One of the earliest suburban residential tracts developed in Bakersfield was Westchester, bordered by the Southern Pacific Railroad to the north, 24th and H streets to the south and east, and the Stine Canal to the west. Developed by Houchin & Bradford (a partnership between C. Elmer Houchin and George L. Bradford), the plans included 750 houses and an adjacent retail/commercial center. The developers’ plans were subject to serious delays due to shortages of building materials in the postwar period. During the delay, the two partners dissolved their initial partnership and formed the Westchester Development Corporation, which was the subdivider of record. Comprised of irregularly-shaped tracts with curvilinear street patterns, Westchester became developed with two- and three-bedroom Ranch-style homes that met the FHA and VA loan requirements. Gannon Construction Company were the

357JRP Historical Consulting, 17.

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builders.358 Westchester had restrictive covenants, and as a result became one of the more desirable postwar tracts. In 1949, the Houchin Development Corporation was formed for 60 additional acres that would become the commercial center.359 Westchester also offered options for more customized homes. Houchin recruited high-end Los Angeles-based builder Lewis Stoner to construct 24 such houses that could compete in quality with nearby custom homes.360 Another builder, Ken Mynatt, offered “custom” homes in Westchester, marketed as “Farmaire” homes, which were scattered around the development.

There were also several of the “rustic farm-type homes” erected, including at 2529 Alder Street and 2480 Beech Street.361 Mynatt also built Farmaire homes in other tracts. By 1950, more than 500 homes had been constructed.362
Additional early residential tracts were Gannon Gardens No. 1 and Gannon Gardens No. 2.

Ralph L. Smith, Jr. subdivided the land and partnered with local contractors Joseph and William Gannon, of Gannon Construction Co., to build the homes. Gannon Gardens No. 1 was a 20-acre, 83-lot tract fronted on Brundage Lane just east of Oak Street, and bounded to the north by Bank Street. Gannon Gardens No. 2. consisted of 189 lots on Oak Lane bordered by Palm Street to the north, Real Road to the west, and included several lots south of Bank Street along Western, Wetherley, and Oakdale drives. Both Gannon Gardens tracts were designed with alleys and vehicular access at the rear of the lots. The houses themselves, attributed to architect Wilson Call, were designed in the Minimal Traditional style, with simple rectangular footprints and pitched side-gabled roofs.363
The Hillcrest development was subdivided at the end of the 1940s and included 530 residential lots. The area was developed by Harold Nichols, who appears to have applied a different approach from most tract developers during the period. Rather than building a series of replicated designs, Nichols built a series of individual showcase homes, to bring the public to the neighborhood and inspire the desire for the newest in home design. In Fall of 1948, Nichols built a model home [1728 Locust Ravine]. The following year, Nichols held a contest between three model homes built by local contractors: the “Hillburn” (by Johnson & Johnson, [2708 Hillburn Road], the “Windsor” [1601 Crestmont Drive], and the Ranch-style “Crestview” by Willard K. Michael [1628 Country Club Drive]. In 1949, Nichols constructed his own home in Hillcrest [1737 Crestmont Drive], designed by his nephew, architect Edwin Shomate.

In 1950, Nichols built a Modern-style home [3205 Monterey Street] for U.S. Marine Sergeant Edward Szmurlo, which he promoted heavily as part of his sales strategy for Hillcrest. This was likely one of his “ModernArt” homes, which were available with a 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom plan. Two other models were erected at 3233 Monterey Street and 3213 Monterey Street.

358 It is unclear if Wilson Call’s designs for the Gannon Construction Company were used here. 359 JRP Historical Consulting, 40.
360 JRP Historical Consulting, 42.
361 Classified advertisement, The Bakersfield Californian, October 5, 1951, 36; Classified advertisement, The Bakersfield Californian, August 13, 1951, 26.
362 JRP Historical Consulting, 32.
363 The Wilson Call collection housed at CSUB has not been catalogued. However, a Wilson Call project list indicates that Call “designed 1,400 houses for Gannon Construction between 1949 and 1952,” suggesting that Gannon Gardens may have been among them.

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The Washington Park tract was a development by the longtime Bakersfield developer and realtor J.L. Dandy. Prior to World War II, Dandy constructed hundreds of custom and tract “Dandy Homes” in Los Angeles, Fresno, Redlands, and Bakersfield. The Washington Park development (Tract 1492) was unique in Bakersfield because Dandy purchased the land from the original owners/subdividers in 1949 and removed the restrictive covenants so that Blacks and Latinos could purchase homes there.364 Washington Park is believed to be one of the first postwar housing subdivisions in the metropolitan area where buyers of color were welcomed.

Rancho Vista is also unique among Bakersfield tract home developments. It was developed by Roland Curran, and was composed primarily of prefabricated houses built by his brother Hugh Curran’s Mobilhome Corporation. Hugh’s military background in prefabricated buildings inspired the idea of building a complete house in a factory setting and then trucking it to the lot.365 Houses could be completed in 10-12 days. Roland, responsible for the marketing of the subdivision, also offered lots for sale to those who wanted to build their own homes. The Mobilhome houses could be financed through the G.I. Bill, and as a result, in 1949 veterans could purchase a three-bedroom home for as little as $43 per month.366 Rancho Vista consisted of 148 lots fronting on the south side of Stockdale Highway (just east of Stine Canal), bounded by Stine Road, Quarter Avenue, and McDonald Way, and including portions of Curran, Griffiths, Jones, and Marsha streets, and Peckham Avenue.367
One of the larger residential developments from this period was Planz Ranch. Developed by Rex Whittemore in 1950 on the former Planz Ranch property, this subdivision anticipated some 680 homes, with 16 lots fronting on S. Chester Avenue reserved for commercial development.

As president of the Fremont Development Corporation, Whittemore offered Ranch-style homes in 34 different designs. Most of these homes were designed by Pasadena-based architect Harold J. Bissner, AIA. They included two- and three-bedroom options in a variety of square footages and plans. In March of 1954, however, the subdivision’s final phase of 300 houses were under construction at the southeast and northeast corners of Planz Park. This phase of development had eight housing types, with designs by E.R. Kufus of Hawthorne, California. Kavalier Court was a small development of 22 luxury homes designed by Robert Eddy, AIA in the Modern Ranch style. The development was unusual for its exceptionally broad lots, measuring between 60 and 90 feet wide, and for the fact that no two home designs were exactly the same.

Crestline Homes was a series of two- and three-bedroom homes developed and built by Lloyd Ming’s company, MVM Construction in 1953. The partners were Ming and Leo C. Veale.

Located at the northwest intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and Bernard Street, the homes were designed by notable architects Cliff May and Chris Choate as part of their postwar tract home business, Ranch House Supply Corporation. The intent was to build a total of 74 homes.368 Three different models were available and constructed for public inspection by early

364 JRP Historical Consulting, 29.
365 “Assembly-Line Houses Hit the Road,” Popular Science, June 1949, 113-118. 366 JRP Historical Consulting, 52.
367 The Rancho Vista Tract was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Place in 2013. 368 Cliff May Papers, Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara.

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June 1955, including at 1900 Bernard Street and 1908 Bernard Street.369 The Modern Ranch- style homes featured board-and-batten siding and floor-to-ceiling windows. They were advertised at a price range of $9,950 to $10,950 with FHA Terms available.370 According to correspondence in the Cliff May Archive at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Ranch House Supply Corporation was informed in 1953 that their designs would not qualify for FHA guaranteed loans. This may have negatively impacted MVM’s building of the homes. It is unclear how many of these Cliff May homes were ultimately constructed. However, based on photos, at least five of the homes were built, and Veale built one for himself [1912 Bernard Street].

Tract homes were not the only type of single-family homes constructed in Bakersfield after the war. Many custom homes were designed by local and out-of-town architects alike. Robert Eddy developed quite a portfolio of Mid-Century Modern and Modern Ranch-style residential projects during the early 1950s. They included the 1950 John H. Maurer Residence [2308 Pine Street], the 1951 John Brock Residence [2300 Pine Street], and the 1952 John A. Bidart Residence [137 Panorama Drive]. All of these designs reflected Eddy’s post-and-beam educational training. Former Cullimore student Eugene Kinn Choy also designed several residential projects through his Bakersfield connections, including the Ralph Smith Residence [275 Panorama Drive]. Among the out-of-town architects working on residences in the city was Raphael A. Nicolias of Beverly Hills. Nicolias designed the Ralph Bohne Residence [910 Park Drive/now 920 Park Drive] in 1950, which was unusual for its brick construction.

After the war, many builders created showcase homes to show the public the benefits of new technologies, new materials, or new ideas in design. In the late 1940s, Roy H. Anderson began experimenting with poured pumice and steel. He completed his first experimental house in 1949 [127 Spruce Street], and a second one in 1950 [206 Spruce Street]. The houses were marketed as inexpensive to construct, providing good insulation and acoustics, and fireproof.

They were known as “Anderson Monolithic Structures.”371 While private developers were subdividing new residential tracts on the perimeter of the city, the Kern County Housing Authority was expanding the city’s stock of public housing units, constructing the first phase of the Oro Vista Housing Project.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1946-1952
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of single-family or multi-family residential development from the postwar period in Bakersfield
 May be an intact example of public housing in Bakersfield from the period  May be associated with the burgeoning local music scene and the development of the

369 Letter from Leo Veale to Chris Choate and Cliff May, May 29, 1955, Cliff May Papers. 370 Classified advertisement, “See Crestline Homes Designed By Cliff May,” The Bakersfield Californian, July 25, 1953, 23. 371 “Inventor Anderson Pours House of Pumice, Concrete and Steel,” The Bakersfield Californian, March 19, 1949, 9.

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Bakersfield Sound
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact residential development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

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DISASTER, REBUILDING & EXPANSION, 1953-1974
A modern city requires a modern government…the community enjoys low insurance rates as a result of the outstanding police and fire protection provided and sanitation, sewage, public works, parks recreation and hundreds of services rendered by the city for the benefit of its citizens are likewise of the high caliber required to earn the distinction of “The Newest City in America.”372 Greater Bakersfield Chamber of
Commerce, 1956
I can think of no other city the size of Bakersfield in the United States that has as many fine examples of contemporary, well-planned architecture.373 William G. Belch, President, AIA,
Southern California
On July 21, 1952, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck in Tehachapi, some 40 miles southeast of Bakersfield. It did little damage in the city. However, on August 22, 1952 at 3:42 p.m., a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit, with its epicenter in the City of Bakersfield. Fifteen people were killed and hundreds injured. Over the next month, powerful aftershocks measuring 5.0 or greater followed. Many buildings that survived but were damaged the initial quake fell prey to the subsequent temblors.

372 “Bakersfield, the Newest City in America,” Bakersfield Greater Chamber of Commerce, 1956, Earthquake Vertical File, Jack Maguire Local History Room, Beale Memorial Library, quoted in Cruz, 161. 373 “Bakersfield Architects Win Praise,” The Bakersfield Californian, July 21, 1955, 22.

Earthquake damage at 19th Street and Chester Avenue, 1952. (Kern County Museum)

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The earthquake resulted in $8,650,000 in damage.374 Some 400 commercial and civic/ institutional buildings were damaged, with 90 immediately reduced to rubble. The city’s schools were hit particularly hard as 193 classrooms were deemed no longer safe.375 No estimate was ever made of the damage to residences and apartment buildings, but it was extensive. Homes not bolted to their foundations were particularly vulnerable.376 The unsupported masonry crowns along the tops of office buildings came crashing down. According to Bakersfield historian John Arthur Maynard, “…the earth released the equivalent of two thousand atomic bombs.”377 All four faces of the Beale Memorial Clock Tower fell to the ground.

City fathers used the disaster as a catalyst for removing “eyesore” buildings and making over the tenderloin district.378 New public buildings were funded through local property taxes and a series of bond measures. Investment in the city reportedly topped $64,000,000.379 The sheer amount of destruction from the Bakersfield earthquake offered an opportunity to think about a uniform architectural style for the city. In September of 1952, a group of Los Angeles architects visited the city and raised the question. City Manager C. Leland Gunn met the comparison with Santa Barbara, which had imposed a Spanish Colonial Revival-style mandate after the earthquake there in 1925, by advocating for “good contemporary modern architecture.”380 Gunn argued for Modernist styles on several bases: that it provided good return on investment; that Bakersfield was a city of the present and future not of the past; and that modern architecture had been used in Bakersfield to wide acclaim.

By this time, a cadre of architecture students trained by Clarence Cullimore, Sr. had completed their college educations and returned to Bakersfield. After working in established local firms, the earthquake presented the opportunity to establish their own practices. Among them were Wright, Metcalf & Parsons, Alford & Thomas, and Eddy & Paynter.

Additionally, the population of Bakersfield increased substantially during the 1950s. The Bakersfield Californian estimated that the population increased by some 15,000 in the Bakersfield metropolitan area between 1952 and 1954 alone,381 a level of growth that helps explain the ensuing changes in the built environment in the city. Moreover, Bakersfield was a young city. By the 1960s, the city’s median age was 27, compared with 32.1 for the state as a whole during this period.382
In 1954, oil and agriculture were still alive and well in Kern County. There were 295 cotton farms which were producing a reported 390,000 bales of cotton annually.383 That same year, the

374 “Second Quake Anniversary Recalls Day of Death, Rebuilding Program,” The Bakersfield Californian, August 23, 1954, 26. 375 “How Bakersfield is Handling Its Triple-Earthquake Crisis,” American City, October 1952, 123, Earthquake Vertical File, Jack Maguire Local History Room, Beale Memorial Library, quoted in Cruz, 132. 376 Cruz, 132.
377 Maynard, 79.
378 “Second Quake Anniversary,” 26.
379 Cruz, 145.
380 “13 Architects Call for Stricter City Building Code Rulings, New Fees,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 19, 1952, 19. 381 “Second Quake Anniversary,” 26.
382 Maynard, 83.
383 “Bakersfield Part II: The Beacon, 1957,” 22, quoted in Cruz, 160.

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local oil industry produced 94 million barrels of crude—one third of California’s total production.384
Figure 5. Bakersfield Population Growth 1950-1970
Year Population Percentage Growth
1950 34,784 N/A
1960 56,848 63.4%
1970 69,515 22.3%
Source: U.S. Census
The Earthquake & the Dispersal of the Chinese Community The population of Bakersfield’s two Chinatowns had been dwindling since the 1920s. However, the earthquake was the final blow to these districts, as nearly all of the buildings were damaged or destroyed. Only the Ying On Association, Bin Kong Tong, and Let Sing Gong Temple were rebuilt (18th and R streets).385 The wreckage of the two Chinatowns, combined with greater levels of Americanization and English language fluency among its residents, resulted in the geographic dispersal of the local Chinese community throughout Bakersfield. Furthermore, there was no money within the community to rebuild.386 By the 1960 Census, there were only 455 Chinese living in Bakersfield.

It was also during this period that the community saw many new professionals among its ranks, including the city’s first Chinese American dentist, Leland Chow, who moved to Bakersfield in 1953; and the first Chinese American police officer, Galen Chow. Loraine Lee Choy and Laura Lee Leong were the first Asian American school teachers in Kern County, despite the longtime presence of a Chinese Students Club at Bakersfield High School.

Bakersfield College
After World War II, enrollment at Bakersfield College sky-rocketed, due in large part to the G.I.

Bill. In 1953, Alford & Thomas remodeled its building at California Avenue and F Street; however, it was soon recognized that the institution needed a campus of its own. Plans for moving Bakersfield College from the Kern County Union High School campus to its own site on the Panorama bluffs were already in motion when the earthquake hit. Planning and design of the new campus began in early 1952 by Wright, Metcalf & Parsons. By 1954, administrators approved the architect’s designs for the buildings.387 Classes were first held on the new Panorama campus in 1956.

Wright, Metcalf & Parsons’ design for the campus was a grid of campus buildings flanked by athletic facilities to the southeast. Mid-Century Modern in style, structures included the Administration Building, Science and Engineering Building, Science Building, Homemaking

384 “Bakersfield Part II,” quoted in Cruz, 160.
385 Boyd and Ming, 211.
386 Boyd and Ming, 218.
387 Cruz, 140.

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Building, Amphitheater, Trades and Industry Building, and Campus Center. Campus buildings extensively used architectural concrete as a cost-effective material, with each building having a low, horizontal profile. In 1974, J. Warren Wright of Wright, Metcalf & Parsons, designed an addition to the Bakersfield College Physical Education Building and Humanities Building.

California State College, Bakersfield
Back in 1959, the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce commissioned a study to advise on the need for an institution of higher learning beyond Bakersfield College.388 Yet, it wasn’t until 1965 that a California State Senate bill established California State College, Bakersfield (CSCB) [9001 Stockdale Highway].389 In August of 1965, the architectural firm of Victor Gruen & Associates as selected to design the campus.390 In the master-planning phase, Gruen narrowed down the potential sites to three locations; ultimately, Stockdale was selected for the new college campus. Located on the west side of the city, land for the campus was donated by Tenneco. Campus construction began in 1969. CSCB opened in the fall of 1970 with 900 students and 70 faculty members.391 The school offered five major areas of study: business and public administration, behavioral sciences, education, humanities, and natural science and mathematics.

Gruen & Associates designed the campus to have two unique features: the Academic Village and a “mall-type” development.392 The Academic Village was composed of 16 three-story residential buildings with 45 students per building—with an emphasis on integrating studies

388 Cruz, 168-9.
389 “State College Decision Time Nears,” The Bakersfield Californian, November 26, 1965, 9. 390 “History of California State University, Bakersfield,” California State University, Bakersfield, https://csub.libguides.com/ c.php?g=1052694&p=7643887 (accessed October 3, 2022 and January 19, 2023). 391 “Continued Success as Cal State Forecast,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 21, 1975, 32. 392 “History of California State University, Bakersfield.” California State College, Bakersfield, c. 1970. (CSUB)

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and campus life. The reference to “mall type” development for the academic facilities refers to Gruen’s deep roots in shopping mall planning. Victor Gruen himself had been a pioneer in shopping mall design in the mid-1950s and was responsible for the design of the first indoor, air-conditioned, shopping mall in America. His “mall-like” design for the college campus focused on attaching the initial buildings in a T-shaped configuration, rather than dispersing them as free-standing buildings across the land. The buildings were Late Modern in their architectural style.

By 1974, California State College, Bakersfield was one of the fastest-growing campuses in the state college system, with more than $10 million worth of projects under construction or on the drawing board.393 Included in the project list were a Student Health Center and $1.5 million addition to the library, both designed by the Bakersfield firm of Biggar, Frapwell, Ghezzi & Cartnal; a physical education building by Black & O’Dowd; Science Building II by Pakin Architects; a Cafeteria by Cody, Sheedy, Cody of Palm Springs; and a Fine Arts Building by Arendt, Moser & Grant.394 California State College, Bakersfield was later renamed California State University, Bakersfield.395
The Cold War
The 1950s and early 1960s were a period of “Cold War” between the United States and the Soviet Union. The nuclear arms race between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. motivated some to build bomb shelters for their protection. Bakersfield appears to have had an above-average number of home bomb shelters, possibly inspired by the Kern County’s Civil Defense Office, which began distributing literature and construction plans in 1960. The office even constructed a sample “Family Fallout Shelter” on the grounds of the Kern County Museum in June of 1960.

The construction of shelters—both above-ground and subterranean—appears to have peaked in 1961, although the exact number built is unknown.396
Civil Rights: In the Fields & Beyond
After the annexation of the Sunset-Mayflower area in 1953, Louisiana-born Henry H. Collins (1906-1972) became the first African American elected to the Bakersfield City Council, representing Ward 1. Collins appears to have come to Kern County after World War II. He was pastor at St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Mission [1092 Ralston Street, now 1216 Ralston Street]. While a member of City Council, Collins and his wife also lived on the church property in the Sunset-Mayflower neighborhood. In 1953, Collins was also president of the local chapter of the NAACP and was elected as a delegate to the statewide rally in 1955. He was re-elected to the City Council in 1957.

Historian Oliver A. Rosales describes that “while African American and Mexican American coalitions had begun around farmworkers’ rights and housing, the municipal anti-discrimination

393 “CSB Building, Plans Involve Eight Projects Worth $10 Million,” The Bakersfield Californian, December 24, 1974, 11-12. 394 Based on materials from the UCSB Smith and Williams Papers collection, it appears that Smith & Williams were engaged by the institution as well, although the precise nature of their contribution is unknown. 395 In 1988, California State College, Bakersfield was granted university status and incorporated into the CSU system as California State University, Bakersfield.
396 JRP Historical Consulting, 36.

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and fair employment movement in Bakersfield aroused the most important cross-ethnic activism of the period.”397 The NAACP and the Community Service Organization continued to advocate for civil rights issues after the earthquake. Although these organizations did not have purpose-built meeting spaces, both organizations frequently used the Veterans Hall [999 E.

California Avenue].

In 1957, Bakersfield attempted to model its Fair Employment Practices (FEP) ordinance on what other cities were doing. Mayor Frank Sullivan and City Councilman Henry Collins visited Oakland. After much heated discussion, a fair employment ordinance was enacted in Bakersfield in September of 1957. Housing discrimination and segregation continued to be problems into the 1960s. In August of, 1960, an African American family moved into the Hillcrest area of northeastern Bakersfield and was harassed by phone.

The struggle over fair housing re-engaged the civic unity movement in the early 1960s, once again led by Bakersfield’s progressive religious community. Like many cities, Bakersfield established an Intergroup Relations Board (IRB) in July of 1963 to advise the City Council and all matters promoting harmonious racial relations within the city limits. Reverend Julius Brooks, pastor of the Cain AME Church, was appointed chairman of the IRB.

In 1963, the Rumford Fair Housing Act was passed in California, mandating fair housing and the elimination of racial covenants and deed restrictions. One year later, Proposition 14 passed, overturning the Rumford Act. As in many other municipalities, civil rights and fair housing activists banded together to fight Proposition 14. When they lost the election, those activists remobilized in other groups. In this case, it was the Kern Council for Civic Unity (KCCU).

Founding KCCU members included Duane Belcher, a Bakersfield College faculty member; Art Shaw, the local NAACP chair; and Mel Brow, a War on Poverty activist and teacher. The organization’s concerns extended beyond fair housing to include education, employment, and fostering cross-race communications. In March 1965, the KCCU organized a protest in which several thousand people marched from the Cain AME Church to the Kern Civic Center in downtown Bakersfield. In 1966, the White Citizens Council was established in opposition. On January 18, 1966, they held a meeting in downtown Bakersfield at the El Tejon Hotel to publicize the group’s activities and distribute racist tracts. The White Citizens Council and the IRB and KCCU continued to butt heads throughout the mid-1960s.

On September 8, 1965, the Delano Grape Strike began when members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee demanded wages equal to the federal minimum wage. The following week, the National Farmworkers Association joined the strike, led by labor activists Cesar Chavez (1927-1993), Dolores Huerta (1930-), and Richard Chavez. The two groups would eventually merge, forming the United Farm Workers of America. The strike and boycott lasted five years.

In 1966, Black sanitation workers led by local Black radio host, James Mason, staged a strike demanding a 10 percent pay increase, overtime pay, and an end to racist policies. The strikers

397 Rosales, 48.

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prevented scabs from removing the public trash and after three days the City agreed to negotiated terms.398
The large Mexican American population in Bakersfield and Kern County resulted in a strong foothold for the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Unlike previous, multi-racial coalitions, the Chicano Civil Rights movement encouraged Mexican Americans to embrace ethnic separatism and be proud of their Chicano heritage. The “Godfather of the Bakersfield Chicano Movement” was Raymond Gonzales (c. 1938-2018).399 Gonzales advocated for the Movement and was one of the first Chicano professors at Bakersfield College. He was an education advisor to Gov.

Jerry Brown. In 1972, he campaigned successfully to become Kern County’s first Latino Assemblyman. The movement was inspired in some ways by the Black Panthers movement among African Americans.

The number of Chinese in Bakersfield had been decreasing for many years. When the land on which the old Chinese Cemetery became valuable for postwar residential development, arrangements were made to relocate the remains to make way for the land’s redevelopment. In June of 1958, a monument was erected by the Bakersfield Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association at the east end of E. 6th Street at S. Tulare Street, adjacent to Union Cemetery.

The modern pagoda-like structure was designed by architect Alan Choy.400 Kern City: California’s First Retirement Community
Arizona building contractor Del E. Webb, of Del Webb Corporation, was a pioneer developer of senior “retirement communities.” His first venture, Sun City, opened in January 1961 just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Shortly after Sun City opened, Webb turned to Bakersfield, where he developed a partnership with the Kern County Land Co. (later subsumed by Tenneco Incorporated) to design and develop a nearly identical community in the Central Valley, making it the first retirement community in California.401 The community was called “Kern City” (not to be confused with the term for East Bakersfield at the turn of the 20th century). Kern City was described as a “total planning” concept, a self-contained city for “active adults” of pre- retirement age with shared interests. At 600 acres, Kern City offered affordable home ownership with county club amenities and the conveniences of city living.402 On October 7th and 8th, 1961, Kern City opened to a throng of interest, with 55,000 people touring the community.403 The initial phase of development included 750 homes and apartments (primarily single-family residences). Sales were restricted to singles or couples over 50 years of age. Phase I also included an independent sewer system; a nine-hole golf course;

398 Alfred De Venado, “Black Power in Bakersfield: Sanitation Workers Strike,” The Movement 2, no. 11 (December 1966), 3; Dominique La Vigne, “Hidden History: the Man Who Led the 1966 Bakersfield Sanitation Workers’ Strike,” February 20, 2023, 23 ABC Bakersfield, https://www.turnto23.com/news/black-history-month/hidden-history-the-man-who-led-the-1966-bakersfield- sanitation-workers-strike (accessed April 28, 2023).
399 “Raymond Gonzales,” South Kern Sol, October 6, 2018, https://southkernsol.org/2018/10/06/raymond-gonzales-the-godfather- of-bakersfield-chicano-movement-remembered-as-a-community-hero/ (accessed November 1, 2022). 400 Gilbert Gia, “What Happened to Bakersfield’s Old Chinese Cemetery?,” 2009, 10, https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:48643/ (accessed January 18, 2023).
401 JRP Historical Consulting, 66.
402 “Huge City to Rise in South For Retirants,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1961, I1. 403 “Huge City to Rise.”

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town hall with 700-person auditorium, kitchen facilities and club rooms; arts and craft center; pool and bath house; and shuffleboard, lawn bowling, and croquet areas.

The master plan for the community was drawn by Los Angeles-based Quinton Engineering and the local firm of Rickett, Reaves & Ward. The main entrance to Kern City was via Sundale Avenue, and the main communal buildings were located off this road. Single-family residences were located throughout the development with apartments situated along Sundale Avenue.

The residences were designed by local architects Eddy & Paynter, AIA. In 1963, the nine-hole golf course, designed by renowned golf course architect Arthur Jack Snyder, was enlarged to 18 holes.

Kern City was an instant success. Stockdale Development Corporation reported $1.2 million in sales just weeks after opening. A nationwide advertising campaign was launched in Life magazine and Reader’s Digest.404 Sales brochures featured 18 different “minimum care” Ranch- style models with subtypes such as Rustic and Storybook. Premiums were charged for garages and carports (one- or two-car), air conditioning, and fairway adjacent lots.405 By 1964, 448 homes had been built.406
In mid-1967, Kern City announced a change to its program: it would now allow custom homes to be built. By 1973, Kern City had 875 homes and approximately 1,200 residents. However, the community never reached the projections of 4,000 residents. Undeveloped portions of Kern

404 JRP Historical Consulting, 69.
405 JRP Historical Consulting, 71.
406 Jim M. Milligan, “California…Home of City Builders,” Mueller Record, December 1964, 14, quoted in JRP Historical Consulting, 71.

Advertisement for Kern City, October 6, 1961. (Los Angeles Times)

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City were ultimately sold off or developed as traditional residential tracts were not part of the retirement community.407
Freeway Construction
Although California State Route 178 (SR 178) was created as a result of a bond measure dating to 1919, the route would not be constructed to freeway standards until 1968, extending from downtown Bakersfield, through East Bakersfield to Haley Street. Over the years, there were various proposals to extend the freeway westward, including one through the Westchester neighborhood in 1973. These efforts were ultimately quashed by the community. The construction of the SR 178 fueled development in East Bakersfield during the late 1960s and early 1970s as suburban development in these areas could efficiently be linked to the downtown area. South of Brundage Lane, California State Route 58 (SR 58)—also known as the Mojave Freeway—has evolved into a freeway just within the last several decades.

One of the most important freeway construction efforts was the completion of Interstate 5 (I- 5), the state of California’s main north/south route. Paving of the Grapevine as a freeway was completed in 1970. As Interstate 5 connected to US 99 just north of the Grapevine, the completion of this freeway further eroded Bakersfield’s relative isolation and contributed to its continued population growth in the late 1960s and early 1970s.408 Downtown Redevelopment & Urban Renewal
By the 1970s, the suburbanization of the City of Bakersfield had left its downtown economically depressed and thus a target for redevelopment. One example of this trend was the move of Sears Roebuck to the Valley Plaza, leaving its downtown department store building abandoned. This hollowing out of downtowns that resulted from the suburbanization of the postwar years led many cities to embrace the tools of urban renewal in order to remake their central business districts. While most municipal urban renewal programs involved federal funding, it appears that Bakersfield’s business model was to broker agreements directly with developers. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Bakersfield Redevelopment Agency was formed and initially defined a redevelopment area bounded by E, M, 16th and 18th streets.409 One of the largest and most important projects of the Bakersfield Redevelopment Agency was the Bank of America block [1430-1440 Truxtun Avenue], completed in 1974. The ten-story office tower set on a Brutalist-style base, was designed by San Francisco-based Associated Architects and remains one of the tallest buildings in downtown. The Redevelopment Agency was also involved in the development agreement with Arcon, Inc. for the parking structure next door. Later that same year, a new Imperial Savings and Loan building [1400 Truxtun Avenue], by Jack Anderson of Associated Architects, opened just down the block.

407 JRP Historical Consulting, 74.
408 Steven Mayer, “Bakersfield, A Highway Ran Through the Middle of It,” The Bakersfield Californian, June 11, 2018. https://www.bakersfield.com/news/bakersfield-a-highway-ran-right-through-the-middle-of-it/article_29346100-6dd0-11e8- b9c2-a33f0a6ce895.html (accessed March 27, 2023).
409 “Action Delayed When Downtown Plan Questioned,” The Bakersfield Californian, November 11, 1974, 9.

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Another project within the redevelopment area was the consolidation of the Bakersfield-based American National Bank into the former Sears Building (19th and K streets), a project was designed by Eddy, Paynter, Renfro & Associates. American National Bank was the former Bakersfield National Bank, established in 1964. By 1974, the renamed bank employed more than 400 people and had 20 branches.410
Redevelopment continued with the conversion of the old Fedway building into a downtown campus for Bakersfield College. Known as the Bakersfield College Downtown Center [2100 Chester Avenue], the architect David Cartnal designed the $2 million remodel and re- landscaping. The Late Modern-style facility offered training in journalism, business, home economics, and independent study courses.

Also during this period, the City of Bakersfield commissioned local architect Robert Stuhr to design a new police station [1601 Truxtun Avenue]. Plans for the Mid-Century Modern facility began in 1969, but negotiations with some private landowners delayed the project. The project was delayed once again by cost overruns and the City’s decision midway through the design process to move the entrance from Eye Street to Truxtun Avenue. The Redevelopment Agency also planned a covered regional shopping center in the downtown area bordered by Chester Avenue, 22nd, N and 17th streets; however, that project never came to fruition.

The earthquake proved a transformational event for the built environment of Bakersfield. As a result, much of the city got a Mid-Century Modern makeover, primarily at the hands of a cadre of home-grown and locally-trained architects who built thriving practices as they rebuilt the city. However, the earthquake was also a factor in creating the large inventory of unimproved

410 “ANB to Move Its Offices to Old Sears Building,” The Bakersfield Californian, October 22, 1974, 9.

Bank of America office tower under construction, 1973. (Online Archive of California)

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parcels that continue to dot the downtown area today. As the city grew outward in all directions, Col. Baker’s 18th-century western town was effectively transformed into a sprawling postwar suburban city, but with one of the great concentrations of Mid-Century Modern architecture in the Central Valley.

THEMES
THEME: Post-Quake Civic/Institutional Development
One of the most important and visible post-earthquake projects was the design of a new City Hall. The 80-year-old city hall, long considered obsolete, was reduced to rubble in the earthquake. A new Mid-Century Modern city hall [1501 Truxtun Avenue] was designed by Robert N. Eddy in 1954. The city also got a new Civic Auditorium [1001 Truxtun Avenue] during this period. Design development of the civic auditorium began in late 1958. An architectural model shown in The Bakersfield Californian revealed an early design that included two circular volumes. Project designer Frank Ghezzi, then a young architect in the office of Wright, Metcalf & Parsons, was inspired by the idea of people talking in a circle.411 The Civic Auditorium was completed in 1961.

Prior to the earthquake there was already talk of the need for expansion of various county facilities, including the 1914 Kern County Jail. After the quake, Kern County committed to building an expansive administrative complex on the superblock bounded by Truxtun Avenue on the north, the railroad tracks on the south, L Street on the east, and Chester Avenue on the

411 “Bakersfield Built: The 1960s,” California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield Art Museum, and Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter, 2019, 6.

Bakersfield Civic Auditorium, 1970. (Kern County Museum)

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west. The existing complex was developed in phases and designed by various architects during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

This county administrative center was initiated with the construction of the Kern County Free Library (Beale Memorial Library) in 1957 [1315 Truxtun Avenue], designed by architect Whitney Biggar, son of Charles H. Biggar.412 The Mid-Century Modern-style Kern County Sheriff’s Office and Jail Facility [1415 Truxtun Avenue] was added around 1960, designed by Wright, Metcalf & Parsons. Around 1956, the seven-story County of Kern Superior Court building [1415 Truxtun Avenue] was constructed, designed by Ernest L. McCoy, and featuring a series of lobby mosaics created by Mike Milo, Jr. (1926-1999).413 While each of these component buildings was designed and constructed separately, they function together as the Kern County Administrative Center, the heart of county activities in Bakersfield. Due to the complex’s overall scale and prominent location, it comprises one of the most visually iconic examples of Mid-Century Modern civic/institutional architecture in the city.414 Kern County General Hospital [1830 Flower Street/1700 Mount Vernon Avenue] sustained significant damage in the earthquake. The original hospital was built in the early 1900s, with additions throughout the decades. The unreinforced concrete masonry structure was almost a total loss and was ultimately demolished. The commission for the new building was given to the local firm of Alford & Thomas, collaborating with Los Angeles-based architects Walker, Kalionzes & Klingerman, who specialized in hospital design. The project was budgeted at $3,500,000.415 Like Kern General, Mercy Hospital [2215 Truxtun Avenue], originally built in 1913, was also badly damaged by the earthquake and patients had to be immediately evacuated. The structure was ultimately demolished and replaced by a four-story modern

412 This building now contains the County of Kern Public Defender [1315 Truxtun Avenue] and County of Kern Jury Services [1661 L Street].
413 Stephen Montgomery, email to the author, January 6, 2024. 414 The Kern County Administrative Center was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. 415 “New Hospital Plans Win Board Approval,” The Bakersfield Californian, December 2, 1953, 42.

Kern County Free Library and County of Kern Superior Court Building, c. 1965. (Kern County Museum) Kern County Sheriff’s Office and Jail Facility, no date. (Wayne Thom Collection, USC Special Collections)

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building by Lewis Herlbut, an associate architect in the office of Frank F. Georgeson of San Francisco.

The combination of Bakersfield’s postwar population boom, sprawling suburbanization, and damage done by the earthquake, fueled many new public school projects during this period.

Many of the new residential subdivisions promoted the proximity of new school facilities as selling points for their tract homes. The Bakersfield Californian listed dozens of school expansion or addition projects between 1953 and 1960.

The school districts appear to have hired local architects almost exclusively, with much of the work going to Ernest L. McCoy; Wright, Metcalf & Parsons; Stuhr & Hicks; and Alford & Thomas. New Mid-Century Modern schools constructed during this period include Washington Junior High School [1101 Noble Avenue]; McKinley School [601 4th Street]; Highland Elementary School [2900 Barnett Street]; John C. Fremont Elementary School [607 Texas Street]; and Williams School [1201 Williams Street]. Significant additions were also made to Jefferson School [816 Lincoln Street], with numerous additions made at other existing schools.

Like so many buildings, Kern County Union High School was damaged by the earthquake. In 1954, new boys’ and girls’ physical education facility was designed by C. Barton Alford and W.J.

Thomas.416 In 1955, a new Mid-Century Modern-style administration building for the Kern County Union High School and Junior College District was designed by Eddy & Paynter [2000 24th Street]. Additionally, two new high schools were built in Bakersfield during the 1950s:

North High School [300 Galaxy Avenue] by Alford & Thomas, and South High School [1101 Planz Road] by Ernest McCoy. Additionally, in 1961 Clifford Harding designed the post-and-

416 “Kern High School Bids Will Be Opened Friday,” The Bakersfield Californian, August 7, 1955, 15.

West High School campus plan, September 19, 1964. (The Bakersfield Californian)

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beam School Employees Federal Credit Union building [4530 Ming Avenue]417 in the Mid- Century Modern style.

The pace of school construction slowed somewhat during the 1960s. Architect Whitney Biggar joined the roster of architects being awarded projects by the school district. One of the most important school projects was Biggar’s West High School [2900 Royal Scots Way] in 1965.

Nicknamed “Hexagon High” by The Bakersfield Californian, the project used Biggar’s preferred geometrical shape for classrooms buildings and for the campus plan overall. The school was featured in the book California School Buildings 1960-1965, published by the Bureau of School Buildings as one of the 25 finest school designs of the early 1960s. The campus plan is composed of a cluster of small buildings with broad eaves and sheltered walkways, set amid a series of outdoors spaces, permitting breezes to flow freely among the buildings. For the hexagonal classroom buildings, interior walls were purposefully non-load bearing and could be moved or eliminated for maximum classroom flexibility.

During this period, many religious congregations took the opportunity to build new sanctuaries.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was rebuilt after the earthquake. In 1954, Ernest L. McCoy designed the new First Christian Church [1660 S Street] in the Mid-Century Modern-style, featuring glue-laminated arches. That same year, Whitney Biggar designed the new First Congregational Church [5 Real Road]. The design featured concrete blocks set in a distinctive pattern and small star-like glass windows. The earthquake also destroyed the St. Francis Church, and a replacement structure was designed for the same location in 1953 by the Los Angeles architectural firm of Chaix and Johnson. Additional examples of churches built during the 1950s include St. John’s Lutheran Church [1030 4th Street] by O.J. Bruer, and First Presbyterian Church [1705 17th Street] by Allison & Rible.

417 Research produced conflicting information about the location of this building; some sources give the address as 400 Oak Street.

First Congregational Church as photographed by Julius Shulman, 1955. (Getty Research Institute) First Christian Church, no date. (Kern County Museum)

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In 1953, the Cain African Methodist Church [630 California Avenue] selected Ernest McCoy to design a new sanctuary to seat 250 worshippers, with a choir loft for 50 more. The building had folding doors along the side to enclose three rooms to be used for Sunday School classes. In 1957, Congregation B’nai Jacob built a new synagogue [600 17th Street], designed in the Mid- Century Modern style by Wilson Call. The new Late Modern-style St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church [7100 Stockdale Highway], designed by architect Robert Stuhr, opened in 1974. The church was constructed of concrete block with glue-laminated beams, and an exposed beam and plank ceiling. The same year, a new social hall for Christ the King Church (Linda Vista and Bedford Way) was opened, designed by local architect Cliff Harding.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1953-1974
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of civic/institutional development from the post-earthquake period in Bakersfield
 May be a rare remaining example of a type that survived the earthquake  May be associated with the burgeoning local music scene and the development of the Bakersfield Sound
 May be associated with the civil rights, workers’ rights, or other social activist movements in Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Post-Quake Commercial Development
After the earthquake, many of Bakersfield’s downtown office buildings, such as the Haberfelde Building, were deemed unsafe and remained unoccupied for an extended period of time. This loss of office space, combined with an increasingly suburban customer base, caused many professionals to build and occupy small, single-story office buildings, or “professional buildings.”

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The City of Bakersfield is home to an impressive population of well-designed Mid-Century Modern professional buildings, originally occupied by doctors, dentists, lawyers, and architects.

Small medical offices include the Boydstone Medical Building [1805 28th Street] by Robert N.

Eddy; the Dr. Wong Medical Office Building [2615 H Street] by Goss & Choy; the Clerou-Fox Medical Building [2128 Truxtun Avenue] by Wright, Metcalf & Parsons; and the Coker Cawley Medical Center [1921 18th Street] also by Wright, Metcalf & Parsons. A substantial subset of these professional buildings are actually the architects’ own offices. Examples include the Ernest L. McCoy Office [2809-2811 H Street]; the Wright, Metcalf & Parsons Office [2323 E Street]; the Robert N. Eddy Office [2901 H Street]; the Robert Stuhr Office [3121 California Avenue]; the Frapwell & Ghezzi Office [1717 28th Street]; the Goss & Choy Office [920 Chester Avenue]; the C. Barton Alford Office [1234 Chester Avenue]; and the Whitney Biggar Office [31 S. Real Road].

With continued suburban residential tract growth around Bakersfield, many new shopping centers sprang up to serve these populations. Neighborhood shopping centers were typically smaller in scale and were occupied by neighborhood-serving retailers, such as grocery stores, hardware stores, stationers, or pharmacies. By contrast, regional shopping centers were destinations that spanned entire superblocks and typically included one or more department stores as anchors tenant, as well as entertainment or recreational options such as an arcade or ice skating rink, and a food court.

The Kern City Shopping Center was a neighborhood shopping center developed in the 1950s by Eddy & Paynter. This sprawling Ranch-style shopping center was designed to accommodate vehicular traffic and included an expansive surface parking lot. Originally, this shopping center featured a grocery store, drug store, laundromat, barbershop, gas station, restaurants, and a five-and-dime variety store. When foot traffic started to diminish, the shopping center closed in 1973. That same year, Stockdale Development opened a new shopping center, Stockdale Village, at California Avenue and Stockdale Highway. Expansion of the shopping center commenced almost immediately after its opening. Eddy, Paynter, Renfro & Associates were charged with the original design and all expansions.

Clerou-Fox Medical Building, no date. (Wayne Thom Collection, USC Special Collections)

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Also developed during this period was the University Square Shopping Center (across from Bakersfield College, c. 1962) designed by Novikoff Engineers and Arthur Hasselback, of the Bevery Hills firm Milton Meyer Co. In 1955, Pasadena-based architects Smith & Williams designed Halls Shopping Fair (Brundage Lane and Wible Road), a commercial market that used billboard signage to appeal to passing motorists.

By the 1960s, increased suburbanization in cities across the United States had given rise to a new phenomenon: the suburban regional shopping center. Envisioned as a utopian alternative to downtown commercial centers, the architect Victor Gruen, FAIA designed the first shopping malls outside of Detroit and Minneapolis in the mid-1950s, as well as one of the earliest enclosed air-conditioned malls in Southern California, South Coast Plaza. By 1967, Bakersfield had a sufficient suburban population to support its own regional shopping center, Valley Plaza Shopping Center [Ming Avenue and the 99 Freeway]. In fact, the design and construction of Valley Plaza took place concurrently with Gruen’s design for South Coast Plaza.

Valley Plaza Shopping Center was developed by Farber-Gladstone Development Co. and designed by Eddy & Paynter. The one-story enclosed mall was anchored by a Sears, Roebuck & Co. (Stiles Clements Associates, 1965), and Broadway department store (Charles Luckman Associates, 1966). Prior to the mall’s opening, there was a ground-breaking for a Brock’s department store (Eddy & Paynter, Chaix & Johnson, 1965-67),418 along with an additional 900 square feet of mall space. Other facilities were also developed as part of the shopping center, adjacent to but detached from the mall complex, including a grocery store and a movie theater.419 Valley Plaza opened on February 17, 1967, preceded the opening of South Coast Plaza by a few weeks.420

418 Brock’s downtown store had been remodeled in 1953, after the earthquake by Robert Eddy and C. M. Deasy who were partnered at that point.
419 “Six Students Spotlighted at Center,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 26, 1966, 13. 420 South Coast Plaza opened March 15, 1967.

Halls Shopping Fair. (Gibbs, Outside In: The Architecture of Smith and Williams)

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This period also saw changes to the commercial development associated with Bakersfield’s various ethnic enclaves. By the 1950s, Bakersfield’s Basque Town was evolving, as there was less migration and younger generations were becoming more integrated into the larger community. In 1954, J.B. and Mayie Maitia opened the Wool Growers café on Sumner Street near the Pyrenees and Noriega’s.421 However, by the 1970s Basque restaurants were appearing beyond the city’s historic Basque enclave and outside the confines of Basque Town. Chalet Basque was founded in 1969 by J.B. and Marie Curuchague. In 1977, the Maitias moved Wool Growers to a new location [620 E. 19th Street]; this building was formerly the home of another Basque restaurant, Villa de Basque. Most of the boarding houses no longer served communal meals, but instead moved to a more traditional restaurant business model with individual table service.422 As author Jeronima Echeverria notes, by the 1970s, the only continuity was Grace Elizalde, who remained manager of the Noriega Hotel until her death in 1974.423 In Chinatown, Bill Lee’s Bamboo Chopsticks restaurant [1203 18th Street/1717 M Street] was enlarged and remodeled in the Mid-Century Modern style by Robert Eddy. Lee was a Bakersfield resident in the 1920s, and a restaurateur in Chinatown dating back to 1939. In 1964, the Italian Heritage Society and the Dante Society merged to form one organization dedicated to promoting the culture of Italy and fostering understanding. Additionally, by the mid-1960s, the newly created Damron Guide listed Lena’s Café [3711 Edison Highway] as a local bar welcoming to the LGBTQ community.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1953-1974
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of commercial development from the post- earthquake period in Bakersfield
 May be a rare remaining example of a type that survived the earthquake  May be associated with the burgeoning local music scene and the development of the Bakersfield Sound
 May be associated with the civil rights, workers’ rights, or other social activist movements in Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period

421 Twenty years later they moved to a new location at 620 E. 19th Street; it is still run by the Maitia family. 422 The one holdout was Noriega’s until it closed c. 2022. 423 Echeverria, Home Away From Home, 109.

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 A geographically concentrated grouping of intact commercial development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

THEME: Post-Quake Industrial Development
After the earthquake, Kecrn County and the City of Bakersfield continued their respective campaigns to lure industrial development to the region. In 1953, the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce produced a brochure entitled “Greater Bakersfield Invites You.” The brochure touted the area’s large labor pool, availability of raw materials, low-cost transportation, and the presence of other manufacturers and distributors. The brochure once again focused on the 110- acre industrial tract developed by Clifton Carpenter, Joe Gannon, and attorney S.B. Gill— bounded by Virginia Avenue on the north, Brundage Lane on the south, Mt. Vernon Avenue on the east, and Washington Street on the west. Industrial sites were available for as little as $3,000 per acre, with access to railroad spurs, sewer system, and water and gas lines.424 Among the industrial enterprises attracted to the area was Brea Chemical Co. [225 Industrial Street], a subdivision of the Union Oil Company. Industries related to the oil and agriculture industries continued to thrive in the postwar period. In 1955, The Republic Supply Company [3600 Rosedale Highway] moved to a new plant in a location more convenient for its

424 “Industrial Brochure Published By Chamber,” The Bakersfield Californian, August 6, 1953, 17.

California Cotton Plant, c. 1959. (Getty Research Institute)

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customers. The company first came to the Bakersfield area in 1928 and purchased the Associated Supply Co. The new plant was designed by Los Angeles architect George Vernon Russell, on five acres to maximize efficiency of customer service. The plant contained warehousing facilities, administrative offices, and living quarters for staff who provided 24-hour service to customers. The California Cotton Plant [1900 E. Brundage Lane] was built around 1957, designed in the Mid-Century Modern style by Whitney Biggar.

As part of the campaign to attract industry, Bakersfield’s educators rallied to ensure a trained and equipped workforce. Vocational and technical education and apprentice programs were developed by the Kern County High School and Junior College District; Bakersfield High School; and Bakersfield College.

Efforts to industrialize Bakersfield continued during the 1960s. In 1961, the initial 900-acre phase of the Stockdale Industrial District was developed by the Del E. Webb Corporation and the Kern County Land Co.425 By 1965, Kern County Land Co. bought out Webb’s interest and continued with plans to develop the 6,000-acre industrial, residential, and commercial community in Stockdale. One of the early occupants of the Stockdale Industrial District was the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. In 1962, Furniture City Upholstery Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan opened a new facility [5000 District Boulevard]. In 1962, General Electric leased a new 40,000-square-foot building on three acres to warehouse the most quintessential product of the 1950s: television sets.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1953-1974
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of industrial development from the post- earthquake period in Bakersfield
 May be associated with an important industry in Bakersfield from the period, such as agriculture, or oil and gas
 May be a substantial feature of a larger municipal or regional infrastructural system, such as water, power, or transportation (automobile)
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact industrial development from the period may be eligible as a historic district

425 “Furniture Firm Opens New Stockdale Plant,” The Bakersfield Californian, November 14, 1962, 47.

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 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

THEME: Post-Quake Residential Development
The postwar residential tract development that began in the years prior to the earthquake continued in the years following. Many of the larger developments continued to open new phases and/or build on still unimproved parcels. New tract subdivisions, freeway construction, and on-going commercial development all helped to fuel additional residential development during the 1960s. Between 1960 and 1961, the Bakersfield Building Department issued more than 1,600 permits, more than half of which were residential.426 Figure 6. Tract Housing Developments 1953-1974
Development Subdivider Architect Date
Subdivided
Date Built
Out
College Heights Ralph L. Smith, Jr. 1954-55 1955
Stockdale Manor Dunsmoor Construction Co. Smith & Williams 1954-55 1955-c. 1957 Benton Park Randall Presley Some by James
Ticer
1955-1957 1955-c. 1957
Westfair Park Fairway Development and
Land Company (Forrest A.

Cassady)
1960-1964 1960-1966
Kern City Stockdale Corporation (Del
Webb Corporation and KCL)
Eddy & Paynter 1961-1978 1962-c. 1978
Lou Mar Village Dandy Homes, Inc. Wilson Call
(attributed)
1961 1961-1964
Stockdale Estates Stockdale Development N/A 1961-1972 1962-c. 1968 Westhaven Stockdale Development N/A 1963-1966 1965-c. 1970 Oldham’s Park
West
N/A N/A 1968-1969 1968-1972
Wattenbarger
Tract
Wattenbarger-Stahl
Development Co.

N/A 1972-1974 1972-1975
Quailwood Stockdale Development N/A 1973-1978 1974-c. 1985 Source: JRP Historical Consulting, Key Postwar Housing Tracts Within the Greater Bakersfield Area with additional research by the author.

426 JRP Historical Consulting, 20.

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College Heights was the largest residential subdivision in Bakersfield history. Named for the adjacent Bakersfield College, it consisted of ten separate tracts and more than 1,600 residential lots. Early newspaper accounts described it as a mammoth development that was the size of a small town. Ralph L. Smith’s plans for the development called for an area of multi-family residences closer to the college and shopping centers along the perimeter. The earliest homes in the development were located west of Haley Street. The 640-acre College Heights Tract was officially annexed to the City of Bakersfield in September 1953.

The sheer size of the College Heights development required that several builders be engaged to erect the houses. Thus, it appears that developer Ralph L. Smith, Jr. partnered with a series of local contractors to build out the College Heights tract. Contractors included Gannon Construction, Ken Mynatt, James R. Hewitt, Orrvill Harris, Roy Watenbarger, and Randall Presley.427 The southern half of the subdivision was built out with modest Minimal Traditional, Ranch, and Contemporary-style two- and three-bedroom residences. While association with specific architects has not been confirmed, it is likely that these contractors used or modified existing plans they had used previously.

Builder Randall Presley was responsible for the more expensive homes in the subdivision. As the houses sold, the development pushed northward towards Panorama Drive, where lots and residences were larger. In June of 1955, Presley opened 33 custom homes. The model home [1201 Shattuck Avenue] was a Ranch-style residence with a dovecote. The northernmost portion of the development came to be known as Upper College Heights. Constructed between 1955 and 1956, these homes tended to be more than 2,000 square feet and three- to five- bedrooms.428 By 1957, College Heights was mostly built out, making it the largest subdivision of Ranch homes in Bakersfield.

Stockdale Manor, a 262-parcel subdivision, featured homes designed by Pasadena-based architects Smith & Williams. These three- and four-bedroom homes were Mid-Century Modern and Modern Ranch in style and featured expressive post-and-beam construction. The homes featured walls of glass sliding doors, open-beam ceilings, air conditioning, and fully- equipped kitchens.

Developed by Randall Presley, Benton Park was another mid-1950s subdivision. Although it is unknown who designed the early homes for Benton Park, a 1962 ad in The Bakersfield Californian indicates that James E. Ticer, Jr., an architect formerly associated with Eddy & Paynter, was now designing plans for Benton Park. Buyers could select from a number of pre- designed plans, or Ticer would create a custom design.429 Westfair Park was a small residential tract developed by Forrest A. Cassady, President of Fairway Development & Land Co. The development featured Ranch-style homes in various subtypes, including Rustic, Storybook, Asiatic, etc. Other contractors also built in the subdivision, notably the J. L. Dandy Company, which purchased 40 lots in the subdivision by

427 JRP Historical Consulting, 32.
428 JRP Historical Consulting, 62.
429 “Announcement,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 8, 1962, 5.

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1960. By 1961, Dandy was offering Ranch and Contemporary-style homes in Westfair Park. Al Shutz Construction Co. built several homes in the southern portion of the development.

Another builder, J.F. Smith Corp., constructed two-story homes in Westfair. Marketed by Ralph Smith to growing families, they had four bedrooms and were designed predominantly in the Ranch style.430
Lou Mar Village was developed by Dandy Homes, Inc.431 Stockdale Estates took a cue from Kern City and developed Stockdale Country Club Estates where recreation facilities— swimming pool, tennis courts, community center—were reserved for community residents. The developers even engaged the same master planner of Kern City. Stockdale Development would later develop West Park, Westhaven, Sagepoint, Westwood Estates, and Quailwood— transforming the area southwest of downtown Bakersfield.

Quailwood, by Stockdale Development, was meant to provide satellite housing for nearby CSUB. The development was originally designed to include 1,600 single-family residences, four-plexes and apartment buildings, as well as a park, three schools, and a shopping center.

That level of density was never realized due to community objection. The initial development at Quailwood consisted of single-family residences, mostly Ranch-style homes were

430 JRP Historical Consulting, 77.
431 These homes may be by architect Wilson Call; his project list indicates that he did projects for “Dandy Homes.” Advertisement for the Stockdale Manor development, March 26, 1955. (The Bakersfield Californian)

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constructed by Gannon Construction and Stewart & Wattenbarger. Quailwood’s multi-family housing was not built until after 1975.432
During the late 1960s, Bakersfield architect Dave Gardner Cross established a prefabricated home manufacturing company called American Home Industries Corporation. Although details of the transaction are unclear, Cross appears to have purchased the manufacturing plant of Hugh Curran’s Mobilhome Corporation [1400 Q Street].

Cross applied his architectural design skills to a production process that assembled an entire housing unit in a single day—including a built-in kitchen, appliances, and plumbing. The completed house would then be trucked to the site and “plugged in.”433 American Home Industries manufactured both single-family residences and apartment buildings. American Home Industries Corporation produced what was then the country’s largest tract of factory- built dwellings with a 299-home subdivision north of Calexico.434 In June of 1971, a fire consumed the Bakersfield plant. However, the company bounced back, and during the mid- 1970s Curran and Cross developed Tract 3838 on the south side of Auburn Street between Oswell Street and Fairfax Road.435
During the national postwar building boom, many American cities hosted “showcase houses,” model homes designed to feature specific building methods or domestic products. Such showcase house programs were typically supported by a national advertising campaign and sponsored by various home-related companies and organizations. In 1961, the Horizon Homes for Better Living project sponsored 100 showcase homes across the country. Contributing organizations included the National Ready-Mix Concrete Association, the National Concrete Masonry Association, the Portland Cement Association, the National Association of Home Builders, and the American Institute of Architects. One of these Horizon Homes was constructed in Bakersfield.

432 JRP Historical Consulting, 81.
433 “Bakersfield’s Assembly-Line Home Construction Spreads,” The Bakersfield Californian, December 27, 1970, 10. 434 “Nation’s Largest Tract of Factory Built Dwellings Taking Shape Near Calexico,” Los Angeles Times, May 16, 1971, J1. 435 “New Building System Said to Reduce Price of Homes,” Los Angeles Times, February 25, 1979, I33.

Advertisement for Bakersfield’s Horizon Home, September 23, 1961. (The Bakersfield Californian)

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Bakersfield’s Horizon Home showcase house was built by developer Randall Presley in his new Town and Country Estates subdivision. Designed by Eddy & Paynter, the Bakersfield Horizon Home [5712 Pembroke Avenue] featured concrete blocks in a variety of decorative patterns, and an expressive roofline of the decidedly Mid-Century Modern type that distinguished it from its Ranch-style neighbors. The Horizon Homes was open for public inspection in September of 1961.

Ongoing wealth from oil and agriculture continued to propel custom single-family residential construction after the earthquake. One of the most unusual homes was the Philip A. Klipstein Residence [2308 Spruce Street] by Newport Beach-based architect Philmer J. Ellerbroek. Built in 1953, it was a modern Bermuda-inspired home featuring a poured pumice roof and glass window walls.436 Eugene Kinn Choy received several commissions for Bakersfield residences after the earthquake, including the Rose Residence, which was built on speculation. Other Bakersfield architects working in residential design during this period included Whitney Biggar, Eddy & Paynter, David Cross, and Jack Hayslett. Examples of their Mid-Century Modern custom homes include the Lowell and Phyllis Dabbs Residence [5200 Ojai Drive]; the Sudarsky Residence (409 Oleander Avenue); and the George Poloynis Residence [685 Magnolia Avenue].

Around 1961, Wilson Call designed his own family home in the Mid-Century Modern style. The Call Residence [3014 Panorama Drive] overlooked the oilfields where he himself had been born in a shack.437 Similarly, in 1963 Robert Eddy designed his own Mid-Century Modern-style residence [7219 Meadowbrook Lane] under the banner of Eddy & Paynter.

Not all custom homes from this period were Modern in style, as some clients preferred a more traditional or Ranch-style design. The 1954 William H. MacDonald Residence [2211 Beech Street] by Peter Kump is an example of a modified Ranch-style home. In 1960, Beverly Hills architect John P. Pederen designed the Anna Lummis Residence [2420 Myrtle Street] in the Modern Ranch style.

Impressively, two of the greatest masters of American modernism—Richard J. Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright—both designed residences in Bakersfield during this period. The 1959

436 It is unknown if the pumice construction techniques were in anyway related to the Anderson Monolithic Structures. 437 David Coffey, email to the author, November 3, 2022.

Rose Residence as photographed by Julius Shulman, 1955. (Getty Research Institute) Wilson Call Residence, no date. (Bakersfield Museum of Art)

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Leddy Residence [2501 Dracena Street] was built for Patricia “Pat” Stockton-Leddy, daughter of the pioneering Stockton family, as a wedding gift. Leddy’s family gifted the newlyweds a portion of the large lot on which sat the family’s turn-of-the-century vernacular farmhouse [529 A Street]. Pat Leddy—a former Martha Graham dancer and devotee of the arts—selected Richard Neutra to produce the plans for their new residence, which she and her husband Albert then built themselves.

In 1958, after purchasing a hilltop lot in the Country Club subdivision on the east side of Bakersfield, Mildred Ablin appealed to Frank Lloyd Wright to design a home for her and her family. As former students of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, Dr. and Mrs.

Ablin were very familiar with Wright’s work. To their surprise, Wright agreed and the Ablin Residence [4260 Country Club Drive] became one of the last projects with Wright’s direct involvement. Wright completed the design just before his death in 1959, but he did not live to see the completed work. Rather, the house was constructed in 1960-61 under the watchful eye of Taliesin Associated Architects, including Taliesin Fellow Thomas Olson, who supervised construction for a year and a half.

The Ablin Residence is fundamentally a hexagonal Usonian house. Its base unit of design is the equilateral (30/60/90) triangle, which is used in plan, section, and detail. The house is an evolved example of Wright’s breaking-the-box plan that clearly delineates the public/private and adult/children spaces in separate wings radiating from the central hearth/kitchen volume.

The house also expresses Wright’s delicate manipulation of compression and expansion of space. Visitors are guided along a low battered wall and overhang on the exterior, leading to an interior explosion of light and space in the main living area, which features a dramatic 16-foot- high and 48-foot-wide expanse of glass looking out to views of the Bakersfield Country Club Golf Course and the mountains beyond.

Postwar residential development in Bakersfield appears to have been primarily centered on the construction of single-family residences, as apartment buildings and other multi-family dwelling types appear in lesser numbers as compared with other Southern California Ablin House exterior and interior, no date. (Esoteric Survey)

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communities during the same period. In August of 1950, for example, building permits for single-family residences numbered 27, while only two apartment buildings were permitted.438 The exception to this trend was public housing. After the earthquake, the effort to develop more public housing units continued. Oro Vista [1104 Robertson Street] was expanded, and by June of 1954, all 184 units were occupied; 90 percent of residents were African American, ten percent were Latino.439
The general lack of multi-family residential development during this period may have been due in part to the required zoning changes in single-family neighborhoods. This made the process of building multi-family housing cumbersome and proposed projects were often met with resistance from nearby homeowners. Conversely, the presence of Bakersfield College and CSUB acted as magnets for multi-family residential development. The area just east of Bakersfield College was rife with apartment buildings, such as Columbus Street north of University Avenue. Coachlite Villas [4401 Columbus Street] and College Townhouse [3932 Christmas Tree Lane] are two examples of Mid-Century Modern-style apartment design.

During the late 1960s and through the mid-1970s, several new real estate trends influenced the development of multi-family properties throughout California. Multi-family residential projects were becoming larger in scale, often spanning entire blocks and incorporating extensive landscaping, community facilities, and other amenities. Then townhouse development appeared on the scene, largely due to the widespread adoption of the condominium financing structure. These trends reflected a movement away from single-family residential ownership as empty nesters elected to downsize and eliminate responsibility for property maintenance.

Panorama Highlands (Church Avenue and Eton Street) was an early “own your own apartment” complex by developer John Deeter. By 1962, Deeter was advertising two- and three-bedroom apartments for individuals who were “tired of yard work, like to travel or play golf.”440 Panorama Gardens [3901 Union Avenue], a Mid-Century Modern multi-family residential complex by local architects Eddy & Paynter was another example of the early apartment ownership trend.

Panorama Gardens featured two- and three-bedroom models with split-level plans. Another example of the type was the Villa Vista Apartment Homes [911 Panorama Drive], featuring a central pool and patio.

The condominium movement was born out of the earlier co-op apartment trend. However, condominiums diverged from co-op apartment arrangements, like Panorama Highlands, in that the residences were not collectively owned. Rather, each unit was owned individually, but common areas were subject to collective ownership. Typically, a homeowners’ association would be established to collect monthly ownership dues from the condo owners to fund maintenance of the property exterior and common areas. A lack of financing for the new ownership concept, however, suppressed initial development of the concept. In 1961, the FHA was only authorized to insure mortgages on condos for 85 percent of the appraised value. It wasn’t until September 1963, when tax appraisal methods for condominiums were settled, that

438 “Building Permits In August Near Million Mark,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 5, 1950, 15. 439 “Oro Vista Housing Units Now Filled, Project Officer Says,” The Bakersfield Californian, June 9, 1954, 34. 440 Classified advertisement, The Bakersfield Californian, December 8, 1962, 33.

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developers began building condominiums in earnest. The condominium craze was relatively subdued in Bakersfield, likely due to an abundance of single-family housing in the city.

In the 1970s, multi-family residential development increasingly emphasized leisure activities.

Boating, golf, and tennis became popular recreational activities and many complexes incorporated these facilities into their offered amenities. Examples in Bakersfield include the Plaza Real condominiums (Sampson Court east of S. Real Road) from the early 1970s; and Pinion Springs Village (Ming Avenue west of New Stine Road), a grouping of four-unit split- level townhomes built in 1972-1974 by the Loews Corporation/J.H. Snyder. By the mid-1970s larger apartment complex projects were being greenlit by the City’s Planning Commission. The 24-unit Westchester Place Apartments [1951 Golden State Highway] demonstrates the movement to larger complexes. Panorama Pointe (southwest corner of Panorama Drive and Columbus Street), a 260-unit apartment complex with three swimming pools, was approved for development in May of 1974.

Oil money was once again responsible for one of the more unusual multi-family residential developments of the period. Oak Park Tower [3200 21st Street] was built in 1970 by a former partner of Armand Hammer.441 The partner’s wife died unexpectedly and the building was sold to J.R. Smeed, head of Dynasonics Corporation. The five-story building designed by Eddy & Paynter was originally constructed as having six, 2,650 square foot apartments and a penthouse for the owner.442 When people failed to occupy the building for residential use, Smeed converted it to an office building and relocated the headquarters of Dynasonics Corp. there.

Locally, the building was known for having a domesticated mountain lion, Marusa, who walked the railing of the penthouse apartment amusing passing motorists. Smeed purchased the

441 David Coffey, email to the author, January 15, 2023. 442 “Oak Park Tower,” The Bakersfield Californian, November 3, 1974, 79.

Panorama Gardens as photographed by Julius Shulman, 1959. (Getty Research Institute)

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mountain lion from a rescue organization; his interest in exotic pets was born out of owning a cheetah while operating a tea plantation in Rhodesia. Prior to her retirement, Marusa appeared in Lincoln Mercury commercials.443
In summary, Bakersfield’s growth and development in the 20th century was largely tied to the economic drivers of oil and agriculture. Its architectural heritage, cultural heritage, and colorful characters make it a unique California community.

Criteria NRHP: A, B CRHR: 1, 2 BRHP: a, b, e Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period 1953-1974
 Is an excellent, rare, or unique example of single-family or multi-family residential development from the post-earthquake period in Bakersfield  May be an intact example of public housing in Bakersfield from the period  May be associated with the burgeoning local music scene and the development of the Bakersfield Sound
 May be associated with the civil rights, workers’ rights, or other social activist movements in Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with a person that played an important role in the history and development of Bakersfield during this period
 May also be associated with an important ethnic or cultural group in Bakersfield during this period, such as the local Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Basque, Italian, Mexican, or African American community
 Retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance from the historic period  A geographically concentrated grouping of intact residential development from the period may be eligible as a historic district
 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
An eligible property under this theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, feeling and association.

443 Large Cat Playful, Walks Rail,” The Bakersfield Californian, May 19, 1975, 10.

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BAKERSFIELD TODAY, 1975-PRESENT
Over the last 50 years, the population of Bakersfield has increased exponentially, making it one of the fastest growing cities in California. It continues to be a hub of agricultural and energy production.

Figure 7. Bakersfield Population Growth 1970-2020
Year Population Percentage Growth
1970 69,515 N/A
1980 105,611 51.9%
1990 174,820 65.5%
2000 247,057 41.3%
2010 347,483 40.6%
2020 403,355 16.1%
Source: U.S. Census

Over the years, the city has also become more ethnically diverse. In 2020, the City of Bakersfield was 38.9% White, 7.0 percent Black, 52.7 percent Latino, 7.8 percent Asian; 16.6 percent of residents identified as multi-racial.444
As the population of Bakersfield has continued to evolve, so has its built environment. In 1976, the Downtown Business District and the Chamber of Commerce led a movement to modernize the storefronts downtown. In 1977, the city experienced a historic dust storm, with winds up to 200 miles per hour, which caused millions of dollars’ worth of damage in the city. By the early 1980s, the three-mile stretch of Union Avenue once dotted with dozens of motels, restaurants, and gas stations was no longer a destination for road-tripping tourists. In 1996, Buck Owens opened the Crystal Palace music venue which became an instant Bakersfield landmark. Owens built the Crystal Palace as a proper performance venue, in contrast with the small, smoke-filled bars and honky-tonks he had played in for decades. Owens performed there frequently until his death in 2006.445
Bakersfield’s resilience to economic boom and bust times hit a snag during the recession of 2007. Kern County experienced triple the national rate of foreclosures. By 2010, the county’s unemployment rate had soared to 18.3 percent, an all-time high.446 California’s ongoing drought has also dealt a significant blow to the agricultural economy, which continues to struggle. All of Kern County has battled the effects of Valley Fever, a respiratory condition caused by a fungus in the soil, a condition to which Central Valley agricultural workers and prison inmates are particularly susceptible.

444 United States Census, 2020.
445 Price, 214.
446 “Timeline of 150 Years,” Bakersfield.com, https://www.bakersfield.com/special/150-years/ (accessed October 4, 2022).

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In recent decades, however, Bakersfield has started to rebound. The restoration and refurbishment of the Padre Hotel in 2010 is a prominent example of this economic turnaround.

The city has also seen an upturn in the housing market, which in turn, has boosted the city’s fortunes. The arts and culture scene has begun to thrive again, helping the city to both draw tourists and re-establish a sense of civic pride. In the most recent period, of course, the City of Bakersfield has had to weather the effects of Covid-19 and its impact on the economy and the community overall.

The city’s destiny has always been tied to water: sometimes too much of it, sometimes not enough. Regardless, the residents of Bakersfield have proven to be remarkably resilient. In various ways, the story of this city both reflects and defies the broader patterns of growth and development in the region, leaving a unique imprint on the history of the Central Valley, the state, and the nation.

THEMES
This period is outside the scope of this project. Therefore, no themes have been developed for this context.

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ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN, 1860-1974
This context describes the various architectural styles represented among Bakersfield’s extant built environment. This section is organized according to chronological periods, presented here as themes, from the late 19th century to the mid-1970s. Within each theme, there are a number of specific architectural styles, presented as sub-themes. The architectural styles presented in this context have been determined by a knowledge of broader architectural trends in the region during these various historical periods, along with a more detailed understanding of their representation among extant properties in Bakersfield today, with a particular emphasis on the four geographic areas selected by the City of Bakersfield for the accompanying historic resources survey: Downtown Bakersfield, East Bakersfield, Oleander/Sunset, and Westchester/Riviera.

Each architectural style includes a date range, or period of significance, representing when the style was most prevalent in the local built environment; a brief overview of the style’s origins; applicable local, California and National Register criteria; and a list of the style’s typical physical features, known as character-defining features. These are followed by eligibility standards and integrity thresholds which guide the evaluation of properties that may be eligible for their architectural merit, either as vernacular design or as an example of a particular architectural style. Note that a property constructed outside the period of significance for a particular style could still be significant for its architectural merit provided that it represents an excellent local example of the style, retains sufficient integrity, and otherwise meets the eligibility standards.

Photographs representing examples of each style are also provided. These photographs come from the accompanying historic resources survey and illustrate extant local examples of each style from the four survey areas. As the city conducts future historic resources studies and surveys, additional examples of the styles discussed herein, or additional styles present in Bakersfield, may be identified.

Note that there are two themes presented toward the end of this section that are not based upon architecture style. The first of these is a theme devoted to adobe brick as a method of construction. This theme was developed specifically to acknowledge Bakersfield’s unique population of early-20th century adobe brick residences designed by local architect and architectural educator Clarence C. Cullimore. Secondly, there is a theme devoted to local practitioners. This theme was developed in order to capture properties that may be eligible as the work of a particular designer, such as a master or noted Bakersfield architect, often in addition to but not dependent upon a property’s significance as representative of a particular architectural style.

According to guidance from the National Park Service, in order for a property to be eligible for historic listing or designation for its architectural merit, it must clearly illustrate through “distinctive characteristics” the pattern of features common to a particular class of resources; the individuality or variation of features that occurs within the class; the evolution of that class;

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or the transition between classes of resources.447 “Distinctive characteristics” are the physical features or traits that commonly recur in individual types, periods, or methods of construction.

To be eligible, a property must clearly retain enough of those characteristics to be considered truly representative of a particular type, period, or method of construction. That is, the features of a particular style should be fully integrated into the overall design, not applied superficially or added as an afterthought. A property that reflects a combination of styles or stylistic influences should display the features of one dominant style, with additional influences being subordinate to the dominant style. Furthermore, a property that represents a transition between styles would not be eligible simply because it is the only such example; rather, the transition itself must be considered an important architectural development.

A geographically contiguous grouping of properties representing one or multiple architectural styles and periods of development may be eligible as a historic district, provided the district overall is united historically or aesthetically and retains a strong sense of time and place. Some historic districts are characterized specifically as a concentration of one particular architecture style, such as a Craftsman residential historic district. Other districts may represent a cohesive collection of historically associated styles from the same period, such as a period revival historic district containing examples of Spanish Colonial Revival, American Colonial Revival, and Tudor Revival architecture.

The architectural character of Bakersfield built environment reflects changes in popular tastes over time. The city’s oldest buildings, dating from the late-19th and early-20th centuries, range from high-style residential examples designed in popular Victorian-era styles (Beaux Arts, Renaissance Revival, Queen Anne), to less formal builder-designed structures (Residential Vernacular, Commercial Vernacular). As Bakersfield’s population boomed during the first two decades of the 20th century, whole new residential tracts embraced the Craftsman bungalow movement of the period.

Moving into the 1920s and 1930s, the city saw a proliferation of popular period revival styles (Neoclassical, Tudor Revival, French Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, American Colonial Revival, etc.). These styles could be seen both in the residential landscape, as well as among the city’s more prominent commercial, civic and institutional properties. Also during this period, Bakersfield began to embrace a number of early modernist styles, particularly in their commercial and institutional buildings (Art Deco, Streamline/PWA Moderne, Late Moderne).

Several of the early modernist residential styles that first appeared in these years persisted into the postwar period as well (International Style, Minimal Traditional, Ranch).

In the post-World War II period, Bakersfield’s architectural landscape evolved dramatically, largely due to three factors: a significant influx of new residents after the war; a population of local architects starting practices in Bakersfield; and widespread rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of the 1952 earthquake. The post-World War II population growth resulted in the expansion of the city boundaries and the need for substantial development to serve the new residents. Many of this new development was designed by graduates of Kern County Union

447 Guidance in this section related to the evaluation of architecturally significant properties from: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 1997), 17-20.

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High School who first studied under local architect and educator Clarence C. Cullimore, Sr., then went on to the University of Southern California School of Architecture and other professional programs before returning to Bakersfield. The postwar architectural landscape was also transformed when City officials advocated for modernist architectural styles for the rebuilding of Bakersfield following a series of earthquakes in the summer of 1952 that resulted in the damage or loss of a sizable number of buildings throughout the city. With these three overarching forces at work in the postwar period, Bakersfield experienced an architectural shift away from more historicist designs toward later modernist styles, primarily among its commercial, civic and institutional buildings (Mid-Century Modern, Googie, Late Modern, New Formalism).

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THEME: Late 19th-Century Architecture
Sub-Theme: Beaux Arts (1890-1929)
Beaux Arts (or Beaux Arts Classicism) appeared in Southern California beginning in the late 1890s. It was the dominant type of high-style architecture in the United States in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. This style is based on the principals of the Parisian architecture school L’ École des Beaux Arts, established in late 18th-century France as the successor to the royal academies of painting, sculpture, and architecture. L’ École des Beaux Arts dominated all discussion of architecture during the 19th century, guiding the design and placement of major public buildings throughout Paris. In 1846, Richard Morris Hunt was the first American to attend the École and the American architectural profession would subsequently be dominated by men who had studied there or who had been trained in studios or schools established by those who had. The Beaux Arts style became popular in the United States as a result of its prominence at several expositions, including the Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893) and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco (1915). The popularity of the Beaux Arts approach to architecture in the United States at this time was also characteristic of the fact that architecture was becoming increasingly professional and specialized. American architectural schools modeled themselves after the traditional educational methods of their European counterparts, just as Americans used their wealth to construct European style buildings.

With its grandiose treatment of classic architectural forms, the Beaux Arts style was viewed as an ideal expression of both wealth and civic pride. Buildings of the style are both formal and monumental, with abundant and opulent decorative details.448 It thus became the almost universal choice for civic and institutional buildings, as well as some commercial buildings, into the 1920s. In the days before the United States’ federal government instituted income tax, large fortunes were proudly displayed in increasingly ornate and expensive houses, and privately-owned Beaux Arts mansions delivered a message of personal wealth. Homes in the Beaux Arts style were built principally in prosperous urban centers where turn-of-the-20th- century wealth congregated. Most domestic examples were built before 1915, but the style persisted until the economic depression of the 1930s.449 Known examples in Bakersfield date to the teens and 1920s, and represent commercial and institutional commissions designed by prominent architects including Orville L. Clark and Charles H. Biggar.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Symmetrical composition, sometimes with projecting pavilions  Tripartite articulation in the manner of the Italian Renaissance palazzo  High-quality exterior cladding such as limestone or marble

448 Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, “Beaux Arts Style 1885-1930,” Pennsylvania Architectural Field Guide, http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/architecture/styles/beaux-arts.html, accessed December 2015. 449 Virginia Savage McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014), 478.

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 Monumental entrances accessed by broad flights of steps  Arched or linteled openings
 Glazed terracotta or cast-stone Classical ornament, including columns and pilasters, frequently coupled; prominent cornices with elaborate moldings, dentils, and modillions; and decorative bas-relief panels or friezes
 Vertically proportioned rectangular or round-arched windows, sometimes in tripartite configurations
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of extant examples from the late 19th century, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable for the earliest examples of the style in the city.

Bakersfield Security Trust Company Bank, 1800 Chester
Avenue (1910).

Kern County Free Library, 1400 Baker Street (1915).

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Sub-Theme: Renaissance Revival (1890-1929)
The Renaissance Revival (or Italian Renaissance Revival) style was based upon the Classically- inspired architecture developed in Italy during the artistic, architectural, and literary movement of the 14th through 16th centuries that was spurred by the rebirth of interest in the ideals and achievements of imperial Rome. Italian Renaissance architecture was familiar to late 19th- century American architects who were trained at the École des Beaux Arts. The style was first interpreted for monumental, elaborately decorated public buildings such as the Boston Public Library (McKim, Mead, and White, 1887) and lavish mansions such as the Breakers (Richard Morris Hunt, 1893), the Vanderbilt “summer cottage” in Newport, Rhode Island. By the early 20th century, a more restrained, literal interpretation of the style developed as a larger number of American architects, as well as their clients, visited Italy and thus gained first-hand knowledge of original examples of Italian Renaissance architecture. This knowledge was further disseminated through extensive photographic documentation. As a result, Italian Renaissance Revival buildings are more literal interpretations than examples of the picturesque Italianate style.

Renaissance Revival buildings are often characterized by formal, usually symmetrical façades with recessed entrances, open loggias, and restrained use of Classical details, including quoins, roofline balustrades, pedimented windows, molded cornices and stringcourses, and rusticated stonework. The style was often used for imposing civic and institutional buildings, and banks.

In Bakersfield, known examples are primarily located downtown and were constructed in the 1890s and 1920s. Extant examples were designed by notable practitioners, including Henry Schultze, Carl Werner, Everett Hinshaw, and Charles H. Biggar.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Symmetrical façade; formal composition
 Low-pitched hipped roof with clay barrel or Roman tile; sometimes flat roof with balustrade or parapet
 Boxed eaves with decorative brackets or cornice
 Exterior walls veneered in smooth plaster or masonry
 Arched window and door openings, especially at the first floor  Divided-light wood casement windows, often with pediments (upper-story windows usually smaller and less elaborately detailed)
 Primary entrance framed with Classical columns or pilasters  Decorative cast-stone Classical details, including quoins, entablatures, string courses, pediments, architraves, and cornices

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 Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of extant examples in Bakersfield, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable for the earliest examples of the style in the city.

Kern County Land Company Building/Tevis Block, 1712 19th Street (1893).

Standard Oil Building/Jastro Building, 1800 19th Street (1917- 1921).

Masonic Temple, 1920 18th Street (1923). The Bakersfield Californian Building, 1707 Eye Street (1926).

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Sub-Theme: Queen Anne (1890-1905)
The eclectic and elaborate Queen Anne style was one of the most popular styles for domestic architecture in the United States from the 1880s until about 1900, although it continued in California until about 1910. Misnamed after the sovereign of the United Kingdom, the style originated in 19th-century Britain and combines freely adapted elements of English Gothic, Elizabethan, and Classical architecture. Like the Stick/Eastlake style that it quickly replaced, the Queen Anne style was popularized throughout the United States by the rapidly-expanding railroad network that made pre-cut architectural features easily available.

The Queen Anne style is characterized by complex asymmetrical compositions and the use of exterior wall surfaces as a primary decorative element. Queen Anne residences typically incorporate a projecting full-width, partial-width, or wrap-around front porch; steeply-pitched multi-gabled or hipped roofs; intricately patterned shingles and masonry; turned spindle work; and Classical elements executed in wood.

In Bakersfield, there are both elaborate high-style examples as well as more modest single- story Queen Anne cottages. Local examples date from the 1890s into the first decade of the 20th century.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Asymmetrical façade composition
 Steeply-pitched roof of irregular shape, usually with a dominate front-facing gable  Wooden exterior wall cladding with decorative patterned shingles or patterned masonry
 Projecting partial-width, full-width or wrap-around front porch, usually one story in height
 Cut-away bay windows
 Wood double-hung sash windows
 Towers topped by turrets, domes or cupolas
 Tall decorative-brick exterior chimneys
 Ornamentation may include decorative brackets, bargeboards and pendants, as well as Eastlake details, such as spindle work

Queen Anne Cottage sub-type
 One-story in height
 Simplified decorative details

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 Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of extant examples in Bakersfield, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable for the earliest examples of the style in the city.

1920 17th Street (1900). Stark/Spencer Residence, 1321 N Street (1898).

2514 19th Street (1900). 2724 19th Street (1906).

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Sub-Theme: American Foursquare (1890-1919)
The American Foursquare style was one of the most popular house types in the United States from about 1890 well into the 20th century. Compact and more sparsely ornamented, American Foursquare was an antidote to the ornate Queen Anne style. Because of its more vernacular design, it offered greater simplicity, affordability, and ease of construction compared to other popular styles of the period. As such, it was a popular style for mail-order “kit homes” and thus can be found on small urban and suburban lots throughout the country.

In Bakersfield, examples of the American Foursquare style date to the first decade of the 20th century are relatively rare.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Square or rectangular plan
 Compact, two-story massing
 Symmetrical or asymmetrical composition
 Hipped or pyramidal roof, with wide boxed eaves, eave brackets, and dentil molding  Central hipped dormer
 Exterior walls finished in horizontal wood siding
 Projecting one-story porch across primary façade, sometimes extending over driveway as a porte cochère
 Wood-sash double-hung windows

Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of extant examples in Bakersfield, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable for the earliest examples of the style in the city.

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1924 B Street (1905). 2322 18th Street (1911).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 170
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Sub-Theme: Mission Revival (1895-1929)
The Mission Revival style is indigenous to California. A counterpart to the American Colonial Revival of the Northeastern states, it drew upon California’s own colonial past. The style grew out of the romanticized image of old California fostered by Helen Hunt Jackson’s popular 1884 novel Ramona. Also influential were the efforts of writer Charles Fletcher Lummis, who promoted California tourism with his magazine Land of Sunshine and founded the Landmarks Club in 1895 to restore the crumbling Spanish missions. Never common beyond the Southwest, its regional popularity was spurred by its adoption by the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroads as the preferred style for train stations and resort hotels, where the original scale of the missions could be more successfully replicated. Throughout California, Mission Revival architecture was used into the 1920s, alongside other Period Revival styles.

Beginning in the late 19th century, California architects borrowed and freely adapted features of the California missions—bare plaster walls, curvilinear bell parapets or espadañas, arcades, tile roofs—often utilized in combination with elements of other styles.

In Bakersfield, known examples of the Mission Revival style date to the first decade of the 20th century and are quite rare.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Red clay tile roofs with overhanging eaves and open rafters  Shaped parapets
 Cement plaster exterior wall finish
 Arched window and door openings
 Details may include bell towers, arcades, quatrefoil openings or patterned tiles Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

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features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of extant examples in Bakersfield, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable for the earliest examples of the style in the city.

1002 Oleander Avenue (1901). 2525 19th Street (1907).

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Sub-Theme: Residential Vernacular
The term “Residential Vernacular” is used here to describe what are typically modest houses or cottages with minimal decorative features. These residences date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and may display some details associated with Victorian-era residential architecture. However, these details tend to be applied in a superficial manner to an otherwise simple house form, and thus the result is not representative of a recognizable style.

Bakersfield retains an extant population of these residences with varying degrees of integrity.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Simple square or rectangular form
 Gabled or hipped roof, moderately pitched, with boxed or open eaves  Wood exterior cladding, often including wood shingles  Single or paired wood double-hung windows
 Simple window and door surrounds

Eligibility Standards
Residential Vernacular buildings typically would not be individually eligible for their architectural merit. Instead, intact examples would more appropriately be evaluated as examples of early patterns of residential development, as the home of an important pioneering person or family, or as a contributor to a larger residential historic district.

805 Kentucky Street (1905). 2103 20th Street (1898).

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2104 18th Street (c. 1900). 331 Holtby Road (c. 1900).

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Sub-Theme: Commercial Vernacular
Although not an officially recognized style, “commercial vernacular” describes simple commercial structures with little decorative ornamentation, common in American cities and towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Commonly found in early business districts or along streetcar line corridors, these buildings can range from one-story commercial blocks with multiple retail storefronts, to mixed-use buildings of two or more stories with retail on the ground level and apartments or offices above. Commercial vernacular buildings are most commonly of brick construction, with minimal decorative detailing.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Brick exterior wall surfaces, with face brick on the primary façade  Ground-story retail storefronts, typically with a continuous transom window above  Wood double-hung sash upper-story windows, often in pairs  Segmental arch window and door openings on side and rear elevations  Decorative detailing, if any, may include cornices, friezes, quoins, or string courses

Eligibility Standards
Commercial Vernacular buildings typically would not be individually eligible for their architectural merit. Instead, intact examples would more appropriately be evaluated as examples of early patterns of commercial development, as the location of an important early business, or as a contributor to a larger commercial historic district.

909 18th Street (1929). 2020 Eye Street (c. 1910).

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THEME: The Craftsman Movement
Sub-Theme: Craftsman (1900-1919)
Craftsman architecture grew out of the late 19th-century English Arts and Crafts movement. A reaction against industrialization and the excesses of the Victorian era, the movement stressed simplicity of design, hand-craftsmanship, and the relationship of the building to the climate and landscape. Craftsman architecture developed in the first decade of the 20th century as an indigenous California version of the American Arts and Crafts movement, incorporating Southern California’s unique qualities with an emphasis on natural materials. Applied almost exclusively to domestic building types, Craftsman architecture was all but ubiquitous throughout Southern California from the early 1900s through the 1920s. Craftsman residences range from high-style, two-story homes to modest single-story bungalows.

Larger, more elaborate Craftsman houses were typically commissioned by wealthy patrons, and custom-designed in direct response to the needs of the homeowners and a particular physical site. These houses generally feature a low-pitched gable roof; broad overhanging eaves with exposed purlins and rafter tails; wood windows grouped in horizontal bands; and generous porches. A high-style Craftsman house is distinguished not only by its scale, but by the quality of the materials and complexity of design, often featuring elaborate custom woodwork, brickwork, or stained glass.

The Craftsman bungalow emerged around 1910 and persisted into the 1930s in some areas.

The bungalow’s simplicity of form, informal character, direct response to site, and extensive use of natural materials—particularly wood and stone—was a regional interpretation of the reforms espoused by the Arts and Crafts movement’s founder, William Morris. The proliferation of the ubiquitous bungalow was fed in part by the rise of “kit houses”. As the name implies, individuals could purchase a building site and order a house from a mail-order catalog, such as Sears & Roebuck Co., to be delivered by rail. A typical kit included some 12,000 pre-cut pieces and an instruction manual for the assembly of a modest yet complete single-family residence. Their comparative affordability made kit homes very popular with middle- and working-class families, as well as housing tract developers.

Craftsman bungalows generally have rectangular or irregular plans, one to one-and-a-half stories tall, with a pronounced horizontal emphasis. Features include low-pitched, front-facing gable roofs; deep overhanging eaves with exposed purlins and rafter tails; wood clapboard or shingle exteriors; and generous front porches, composed of river stone, brick, or plastered porch piers.

Bakersfield boasts a large population of Craftsman-style residences. Examples include large custom-designed houses by local architects such as Erskine Bemus and Orville L. Clark, as well whole neighborhoods of modest Craftsman-style bungalows.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Horizontal massing

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 Low-pitched gable roof with rolled or composition shingle roofing  Wide overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails, outriggers, or knee braces  Exterior walls clad in wood shingle, shake, or clapboard siding  Projecting partial- or full-width front porch
 Heavy porch piers, often of river stone or brick
 Stone or brick foundations or chimneys
 Wood-sash casement or double-hung windows, often grouped in multiples  Wide front door, often with a beveled light
 Wide, plain window and door surrounds, often with extended lintels  Extensive use of natural materials (wood, brick, or stone) Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the extensive use expressed natural materials—wood, brick, stone—in Craftsman architecture, integrity of materials and workmanship are of particular importance.

Barlow Residence, 1905 18th Street (1905). 2200 22nd Street (1910).

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2029 C Street (1910). Frank Munzer Residence, 1701 F Street (c. 1910)

Allardt Residence, 721 Oleander Avenue (1914). Bimat Residence, 527 Niles Street (1910).

2208 Sunset Avenue (1930). 2228 Park Way (1911).

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2221 Park Way (1926). 2208 San Emidio Street (1911).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 179
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Sub-Theme: Prairie Style (1900-1919)
The Prairie Style is an indigenous American style developed in the late 19th century in Chicago—one of the centers of the American Arts and Crafts movement—by a group of architects known collectively as the Prairie School. The acknowledged master of the Prairie Style was Frank Lloyd Wright, whose designs emphasized the horizontal with eaves extending well beyond the face of the exterior wall, bands of casement windows, and open floor plans that accentuated the flow of interior space.

A West Coast version of the Prairie Style developed later and differed somewhat from its Midwestern counterpart. Almost exclusively applied to domestic architecture, the Southern California Prairie Style house is defined by simple rectangular volumes and strong horizontal lines. It usually features exterior walls finished in cement plaster; flat or low-pitched roofs with wide boxed eaves, sometimes punctuated by decorative brackets; and horizontal bands of windows. French doors frequently provide a flowing connection from living and dining room to outdoor patios and terraces. Unlike their Craftsman counterparts, where porches play a key role in welcoming visitors, porches on many Prairie Style houses are reserved for the homeowner, surrounded by low walls with squat square piers and only accessible from the interior. Informal interior spaces with direct connection to the outdoors, along with restrained use of ornamentation, link these houses to the larger Craftsman idiom, as well as to the modern styles that would soon follow.

The Prairie Style is relatively rare in Southern California, and appears to be extremely rare in Bakersfield.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 One- or two-story rectangular volumes, sometimes with projecting wings  Pronounced horizontal emphasis
 Low-pitched hipped or flat roofs
 Wide boxed eaves, sometimes supported on decorative brackets  Cement plaster or brick exterior wall surfaces
 Recessed or projecting entry porches with low walls and square piers  Wood tripartite or casement windows in horizontal groupings, sometimes with continuous sills; double-hung windows are less common
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

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Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of extant examples in Bakersfield, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable for examples of the style in the city.

2109 B Street (1919). McGill Apartments, 1821-1829 B Street (1923).

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THEME: Early 20th-Century Period Revival Styles
Sub-Theme: Neoclassical (1900-1939)
Neoclassical architecture includes elements of the late 18th century Classical Revival and Adam (Federal) styles, as well as the early 19th-century Greek Revival style, sometimes combining of all of these influences in a single building. The Neoclassical style was influenced by the work of the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, who adapted Roman temple forms to residential design. The Neoclassical style was championed in the United States by Thomas Jefferson, whose designs for the Virginia state capitol, the University of Virginia, and his own home, Monticello, are among the finest American examples of the style. Neoclassical architecture did not achieve the broader popularity of the related American Colonial Revival style in the 1920s and 1930s. Like the Italian Renaissance Revival style, Neoclassicism was also widely employed in the design of civic and institutional buildings, and banks. These buildings typically convey a sense of grandeur, monumentality and permanence.

Neoclassical residential architecture is best identified by its symmetrical façade dominated by a full-height porch, or entrance portico, with over-scaled Classical columns supporting a pediment. Another common feature is the Palladian window—a tripartite window composed of a larger arched central section flanked by two smaller side sections—as a focal point of the façade.

Examples of Neoclassical architecture can be found in Bakersfield dating from the teen through the 1920s, though the style is not common.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Symmetrical façade
 Rectangular plan, sometimes with side wings
 Low-pitched hipped or side gable roof
 Exterior walls clad in masonry veneer or horizontal wood siding  Monumental entrance portico with Classical columns and pedimented roof  Paneled wood entrance door with sidelights, transom light, and Classical surround  Wood double-hung, divided-light windows, sometimes with louvered wood shutters; often Palladian windows
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 182
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Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of extant examples in Bakersfield, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable for examples of the style in the city.

Wiley Residence, 317 Oleander Avenue (1919). McKee Residence, 3031 21st Street (1937).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 183
Historic Resources Group
Sub-Theme: Tudor Revival (1900-1939)
The Tudor Revival style is loosely based on a variety of late medieval English building traditions including Perpendicular Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, and Jacobean. It has its origins in the late 19th-century English Arts and Crafts movement, whose leaders drew inspiration in part from English domestic architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries because of its picturesque qualities and sympathetic relationship to the natural landscape. The earliest examples of the style appeared in the United States in large estates of the 1890s. The Tudor Revival style grew in favor after World War I and reached its peak of popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, as architects and developers adapted it to the country’s rapidly growing suburban residential communities, as advancements in masonry veneering techniques allowed even the most modest examples to emulate the brick and stone exteriors of English prototypes.

High-style Tudor Revival houses are typically two and sometimes three stories in height with steeply-pitched, multi-gable roofs. Slate roof shingles are found in the finer examples, but wood shakes and composition shingles are also common. At least one front-facing gable is almost universally present as a dominant façade element. The buildings are usually rambling compositions of multiple volumes in a variety of sizes and shapes. Exterior walls are veneered in brick or stone, or feature decorative half-timbering, sometimes in elaborate patterns, with plaster between, mimicking the appearance of medieval construction techniques. Tall, narrow divided-light casement windows, sometimes with leaded diamond-shaped lights, are set in horizontal groupings or projecting bays. Main entrances—often set in crenellated turrets or under secondary gables with catslides—feature paneled wood doors framed by four-centered pointed arches. Projecting exterior chimneys with multiple flues and elaborate brickwork are sometimes located on the primary façade.

A sub-type of Tudor Revival is the Storybook style, which is a more whimsical version of Tudor Revival architecture derived from the quaint medieval cottages of the Cotswold region of southwestern England. The Storybook style was particularly popular in Hollywood where motion picture set designers sometimes moonlighted as architects.

In Bakersfield, the Tudor Revival style appears in high-style residential estates, or as isolated examples of modest scale in residential neighborhoods from the 1920s and 1930s, alongside more popular styles of the period, such as Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c, d
Character-Defining Features
 Asymmetrical façade and irregular massing
 Steeply-pitched multi-gabled roof with a prominent front-facing gable; slate, wood shake, or composition roofing
 Brick or plaster exterior wall cladding, typically with half-timbering and decorative details in stone or brick
 Tall, narrow divided-light windows, usually casement, often grouped horizontally or in bays; may have leaded diamond-shaped lights
 Entrance with pointed arch, set in turret or under secondary gable  Prominent chimney with elaborate brickwork

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 184
Historic Resources Group
Storybook sub-type
 Steeply-pitched gabled roofs, or hipped roofs with clipped gables  Composition shingles laid in irregular patterns and rolled eaves to suggest thatching  Eyebrow dormers
 Exterior walls veneered in a rough, irregular plaster finish Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Briscoe Residence, 2128 18th Street (1914). 311 Oleander Avenue (1930).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 185
Historic Resources Group

2830 Sunset Avenue (1929). 2830 18th Street (1926).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 186
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Sub-Theme: French Revival (1920-1955)
French Revival architecture in Southern California typically consists of two sub-types, Chateauesque and French Provincial. The Chateauesque style is loosely modeled on the 16th- century chateaux of France’s Loire Valley and combines features of French Gothic and Renaissance architecture. The style gained popularity in the United States in the late 19th century and is most closely associated with Richard Morris Hunt, the first American architect to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The style did not gain popularity in Southern California until the 1920s, when it was most frequently applied to luxury apartment buildings, and only occasionally to large single-family residences.

Chateauesque style buildings are typically two or more stories in height and feature multiple, steeply-pitched hipped roofs with towers, turrets, spires, tall chimneys, and highly ornamented dormers. Exterior walls are usually veneered in stone, brick, or scored plaster, and are ornamented with Classical pilasters, stringcourses, and cornices. Windows are typically divided-light wood casements, frequently paired or grouped with prominent mullions.

The more modest French Provincial style was popularized after World War I and is based upon country houses of the French provinces, including Normandy. Although it shares several basic features with the more elaborate Chateauesque style, the French Provincial style is much simpler in its composition and detailing. It is characterized by a prominent, steeply pitched hipped roof with flared eaves and a Classical eave cornice; simple rectangular plan and massing; exterior walls veneered in smooth plaster; and divided-light wood-sash casement or double- hung windows, usually with louvered wood shutters. Upper-story windows sometimes break the cornice line with shallow dormers. The Norman variation usually features decorative half- timbering and a circular entrance tower with a conical roof.

French Revival architecture, of either the Chateauesque or French Provincial sub-types, are rare in Bakersfield. Known examples date anywhere from the 1920s to the 1950s. Therefore, the period of significance for this style extends through the immediate postwar period.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Multiple steeply-pitched hipped roofs
 Complex massing
 Stone, brick, or scored plaster veneer at exterior walls  Towers, turrets and spires
 Highly ornamented dormers
 Tall exterior brick or stone chimneys
 Divided-light wood casement windows, paired or grouped, with prominent mullions  Classical pilasters, string courses, and cornices

French Provincial sub-type
 Steeply-pitched hipped roofs with flared eaves and eave cornice  Rectangular plan and simple massing

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 187
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 Smooth plaster veneer at exterior walls
 Divided-light wood-sash casement or double-hung windows, often breaking the cornice line
 Louvered wood shutters
 Decorative half-timbering and circular entrance tower with conical roof (Norman variation)
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; later examples should be excellent local examples; and
 Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Late examples, from the 1940s or 1950s, should be highly intact. 2829 21st Street (1952).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 188
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Sub-Theme: Spanish Colonial Revival (1919-1959)
The Spanish Colonial Revival style attained widespread popularity throughout Southern California following the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, which was housed in a series of buildings designed in the late Baroque Churrigueresque style of Spain and Mexico by chief architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. The Churrigueresque style—with its intricate ornamentation juxtaposed against plain stucco wall surfaces and accented with towers and domes—lent itself to monumental edifices of churches and movie palaces, but was less suited to residential or smaller scale commercial buildings. For those applications, architects drew inspiration from provincial Spain, particularly the arid southern region of Andalusia.

The resulting Spanish Colonial Revival style was a deliberate attempt to develop a “native” California architectural style. While it romanticized the area’s colonial past, it also drew directly from Spanish and other Mediterranean precedents, and ultimately bore little resemblance to the missions and rustic adobe ranch houses that comprised the state’s colonial-era buildings.

The style is characterized by its infinitely creative combinations of plaster, tile, wood, and iron.

Character-defining features include plaster-clad volumes arranged around patios; low-pitched gable and shed roofs sheathed in clay barrel tiles; and sprawling irregular plans with low horizontal orientation and asymmetrical façades.

The popularity of the Spanish Colonial Revival style coincided with Southern California’s population boom of the 1920s, and extended across nearly all property types. It shaped the region’s expansion for nearly two decades, reaching its peak of popularity in 1929, and tapering off through the 1930s as the Great Depression took hold. Like other period revival styles, the Spanish Colonial Revival style was often simplified, reduced to its signature elements, or creatively combined with design features of other Mediterranean regions such as Italy, southern France, and North Africa, resulting in a pan-Mediterranean mélange of eclectic variations (see Mediterranean Revival Style). It was sometimes combined, although much less frequently, with the emerging Art Deco and Moderne styles.

The Spanish Colonial Revival style proliferated throughout residential neighborhoods of the 1920s and 1930s in Southern California, and was also utilized for commercial and institutional commissions during the same period. The style persisted into the postwar period specifically for church architecture, as religious institutions expanded to serve their growing congregations and eschewed modern designs in favor of traditional styles.

Spanish Colonial Revival architecture is common in Bakersfield. Examples range from elaborate architect-designed residences and commercial building from the 1920s and 1930s, to church from both the prewar and postwar periods. Architects known to have extant examples in Bakersfield include Higgins & Root, Ernest L. McCoy, S. Charles Lee, and John Montgomery Cooper.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Asymmetrical façade
 Irregular plan and horizontal massing

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 189
Historic Resources Group
 Varied gable or hipped roofs with clay barrel tiles
 Plaster veneered exterior walls forming wide, uninterrupted expanses  Wood-sash casement or double-hung windows, typically with divided lights  Round, pointed, or parabolic arched openings
 Arcades or colonnades
 Decorative grilles of wood, wrought iron, or plaster
 Balconies, patios or towers
 Decorative terra cotta or glazed ceramic tilework
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; later examples should be excellent local examples; and
 Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Eligible examples must retain characteristic clay barrel tile roofing. Late examples, such as postwar churches, should be highly intact.

Hughes Residence, 2221 Cedar Street (c. 1925). Padre Hotel, 1702 18th Street (1928).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 190
Historic Resources Group

Fox Theater, 2001 H Street (1930). St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 216 17th Street (1953-61).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 191
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Sub-Theme: Mediterranean Revival (1919-1939)
The Mediterranean Revival style is distinguished by its eclectic mix of architectural elements from several regions around the Mediterranean Sea, including Spain, Italy, southern France, and North Africa. Much of American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries can be broadly classified as Mediterranean in origin, including the Beaux Arts, Mission Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival, and Renaissance Revival styles. By the 1920s, the lines between these individual styles were frequently blurred and their distinguishing characteristics blended by architects who drew inspiration from throughout the Mediterranean region. These imaginative combinations of details from varied architectural traditions resulted in the emergence of a distinct Mediterranean Revival style.

In contrast to the more academic and literal interpretations—such as the Andalusian-influenced Spanish Colonial Revival style, or the restrained and dignified Renaissance Revival style—the broader Mediterranean Revival freely combined elements of Italian, Spanish and Moorish architecture into what might otherwise be Spanish Colonial Revival designs. The Mediterranean Revival style is sometimes more formal than the simpler and more rustic Spanish Colonial Revival style, and often more flamboyant than the sober Renaissance Revival style.

Typical features of the Mediterranean Revival style include arched entrance doorways with richly detailed surrounds; arcades and loggias; stairways and terraces with cast stone balustrades; and Classical decorative elements in cast stone or plaster, including architraves, stringcourses, cornices, pilasters, columns, and quoins.

Mediterranean Revival architecture can be seen in Bakersfield, particularly among large residences of the 1920s and 1930s, typically alongside more popular styles of the period, such as American Colonial Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Frequently symmetrical façade
 Rectangular plan, two-story height
 Hipped roof with clay barrel tiles, wide boxed or bracketed eaves or eave cornice  Exterior walls veneered in smooth plaster
 Wood-sash casement windows, typically with divided lights; sometimes double-hung windows; Palladian windows or other accent windows
 Arched door or window openings
 Elaborate door surrounds
 Arcades, colonnades, or loggias
 Terraces and stairs with cast stone balustrades
 Cast stone or plaster decorative elements including architraves, stringcourses, cornices, pilasters, columns, and quoins
 Decorative grilles of wood, wrought iron, or plaster
 Balconies, patios or towers
 Decorative terra cotta or glazed ceramic tilework

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 192
Historic Resources Group
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Eligible examples must retain characteristic clay barrel tile roofing.

Beggs/Brandt Residence, 729 Oleander Avenue (1919). 1809 Beech Street (1930).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 193
Historic Resources Group
Sub-Theme: Romanesque Revival (1920-1939)
The Romanesque Revival style is another variation of Mediterranean-inspired architecture. The style first appeared in the United States in the late 19th century with the work of Henry Hobson Richardson, but largely fell out of favor in the early 20th century. A different iteration of the style emerged after World War I, based on northern Italian precedents which typically utilized brick with stone trim in place of stone construction, and used rounded arches exclusively. The Romanesque Revival style was used for churches, university campuses, and occasionally for commercial buildings. In Southern California, both the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) adopted Romanesque Revival as their official campus styles in the 1920s.

While the style is rare in Bakersfield, the city boasts an excellent example in a monumental and prominently located downtown church, designed by local architect Charles H. Biggar.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Brick masonry construction with stone/cast stone trim; occasionally concrete construction with impression of formwork left intact
 Pitched clay barrel tiled roofs, often gabled
 Corbel table along cornices, eaves, or rakes
 Rounded arches in arcades, loggias, and at window and door openings  Square towers, typically with tiled hipped roofs; sometimes conical or rounded towers with low conical roofs
 Friezes with decorative relief
 Multiple belt courses
 Rope molding and twisted columns
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 194
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still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Eligible examples must retain characteristic clay barrel tile roofing.

Bakersfield First Baptist Church, 1200 Truxton Avenue (1931).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 195
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Sub-Theme: Byzantine Revival (1920-1959)
The term “Byzantine” refers to the eastern portions of the Roman Empire; the architectural style that was developed in these areas by late Romans and early Christians in the 5th century would go on to influence church buildings in countries like Greece and Italy, among others, for thousands of years.450 In the mid-19th century, a British group called the Palestine Exploration Fund began to investigate parts of ancient Israel and the eastern Mediterranean, sparking a series of discoveries that would influence modern synagogue architecture. The discovery of the ancient Byzantine synagogue at Bet Alfa in the mid-1920s inspired the construction of Byzantine Revival synagogues across the United States. Byzantine Revival is architecture seen almost exclusively in religious buildings associated with Eastern European and Middle Eastern faiths. Although the style was first seen in California in the 1920s, there are examples constructed after World War II, as religious institutions expanded to serve their growing congregations and eschewed modern designs in favor of traditional styles.

The Byzantine Revival style is relatively rare in Southern California, and appears to be extremely rare in Bakersfield.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Cruciform plan
 Symmetrical composition
 Decorative brick and stonework
 Domes, often onion domes
 Arches
 Marble columns and inlay, mosaics, inlaid gold, and inlaid stone paving Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

450 Francis D.K. Ching, A Visual Dictionary of Architecture (Hoboken: Wiley and Sons, 1996), 131.

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building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

St. George Greek Orthodox Church, 401 Truxton Avenue (1956).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 197
Historic Resources Group
Sub-Theme: Monterey Revival (1920-1939)
The Monterey Revival (or Monterey Colonial Revival) style is based upon the distinctive style of residential architecture that developed in California beginning in the 1830s, as more and more Yankee merchants and settlers arrived in Alta California and adapted the Anglo building traditions of the East Coast to local Hispanic customs. As its name implies, the style developed in and around Monterey and combined vernacular adobe construction with elements of American Federal and Greek Revival architecture, including multi-light wood-sash windows, louvered shutters, paneled doors, and Classical details executed in wood. The style’s most distinguishing characteristic is a second-floor covered wood balcony, often cantilevered, extending the length of the primary façade, and sometimes wrapping one or two sides. The best-known example of the style, and one of the earliest, is the Thomas Larkin adobe, constructed beginning in 1834 and one of the first two-story dwellings in Monterey.451 The style was revived beginning in the mid- to late-1920s and was favored by architects and homeowners who perhaps found the fantastical Spanish and Mediterranean revivals too exotic and too different from the building traditions familiar to most Americans. The Monterey Revival style reached the height of its popularity in Southern California in the 1930s, with some examples constructed in the early 1940s. The Monterey Revival style replaced adobe construction with wood-framed walls veneered in smooth plaster and devoid of surface ornament, and featured low-pitched gable or hipped roofs, double-hung wood windows, and those quintessential second-story balconies.

Monterey Revival architecture can be seen in Bakersfield, particularly among large residences of the 1920s and 1930s, typically alongside more popular styles of the period, such as American Colonial Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Two-story height, sometimes with one-story wings
 Rectangular or L-shaped plan
 Low-pitched hipped or side gable roofs with wood shakes or clay tiles  Typically asymmetrical composition of the primary façade  Plaster-veneered exterior walls devoid of surface ornament  Second-floor covered wood balcony, sometimes cantilevered, across primary façade and occasionally wrapping one or more sides; simple wood posts and wood or metal railing  Wood-sash double-hung windows, typically with divided lights  Louvered or paneled wood shutters
 Recessed entrances with paneled wood doors
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and

451 Monterey County Historical Society, “Monterey’s Larkin House Adobe and Garden,” http://www.mchsmuseum.com/larkinhouse.html (accessed May 2025).

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 Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

Zimmer Residence, 527 Oleander Avenue (1937). Dimon Residence, 620 Holtby Road (1941).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 199
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Sub-Theme: Georgian Revival (1920-1939)
The Georgian style was the predominant architectural style in Great Britain and its North American colonies throughout the 18th century. It takes its name from the three kings— George I, George II, and George III—whose successive reigns (1714-1820) encompassed the period, but its stylistic elements were probably fixed by the end of the 17th century. The Georgian style combined traditional elements of late medieval English architecture—steeply- pitched roofs, towering chimneys, and dormers—with the strict proportions, symmetrical composition, and Classical detailing of the Italian Renaissance. The Georgian style also incorporated a new invention from the period, the vertical sliding sash (double-hung) window.

Inspired by pattern books and constructed by prosperous merchants and planters, Georgian- style houses of the American colonies were smaller and less ornate than their British counterparts, but no less stately and projecting a similar aura of dignity and gentility. In the late 18th century, the sober and restrained Georgian style gave way to the lighter, more ornate Adam style.

The U.S. Centennial Exposition of 1876 inspired a sense of patriotism in Americans and fostered a renewed interest in the styles of the Colonial era. The earliest attempts at a revived Georgian style in the late 19th century were rarely authentic reproductions, but rather took elements of Georgian architecture and applied them to Victorian buildings. In the early 20th century, architects began to produce more accurate interpretations that featured historically correct proportions and details, resulting in a proper revival style.

The Georgian Revival style is characterized by a rectangular plan; formal, symmetrical, five-bay façade composition; restrained use of Classical ornament; hipped or side gable roof with eave cornice, sometimes with dormers; tall chimneys; and divided-light double-hung wood windows.

Georgian Revival buildings of the 1920s and 1930s sometimes also feature Adam (Federal), Palladian, or other Neoclassical elements such as columned, pedimented porticos or Venetian (Palladian) windows.

The Georgian Revival style is not common in Southern California and appears to be quite rare in Bakersfield.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Hipped or side gable roofs with eave cornice; sometimes dormers  Rectangular plan and simple massing
 Symmetrical façade, typically 5 bays wide
 Exterior walls veneered in brick; occasionally wood siding  Main entrance centered on front façade, with paneled wood door flanked by Classical pilasters or columns supporting a pediment
 Divided-light double-hung wood windows, sometimes with louvered or paneled shutters
 Prominent brick chimney(s)

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 200
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Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

Woman’s Club of Bakersfield, 2030 18th Street (1921).

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 201
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Sub-Theme: American Colonial Revival (1920-1949)
American Colonial Revival describes a varied style that combines a number of architectural features found throughout the American Colonies, particularly in New England. The style has neither the strict formality of the Georgian Revival, nor the decorative embellishments of the Neoclassical, although it sometimes incorporates elements of both. It also adapts elements of Dutch colonial architecture, such as the gambrel roof. The U.S. Centennial Exposition of 1876 inspired a sense of patriotism in Americans and fostered an interest in the styles of the Colonial era. Early examples in the late 19th century were rarely accurate reproductions, but were instead free interpretations with details inspired by colonial precedents; later examples shifted to more historically correct proportions and details. In the early 20th century, the American Colonial Revival style was employed primarily for grand homes; however, by the 1920s it was being widely applied to more modest single- and multi-family residences. The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in the 1930s refueled interest in the style, and it remained popular into the postwar era, again reflecting a renewed sense of patriotism after World War II.

American Colonial Revival buildings are typically one or two stories in height, and are sometimes symmetrical but frequently asymmetrical, with rectangular, L-shaped, or irregular plans. They typically feature side-gable or cross-gable roofs, sometimes with gabled dormers; exterior walls clad in horizontal wood siding, occasionally brick; prominent brick chimneys; double-hung, divided-light wood windows, often with louvered wood shutters; paneled wood doors, sometimes with sidelights, transom lights, or fanlights; and restrained use of Classical details. Some American Colonial Revival houses have small pedimented porches, while others have shed-roofed porches supported on wood posts extending the length of the primary façade.

American Colonial Revival architecture can be seen in Bakersfield, particularly among large residences of the 1920s and 1930s, typically alongside other popular styles of the period, such as the Spanish Colonial Revival style.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Side-gable or cross-gable roof, often with dormers
 Asymmetrical composition (occasionally symmetrical)
 Horizontal wood siding at exterior walls
 Paneled wood entry door, sometimes with sidelights, transom light, or fanlight  Double-hung divided-light wood windows, often with louvered wood shutters  Projecting front porch
 Prominent brick chimney
 Restrained Neoclassical details, such as columns or pediments Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or

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 Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.
2200 Truxton Avenue (1923). The Georgian Building, 2025 18th Street (1923).

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Sub-Theme: Dutch Colonial Revival (1910-1939)
Like its American Colonial counterpart, the Dutch Colonial style enjoyed a revival in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.452 Dutch Colonial architecture was based on architecture and housing types from the Netherlands dating back to the medieval period. The style has a particular association with the northeastern portion of the country, from Pennsylvania in the south to inland New York in the north. Dutch Colonial residential architecture exhibited regional variations, reflecting available resources. For instance, stone was rarely used as a building material in the Netherlands, but was utilized much more often in the colonies because it was widely available. The most widely recognized aspect of Dutch Colonial architecture is the gambrel roof, though this was not used exclusively. The earliest Dutch houses were one-room deep with steeply-pitched roofs. However, as homes became larger, these steeply-pitched roofs proved vulnerable to wind stresses without additional bracing. As a result, many larger Dutch- influenced houses instead employed the gambrel roof.

Character-defining features of the Dutch Colonial Revival style include simple building forms; clapboard or brick exterior cladding; front- or side-gambrel roofs, often with wide shed-roof dormers; and full-width recessed or projecting porches. Classical detailing is often restrained and includes pediments, columns or pilasters, divided-light double-hung wood windows, and decorative wood shutters. The style was less popular in Southern California than its American Colonial and Georgian counterparts. Early examples of Dutch Colonial Revival architecture are often hybrids, reflecting influences of the Shingle or other Victorian era styles.

Dutch Colonial Revival architecture appears to be rather rare in Bakersfield, typically appearing in residential neighborhoods from the 1920s and 1930s alongside more popular styles of the period, such as the American Colonial Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 One or two stories in height
 Simple building forms
 Clapboard or brick exteriors
 Front- or side-gambrel roof
 Roof dormers, typically wide with shed roofs
 May have a full-width porch, recessed or projecting
 Restrained classical detailing, including pediments; columns or pilasters; divided-light double-hung sash windows
 Decorative wood shutters
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or

452 Excerpted from City of Los Angeles, SurveyLA Historic Context Statement: American Colonial Revival, prepared by GPA Consulting, December 2015, 20-21.

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 Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

2212 Truxton Avenue (1904). 2418 K Street (1910).

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Sub-Theme: East Asian Eclectic (1920-1979)
East Asian Eclectic architecture, a derivative and referential style that borrowed forms and ornament directly from ancient buildings in East Asia, emerged as part of the larger Exotic Revival trend in the western U.S. beginning in the 1920s. As it developed in the post-World War II period, the East Asian Eclectic style adopted some of the design language of the Modern movement. The distinctive, sweeping upturned eaves and steep roofs of early buildings gave way to decorative upturned beams and eaves supporting flat roofs, creating more linear and boxy forms. In some East Asian communities, the East Asian Eclectic style persisted beyond the postwar period—in residential neighborhoods, commercial enterprises, and religious institutions— as a way of communicating cultural and ethnic identity through design.

East Asian Eclectic architecture can be seen in those areas of downtown Bakersfield that were historically occupied by the city’s two Chinatowns, primarily among restaurant and religious buildings from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Flat roof with decorative post-and-beam structural system, or pitched rakes at roof perimeter
 Brightly-colored roofs tiles
 Upturned eaves, often with carved brackets and rafter tails  Ornamented roof ridge
 Recessed entryways, often with elaborated surrounds
 Elaborated windows, including decorative mullion patterns, patterned grilles, or surrounds
 For mixed-use buildings, may have second-floor balconies  For retail, may have neon signage in fonts evoking calligraphy  For Chinese-influenced examples, may be painted red and gold  For Chinese-influenced examples, ornamentation may include dragon or lion motifs Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive features; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important practitioner; and  May represent important ethnic or cultural community identity; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

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the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of the style, and the significance of East Asian Eclectic architecture within the context of cultural identity in Bakersfield, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable. Replacement of signage is acceptable in commercial examples of the style, as tenants or uses change over time.

New China Café, 801 18th Street (1928).

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THEME: Early Modernist Styles
Sub-Theme: Art Deco (1925-1939)
Art Deco originated in France in the 1910s as an experimental movement in architecture and the decorative arts. It developed into a major style when it was first exhibited in Paris at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, from which it takes its name. The Exposition’s organizers had insisted on the creation of a new, modern aesthetic.

The architecture of the Art Deco movement rejected the rigid organizational methods and classical ornamentation of the Beaux Arts style. It emphasized a soaring verticality through the use of stepped towers, spires, and fluted or reeded piers; and embraced highly stylized geometric, floral and figurative motifs as decorative elements on both the exterior and interior.

Ornate metalwork (especially aluminum), glazed terra cotta tiles, and bright colors were hallmarks of the style.

Art Deco was the first popular style in the United States that consciously rejected historical precedents. Instead, it was a product of the Machine Age and took its inspiration from industry and transportation. Art Deco was employed primarily in commercial and institutional buildings, and occasionally in multi-family residential buildings. It was rarely used for single-family residences. By the mid-1930s, in the depths of the Great Depression, the highly decorated style was already viewed as garish and overwrought, and it was soon abandoned in favor of the cleaner, simpler Streamline Moderne and PWA Moderne styles.

Downtown Bakersfield boasts a handful of commercial buildings designed in the Art Deco style, all dating from the 1930s.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Vertical emphasis
 Smooth exterior wall surfaces, usually of plaster
 Flat roofs with decorative parapets or towers
 Stylized decorative elements in cast stone, glazed terra cotta tiles, or aluminum  Abstract geometric decorative motifs, such as zigzags and chevrons  Figurative motifs, such as floral or waterfall
 Stepped towers, piers, pilasters, and other vertical elements  Steel windows, usually fixed or casement

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 Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

Kress Department Store; 1401 19th Street (1931). Nile Theater, 1721 19th Street (remodeled 1938).

San Joaquin Power Garage, 800 20th Street (1936).

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Sub-Theme: Streamline Moderne (1930-1950)/PWA Moderne (1933- 1943)
The constraints of the Great Depression cut short the development of Art Deco architecture, and replaced it with a purer expression of modernity, the Streamline Moderne style.

Characterized by smooth surfaces, curved corners, and sweeping horizontal lines, Streamline Moderne is considered to be the first thoroughly Modern architectural style to achieve wide acceptance among the American public. Inspired by the industrial designs of the period, the style was popular throughout the United States in the late 1930s, particularly for projects funded by Depression-era federal relief programs (see “PWA Moderne” below). Unlike the equally modern but highly-ornamental Art Deco style of the late 1920s, Streamline Moderne expressed an austerity perceived as more appropriate for the Depression era. Indeed, many of the prime movers behind the Streamline Moderne style—such as Raymond Loewy, Walter Dorwin Teague, Gilbert Rohde, and Norman Bel Geddes—all disliked Art Deco, seeing it as falsely modern. Nonetheless, in practice the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles were not necessarily opposites, as it was not uncommon to see Streamline buildings that incorporated some Deco elements.

The origins of the Streamline Moderne are rooted in transportation design, which took the curved form of the teardrop, because it was the most efficient shape in lowering the wind resistance of an object. Product designers and architects alike who wanted to express efficiency borrowed the streamlined shape of cars, planes, trains, and ocean liners. Streamline Moderne architecture not only looked more efficient, but in fact was often less inexpensive to build because of its smooth concrete or plaster exteriors which lacked labor-intensive ornamentation. The Streamline Moderne’s finest hour was the New York World’s Fair of 1939- 1940—known as the “World of Tomorrow” —showcased the homes and cities of the future, all in streamlined pavilions. Streamline Moderne architecture was applied to residential, commercial, and institutional properties from the 1930s through the immediate post-World War II period.

PWA Moderne-style buildings were constructed as part of government relief projects sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), established by President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Sometime referred to as “Depression Moderne” or “Classical Moderne”, the PWA Moderne style combines the clean lines of Streamline Moderne with simplified decorative elements of Art Deco to create a monumental but restrained architectural language appropriate for post offices, courthouses, schools, libraries, city halls, bridges, and other institutional, infrastructure, and public works projects.

Thus, the period of significance for the PWA Moderne style is 1933-1943, coinciding with the combined active years of the PWA and WPA.

Downtown Bakersfield boasts a number of Streamline and PWA Moderne style buildings from the 1930s and 1940s, including commercial, institutional and civic buildings.

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Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Horizontal emphasis
 Asymmetrical façade
 Flat roof with coping
 Smooth plaster or concrete exterior wall surfaces
 Curved corners and end walls
 Flat canopies over entrances or bands of windows
 Glass block and porthole windows
 Fluted or reeded moldings or string courses (speedlines)  Pipe railings along exterior staircases and balconies  Steel sash windows

PWA Moderne sub-type
 Formal symmetry and massing
 Smooth exterior wall surfaces, including plaster, marble, terrazzo, and polished stone  Piers or engaged columns
 Windows often vertically arranged in recessed bays
 Minimal ornamentation

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

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Sill Building, 1500-1516 18th Street (1939). Woolworth's Department Store, 1400 19th Street (1950).

James Building, 1600-1614 20th Street (1947). Harvey Auditorium, Bakersfield High School, 1241 G Street (1948).

J.C. Penney, 1504-1510 19th Street (1947). Bank of America, 1931 Chester Avenue (1930).

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Bakersfield Fire Station No. 1, 2101 H Street (1939). Kern County Hall of Records, 1655 Chester Avenue (remodeled 1940).

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Sub-Theme: Late Moderne (1939-1955)
The Late Moderne style is a transitional style that incorporates elements of both the Streamline Moderne and International styles. The earliest examples of the style appeared in the late 1930s, but its development was delayed by the almost complete halt in construction activity during World War II. The Late Moderne style, therefore, did not achieve widespread popularity until the postwar years. It was used especially in large-scale commercial and civic buildings of the late 1940s and early 1950s.

The Late Moderne style combines the classical proportions, heavy massing, and applied ornament that characterized the Streamline Moderne style with the strict rectilinear volumes, horizontal emphasis, and smooth wall surfaces of the International Style. Walls were sometimes veneered in brick, especially Roman brick, in lieu of plaster or concrete to give the buildings added texture. Fenestration was minimal, usually consisting of horizontal bands of ribbon windows. One of the most distinctive features of the Late Moderne style is the bezel window: a grouping of windows, usually with a horizontal orientation, set within a prominent, protruding surround that contrasts with the material and color of the adjacent wall surface.

Commercial examples of the style may feature a tall, geometrically-shaped signage pylon, or projecting canopies with curvilinear profiles, sometimes with circular cutouts.

Examples of the Late Moderne style appear to be relatively rare in Bakersfield.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Heavy massing and rectilinear volumes
 Horizontal orientation
 Flat roofs
 Unadorned wall surfaces of concrete or plaster, sometimes brick  Horizontal bands of windows, typically steel-sash casement, awning, or hopper  Bezeled windows
 Geometric signage pylons
 Projecting canopies with curvilinear profiles or circular cutouts

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Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

California Department of Employment, 1924 Q Street (1951). Cornet 5-10-25 Cent Store, 1006 Baker Street (1948).

American Federal of Labor (A.F. of L.) Union 743, 911 20th Street (1949).

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Sub-Theme: Minimal Traditional (1934-1959)
The Minimal Traditional style grew out of Federal government initiatives to encourage home ownership by influencing the design of modest housing before and after World War II. The National Housing Act of 1934 created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which helped reignite the construction of single-family residences during the Great Depression by establishing mortgage terms that brought home ownership within reach for the average American family. The FHA also influenced how homes and neighborhoods were designed. As early as 1936, the FHA embraced the principles of modern community planning, advocating for well-designed comprehensive communities at the neighborhood scale. That year the FHA published a bulletin, Principles of Planning Small Houses, with guidelines for the design of a small, economical, and efficient “minimum” house. Builders following these guidelines were more likely to secure construction loans and mortgages.

The Minimal Traditional house—with simplified traditional forms and minimal detailing—first began to appear in single-family residential tracts developed in the mid- to late-1930s as the country began to emerge from the Great Depression. However, the proliferation of this highly efficient modest housing type was spurred by World War II and the sudden need to house vast numbers of workers who had relocated to accommodate the nation’s wartime production needs. After the war, large new residential subdivisions were developed throughout the United States but primarily in the southwest to accommodate returning servicemen and their families, purchasing new homes with no down payment under the G.I. Bill. While the Minimal Traditional style is primarily associated with the detached single-family house, it was also applied to low-density apartment buildings of the same period.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 One-story height
 Rectangular plan and simple forms
 Medium- or low-pitched hip or side-gable roof with shallow eaves  Smooth stucco wall cladding, often with accents in wood lap, stone, or brick veneer  Wood divided-light windows (picture, double-hung sash, casement)  Projecting three-sided oriel
 Shallow entry porch with slender wood supports
 Decorative wood shutters
 Lack of decorative exterior detailing

Eligibility Standards
Properties designed in the Minimal Traditional style typically would not be individually eligible for their architectural merit. As described above, the style emerged out of a need for construction efficiency and affordability according to FHA guidelines, and not in response to important architectural or stylistic movements. As noted by Caltrans in their statewide guidance for evaluating such properties: “Postwar tract houses by merchant builders generally will possess the distinctive characteristics of their type, style, and period. However, since these houses were built in multiples, it would not be possible to identify a single residence within a

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tract as being an important example relative to its neighbors.”453 As such, Minimal Traditional- style residences typically do not reflect distinctive characteristics or high quality of design that would qualify the property for individual historic designation as an example of its architectural style. Instead, a geographically contiguous collection of Minimal Traditional-style tract houses would more appropriately be evaluated as a historic district.

Heckert and Warford Apartments, 2301 E Street (1937).

453 California Department of Transportation, “Tract Housing in California, 1945-1973: A Context for National Register Evaluation,” Sacramento, CA, 2011.

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Sub-Theme: International Style (1920-1941)
The International Style—an architectural aesthetic that stressed rationality, logic, and a break with the past—emerged in Europe in the 1920s with the work of Le Corbusier in France, and Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Germany. The United States became a stronghold of Modern architecture after the emigration of Gropius, Mies, and Marcel Breuer.

Two Austrian emigrants, Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, helped introduce modern architecture to Southern California in the 1920s. Their buildings were minimalist in concept, stressed functionalism, and were devoid of regional characteristics and nonessential decorative elements. In 1932, the Museum of Modern Art hosted an exhibition, titled simply "Modern Architecture," that featured the work of 15 architects from around the world whose building designs shared a stark simplicity and vigorous functionalism. The term “International Style” was coined by Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson in the exhibition catalog.

The early impact of the International Style in the United States was primarily in the fields of residential and small-scale commercial design. The economic downturn of the Depression, followed by World War II, resulted in little architectural development during this period. It was not until the postwar period that Americans embraced Modernism, and its full impact on the architectural landscape is observed. Therefore, pure examples of the International Style from the prewar period are rare.

Bakersfield is home to an outstanding example of the International Style, the 1937 Frank and Kay Davis Residence, designed by Richard Neutra, one of the progenitors of the style.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Rectangular massing and boxy forms
 Balance and regularity, but not symmetry
 Clear expression of form and function
 Steel-frame structure used as an organizing device
 Flat roofs
 Elevation of volumes on tall piers (piloti), particularly in commercial examples  Frequent use of glass, steel, concrete, and smooth cement plaster  Horizontal bands of flush steel-sash windows, often meeting at corners  Absence of ornamentation

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Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. Due to the nature of the style—characterized by simple forms and absence of ornamentation—eligible examples should be highly intact with only minor alterations on secondary façades.

David Residence, 2914 21st Street (1937).

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Sub-Theme: Ranch (1930-1969)
The Ranch style emerged from the 1930s designs of Southern California architect Cliff May, who merged modernist ideas with traditional notions of the working ranches of the American West and the rustic adobe houses of California’s Spanish and Mexican era ranchos. The resulting architectural style—characterized by its low horizontal massing, sprawling plan, and wood exterior detailing—embodied the ideal of “California living.” While the earliest Ranch houses date to the 1930s, the style and its variations enjoyed enormous popularity throughout the United States from the 1940s into the 1970s. In the post-World War II period, the Ranch house epitomized unpretentious residential architecture and proliferated throughout postwar suburban housing tracts, often in conjunction with the Minimal Traditional style of the same period.

The Ranch style was more conservative than other residential architecture of the period, often using decorative elements based on historical forms and capitalizing on the national fascination with the region’s romanticized Spanish past or the “Old West.” The underlying philosophy of the Ranch house was the use of natural materials and the informality of indoor-outdoor living.

The “California Ranch” describes the earlier Cliff May variation from the style 1930s and 1940s, which in.

Terms for the various Ranch sub-types vary across sources. For purposes of this historic context statement, the term “California Ranch” is used to describe the earlier Cliff May variation from the style 1930s and 1940s, characterized by smooth stucco exterior walls and low-pitched clay barrel tiles roofs. While this sub-type never achieved widespread popularity, its influence on later variations of the Ranch architectural style cannot be minimized.

The popularity of the Ranch house persisted in residential suburbs into the postwar period. The most common variation is the “Traditional Ranch”. The Traditional Ranch-style house is characterized by its one-story height; asymmetrical massing in L- or U-shaped plans; low- pitched hipped or gabled roofs with wide overhanging eaves; a variety of exterior cladding materials, including plaster and wood board-and-batten; and large wood picture windows and divided-light double-hung wood windows. More elaborate examples—sometimes called “Cinderella Ranch”—incorporate extensive decorative details, including scalloped bargeboards, false cupolas and dovecotes, fixed wood shutters, turned wood porch supports, and wood or leaded diamond-pane windows. The popularity of the Ranch-style house peaked during the 1950s and 1960s, coinciding with the proliferation of Mid-Century Modernism. This convergence of architectural styles inevitably resulted in a hybrid variation called “Modern Ranch,” which emphasizes simple horizontal planes and modern rather than traditional stylistic details.

Examples of the Ranch style—particularly the postwar varieties—can be seen throughout the city of Bakersfield. However, Bakersfield also boasts a unique population of California Ranch- style residences dating from the 1930s and 1940s, designed by local architect and architectural educator Clarence C. Cullimore. Some of these also employ adobe brick construction.

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Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 One-story height
 Sprawling L- or U-shaped plan, often with radiating wings  Low, horizontal massing with wide street-facing façade  Low-pitched hipped or gable roof with open overhanging eaves  Divided-light wood sash windows (picture, double-hung sash, casement)  Wide, covered front porch with wood posts
 Brick or plaster chimneys
 May include an attached garage, sometimes linked with an open breezeway

California Ranch sub-style
 Clay barrel roof tiles
 Smooth plaster exterior wall cladding
 Thick wood-frame walls to mimic the appearance of adobe construction; actual adobe brick construction is uncommon
 Attic vents in gable ends

Traditional Ranch sub-style
 Wood roof shakes or shingles
 Plaster, wood lap or wood board-and-batten exterior wall cladding, often with brick or stone veneer accents
 Detailed may include scalloped bargeboards, extended rafters, false cupolas and dovecotes, fixed wood shutters, turned wood porch supports, wood or leaded diamond- pane windows

Modern Ranch sub-style
 Flat or low-pitched hipped roof with composition shingle or gravel roofing  Smooth plaster exterior wall cladding
 Metal-frame windows and sliding glass doors
 May have wood or concrete block privacy screens
 Often designed by a noted architect of the period

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Except for architect-designed, high-style examples, residences designed in the Traditional Ranch or Modern Ranch styles typically would not be individually eligible for their architectural merit. As noted by Caltrans in their statewide guidance for evaluating such properties:
“Postwar tract houses by merchant builders generally will possess the distinctive characteristics of their type, style, and period. However, since these houses were built in multiples, it would not be possible to identify a single residence within a tract as being an important example relative to its neighbors.”454 As such, Traditional Ranch or Modern Ranch- style residences typically do not reflect distinctive characteristics or high quality of design that would qualify the property for individual historic designation as an example of its architectural style. Instead, a geographically contiguous collection of these tract houses would more appropriately be evaluated as a historic district.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the nature of the style—characterized by its sprawling plan and low, horizontal massing—eligible examples should retain their original form and scale.

Ames Residence, 2929 21st Street (1932). Hubbell/Nicholson Residence, 2630 21st Street (1934).

454 California Department of Transportation, “Tract Housing in California, 1945-1973: A Context for National Register Evaluation,” Sacramento, CA, 2011.

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Clarence C. Cullimore Home and Studio, 101 Oleander Avenue (1930).

Frick Residence, 2221 Myrtle Street (1960).

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Sub-Theme: Programmatic/Mimetic (1925-1969)
Programmatic/Mimetic architecture is a unique expression of commercial American roadside design which conveys an advertising message through the building form itself. First appearing in the 1920s and 1930s and persisting into the post-World War II period, Programmatic and Mimetic buildings are typically designed as out-of-scale objects, necessarily giving these eye- catching commercial structures a distinct advantage in conveying an advertising message to passing motorists.

The term “programmatic” refers to those buildings whose exterior form is directly related to its interior program, typically a commercial building in the form of the product for sale within (i.e. a hot dog stand in the form of a hot dog. “Mimetic” refers to buildings which mimic forms which are not related to the building’s use but may be related to the name of the original business, such as a restaurant in the form of a derby hat, or the spirit of the activity housed within, such as a chili restaurant in the form of a chili bowl. In either case, these structures take the form of objects not normally associated with architecture, including food, animals, or household items.

Programmatic/Mimetic roadside buildings could be found throughout the country, but were particularly well-suited to Southern California. The mild climate and the resulting local tradition of inexpensive stucco-on-wood-frame construction made them easy and cheap to build. This construction also allowed for a greater freedom of form than could be achieved with the masonry or clapboard exteriors typical elsewhere. Additionally, the region’s early embrace of car culture lead to well-trafficked automobile corridors that could be lined with low-scale commercial and auto-related businesses—service stations, restaurants and food stands, lodging, retail stores—many of which communicated their internal use not only with signage, but with the design of the building itself. Note the term “Programmatic/Mimetic” does not apply to thematic signage applied to an otherwise ordinary building form, or to buildings that adopt a fantasy architectural theme.

Today, extant examples of Programmatic/Mimetic architecture are rare in any community where they still exist.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Typically a low-scale commercial building
 Primarily applied to commercial and auto-related businesses, such as restaurants, food stands, and retail stores
 Conveys an advertising message through the building form itself  Takes the form of an object—often out-of-scale—not normally associated with architecture, such as food, animals, or household items  Free-standing in a roadside setting to allow for viewing from the automobile  May be linked to particular commercial chains, companies and/or designers

Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and

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 Represents a good and rare local example of the style; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptional integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. However, because Programmatic/ Mimetic architecture is associated with roadside commercial development, eligible examples should also retain integrity of location. Thus, an eligible property under this sub-theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. Due to the extreme rarity of extant examples, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable, provided that the building’s overall form is retained and that the object it was originally designed to resemble remains readily apparent.

Barn Bail Bonds, 1438-1440 Chester Avenue (1963).

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THEME: Postwar Modernist Styles
Sub-Theme: Mid-Century Modern (1945-1965)
Mid-Century Modern broadly describes post-World War II iterations of the International Style, which was characterized by geometric forms, smooth wall surfaces, and an absence of exterior decoration. Mid-Century Modernism represents the adaptation of these elements to the local climate and topography, as well as to the postwar need for efficiency and affordability in new construction as the population boomed.

After World War II, two trends emerged based on the International Style and the work of two of its progenitors, Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe. The first trend, modeled on the early work of Gropius, emphasized the expression of a building’s function and freely borrowing materials and methods of construction from modern technology. Gropius advocated for industrialized building techniques and for standardization and prefabrication in construction.

He introduced the screen-wall system that utilized a structural steel frame to support the floors and which allowed the external glass walls to continue without interruption. In Southern California, this often meant the use of wood post-and-beam construction as a clear expression of structure and materials, which allowed for large expanses of glass and open interior plans consistent with informal, indoor-outdoor living.

The second postwar trend reflects the work of Mies van der Rohe and his followers. Within the Miesian tradition there are three subtypes: the glass and steel pavilion, modeled on Mies’ design for the Barcelona Pavilion (1929); the skyscraper with an all-glass curtain wall like his Seagram Building (1954) in New York; and the modular office building like his design for Crown Hall (1955) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). While Gropius’ mantra was “form follows function”, Mies’s was “less is more”. Meis focused his efforts on the idea of enclosing open and adaptable “universal” spaces with clearly arranged structural frameworks, featuring pre-manufactured steel frames spanned with large sheets of glass.

Mid-Century Modern architecture in California can be traced to the work of early Modernists including Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, whose local work inspired “second generation” Modern architects like Gregory Ain, Craig Ellwood, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Pierre Koenig, Raphael Soriano, and many more. These postwar architects developed an indigenous Modernism that was born from the International Style but matured into a fundamentally regional style, fostered in part by Art and Architecture magazine’s pivotal Case Study Program (1945-1966). The style gained popularity due to its embrace of modern materials and standardized, prefabricated parts which permitted efficient and economical construction.

Mid-Century Modernism became the predominant architectural style in the postwar years and is represented in almost every property type, from single-family residences to governmental buildings to churches and synagogues. While the Mid-Century Modern style is typically characterized by its simple, boxy forms—flat roofs, smooth wall surfaces, expanses of glass— more expressive versions of the style may incorporate dramatic elements, such as A-frame or folded-plate rooflines, exterior accents panels of stone or brick veneer, or decorative screen block walls.

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Mid-Century Modern architecture from the postwar period is abundant in Bakersfield, with significant residential, commercial, and institutional examples. These range from notable residential works by internationally-significant architects like Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright, to a substantial population of commercial and civic buildings designed by a cadre of talented Bakersfield architects, many of whom first studied under Clarence C. Cullimore at Kern County Union High School, then went on to architecture school at USC and other prestigious programs, before returning to Bakersfield to practice. Bakersfield’s earthquake in 1952 was also an important factor in luring these young architects back home where they could help to rebuild their city and ultimately shape the postwar built environment of Bakersfield and beyond.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 One or two-story configuration
 Horizontal massing (for small-scale buildings)
 Simple geometric forms
 Expressed post-and-beam construction, in wood or steel  Flat roof or low-pitched gable roof with wide overhanging eaves and cantilevered canopies
 Unadorned wall surfaces
 Wood, plaster, brick or stone used as exterior wall panels or accent materials  Flush-mounted metal-frame fixed windows and sliding doors, and clerestory windows  Exterior staircases, decks, patios and balconies
 Little or no exterior decorative detailing

Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive details; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important local practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

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of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the nature of the style, eligible examples should retain their original form, massing and scale.

Leddy Residence, 2501 Dracena Street (1959). David M. Biggar Residence, 620 Oleander Avenue (1950).

City Hall South, 1501 Truxtun Avenue (1954). Kern County Free Library (Beale Memorial Library), 1315 Truxtun Avenue (1957).

General Services Administration of Kern County, 800 Truxtun Avenue (1964).

County of Kern Superior Court, 1415 Truxtun Avenue (c.
1956).

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Congregation B'nai Jacob , 600 17th Street (1956). First Christian Church, 1660 S Street (1954).

Nighbert Building, 1234 Chester Avenue (1962). Lowe and Raak Building, 2001 E Street (1956).

1400 Chester Avenue (1963). 1306-1308 Chester Avenue (1964).

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Sub-Theme: Googie (1949-1969)
Googie has been described as Modernism for the masses. With its swooping lines and organic shapes, the style attempted to capture the playful exuberance of postwar America. The style is named for the John Lautner-designed Googie’s Restaurant in Los Angeles, completed in 1949.

As people increasingly relied on the automobile, the businesses lining commercial thoroughfares adopted bold forms and dynamic details to attract attention. The style was thus widely employed in roadside commercial architecture of the 1950s and 1960s, including coffee shops, bowling alleys, and car washes.

Examples of Googie architecture are rare in Bakersfield, typically represented in mid-century commercial buildings, such as restaurants and a bowling alley.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Expressive rooflines, including butterfly, folded-plate, and cantilevers  Organic, abstract, and parabolic shapes
 Range of materials, including concrete, steel, asbestos, cement, glass block, plastic and plywood
 Large expanses of plate glass
 Thematic ornamentation, including tiki and space age motifs  Primacy of signage, including the pervasive use of neon

Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive details; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important local practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. However, because the Googie style is associated with roadside commercial development, eligible examples should also retain integrity of location. Thus, an eligible property under this sub-theme should retain integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial

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relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the rarity of extant examples in Bakersfield, a greater degree of alteration may be acceptable for examples of the style in the city, provided that the building retains its primary features and that it remains visible from the public right-of-way.

Bowling Alley, 1819 30th Street (1959). Sambo’s Restaurant, 350 Oak Street (1964).

International House of Pancakes, 1530 California Avenue (1964).

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Sub-Theme: Late Modern (1966-1979)
Late Modernism describes the stylistic evolution of Modern architecture from the mid-1950s through the 1970s. Unlike the straightforward, functionalist simplicity of the International Style and Mid-Century Modernism, Late Modern buildings exhibit a more deliberate sculptural quality with bold geometric volumes, uniform surfaces such as glass skin or concrete, and a sometimes exaggerated expression of structure and systems. Significant architects who helped define the style include Marcel Breuer, Philip Johnson, Cesar Pelli, and John Portman.

Late Modern architecture is relatively uncommon in Bakersfield, with the style typically applied to commercial office buildings.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Bold geometric volumes
 Large expanses of unrelieved wall surfaces
 Uniform use of cladding materials including glass, concrete, or masonry veneer  Exaggerated expression of structure and systems
 Hooded or deeply set windows
 Little or no applied ornament

Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive details; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important local practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.
 For listing in the National Register, a property that has achieved significance within the last 50 years must be of exceptional importance.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

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Bakersfield Police Department, 1601 Truxtun Avenue (1975). Bank of America Tower, 1430-1440 Truxton Avenue (1974).

2100 E Street (1969).

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Sub-Theme: New Formalism (1966-1979)
New Formalism is a variation of Late Modernism that first developed in the mid-1950s as a reaction to the International Style’s strict vocabulary and total rejection of historical precedent.

New Formalist buildings are monumental in appearance, and reference Classical forms through the use of abstracted full-height columns, projecting cornices, and arcades. Traditional materials such as travertine, marble, or granite are used, but typically in a panelized form. In Southern California, the style was applied mainly to public and institutional buildings. On a larger urban design scale, symmetry and grand axes were used to achieve a modern monumentality. Three architects essential in the development of the New Formalist style— Edward Durrell Stone, Philip Johnson, and Minoru Yamasaki—had all previously achieved prominence working within the International Style and other Modernist idioms.

Examples of New Formalist architecture are rare in Bakersfield, represented among large-scale civic and commercial buildings.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 Monumental scale and proportions
 Formal and symmetrical plan
 Simple geometric forms and smooth wall surfaces
 Flat roofs with heavy overhanging roof slab
 Highly-stylized Classical elements, such as entablatures, arches and colonnades  Use of heavy materials, such as concrete, travertine, marble and granite  Large screens of perforated concrete block, concrete, or metal  Formal hardscape elements, such as elevated podiums, plazas, pools and fountains

Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good or excellent local example of the style; and  Exhibits high quality of design or distinctive details; and/or  Represents a notable work of an important local practitioner; and  Retains the essential character-defining features of the style; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.
 For listing in the National Register, a property that has achieved significance within the last 50 years must be of exceptional importance.

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properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation.

United Bank of California, 1330 Truxton Avenue (1968). Frapwell & Ghezzi Office, 1717 28th Street (1968).

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THEME: Method of Construction
Sub-Theme: Adobe Brick (1920s-1940s)
This theme is not based upon architecture style, but instead captures properties unique for their use of adobe brick as a method of construction. This theme was developed specifically to acknowledge Bakersfield’s unique population of early-20th century adobe brick residences designed by local architect and architectural educator Clarence C. Cullimore.

Adobe construction demonstrates a continuation of indigenous building traditions passed down by generations of craftspeople. Adobe construction used locally available resource and was particularly appropriate for the climate in the Southwest, keeping building interiors cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Adobe buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries were typically small, single-story structures with thick adobe walls. They usually featured flat roofs framed with timber beams (or vigas), and long, covered porches (or corredors) along one or more sides. Adobe construction consists of thick walls composed of large sun-dried bricks, usually made from mud and straw and covered with earth plaster to protect the unfired bricks.

The unreinforced adobe walls typically vary from one and one-half to six feet thick, resting on a dirt or rock foundation. Door and window openings are usually framed with heavy timber lintels, often left exposed.

During the 1920s, the popularity of period revival architectural styles inspired a renewed interest in adobe construction among architects like George Washington Smith and John Byers due to its particular suitability for Spanish, Italian and Mexican-influenced architectural styles.

With the onset of the Great Depression, many architects and builders sought out inexpensive methods of construction, including adobe. Adobe needed two things: earth and manual labor, both in abundant supply during the economic downturn. In the years that followed, experiments in adobe construction resulted in technological advances that retained its thermal advantages while virtually eliminating the traditional problems of erosion and seismic instability; the new adobe included a small amount of emulsified asphalt to reduce its solubility in water.455
In Bakersfield, adobe construction experienced a renaissance in the 1930s through the efforts of local architect Clarence C. Cullimore. As early as the 1920s, Cullimore began to advocate for the use of “adobe sun-dried brick construction” for dwellings in California, not only for its thermal properties and suitability to the local climate, but also for its advantages of being fire resistant and soundproof.456 He developed plans for adobes with a roof truss system bolted into a continuous reinforced concrete bond stone at the top of all adobe walls.457 Bakersfield’s first adobe house was the G.E. Stanfield Residence, built in 1935. It was also the first adobe house with an insured loan from the Federal Housing Administration to be approved and constructed.458

455 “Plans and Construction Information on Modern Adobe Homes,” California Homes, March 1937, 1. 456 Cullimore, Clarence, A.I.A., “Adobe Houses,” California Arts & Architecture, September 1936, 19. 457 California Homes, 1.; California Arts & Architecture, 19-20. 458 California Homes, 4; California Arts & Architecture, 20.

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Also at this time, Cullimore began experimenting with adobe construction in his residential projects on and around Oleander Avenue, and he would continue working in adobe after World War II. He also developed innovative technologies to strengthen these adobe structures—such as incorporating steel reinforcement—to improve their ability to withstand earthquakes. After the war, Cullimore submitted his master’s thesis at USC on this topic and was ultimately awarded Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), not for his architectural designs or his role in architectural education, but for his advances in the technology of modern adobe construction.

Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: c
Character-Defining Features
 One or two stories in height
 Low, horizontal massing
 Typically applied to single-family residences
 Typically utilized in buildings incorporating elements of the Spanish Colonial Revival, Monterey Revival, or Ranch styles
 May display thick walls
 May display heavy timber window or door framing
 Adobe brick construction on the ground story; upper story (if any) may be wood-frame  Adobe brick may be evident beneath a smooth plaster exterior wall finish (if not evident, may be determined through research)

Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents a good and rare local example of the method of construction; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architecture/design must retain those physical features that characterize the type, period, or method of construction that the property represents. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible for their architectural merit. An eligible property under this sub- theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original style and appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the nature of the style—characterized by its construction method and materials—visual evidence of the adobe brick construction must remain readily apparent and not be obscured by altering the exterior wall material or finish.

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McCutcheon Residence, 2115 Verde Street (1934). Johnson Residence, 629 Holtby Road (1935).

156 F Street (1935-1937). Finlayson Residence, 29 Oleander Avenue (1936).

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THEME: Local Practitioners
This theme is not based upon architecture style, but rather captures properties that are significant as the work of their architect or other designer. This theme was developed in order to acknowledge properties that may be eligible as the work of a particular practitioner—such as a master or noted Bakersfield architect (see below)—separate and apart from whether or not the property is an excellent example of a particular architectural style. For example, a property may be eligible for its architectural merit as an example of the excellence achieved by a specific architect who may nor may not have embraced stylistic precedents. Or, a certain practitioner may have particular importance in the geographical area where they practiced, but not every example of their work would be considered outstanding architecturally. More commonly, though, a property that is eligible under this theme is often also found eligible under a style- based sub-theme. That is, the property’s significance as the work of a practitioner is in addition to—but not dependent upon—its significance as representative of a particular architectural style.

The NPS defines a “master” as a “figure of generally recognized greatness in a field, a known craftsman of consummate skill, or an anonymous craftsman whose work is distinguishable from others by its characteristic style and quality.”459 An architect or builder who was prolific does not necessarily indicate that they should be considered a master in the field. Generally, a master architect or designer made significant contributions to the field of architecture, designing innovative buildings or developments that shaped the future of the built landscape around them. For a property to be considered eligible as the work of a master, it “must express a particular phase in the development of the master’s career, an aspect of his or her work, or a particular idea or theme in his or her craft.”460
As described elsewhere in this historic context statement, Bakersfield boasts a population of talented architects who made significant contributions to the local architectural landscape.

These practitioners may not be well known outside of the region, However, their impact on the built environment of the Bakersfield and surrounding areas cannot be denied, and thus they would be considered significant within the local context.

For the purposes of the current Cultural Resources Survey project, this historic context statement includes a list of Master and Noted Local Practitioners (see Figure 8 below), as well as an Architect Biographies section (see Attachment), provided for reference. Note that both of these reference tools were developed to support the concurrent field surveys, which were limited to the four survey areas as determined by the City: Downtown Bakersfield, East Bakersfield, Oleander/Sunset and Westchester/Riviera. As a result, these tools are largely informed by extant historic resources in these survey areas. As more research is conducted into Bakersfield’s built environment—including future survey efforts—these architects lists and biographies may be expanded to incorporate additional or newly available information.

459 U.S. Department of the Interior. National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation.

Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 1997, 20.
460 National Register Bulletin 15, 20.

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Criteria NRHP: C CRHR: 3 BRHP: d 461
Eligibility Standards
 Dates from the period of significance; and
 Represents the work of a master or noted architect or other important designer that has made significant contributions to the local architectural landscape; and  Retains sufficient integrity to convey significance from the historic period.  Properties with regional or national significance, or with exceptionally good integrity from the historic period, may be eligible for listing in the California and/or National Register.

Integrity Threshold
According to guidance from the NPS, a property significant for its architectural merit as the work of the architect or other designer must retain those physical features that express a particular phase in the development of his or her career, an aspect of his or her work, or a particular idea or theme in his or her craft. Integrity of location and setting are typically less important for properties that are eligible as the work of the architect or other designer. An eligible property under this sub-theme therefore should retain integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and feeling. A building that has lost some historic materials or details, particularly on secondary façades, may still be eligible if it retains the features that illustrate its original appearance in terms of the massing, spatial relationships, proportion, pattern of windows and doors, texture of materials, and ornamentation. Due to the nature of the style— characterized by its expression of the design intent of a particular architect or other designer— any physical features, elements, materials, or other aspects that convey the architect’s or other designer’s original intent must remain intact.

461 While the City of Bakersfield’s local designation criteria generally align with the criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register for Historical Resources, the local criteria divide criteria A/3—for type, period, method of construction, high artistic values, or work of a master—into two separate criteria. Local criterion (c) captures properties significant for their “style, type, period, or method of construction”; local criterion (d) is applied to properties significant as “the work of a builder, designer, architect, engineer, landscape architect, interior designer, artist or craftsman.” As such, having a discrete theme for Local Practitioners, separate from the style-based sub-themes, is particularly useful.

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The following list of identified Master and Noted Local Practitioners is provided here for reference. This list was developed as a reference tool to support the concurrent field surveys in the four survey areas as determined by the City: Downtown Bakersfield, East Bakersfield, Oleander/Sunset and Westchester/Riviera. This list is largely informed by extant historic resources in these survey areas. As more research is conducted into Bakersfield’s built environment—including future survey efforts—this lists of local practitioners may be expanded to incorporate additional or newly available information.

For the purposes of this list, a “master” local practitioner is one who is considered to have made a significant contribution to the local architectural landscape through the consistently high quality of their work, often working in specific architectural styles; the sheer quantity of completed projects of a particular type or style; and/or for high-profile, influential, or otherwise iconic projects. A “noted” local practitioner is one who is known to have completed a meaningful number of projects during a given period, but the quality of the work may range from custom- designed, high-style examples to more modest or vernacular designs; or one whose body of work is not well enough known or whose contribution is not sufficiently established to characterize them as a master.

Figure 8. Master and Noted Architects
Master Bakersfield Architects, Partnerships & Firms
Charles H. Biggar Ernest J. Kump
Orville L. Clark Franklin & Kump
Bemus & Clark Edwin J. Symmes
Clarence C. Cullimore
Noted Bakersfield Architects, Partnerships & Firms
Alford, C. Barton Ghezzi, Frank A.

Biggar, Whitney Goss & Choy
Bemus, Erskine Harkness, David
Call, Wilson Hayslett, Jack
Cartnal, David McCoy, Ernest L.

Choy, Allan Kinn Metcalf, Arthur C.

Choy, Eugene Kinn Paynter, William H.

Cross, David G. Parsons, Francis
Eddy, Robert N. Renfro, Donald
Eddy & Paynter Stuhr, Robert
Eddy, Paynter & Renfro Wright, J. Warren
Frapwell, C. Robert Wright, Metcalf & Parsons

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Action Delayed When Downtown Plan Questioned.” The Bakersfield Californian, November 11, 1974. “Airplane Work is Lauded By Boys From KCUHS.” The Bakersfield Californian, March 18, 1941.

Akins, Damon B. and William J. Bauer, Jr. We Are the Land: A History of Native California. Oakland, CA:

University of California Press, 2021.
“ANB to Move Its Offices to Old Sears Building.” The Bakersfield Californian, October 22, 1974.

Anderson, Kat. Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005. “Annexation Problems, Rezoning Bids Up Before City Planners.” The Bakersfield Californian, April 6, 1949. “Announcement.” The Bakersfield Californian, September 8, 1962.

Anthony, Ralph. “Pioneer Memory Days,” oral history. Interview by Ralph Jester, Bureau of Land Management, October 30, 1977. California State University, Bakersfield, https://csub- dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/ 10211.3/123030/Anthony_Ralph_U80.pdf?sequence=5.

Arkush, Brooke S. “Yokuts Trade Networks and Native Cultural Change in Central and Eastern California.” Ethnohistory 40, no. 4. Duke University Press, 1993. “Arrival of the Colored Immigrants.” Kern County Californian, June 7, 1884. “Assembly-Line Houses Hit the Road.” Popular Science, June 1949. “Awards M’Donald $5 Less Per Foot Than Board Offer,” Bakersfield Morning Echo, July 22, 1917, 1.

Bailey, Richard C. Bakersfield: Heart of the Golden Empire. Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor Publications, Inc., 1984.
_____. Heritage of Kern. Bakersfield, CA: Kern County Historical Society, 1957. “Bakersfield Architects Win Praise.” The Bakersfield Californian, July 21, 1955. “Bakersfield Built: The 1930s.” California State University, Bakersfield; Bakersfield Art Museum; and Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter, 2014. “Bakersfield Built: The 1960s.” California State University, Bakersfield; Bakersfield Art Museum; and Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter, 2019.

The Bakersfield Californian, July 26, 1913. Quoted in Claffy, Emily. “Bakersfield College Centennial: 100 Years of Higher Education, https://www.bakersfield.com/bakersfield_life/bakersfield-college- centennial-100-years-of-higher-education/article_87b99d70-e468-519c-949e-019fa1329ad4.html.

Accessed March 27, 2023.

Bakersfield City Directories, 1899, 1910, 1916, 1920, 1926, 1927, 1929.

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Accessed August 17, 2022.

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Historic Resources Group
“Bakersfield In Ashes and Two Lives Lost.” Stockton Independent, September 8, 1904. “Bakersfield In 1891.” The Bakersfield Californian, August 13, 1910.

Bakersfield Municipal Code, https://bakersfield.municipal.codes/Code. Accessed June 21, 2023. “Bakersfield Part II: The Beacon, 1957.” Earthquake Vertical File, Jack Maguire Local History Room, Beale Memorial Library. Quoted in Donato Cruz, “America’s Newest City:” 1950s Bakersfield and the Making of the Modern Suburban Segregated Landscape.” Master of Arts in History, California State University, Bakersfield, 2020. 161.
“Bakersfield, the Newest City in America.” Bakersfield Greater Chapter of Commerce, 1956. Earthquake Vertical File, Jack Maguire Local History Room, Beale Memorial Library. Quoted in Donato Cruz, “America’s Newest City:” 1950s Bakersfield and the Making of the Modern Suburban Segregated Landscape.” Master of Arts in History, California State University, Bakersfield, 2020. 161. “Bakersfield’s Assembly-Line Home Construction Spreads.” The Bakersfield Californian, December 27, 1970.
“Bakersfield to Get Its First Industry of 1963.” The Bakersfield Californian, January 16, 1963.

Bakken, Gordon Morris and Alexandra Kindell. Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2006.

Bass, Stephen and George Ansolabehere. The Basques of Kern County. Bakersfield, CA: Kern County Basque Club Castle Printing Group, 2012.

Behnkken, Brian D. ed. Civil Rights and Beyond: African American and Latino/a Activism in the Twentieth Century United States. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2016. “Big Plant Sets April Opening.” The Bakersfield Californian, February 16, 1943.

Bills, Emily. Wayne Thom: Photographing the Late Modern. New York, NY: Monacelli Press, 2020. “Board Approves Plans for Seven New Classrooms,” The Bakersfield Californian, June 11, 1940.

Bock, Henry. Oral History Transcript. Interviewed by Bill Picking, October 1977. California State University, Bakersfield, https://csub-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/124845/ Bock_Henry_U106.pdf?sequence=5. Accessed August 30, 2022.

Boyd, William Harland and Mary Sue Ming. The Chinese of Kern County, 1857-1960. Bakersfield, CA:

Bakersfield Historical Society, 2002.

Brewer, Chris. Historic Kern County. San Antonio, TX: Kern County Museum Foundation, and the Historical Publishing Network, 2001.

Brewer, Chris and Don Pipkin. Bakersfield and Kern (East Bakersfield), California. Bakersfield, CA:

Brewer-Pipkin Publications, 1986.
“Building Permits in August Near Million Mark.” The Bakersfield Californian, September 5, 1950.

Bugharin, Fatima. Email to Cecelia Griego, March 14, 2023.

Burmeister, Eugene. City Along the Kern-Bakersfield, California, 1869-1969. Bakersfield, CA: Kern Publishing House, 1969.

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 243
Historic Resources Group
“Business Buildings.” Southwest Contractor, April 1, 1916. “Cabrillo National Monument.” National Park Service, http://npshistory.com/publications/cabr/index.htm.

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California Department of Transportation. A Historical Context and Archaeological Research Design For Agricultural Properties in California. Sacramento, CA, 2007. _____. Tract Housing in California, 1945-1973: A Context for National Register Evaluation. Sacramento, CA, 2011.

California High-Speed Rail Authority. Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS: Fresno to Bakersfield Section, November 2017.
“Canteen Close Career With Luncheon.” Bakersfield Morning Echo, November 22, 1919. “Chamber of Commerce Achieves Much in Year Just Past,” The Bakersfield Californian, January 2, 1939. “Chavez to Continue Large Fiesta Here,” The Bakersfield Californian, September 2, 1939. “Chinese Mission.” Bakersfield Morning Echo, March 12, 1921.

City of Bakersfield. “Building Code of the City of Bakersfield, California.” 1923. _____. “Cultural Resources Survey Downtown Area.” June 1984. _____. “Downtown Parking: A Survey of the Parking Needs of the Bakersfield and East Bakersfield Central Business Districts.” 1947.
_____. “Metropolitan Bakersfield General Plan.” December 3, 2002.

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City of Los Angeles, Office of Historic Resources. SurveyLA: African American Historic Context Statement, 2018.
_____. SurveyLA: Citywide Historic Context Statement: Industrial Context, 1850-1980, 2018. _____. SurveyLA: Japanese Americans in Los Angeles, 1869-1970, 2018. “City Planners Approve Two Annexation Proposals,” The Bakersfield Californian, March 10, 1949.

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Classified advertisement. The Bakersfield Californian, October 5, 1951.

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Claudino, Frank. Oral Interview Transcript. Interviewed by Patricia Davis, March 31, 1974. https://csub- dspace.calstate.edu/handle/10211.3/126979. Accessed August 30, 2022.

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Coffey, David. Email to the author, November 3, 2022.
_____. Email to the author, January 15, 2023.

Bakersfield Historic Context Statement 244
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“Colored Citizens Will Meet Monday.” Bakersfield Morning Echo, August 18, 1918. “Continued Success of Cal State Forecast.” The Bakersfield Californian, January 21, 1975.

Cook, Sherburne F. “Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California: Central Valley, 1800-1820.” University of California Anthropological Records.

Coues, Elliot. On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer: The Diary and Itinerary of Francisco Garcés (Missionary Priest) in His Travels Through Sonora, Arizona, and California, 1775-1776, Vol. 1. New York, NY:

Francis P. Harper, 1900.
“County Majority Is For Suffrage.” Bakersfield Morning Echo, October 13, 1911.

Cowenhoven, Ginger. “Ying On Remodel Will Double Building Size.” The Bakersfield Californian, no date.

Clipping from “China Alley” Historical Sites file, City of Bakersfield. “Crestline Homes Designed By Cliff May.” Classified advertisement. The Bakersfield Californian, July 25, 1953.
“Crops Growin Wide Variety When Great Water Supply Comes.” The Bakersfield Californian, September 9, 1924.

Cruz, Donato. “America’s Newest City:” 1950s Bakersfield and the Making of the Modern Suburban Segregated Landscape.” Master of Arts in History, California State University, Bakersfield, 2020. “CSB Building, Plans Involve Eight Projects Worth $10 Million.” The Bakersfield Californian, December 24, 1974.

Cullimore, Clarence, A.I.A. “Adobe Houses.” California Arts & Architecture, September 1936.

Curran, Charles S. “The Bakersfield Sandstone Brick Company.” Interviewed by Alice Pinkerton, May 1976. California State University, Bakersfield, https://csubdspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/ 10211.3/121588/Curran_Charles_U12.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed August 30, 2022.

Day, Elizabeth May Garber. Interview by Stacey Ingels, May 2, 1981. California Odyssey Oral History Program, California State College, Bakersfield, https://csub.app.box.com/s/ w234w84nwxth4sq04inu12m9xynpgtsv. Accessed March 26, 2023.

Densho Encyclopedia,
https://densho.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqoibBhDUARIsAH2OpWgRDP85UMzp10sX4vmBTueR8Da-h- Z2cRmoI66ZMQbH8T9r7Js9QkaAgs 5EALw_wcB#. Accessed November 3, 2022.

De Venado, Alfred. “Black Power in Bakersfield: Sanitation Workers Strike.” The Movement 2, no. 11, December 1966.

Doctor, Joseph E. Shotguns on Sunday: The True Story of the West’s Last Badman. Bakersfield, CA:

Brewer-Pipkin Publications, 1988.

Dodge, Mary Holmand. Interview by Betty Parker, October 23, 1977, California State College, Bakersfield.

Duginski, Paul. “The Grapevine is the Heart of California’s Freeway System. It Is Also Vulnerable.” Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2019.

Echeverria, Jeronima (Jeri). “California-Ko ostatuak: A History of California’s Basque Hotels.” PhD Diss., North Texas State University, 1998.

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Historic Resources Group
_____. Home Away From Home: A History of Basque Boarding Houses. Reno, NV: University of Nevada Press, 1999.

Eissinger, Michael. “The Transplantation of African American and Cotton Culture to California’s Rural San Joaquin Valley During the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.” Presented at the 29th Annual Conference of the California Council for the Promotion of History, Monterey, California, October 22- 24, 2009.

Eldredge, Zoeth Skinner. The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco. San Francisco, CA: The California Promotion Committee, 1901. “Election of New Club Officers to Take Place at Meeting Tomorrow Evening.” The Bakersfield Californian, May 7, 1925.
“Elegant Simplicity.” The Bakersfield Californian, May 3, 1967. “E.L. Jefferson Like Kern County Best.” Bakersfield Morning Echo, September 28, 1910.

Finance, Economic Development and Jobs CommitteeNovember 10, 2025

Finance, Economic Development and Jobs Committee
November 10, 2025