Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 230
I remember listening to the radio. Each program had a sponsor that paid to be mentioned at intervals during the program. Some of the products being touted by the advertisers had really cute musical songs attached to them. They were called "jingles." It takes me back to the summer of 1942. I was walking down the street with a friend as we sang a jingle about Pepsi-Cola hitting the spot. To preface it with a little history will make the story worth telling. At that time one could buy a 6-ounce...
The penitential season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26 at St. Malachy Church, 407 W. E St., in Tehachapi, with celebration of Mass and distribution of Ashes. Stations of the Cross will be conducted each Friday of Lent at 6 p.m. in the church. Each Friday of Lent the Stations will be led by certain parish organizations, including the children of the parish taking their turn on the second Friday of Lent. Each Friday, after the Stations, the congregation may move to McMullan Hall to share...
I was looking through a book my husband and I put together about his Marine Corps experiences in the 30 years he gave to Uncle Sam from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. These were written when Dick Johnson who, with his brother, Warren, published the Tehachapi News. One day, Dick, also my former high school classmate, told me, "have 'Gracey' write some of his military experiences and I'll print them." If it were not for my good friend, Dick, my old high school buddy at THS, nothing would have...
I received a call from my good friend, Del Troy, who was looking for some specific information about a former San Canyon/ Tehachapi resident: Edward H. McDaniel. I had lots of information but did not have the specific facts for which she searched. We had a nice telephone conversation and since it was five years ago that I wrote about Ed, I'd like for you to meet a fine person who passed away some forty one years ago. He was a good man who was instrumental in helping Professor Orris Imhof institu...
In the summer when the temperature soars to 102 degrees we're looking for a cool place. When driving South from Tehachapi we'll be almost to Los Angeles as we drive 102 miles. Time wise in years would take us back to 1918 and the end of World War 1. It also takes us to Kathryn Chwaz's celebration of her one hundred second birthday. She greeted friends from Tehachapi, Boron and other cities at an open house held at the home of her niece Janet Roper. Jan. 15 and 16, 2020, found Kathryn on her...
I awakened in a perfectly agreeable mood. It was time to write my article for The Loop newspaper and I even had a fair idea of what I was going to say. The phone rang and in thirty minutes I had ten calls asking if I had sent them a message by email. I had not. They said the message did not sound like something I would say. The "hacker" did not send me the message so I can only remember what the "hack-ees" told me it said. Apparently, the message read I was traveling and remembered that it was...
One-hundred-thirty-two years ago there was a small frame building built on West F Street. A frame church built with square nails and lumber with redwood pilings for the foundation. This was in the year 1884. Local parishioners were the construction crew and there was a bell in the bell tower that rang for the Sunday service. Travel being what it was in those days, it took the Bishop from the Los Angeles area a few years to arrange time to travel to the small mountain community to officially...
I remember December 31, 2016, New Year's Eve. Father Time, old 2016 made an effort to throw the weather book at us and surely did. Starting with sunshine, then dense fog, then rain and finally snow, he went out in a fit of madness. Guess he didn't want to leave. It gets one to thinking about days gone by sometimes decades. Our brain is a wonderful filing cabinet for episodes from our lives that can be called up at will. We see kids today completely engrossed in their smartphones that can take...
"Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go. The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through white and drifted snow." A charming children's song. A bit dated, also. No horse, no sleigh and if there were drifts of snow the roads would have been closed. Still, we would come to Grandmother's house and would enjoy not only a fine meal but seeing family and enjoying ourselves. Of course, the horsepower was in whatever car we were driving. I remember back when I still lived...
In 1950, when I began living in the Southland, it was, and still is, 200 miles from Oceanside, Calif. to Tehachapi, and if I had a dollar for every time I have made the trip I would have a comfortable amount. At first, our trips consisted of getting into my husband's 1947 Buick Roadmaster and taking off. It was a lovely car, one that he acquired during his bachelor days while still an enlisted man in the Corps. Highway 101, between the two points, at that time, was a three lane affair. The...
My earliest memories, as a child, involves lying in bed listening to the Mojave wind hitting the house with a strong whistling sound. It seemed that the dust and sand would find its way into the house and sometimes in the morning we would find very fine dirt on the floor; enough for my brother to make roads for his toy cars. My father, Chauncey Davis, once had a gas station on the highway that, in the past, came through Mojave. Many travelers would stop for gas and ask, "Does the wind blow like...
There hangs on my wall among an assortment of family photos a photo of a fine looking lady. Her dress style would put her at the turn of the twentieth century, that is to say, in or near about 1890 or 1900. I have no idea who she might be but she has been a guest on my family tree photo wall for "nigh on" forty-three years. My eldest son drove in from Bakersfield one day in 1976. He had driven down to Edison Highway to check out some of the junk shops that used to line the highway. He'd been...
Pat's notes: In 2017 I wrote about the pioneer family; the Cuddebacks. Recently, someone pointed out to me that I had a couple of ancestors listed incorrectly. You have to watch me, I'm liable to have someone being their own "grandpa." I would like to present to you a corrected version which includes the two incorrect names. Then, I will present the corrected copy to the local Heritage League Museum. Laura Weltin, also a member of the Heritage Leaguea and a direct descendant of the Cuddeback...
On Aug. 23, the Feast Day of Saint Rose of Lima, a small parish in the Owens Valley, Santa Rosa Catholic Church in Lone Pine, Calif., celebrated its one hundredth birthday. Twelve clergy were present to assist in helping to unfold a period in history. The main celebrant of the Mass was Bishop Joseph Brennan, Bishop of the Diocese of Fresno. Presiding was retired Bishop Armando Ochoa. Music offered by friends of the parish enhanced the scene. Father Doug Walker, Pastor of Santa Rosa Church,...
When you find that someone who should remember, such as a husband or a child, has forgotten your birthday you say, "Oh, don't worry about it. That's o.k." What you really mean is, "YOU FORGOT MY BIRTHDAY!" California was admitted to the Union as the 31st state on Sept. 9, 1850 but we Californians seldom take note. In fact, we're lucky if it is ever mentioned in the evening news. When I mention it to someone they usually say they were not aware of it at all. Being an old time "Californian" I...
A few weeks back I was asked to speak to a crowd at the Friends of the Depot meeting. They wanted me to tell them about riding the passenger trains that used to come through. Many folk say to me, "You rode trains?" Actually, it was very simple. Just walk a block from where I lived, enter the depot and buy a ticked. A polite man would hop off the passenger car with a step stool and a helping hand as I got aboard. Nothing to it. But now, it's a thing of the past except for AmTrack but they don't c...
When I was no more than 12, in 1940, I used to spend some time in the afternoons sitting on the front steps of our home on Curry and F Streets. I would either have a book or perhaps just sit there petting the dog. Of course, my ulterior motive was to see if the 13-year-old boy I liked would be riding by on his bike. His happening by at that particular time was not accidental, for he would always "happen by" and we'd talk for an hour. Things were so simple in those days. He would park his bike...
When I occasionally travel Willow Springs Road toward Rosamond and Lancaster, I pass Truman Road and Hamilton Road. For years I have told anyone who would listen that the two roads do not stand for an early American statesman, Alexander Hamilton, or former President Harry Truman. The two roads are a reminder of Truman Hamilton former lawman and Constable of the 11th Judicial Township. Beginning his job in 1922, residents saw a man of substantial size, both in height and weight. His size alone...
In the early 1800s, the entire San Joaquin Valley of Central California was populated by the Native Americans of that region. The larger of the population were Yokut, but there were a significant number of alternate tribes in the area. The gold rush and the influx of settlers and miners were to inevitably displace the natural residents of the area. It was not to the Native American's advantage as there was bloodshed and broken treaties with the resistance continuing for decades recording...
It was a sunny day in the fall of 1948 in Tehachapi and I was fairly new at my job in the Bank of Tehachapi located at 113 S. Green St. I was now a teller/secretary in the only bank in town. I had come from knowing everyone's telephone number at the local switchboard to finding out their bank balance which, of course, we kept a secret. On that previously mentioned sunny day, someone came into the bank and said "President Truman's train will be coming through in about 30 minutes." It didn't take...
While the City of Tehachapi was watching the country attempting to pull itself from the Great Depression, which had begun with the 1930s, there was a new look appearing in the downtown section. Green Street was paved for the first time in 1936 and two former Tehachapi mayors, Louis Kanstein and Frank Baumgart, built a movie theater which they named after themselves! Bee for Baumgart and Kay for Kanstein. Local contractor Vince Ninteman, was the construction superintendent. The theater closed in...
It's been three-and-one-half years since Pam and Tom Stenson initiated the Veterans Breakfast here in Tehachapi. The gathering is also known as the Veterans/Honor Flight Breakfast. Pam and Tom realized that even though there was a Veterans' Breakfast in Bakersfield, many vets in the Tehachapi area couldn't make it to Bakersfield. The first breakfast held locally was at the Veterans' Hall where there was "standing room only." Father Mark Maxon, Pastor St. Malachy Catholic Church, also a Veteran,...
A few weeks ago I wrote of the Mojave Gold Rush and the discovery of the Golden Queen Mine that caused people from far an near to come to Mojave and hope to find such a bonanza as George Holmes. The following story gives one a glimpse of the same area during The Roaring Twenties. The busy little desert community of Mojave, in the late 1920s, had a population of maybe 500 friendly souls and was known for gale-force wind storms, extreme summer heat, gold mining and was also the terminus for...
Way back in 2011, the latest news was the BeeKay Theatre mural taking place in the form of a line of Tehachapi citizens, in an earlier day, waiting to buy a ticket to the show. In the 1930s and '40s we received in the mail what was termed "The Show Bill" which gave one coming movies to be shown. One could plan their entertainment ahead. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we saw first run features. On Wednesday and Thursday we viewed what was termed "B" movies. Then on Friday and Saturday the kids...
Sometimes when writing about people I find myself including little vignettes from their past; interesting little pieces that give a glimpse into a person's life as they lived it. Beth and Tony Anthony were childhood acquaintances. They dated all through high school and also after graduation. He graduated in 1946 and she, in 1947. Both were honor students. They were to marry in 1952 and Tony, a member of the U.S. Army at that time, would be shipped to Germany just one week after their wedding....
