Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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I used to see Sally Lange in her father's shop on Green Street. It was called Lange's Radio and Electric where he stocked electrical supplies and sold and repaired televisions, stoves and refrigerators. Her mother, Zella Moore Lange, also ran a small gift shop within the store. When one speaks to a "dyed-in-the-wool" Tehachapi-ite, thoughts come to mind that the older resident has seen a lot of changes. Better than that, it's good to have someone around who can straighten people out when they qu...
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...
Taking another look at the BeeKay Mural one may see Margie and Kelcy Owens, two citizens who managed to carve out a legend for themselves and for local citizens by simply opening a café on Main Street, Tehachapi. I say Main Street for that is what we "locals" always called it. Sometimes we could remember it was G Street, but mostly just Main. Whatever the name of the street, the name Kelcy's Café made its own reputation as a family restaurant. The minute one walked in you knew you were home a...
Everyone has a dog story. Those animals whose main concern is the person who owns them. Their love is unconditional and they would die for us. They are funny, affectionate and protective. They die too soon and make our hearts hurt, but the memories they leave are very dear. Three dog stories follow. A Rough "Wuff" I see pictures in the papers of homeless animals looking at us with wistful eyes. A friend of mine told me a story of she and her husband adopting a 2-year-old female German Shepherd...
In 1950, when my husband and I were newlyweds, we decorated our first Christmas tree. Since his Marine Corps salary, in those days, didn't cover too many extras, we relied on a charge account with good old Sears and Roebuck. From their catalog I ordered some ornaments and lights but Sears said they were out of the particular lights I had ordered so they sent me a better quality replacement for the same price. Good customer service. They must have sent me their best super-duper type lights for th...
A group on the BeeKay Theatre mural shows us three generations looking quite happy as they stand in line waiting to see the movie. The painting portrays Lena Hayes and her two daughters, Sody and GayLee as children standing with their mother. Two other children are in the picture. They are Sody's two children, Tim and Cindy, also pictured as kids. Sody's memories of her home town seem to fit in with that line of town folk waiting to buy a ticket. Here are a few of her memories. Lena Hayes, the m...
Standing fourth in line in the BeeKay Theatre Mural one will see two more "old timers," Mildred and Bud Cummings. It would take volumes to include the history of the Cummings family, but I will include information that will certainly put Bud and Mildred in the annals as one of Tehachapi's earliest settlers. In 1849 a young teenage Austrian boy, named George, stowed away on a ship headed for California. This would have involved the ship traveling the North Atlantic Ocean, the South Atlantic...
Continuing a look at the BeeKay Theatre Mural, we skip down several folk to a U.S. Marine and his pretty, young date waiting in line to see a movie. The time frame being early 1944. World War II changed the lives of not only Tehachapi residents, but of the whole nation. The attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, caused record enlistments for all branches of the service. Many fine young Tehachapi men lost their lives. One woman, Helen Green Kent, after receiving notice that her husband had been...
The year was 1936. Green Street had just been paved for the first time. We had 15.68 inches of rain that year. Franklin Roosevelt had defeated Alf Landon and was serving his second term as president. The favorite songs being sung and played at the Saturday night dances might be "Pennies from Heaven" or "The Music Goes Round and Round." "Flat Foot Floogie" was one of those nonsense songs being sung that year. A decade later some may remember another such song, "Mairsy Doats," in the 40s. I used...
Each Sept. 9, I often remind people that it is the anniversary of the State of California's Admission to the Union. Usually, the answer I receive is, "Really, I didn't know that!" It happened in 1850. California was the 31st state to be admitted to the Union. We're 168 years old. That's important! One might ask why, back in 1850, members of Congress in Washington, would want to admit the Golden State to the Union without following their usual custom of first making it a territory? Possibly...
Years ago when one traveled to Bakersfield over U.S. Highway 466, it involved going down what is known as the "Old Road" which, at one time was the only way one could travel to Bakersfield. To navigate this historic route today, one must proceed west on Highway 202 for nearly three-miles, then turn right on Woodford-Tehachapi Road. This will put you on the old road that we all traveled moving northwest, down past Keene and into the great San Joaquin Valley. On this route, leaving the Tehachapi...
I have heard or maybe read that when asking folk who climb mountains why they do it, they sometimes reply, "Because it's there!" There are people who consider mountains a personal challenge. They say it's an accomplishment and that the view from the top is worth the climb. I'll take their word for it. I have a friend who has climbed Mt. Everest – twice! That "sorta" separates the men from the boys, doesn't it? Today he is a retired professor of physiology. He didn't climb it because "it was t...
My first experience living in a Quonset hut was, as a bride, in 1950. The tunnel-like buildings were one of hundreds-of-thousands that had been constructed to house military personnel and families on bases during World War II. Our group of huts, called Homaja Housing, was just inside the main gate of Camp Pendleton. The one-thousand or so huts were located on the west side of Vandergrift Boulevard as it proceeded into Camp Pendleton, a giant Base encompassing over 126,000-acres that swept from...
A few days ago I drove up our Golden Hills street to our mailbox. I had quite a bit of mail and was putting it into a bag when I noticed a Package Box key on the ground. Thinking I had dropped it as I picked up my mail, I opened the package box wondering what I had waiting for me. Oops! The package was not for me! Someone else had dropped the key. I could not just leave it in the box with the key there for anyone to find. The person to whom it was addressed did not even know she had a package,...
I have read the pros and cons about rodeos in the news lately, but the following event happened (it's hard to realize) some 71 years ago. It's an article from my husband, Doyle Gracey's writings. No opinions about the sport, "just the facts." When World War II ended my husband, with only three years time in the military, was separated for a short while before he realized he'd left the Marine Corps a bit prematurely. By 1948 he was to re-enlist and spend another 27 years in Uncle Sam's United...
I knew one of the steam locomotive engineers whose usual run brought him from Bakersfield up and over the Loop, through the Tehachapis and down to the desert area. They called him "Olie" (O-lee) but his official name was Hubert Porter Oldham. He worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad out of Bakersfield as an engineer for 44 years; from 1904 until 1948. The term "hoghead" was given to the steam locomotive engineers of that time and was sort of a status symbol as were the pinstripe overalls and...
It was brought to my attention that the monument in Philip Marx Central Park has been, once again, defaced by unknown parties. Those attending the Memorial Day Service will be able to see the damage done. It's a shame that people cannot look at the names on the plaque and know the story behind them. These are the names of what we term Gold Star Veterans: people who were killed in action. If those doing the damage were to know, just a few of the facts, they would never dream of doing harm to the...
They come in all shapes, sizes and dispositions. Mothers, of course. I had half-a-dozen children and each one has always managed to make me glad, sad, proud, amazed and completely baffled at times. That's not counting all the times you worry about them. There is an invisible worry clause in every birth certificate. They always call me on Mother's Day though, and that makes everything OK. My grandmother, Minnie Anderson, had three sons serving "Over There" in World War I. Her son, my Uncle Ray,...
My earliest childhood memories are of my lying in bed listening to the Mojave wind hitting the house. That Mojave wind is stronger than our Tehachapi wind. Now, the Tehachapi wind is no slacker (breezy, breezier and darned windy), but the Mojave wind likes to blow motorhomes and trailers over. It means business. During World War II my father operated a gas station/truck stop in Mojave on the corner of Highway 14 and Barstow Highway 58. Customers stopping by to buy gas would ask, "Does the wind b...
During the past sixty years or so, driving south down Highway 395 from the Bishop area, one would have noticed a steam locomotive on the west side of the main street going through Independence, Calif. It had been placed there in 1955 after having been taken out of active duty to become an exhibit for people to stop and examine and have a picture taken alongside. The engine, always called the Slim Princess, Locomotive #18, of the Carson & Colorado Railroad and later the Southern Pacific, had led...
A decade or more back, when I first saw the construction/renovation of Green St., with colorful road tiles on the intersections, newly designed street signs, and an added "first for Tehachapi," a one way street, I thought, "What next?" Why does Tehachapi think they need a one way street? A few years back I used to drive a senior citizen to the Post Office each day at ten o'clock in the morning. Actually, we were both senior citizens but he was just more senior than I by some fifteen years. I...
Sometimes when reliving memories of years past I think of something that is just too good to keep to myself. My husband and his friend, Sergeant Major Frederick W. Filkins, were what you would call "brothers in the Corps." Both served in World War II, both were with the China Marines, veterans of Korea and Vietnam. They often found themselves in the same duty station during the thirty years they spent in the Corps. One day, many years back, when Fred was telling one of his experiences, I turned...
It was a sunny day on May 19, 1938 when my eldest brother, Everett Davis, drove my sister, Evelyn, my brother Buster and myself to the local airport in my father's 1928 Hupmobile. I had asked to go as they got into the car and they grudgingly assented. Ten year old sisters can be a trial to older siblings and I was perfectly cast for the part. The occasion was a commemoration marking the 20th Anniversary of National Airmail Service with a flight from Tehachapi to Bakersfield. Local pilot, Harry...
Laughter is the main ingredient at the monthly Honor Flight/Veterans' Breakfast at St. Malachy's Hall. It's fun to reminisce and tell experiences from Uncle Sam's military service. "I look forward to this breakfast every month," can be heard from the veterans attending. This month marks the second anniversary of the Veterans' Breakfast and January 27 found 130 vets, including wives and friends, enjoying the meal served to them by volunteers. The camaraderie of reliving memories in the U.S. Air...
I was reading a portion of an old news article the other day that sounded like an advertisement for a great place to go. A good vacation spot or perhaps a girls' college with great dorms. "Each cottage had a large living room with a fireplace and comfortable chairs where occupants could visit, read, play games and listen to the radio." A room called The Globe was for movies, parties and dancing. Further on it spoke of tennis and volleyball courts and a baseball diamond. Finally there was a picni...
