Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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There was a question asked of me, recently, during one of our First Friday evenings at the local Museum. The question: "When did Tehachapi first install electric lights?" The answer, of course, is 1915. I didn't elaborate as the conversation turned in another direction. The best part was not given and the person who inquired left with only the date and no more interesting facts. I was given that information from Grace Errea, herself, who had lived in the Errea House with her parents and...
“ The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization focusing on service to veterans, service members and communities. They evolved from a group of war-weary veterans of World War I into an influential non-profit organization in the United States.” I copied that from the Internet. But, what does it really mean? I grew up knowing that my father, a World War I veteran, was a member of the American Legion. He had served and was proud of his country and wou...
On December 31, 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 Smart Phones that can take them aro...
Several hundred people gathered Dec. 30 to pay their final respects to Richard (Dick) Johnson, a dear friend and respected member of the community. His 88 years were filled with his accomplishments and service to community as well as presenting his "never met a stranger" personality to all who met him. He will be remembered. Dick was born in Banning, Calif., the youngest of six children. His father, a veteran newsman, published the local Banning newspaper. He was to move to Tehachapi when the...
Sitting around with family a few weeks ago, we began sharing stories, as families do, laughing at inside jokes which are funny only to those related, and just generally having a good time. By the way, at that family gathering we discovered we had present, four generations of Tehachapi High School graduates incorporating years, 1946 to coming 2017. Not bad! One of the little “do gooder” stories that popped up that afternoon took place in McDonald’s twin drive-in lines. I decided I needed a cup o...
It seems that Susan Wiggins and I have been touching on the same train of thought in our articles as of late. It’s strange for we never consult with one another about the topics we choose for our columns. She is from Mojave and I, a couple of generations ahead of her, also started off in Mojave. A few articles past, she talked about the winter of 1937 which was an extra cold and “weathery” year both in Mojave and Tehachapi. That was the year our family moved back to Tehachapi from Mojave after...
Isabel Cortez Cervantes was a well known and respected citizen of this community until her death in 1991 at age eighty-seven. In 1914 when she was only eleven her father, Odilon Cortez, immigrated his family from the small Mexican village of Cosio in Aguascalientes, to Tehachapi. Much lumber was being taken from the Cummings Mountain area and sent to Los Angeles and the work was good. Another vital reason for the move was the regular raids on villages in their area by the notorious bandit,...
Sometimes a person’s memories come in snatches of information and when telling a story it’s hard to know where to begin. Occasionally someone will come into the local museum and say they have heard of a café in town that has lots of local, historical photos of Tehachapi. “Sure, Kelcy’s Café !” I tell them. That’s an easy question. Stepping back several decades back to the forties, will find this writer, as a teenager from good old Tehachapi High School, entering the portals of the café when it...
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 forty-four 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...
The parade used to go down Main Street, now called Tehachapi Boulevard. I was just a kid at the time so as far as where the traffic was rerouted, I have no idea. Maybe they all stopped and watched the parade; who knows? US. Highway 466 came through town and then took a left on Curry to end up taking the old highway down the mountains to Bakersfield. The only route at the time. One other detail must be added; it was then a 4th of July parade. In later years the Chamber of Commerce, the City...
The beginning of a perfect day at the Old Timer’s Reunion found John Hammond, emcee, greeting everyone with, “Welcome to the ‘umpteenth’ Old Timer’s Reunion!” I cannot really recall just when the Old Timer’s Picnic began. Someone said it was the 57th in number and that’s good enough for me. We called it a picnic then for it was sort of one. Joan Johnson recalls being called to bake a cake for the Old Timer’s gathering each year. Anyway, a feeling of camaraderie prevailed throughout the da...
We’ve been hearing a lot about the BeeKay Theatre lately so I decided to add a few of my own facts. Mine are just tales that if not told would someday be forgotten. Can’t let that happen. The BeeKay Theater was built and opened in 1936; reinforced concrete and strong enough to resist an earthquake! People from Mojave, Keene and Caliente often drove to Tehachapi to view the movies. That year, 1936, was also the year that Green Street was paved for the first time. The rather unique name, “BeeKay...
Doctors Madge and Harold Schlotthauer came to Tehachapi in 1932 and founded the Tehachapi Hospital in 1934. At first they practiced medicine in the Asher Home on the corner of Curry and E Street but after purchasing the Capdeville Hotel in 1934 they turned it into a modern, well equipped medical facility. They were both young and highly skilled physicians and surgeons and treated generations of Tehachapi residents before selling the hospital in 1969. People of the community soon gave up trying...
Picture the end of World War II with the troops coming home. Men, and some women, mostly in their twenties and early thirties, still young and ready to pick up their lives or make a new start. Some went to college on the G.I. Bill, and some took up jobs they had left. Families were reunited and children often met a daddy they had not seen at all or not in a long time. These military members , glad to be home, still carried in their minds and hearts, the memories of comrades who would not be...
I was just reading Jon Hammond's fine article about local man, Rufus Thomas, showing his realistic miniature reproductions of the once common oil derricks which, at one time, dotted the countryside. At present, the works of art are on display at our local museum. They are a part of the past but not so long ago past that it can still make some of us recall the sea of black oil derricks dotting the landscape in the San Joaquin Valley. Some years ago when passenger trains used to run through Tehach...
Through the years, here in town, people have been known to say, "It's never been this hot!" Then, I have heard, "It's never been this cold!" Then, of course, "It's never been this dry!" and "It's never been this wet!" Well, the answer to all is, "It has." Just to finish this off, I can say that in 1899 we had 3.70 inches of rain( a dry year to match 2015) and in 1982 we had a record of 26.89 precipitation. That last is an all time record. Why, the above is mentioned is that when attending the...
Once again I will include a little episode from my husband’s Marine Corps thirty year career; a little glimpse of life in the “old Corps,” by CWO-4 Doyle D. Gracey, Jr. USMC: I was a member of the Marine Corps Base Rifle Team at Camp Pendleton on our way to compete at the First Hawaii Invitational Rifle Matches at Palau Point, probably sometime in the early 1960s. Our means to get there was a C-130 out of El Toro, California. There were eight of us and we boarded the big multiengine air craft pr...
Someone said, “Why don’t you write something about Mother’s Day?” The day has already passed but that’s ok. Well, let’s see, it’s kind of nice that a woman named Ann Reeves Jarvis, back in the Nineteenth Century, thought there should be a special day of recognition for all Moms. It wasn’t until 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson declared it a special day to be celebrated on the second Sunday of May. Not only that, Ann Jarvis later said that due to the commercializing of the day and the profite...
Father Mark Maxon was welcomed to St. Malachy Catholic Church on November 21 and 22 as he celebrated weekend Masses for the parish. Serving the Catholic parishioners of Tehachapi begins another chapter of his Priesthood. His previous assignments were Associate Pastor at Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Bakersfield and most recently, Associate Pastor at Good Shepherd Church in Visalia. His childhood was spent in Tucson, Arizona where he grew up in a family of seven boys and one girl; he, being t...
Teresa and Christopher Carlson of Papa's Pizza in Stallion Springs, worked tirelessly (in the photo to the right, you can see how we knew Christopher was making pizza) preparing a sampling of their cuisine for friends and family Wednesday evening, Dec. 16, at their new second restaurant in Downtown Tehachapi. Pizzarami, the new eatery on the corner of Tehachapi Blvd. and Curry St. (160 W Tehachapi Blvd.), opened Friday Dec.18, featuring a variety of pizzas, pastrami and appetizers. Beer and...
Looking back at the Ghosts of Christmas Past can rake up memories that can warm the heart and will stay with one, always. Sometimes those same memories involved adjusting to fit the plans of family members who gather for the wonderful day. Good food, laughter and lots of new memories being made. Perhaps you can sense I’m setting up for some extenuating circumstances in those Christmas memories that sort of “strain” the yuletide cheer. Only a tiny bit. When our marriage was young and we only had...
Many years ago in the early 1950s, my husband had recently returned from a year in Korea and we were getting ourselves settled in good old Government Housing. We had two children at that time; both of them boys. The youngest had been born while my Marine was serving in Pohang, Korea. We were told by friends that we should take the boys out to the main area at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base to see Santa. It involved getting there fairly early as Santa was to arrive in a helicopter about...
The Tejon Rancheria was a good home for Andres Campas and his family. Anselmo and his brother, Julio, received kind care and a good education in the work of a cowboy. Fort Tejon and the Rancheria were part of four Spanish land grants; all who would be purchased by Gen. Beale. From 1854 through 1864 the Army protected the people of the surrounding areas from conflicts between settlers and Indians but mostly guarded against outlaws and cattle rustlers; a constant problem. The residents on the...
Some days ago the Californian featured an article about the old Ridge Route Highway that took one from the San Joaquin Valley to the L.A. area. In 1988 I had written an article about an old hotel, The Lebec Hotel, which was a rather famous and beautiful stopping place. I had visions of pulling an old article out of my files and quickly copying a vintage story I had written about the old lodging place. It’s harder to rewrite than it is to write and I spent hours revising my own copy. The Lebec H...
Works of art are to be appreciated. I often look at paintings, quilts, ceramics and any attractive work that has been labored over and finished to perfection. It is a pleasure to admire such efforts and appreciate them. I say this because now, as I drive down Woodford-Tehachapi Road, I cannot help but admire the fine paving job that has just been completed. Mostly though, I had to admire the lines painted to show us "our side" of the road and the turn off sections. They are so mathematically...
