Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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Since the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, people have had a love affair with trains. Not only for transportation but the thrill of seeing an old steam engine going by, and then waving to the engineer and having him wave back. I remember when the San Joaquin Daylight streamliner became part of the train world with much enthusiasm from the folks in our town. Upon reading Jon Hammond's fine article in the February 27 - March 13 edition in The Loop newspaper, I thought, "Hey! I'...
We all, on occasion, make a visit to a cemetery and in this time period we find most of them well maintained and lovely. In generations past Tehachapi had no perpetual care and both the Eastside and Westside Cemetery locations were in a sad state with weeds overgrown and a real danger of snakes. Because of this situation many of the older Tehachapi pioneers are buried in Bakersfield; the families having been unwilling to place their loved ones in such a state of disrepair. There are several smal...
The religious celebration of Easter is eternal and the reason for the commemoration of the day –the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, from the dead –never changes. The traditions, however, do change from age to age and in different cultures. Apart from the traditional worship services of this holy day, communities, such as ours, are seen observing local customs that tie into Easter, as well. Not too many years back, it was a tradition on Good Friday for businesses to close from noon unt...
I travel north occasionally to visit one of my sons. Sometimes we go out to have dinner and one establishment is a restaurant which we Americans call a Chinese Restaurant although that is not what this particular café is called. They often employ people who originated in China and speak perfect English and understand it; literally. I am quite fond of Orange Chicken and one evening ordered it and anticipated the usual fine dinner they served. Egad! It was spicy hot and after two bites I felt...
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...
Tehachapi was once a vast, spacious valley with tall, waving grasses, wild game and running streams. Magnificent oaks, centuries old, grew in profusion along with pines and fir. With the Tehachapi Mountains to the south (one of the Traverse Mountain Systems of the U.S.) and the last of the great Sierra Nevada to the north, the valley between was blessed with pleasant summers and enough rain and snowfall to grow the crops needed. Although the vast Mojave Desert began just over the Tehachapi...
Mark Twain is reputed to have said, "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." Glancing back over my shoulder at the past year, I think that the "dry spell" we have experienced was one for the records. Still, we never know what's just around the corner. I would like you to read a story that my old classmate and friend, Dick Johnson, wrote in 2008 about experiencing the Tehachapi weather in the fall of 1945. – Pat Gracey The Flood of 1945 by Dick Johnson It was S...
When I was a child and we became ill, my mother took over with a few home remedies. If that didn't work we didn't exactly call the doctor, for in the mid-30s in Mojave, we had no phone. Not many people did. My brother would be told to run two blocks up the street to Doctor Warner's office/residence. Dr. Warner would come by in his old two door Model A Ford sedan. It was officially called the Model A Ford Tudor Sedan. A very handsome automobile but not the one owned by Dr. Warner. His wasn't an 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 1933, during one of the worst periods of the great depression, my parents found themselves lacking money to continue paying rent on a small house on K Street in Mojave. In the attitude of, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade," they decided to build a house. It was easier in those days before building permits, regulations and inspections were required. My father, Chauncey Davis, traded local businessman, Cy Townsend, a piece of mining property for a vacant lot in town - just across the...
I get along very well with the English language as it's the only language I learned to speak. A smattering of Spanish words have crept into my vocabulary my having grown up with the Spanish speaking population here in Tehachapi and elsewhere. I paid attention during English classes in school; really, I did. How I missed the part about split infinitives, I'll never know. Also, how I never missed the "missing of them" I certainly do not know. It all started in the BeeKay Theatre during a movie wit...
I read an article a while back that described a study (a study?) about why children didn't care for the school lunches. We're talking about a carefully planned, nutritionally balanced lunch. That last sentence says it all. What kid likes a carefully planned, nutritious lunch? I remember my youngest child (now past 50) used to tell me that he always put his peas in the empty milk carton. Good place to hide peas! Of course, some kids eat the lunches and think nothing much about it. The general pop...
Some years ago, I wrote an article for The Loop newspaper entitled "Only a bootlegger's daughter." I'd like to add a few facts to that long ago piece. Since I was but five years old when Prohibition ended in December 1933, my memories are in the form of my eldest brother's recollections of those days and my parents' oft-told stories. Still and all, it was a time of unrest in this country what with the Great Depression taking its toll, the speakeasies and the illegal sale of liquor. Congress...
Our local museum has been closed since March and I miss doing a shift among Tehachapi's historical past. Some of the old timers I once knew and some are in the early history of the Tehachapi Valley area. It will be so good to see the doors of the museum open once again and be able to talk to people who come in. Often, when a visitor enters we find they, too, have interesting stories to tell us about their lives. We learn as well as the visitors. One interesting piece of history that always...
I heard an advertisement the other day saying that Pine-sol® could do a bang up job of cleaning and that the company was founded in 1929. Thus, I discovered that I, myself, am older than Pine-sol®! I came along in 1928. Well, I know it can clean just fine and its "piney" scent is immediately discernable. Pine-sol® also came the year of the stock market crash which brought about the grim, depression days of the thirties. I'm surprised that the new company survived during that anxious...
When I was a child of five or so, our family had to drive from Mojave to Lancaster to see a movie. Mojave had no theater at that time. The twenty-five miles on the old Sierra Highway was accomplished in my father's Model T Ford Truck. Since I was the youngest I sat in front with my mother and father. My two older brothers and sister sat in the back or bed of the truck. That's the way it was and no one said anything about it. The sides of the highway in certain parts of the year had underground...
Not long ago I wrote about my father's purchase of a piano for our family in the amount of $75. It was money given World War I veterans as a bonus for time served. It was called The World War then, "The War To End All Wars." Later, of course, it had the number one attached to it to differentiate between it and World War II. Getting back to the piano, I resurrected this little piece about a piano with a past. On Sunday mornings, when our church choir is practicing and warming up before Mass, we a...
I was talking to a gentleman the other day who said he'd like to read another one of my husband's USMC stories. Here is one from 1951/52 when he spent a year in Korea. Korean Memories by CWO-4 Doyle D Gracey, Jr. USMC, Ret. In August 1951, when I was a Gunnery Sergeant, I visited Korea at Uncle Sam's insistence, and was part of what was called a Police Action over there. I was transported to a land of rice paddies, rugged mountains, poor transportation and harsh climate conditions. We did not...
I seem to be stuck in the past. Some, the long past and some just my past. It's so interesting to me, anyway. Besides some good things happened that will be lost if they're not told. Actually, the world would not stop turning if all was forgotten, but I recall reading some U.S. History books in high school that would have been more interesting had they brought in a few side details instead of "just the facts." Later on, I was really rankled when one of my children's high school history books...
I entered into a conversation with someone who had another earthquake story. We have read a good many interesting tales, but wait until you hear Josephine Renteria Serda's story. She and I spoke for over an hour recalling the fateful day of the Tehachapi Quake but we also found we had much in common, such as age, being native Californians, both husbands having served in the military as well as our sharing an earthquake together; she in Keene and I in Tehachapi. She said it first, but I was in...
Owens Valley 1918: I ran onto some interesting facts about the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. The facts centered around the cities of Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine and Bishop; small communities on the east side of the great Sierra Nevada Mountain range in California's Owens Valley. In the early Spring, even before the Spanish Flu found the area, the public school in Independence was just reopening after having been closed for three weeks due to a Whooping Cough epidemic in the area. No...
This year, 2020, will go down as one to be noted in history. I don't know exactly what will actually take place this Memorial Day, but it will be different. Probably, it will stand out in our memories but quite doubtful that future citizens, not yet born, will even know about unless it be given a paragraph in new history books. I sound cynical but sometimes when I mention on Dec. 7 that it is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, they say, "Oh, really?" Even President Roosevelt said it...
Some years ago I used to stop by on my way to the Post Office to pick up a friend and retired Priest Monsignor Francis Pointek. Other people drove him as well but I had my turns. Monsignor lived to be 100 years and four months old. I would park by his house as close to the curb as possible so he could step directly into the vehicle and not need to step into the street first. He'd say, "Don't get out of the car! I don't need any help! I'm fine." He did not use a cane but sometimes I'd get out of...
While doing some research at Beale Library back in 1987, a mere 33 years ago, I could not resist copying some events listed in the old 1920 Tehachapi News. It gave such a delightful glimpse into those days of yesteryear. The dates of the temperatures occasionally skip a day. I searched ahead for February and March. Often people say, "We've never had weather like this in January before." Note the 79 degrees on Jan. 18, 1920. Now we can't say it's not global warming. We can just say, "Yes, we...
I just realized that this week was my deadline week for my column. With the "silent killer" flu lurking around my mind was elsewhere. I have found shopping online is quite interesting but I miss the satisfaction of the personal touch of tossing things in a shopping basket. I've been busy at home, however, praying and keeping track of friends and how they are doing. We stay cheerful and since we have no place to go or meetings to attend we have more time to stop and smell the flowers, so to...
