Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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"I was born in a tent – people called them 'canvas cabins' back there – in 1916 in Henrietta, Oklahoma. My Dad made moonshine whiskey to sell for cash money to help feed us. I helped make moonshine from the time I was big enough to carry a one-gallon bucket. Practically all the country people back there made whiskey. You could look around early in the morning and see smoke rising from all the stills scattered in the woods." – Ellis "Red" Farley Red Farley owned "Farley's Funny Farm" on Tehac...
“I drove the Grapevine (now Interstate 5) through the Tehachapi Mountains in 1925, hauling freight in a 1922 Packard four cylinder truck. There would be two drivers and the round trip between Los Angeles and Tulare took 48 hours. The first driver got paid $32.50 and the second made $27.50. The first one made more because he was in charge and had to make all of the collections. There was a place called Caswell’s Garage at the head of the Antelope Valley, and I guess they got tired of people mar...
“It’s easy to be brave from a distance.” – Lakota Sioux saying...
“Why value the present hour less than some future hour?” – Anna Comstock...
“I’ve lived in a lot of places, and you can find something wrong with all of them. The Tehachapi area is the best place I’ve found, and believe me, I’ve looked around.” – Jack Cronin...
"I don't smoke, I don't drink except a beer now and then, and I don't chase around. I spent about five years raisin' hell when I was young, then I decided I would settle down and marry the girl next door, so I did. Camila and me have been married for 61 years. Nowadays kids get married and then want to start raisin' hell, instead of getting it over with first." – Melecio Cortez Melecio Cortez worked at the cement plant at Monolith from 1929 to 1976, and continued to stay busy for the rest of h...
“What’s the best way to star gaze in the Tehachapi Mountains? That’s easy: while sitting in a hot tub under the stars. That way you stay warm and comfortable, even in winter.” – Dave Bouldin Dave Bouldin is an amateur astronomer and professional hot tub enthusiast....
With winter officially starting on December 21, the season of potentially low temperatures and snow has returned to the Tehachapi Mountains, even though there certainly hasn't been too much cold weather yet this year. But the change in seasons brings about a varied response in the different living things that call this area home. Some opt for a strategy called snow avoidance, in which they simply try to not experience snow or freezing temperatures. This includes virtually all the reptiles and...
It's fun to grow ornamental plants that both thrive in your garden and can be harvested from time to time. This is the case with a California native known as White Sage or Grandfather Sage (Salvia apiana). This hardy plant has attractive gray-green or white-green leaves that contain very aromatic resins. It was used by many different Native American tribes to make smudge sticks or medicine bundles, which serve the same purpose as incense sticks. The leaves are picked off and then wrapped into a...
“Women say they want a guy who’s smart and funny, but then they end up laughing at whatever stupid thing the good-looking rich dude says.” – American Observation...
"Corn should be a foot high by the Fourth of July." – Country Gardening Saying...
"In 1876 the Debating Society of Tehachapi was organized with Charles McVicar, the President, and Simon Alexander, the Secretary. Debates were held each week, and a newspaper correspondent hoped that, because of such organizations, instead of Tehachapi being regarded as 'that rough place,' outsiders would realize that the citizenry had a 'taste for literature and moral sentiment.'" – William Harland Boyd...
“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” – John Bright...
"She's descended from a long line her mother listened to." – Gypsy Rose Lee...
"The southern Sierra, the Tehachapis, the Coast Ranges, and the Mojave Desert all come together in a welter of canyon and ridge, where we find interesting and peculiar plant assortments. Valley Oaks (Quercus lobata), of all things, have crept through Tehachapi Pass to the desert edge where they grow with Joshua Trees and cactus." – Elna Bakker Elna Bakker was a pioneering naturalist and cartographer who wrote the influential book An Island Called California, published by the University of C...
"Hire slowly, fire quickly." – Employment Advice...
The sight of Common Ravens harassing and chasing a Red-tailed Hawk, or songbirds in turn pestering a raptor or a raven is a common seen in the Tehachapi area, and I'm often asked about the dynamics of these seemingly mismatched conflicts. People wonder: why do the bigger or more formidable birds fly away from the smaller birds that are harassing them? The first thing to understand is that mature ravens pair-bond for life, and they maintain a territory year-round. When you see a group of smaller...
One of the most interesting of our local habitats to explore and to experience the outdoors is also one of the Tehachapi Mountains' most widespread and interesting: the oak woodland. This plant community is abundant in Central and Southern California, and found throughout the Tehachapis. Locally, it consists primarily of Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) and Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii) trees interspersed with Gray Pines, California Buckeyes, Mountain Mahogany, Buckbrush, Great Basin Sagebrush and a...
The Tehachapi Mountains have at least some snow every winter, but you can make sure that your yard has plenty snowballs even in drier years if you plant a Snowball Bush or two. These appropriately named shrubs produce large, globular white blossoms that do in fact resemble carefully crafted snowballs. In spring they are loaded with flowers, and they will bloom for weeks. There are a number of different species of Viburnum that are referred to as "Snowball Bush," including the European Snowball...
A fine and memorable man left the Tehachapi Valley recently with the loss of Ronald Wayne Depew, 74, who passed away at his Tehachapi home on October 25 following a brief illness. Ron was friendly, big-hearted bear of a man with great love for his family, friends, Tehachapi and life in general. He believed you could do a lot of good in this world and still have fun doing it. Ron embodied the Italian phrase "Vivere la dolce vita," which means "Living the sweet life." Ron spent his career in...
One of the hardiest and most ornamental vines you can plant in the Tehachapi Mountains is Virginia Creeper, an attractive plant that is native to the Eastern and Midwestern states. It is found in the wild as far west as Texas and Utah, but grows very well all the way to the Pacific states. It is known for its shiny, five-fingered leaflets that are bright green in spring and summer but then turn brilliant shades of red and burgundy in autumn. Virginia Creeper is a climber that can reach...
Now that our season has transitioned from summer into autumn, there is a subtle but definite difference in the sunshine that lights our days. The angle of the sunlight is lower. Our days are growing shorter, and the nights are colder. Change is in the air. This seasonal progression is reflected in the natural world around us. Some of the deciduous trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves, or they have turned red or yellow as the green chlorophyll drains out of them. These plants are already...
Margie Marchand Owens, was a lifelong Tehachapi resident whose roots went deep in Tehachapi as both a descendent of the pioneering Leiva family and as co-owner of the landmark Kelcy's Cafe. Margie and her husband, Kelcy Owens, operated the Tehachapi Boulevard restaurant more than 40 years after they purchased it from Ray and Velda Trusty in 1969. Margie's great-grandfather, Antonio Leiva, was a respected cowboy for the sprawling Tejon Ranch in the 1870s, and he and his wife Piedad are recorded...
If you've glanced up in the skies over Tehachapi in the past month or so, you might have seen lots of large dark birds circling. These are Turkey Vultures, and their annual migration is one of the great natural spectacles of California. Each autumn, Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) come through Tehachapi Pass as they migrate south. There are not just hundreds, or even thousands of birds, but tens of thousands – a Turkey Vulture count in the fall of 2000 recorded 38,743 Turkey Vultures flying o...
The Butterfly Bush is a great shrub for the Tehachapi area, and true to their name, they really do attract butterflies, as well as moths and other nectar feeders. They bloom from midsummer to fall and have a wide variety of blossom colors, including purple, blue, white, pink, red, violet and yellow. Butterfly Bush blossoms are fragrant and they work well as cut flowers, lasting inside for several days before they start to wilt. Some people mistake Butterfly Bush for lilacs because there is a...
