Ben Eshbach, creator of Tehachapi Now on YouTube presents at Rotary

Provided.

To thank Ben Eshbach for making his presentation, President Jennifer Palakiko presented him with a certificate and $100 was donated to the Rotary Foundation in his honor.

On Thursday, May 16, the Rotary Club of Tehachapi welcomed guest speaker, Ben Eshbach. Ben is a local Tehachapi resident who started the "Tehachapi Now" channel on YouTube.

When he moved his family to Tehachapi in 2022, he was researching on YouTube to see what Tehachapi had to offer, and he found two things: 1) real estate and 2) trains. He knew that there was so much more to the community, so he set about finding the little local gems, businesses and stories that make Tehachapi a wonderful place to live or visit. He became interested and passionate about telling those stories, and "Tehachapi Now" was born.

His journey to Tehachapi is an interesting one. His father established APE Race Parts 50 years ago in Burbank, California, a business which primarily designs and manufactures parts for racing motorcycles. Although he has always been involved in the family business, in the '90s, he was a member of a band called The Sugarplastic, which was signed to Geffen Records. He did not enjoy playing live or touring, and he would even continue working for the family business while on tour, staying connected with a pager. There came a time when he decided to connect with his love for classical music, so he transitioned into writing and creating the soundtracks for motion pictures. Although he had little formal training, he knew how an orchestra worked, and he found that hearing his music performed was very fulfilling.

However, COVID brought about many changes professionally, and his family moved APE Race Parts to its current location at the foot of the Willow Springs Race Track in Rosamond. At that time, he moved to Tehachapi to be closer to his family. That was when he discovered the opportunity to create a broader internet presence, beyond the famous loop, and he set about developing the stories for "Tehachapi Now" on YouTube.

He has featured many stories about the local community. He has filmed an afternoon spent exploring the antique shops, highlighted unique local businesses, covered various festivals, events, car shows, discovered the local wineries, visited the town's museums and gave a behind-the-scenes historical look at the BeeKay Theatre. Among many other stories, he filmed for three days capturing the set up and execution of Cheers to Charity.

Unfortunately, Ben had to put the YouTube channel on pause when his father unexpectedly passed away. The business has international status, and a number of employees. As a family business, his father's passing left a big gap, as he did so much that stretched beyond the scope of a single job description. Ben has assumed the responsibility of payroll, ordering internationally and many other tasks surrounding the daily oversight and execution of the business.

Ben has always enjoyed creating the "Tehachapi Now" episodes and telling the stories within the community. He has considered it a wonderful hobby, as it gives him something creative to do beyond rebuilding drive shafts. He enjoys treating each episode as a mini-documentary, and hopes that he will be able to start back up in July. Ben has many more ideas to bring to life and he looks forward to continuing to shine a light on all the wonderful and interesting things that the Tehachapi community has to offer.

The Tehachapi Rotary Club meets at noon every Thursday at Kelcy's. Rotary is committed to "Service Above Self," and devotes time and resources to projects in the local community, scholarships for college-bound high school seniors, and supporting global efforts for polio eradication. For more information about the Rotary Club, you can visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Rotary/ClubofTehachapi/.