www.masbakersfield.com

I wasn't born in Bakersfield but I spent most of my summers as a young boy here!  I remember my Uncle Manny and Aunt Virgie's home on Potomac Ave.  I remember fighting with White boys at Mt. Vernon Elemetary.  I remember the smell of the cotton gins and the stench of the slaughter house.  I remember waking up early to beat the summer heat and walking all the way to Bakersfield Beach (The Kern River!) with my cousins Jimbo and Rod and their neighbor, David Castle (a cool white dude!).  I remember going to the Fox Theater with all my cousins to watch the latest Elvis Presley movie.  And, oh yes, I remember Merle Haggard and Buck Owens!