Small city apartments and high cost of living keep transplants coming to Bakersfield, writes guest writer Jennifer Self.
They come in search of square footage, quick commutes, pellet grills and swimming pools, leaving behind their lives in the big city for Bakersfield, “a California they can afford,” asput it. But as newcomers drive housing prices to historic highs, Bakersfield increasingly is becoming a California those of us who already live here can no longer afford.
William O. Self left Arkansas in the 1940s for California and the booming war production in Bay Area shipyards. Eventually, he sent for his wife and six children, who boarded a train with their meager belongings and a hamper of fried chicken, which Grandma traded for milk from a soldier so she could feed the baby.After the war, the family drifted down the state and landed in Bakersfield. Here, in the heartland of California, they found families they recognized.
Reports on the Bakersfield of today often follow a familiar formula: An outsider comes to town to get a look atin California. They note the basics: the country music, the conservative politics, the oil, the agriculture, the dirty air.
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