I have lived in California for about 30 years and I can honestly say that I have never been to Bakersfield except passing through on my way to somewhere else. And this time was not going to be any different. My friend and I were on our way to Kernville to go white water rafting.
However, that same weekend everyone else in California was as well. There was no “room in the inn” anywhere within a 25 mile radius of Kernville. We had no choice, we were spending the night in Bakersfield.
We jumped into our trusty car and made it across the Grapevine on I-5 to the turnoff at US 99 (the Golden State Highway) toward Bakersfield. Pulled into town about 4 PM and headed for our motel. Now this was a budget trip so we were not staying at the Four Seasons or any where like that.
We had picked the Quality Inn and Suites at 200 Union Ave in Bakersfield. We were about a mile north from California 58 (the Barstow-Bakersfield Highway). We also about a half mile south from California Avenue which is one of the main drags in Bakersfield. Lining the street for several blocks are chain restaurants and shopping malls. Maya Cinemas are on California Ave., which is a huge multiplex with 16 screens.
The Quality Inn and Suites are listed on TripAdvisor as #39 out of 61 hotels in Bakersfield. Yet, it does have a 3 star rating based on 197 reviews. Ours was a first floor room just off the pool. You could tell that the hotel had been recently refurbished and all the rooms upgraded. Overall, we were very pleased with the room and the pool was excellent. We ended up staying for 2 nights and the total for a weekend in a double room was about $85 per night with tax. Free pool, free breakfast, and free internet are included.
So what to do in Bakersfield? TripAdvisor says that Bakersfield has 34 points of interest with the Crystal Palace listed as #2. We wanted dinner and the Crystal Palace offers full dinner service as well as being a concert venue with a very reasonable cover. So that is where we decided to go.
First a little background for strangers to Bakersfield and Buck Owens. Buck “was an American musician, singer, songwriter and band leader who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band the Buckaroos. They pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound, a reference to Bakersfield, California, the city Owens called home and from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call American music.” (Wikipedia). He lived in Bakersfield and decided to create a full-service concert venue and restaurant. As time and his fame grew, it also became a museum for memorabilia of his long career in Country Music and TV. Aside from this music career, Buck is most famous for being co-host of the TV series Hee Haw with Roy Clark. The show started in 1969 and Buck left the cast in 1986.
The Crystal Palace is designed in the Western Revival style, a style that resembles buildings from the 19th century American Old West. The exterior/interior resembles an American western town from that same period. The museum is located in display cases around the first floor, which resemble the windows to the building. (Wikipedia)
We entered the lobby and the western motif continued into the building itself. The lobby was filled with case after case of his memorabilia and bronze statues of famous country singers. We paid a small cover as noted before and we followed a hostess into the main room. It was surprising to me how large it was. The focus of the entire room is the music and the stage. The main room rises three stories and completely surrounds the stage. There is a giant bar at the back of the first floor that has seats that overlook the dance floor. Each floor is open to the main room with railings running along the length each floor. All the dinner tables on each floor are pushed up right against railings so every table and seat in the room has a clear view of the stage and dance floor. Plus there are giant video screens on each side of the stage so you can see the band has they perform on stage. Yet while the main room is large and tall, no seat is further away then 100 feet from the stage I would guess.
We heard three bands that night. They were good and professional playing a combination of rock and down home country. I do not know if they were local groups or bands that were on tour in the area. The most impressive thing about the stage was there was no down time between acts. It was really slick to watch. As one group finished their last song, the next band and crew came on stage. They plugged their instruments in, did a very quick sound check, and started playing right away. The longest gap between bands was probably about five minutes. Both the sound and film crews of the Crystal Palace were on it. They moved so fast that you hardly noticed that they were there.
They placed us in the bar area with seats that faced the stage. They pack them in pretty tight, because there was no space between my friend and myself and the couple sitting next to us. It is a very basic menu that they offer. Steak, fish, salads and burgers. I got the grilled salmon which really was very good with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. My friend got a grilled salmon salad which was also very nice. The only part of this that I did not like was the size and price of the cocktails. I ordered a vodka tonic and what came was in a very small glass with not much vodka in it. I thought the price of $10 for that size drink was way to high for the amount of liquor was in it.
After dinner we took a couple of turns around the dance full that was full of big groups doing line dancing and the “boot scootin boogie,” while couples danced close together on the edges of the dance floor.
All in all, this was a really fun night filled with good food and music. Plus the sheer amount of stuff to look at in the museum cases is daunting.
Totally recommend the Crystal Palace for your next trip to Bakersfield.