Anyone here live in Bakersfield, CA?

[DLgal]

Well, 2 hours, but who's counting? Funny enough, when I lived in Stockton I would do the 2 hour drive to Santa Cruz almost every weekend. It was worth every mile for sure. Coming back I'd hit that hot air as you crest Altamont Pass and just do a reality check every time. Why on earth would I go back there after spending the weekend in Santa Cruz? I still can't rationalize it.

Good luck making it to either DL or a beach in just 2 hours. LOL. It might be 120 miles, but in LA traffic, that's 3-4 hours of drive time.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

So our last trip down to Disney, hubby and I passed through Bakersfield, and for the first time we noticed a billboard quoting new homes for sale in the low 200s. Needless to say, we were a little bit mind-boggled. But sure enough, a quick romp through Trulia proves those numbers are more than accurate, and I'd be lying if I said we weren't just a little intrigued by it.

Living in the Bay Area isn't exactly a cakewalk financially, and we've discussed relocating more than once. We'd never considered Bakersfield though, and I'd really love to hear from anyone whose actually a local there. How do you like it? Does it feel safe? Clean? We're currently researching the job market and such, but I'd really appreciate hearing anything from locals.

Thanks!

Bakersfield is our little slice of West Texas. Being at the southern end of the central valley, it's as oppressively hot in the summer. The air quality is lousy. And we haven't even gotten to the smell. The only thing good about it is it's cheap housing and it's a couple of hours away from several nice places to be but there is not much nice there.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... If you really are interested in living there, by all means, pull up Expedia and plan a weekend there and see for yourself...

This. But plan to spend a week to ten days, in summer. Really test yourself to find things to do, go grocery shopping, see what the nightlife is like, visit a church or two (if this is important to you), etc.
When I accompany DH on a business trip, we do things like this to see if we could live in the area if he got transferred there.

This part cracked me up. I had a friend who moved to Minot, ND (on purpose, lol) and she said it was literally a town made up of crackheads. They had to move their business because they couldn’t find reliable employees.

DH got a fabulous job offer in ND -- the salary was unbelievable! What cracked us up was the thought that we'd actually have to live there!

 

[barkley]

i remember bakersfield as being the last bathroom stop my dad would make on the trip to visit family in southern california from northern california. if it was summertime we would always travel so we hit it in the dead of night but it was always sooooooooooo hot.