Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 74
As always, the 3rd annual TNAZ Cruizin Car Show was a big hit on May 18. The show brought in more than 60 hot rods and custom cars. A fantastic mix of historical American cars from Ford to Chevy to Oldsmobile. My favorite was a local Tehachapi car. A 1937 Oldsmobile restored by Tom from Tehachapi. Originally Tom was trying to sell the Oldsmobile for a friend as a favor and he just could not find a buyer. So, Tom got the Oldsmobile for himself to work on. It turned out to be a labor of love...
Back in the mid 1990s, I was hired on as an part-time airport attendant at the Tehachapi Municipal Airport. I also did general grounds maintenance, "FOD" control (keeping the runways/taxiways clean). I also got to help pilots fuel up their aircraft. I really enjoyed helping the pilots safely fuel and chat with them. For me it was a dream job because I got to be around some fantastic aircraft, some world class pilots and I got to learn a lot about aviation at the same time. Being a long time...
Kern County has been the filming location to a list of fantastic and well-known, and not-so-fantastic and not-so-well-known flicks. The 1939 film "Stagecoach" is at the top of the list for me, as well as the 1959 film "North by Northwest." I think most film buffs will remember a low-level flying sequence done with a "crop duster" biplane filmed on Garces Highway in Bakersfield. This famous Hitchcock film was shot in October of 1958. Early on the producers wanted to film this sequence in a...
The benefits of learning music are well documented for kids and older folks alike. I found this out going to my daughter's music concerts as she was growing up. Sarah J's instrument was the Alto Saxophone. I saw the benefits in her and all the kids that were playing in her jazz band and marching band. I also found out it does not matter if you are super talented or just have a love for playing and never had the time. I was very inspired by my daughter Sarah J to take up a instrument back then....
Southern Pacific steam locomotive #1213 is famous for its appearance in the 1955 Kirk Douglas western film, "Man Without a Star." The steamer was made to look like an 1800s locomotive to fit the time period of the old west. One fact that most rail fans will pick up on is the build dates on the cattle cars that #1213 is pulling. They are more modern, from the 1920-1930s. Train #1213 is a 0-6-0, which refers to the wheel arrangement, meaning the locomotive has no lead wheels or trailing trucks,...
The Tehachapi Loop Railroad Club Train Show is one of the stops on the train show circuit with fun for the young and not-so-young rail fan. It was a rainy weekend on March 23-24, perfect to be indoors at the Aspen Builders Inc. Activity Center, part of the Tehachapi Valley Recreation & Park District. The Lancaster North Western Garden Railroad Club, Southern California "Z" Scale Model Railroading Group, Orange County "N" Gauge Club and the Southern Nevada "N" scale club were on display. The...
I was not born in Tehachapi, but I have been in the area for about 40 years. Do you remember when we had only one flashing traffic light in town and they never closed the freeway? We all just drove slowly when it snowed; no freeway gates blocked the on ramps. I think this the way to be safe, to drive the proper speed for the road conditions. Things have changed in so many ways up here. We all have so much to see and experience up here in the mountains. I first checked out the area in 1976 when...
Here are two weather photos from the last few weeks that I shot. Years ago when I first moved to the mountains, the local folks told me, "if you don't like the weather just wait 15 minutes." Well, they were right. The weather up here has always been very interesting and changeable. We have had fast moving storm systems for the last week or so. They produce great sunrises, rainbows, lenticular clouds and many weather wind events. I originally made the trek up to the mountains over 40 years ago...
If you like motor sports, you live in the right place. Kern County is a motor-sports mecca with all the fantastic venues to watch racing. If you are a road racer, circle-track driver or like racing on a dirt, oval or straight line, you have lots of choices here. I have been around race tracks and airports most of my life as a photographer. My mom always said, "hanging around those race cars keeps you out of trouble. And those folks must have a great work ethic and have done well in life to have...
Here in Tehachapi, we have a wealth of informative retired folks from the military, many of which worked at Edwards AFB Flight Test Center. So I think this would be of interest to friends and family of these service men and women to see this "Peace Keeper" aircraft. Many I bet worked on jets, maybe flew jets in the military. This historic aircraft is on display just east on highway 58, about 60 miles from Tehachapi at the north gate of Edwards AFB. I was a freelance photographer for a few years...
Winter time is a great season to make the pretty scenic trek up Highway 395 to the Father Crowley monument and overlook. It can be done in the summertime but the weather conditions are more people friendly in the winter. The overlook sits at 4,249 feet above sea level just off Highway 190. You hang a right at Olancha, California that will be state route 190. The gateway to Death Valley. Often called the desert padre, Father John Crowley was a catholic priest in and around Death Valley,...
The Tehachapi Symphony Holiday Concert at Country Oaks Baptist Church was fantastic, as always. It was a very chilly night on Dec. 8, but the cool weather put us all in the Christmas spirit. The highlight for me was "A Cello Christmas," with music arranged by Helen Newby, a world class cello player based in Brooklyn, New York and the daughter of the David Newby the Music director of the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra. The Christmas music arranged by Helen Newby was all the favorites for kids of...
It has been five years since Jack Cimo, an American classical guitarist, performed with the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Newby. He made his return for the fall concert on Nov. 5 at Country Oaks Baptist Church in Tehachapi. Cimo has played with many other orchestras, including the Santa Maria Philharmonic, and has opened up his classical guitar styles to people around the world. This was the same process the great guitarist and composer Andres Segovia went thought opening the...
We had a fantastic turn out of 262 cars preregistered at the Thunder on the Mountain Car Show. The weather cooperated with some clouds but the temps were cool, perfect for walking around the streets of Tehachapi on Oct. 1. I have to give a shout out to all the volunteers who made the second try at getting this show together. It's a ton of work and planing. I am a car lover and I really enjoyed seeing all the cars and car owners at this great event. To add to that, the crowds were great, too. I...
We have so many great events at our Tehachapi Railroad Depot Museum. One of them is Bark for Life, which supports the America Cancer Society and Relay for Life. Dog owners came out in force for the event on Sept. 16, which began at the Depot Museum. Dogs and their owners, of all ages, did a one mile walk around Tehachapi supporting Relay for Life. Kaylor, a local Tehachapi resident and dog lover, told me this is a great event to get behind and she had fun walking her dog Cali around the...
On Sept. 14, James T. Mitchell celebrated his 90th birthday at our local McDonald's, with his son at his side. JT, as Mitchell is known, is a U.S. Army Veteran and a "Dust Bowl" child coming to Kern County from Oklahoma when he was 2 years old. TJ is a long-time Tehachapi resident and loves our fantastic weather. JT's father came to Kern for work in the oil fields of Bakersfield. JT is doing very well and still drives to get his tea at McDonald every morning. I know we all wish JT many happy...
When I was asked to do photography for the Flight Test Museum Foundation at our local sailplane airport, I was delighted to help out. I grew up at Mountain Valley Airport learning to fly sailplanes. The owners, Jane and Larry Barrett, treated me like family. Larry gave me my FAA private and commercial flight tests. I was able to amass tons of glider time over 35 years of flying. I did over 1,800 commercial glider rides for the airport and had a blast doing it. I got to meet many famous people...
I had a heads up message on the internet by a friend from the racetrack that a very famous F-4S Phantom II fighter jet was on the side of Highway 58, just east of the Bakersfield Memorial Cemetery off-ramp. Yes, it was a famous F-4S Phantom II! It was originally based at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station in the Test Air Wing VX-4 in California. It was being hauled up on a low bed truck to the Castle Air Museum for some restoration and to be displayed in the museum. The crew was just taking a...
The Grace Angel band was in concert at Grace Fellowship Church on Friday night July 20. Grace Angel band is a Christian based rock/soul/jazz band. Band members are Jerry Mulkins on guitar, Pat Shoptaw on drums, Tracy Barns on guitar, and Kris Salas and Maria Weir Werth on bass....
This Navy Stearman biplane is owned by two local Tehachapi pilots, Diane Barney and Dustin Mosher. It can be seen on many days flying patterns around Tehachapi Airport....
Singer/songwriter Terri Asher is pictured performing at "A Day of Music" on July 1. Presented by Mountain Music, 206 E. F St., Tehachapi, and Tehachapi POPS Orchestra, featuring local students and musicians. It was a fantastic outdoor concert. The TPOPS Orchestra closed the event out with a variety of songs conducted by Jim Peck....
We had a fantastic turn out for the 2023 TNAZ Cruizin car show at the Church of the Nazarene on Saturday, June 17. The event packed in 81 hot rods, custom cars, one of a kind build cars and many classic cars. There really was something for everyone. There was even a bounce house, zip line, gaga ball and a variety of food. Music as well by the Dave's Not Here band. It's always fun to talk with car people at shows and the track. I got to talk my friends Hans and Rachel Kahl who are big time car...
Caliente, California is a quick trip for Tehachapi railfans to see the interesting Horseshoe Curve. The day I went I saw seven trains in a period of three hours, which included a Southern Pacific Heritage Series 1996 and a BN Santa Fe Warbonnet. The Horseshoe Curve at Caliente is on the Union Pacific railroad Mojave sub-division, part of the old Southern Pacific Los Angeles to San Francisco Valley route. This route was built between 1875 and 1876. The curve is about a three mile drive downhill...
Even as a former employee, it will always be an interesting experience to visit Edwards Air Force Base. I was recently invited for a VIP tour at Edwards, which was held to get the word out about funds needed to complete projects and the new museum outside the west gates of the base. Rex Moen is the force behind a new fundraising plan called the "Life Friends Campaign," which is set to kick off May 1. Moen has been on the Flight Test Museum foundation Board of Directors for over 23 years....
The Ferrari Club of America toured the Civilian Flight Test Center in Mojave, California on Feb. 18. They were greeted by a good crowd of car and airplane lovers. The event was held during the Plane Crazy weekend. The club was from the southwest region and organizes concourse events, rides, drives, tech sessions and social events. About 20 early 1980s Ferraris were on display in the flight line and another 30 or so were in the parking lot near Mojave tower. All the owners had a wealth of...
