The Loop Newspaper - Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide

My first experience living in a Quonset hut was, as a bride, in 1950. The tunnel-like buildings were one of hundreds-of-thousands that had been constructed to house military personnel and families on...

A few days ago I drove up our Golden Hills street to our mailbox. I had quite a bit of mail and was putting it into a bag when I noticed a Package Box key on the ground. Thinking I had dropped it as...

I have read the pros and cons about rodeos in the news lately, but the following event happened (it's hard to realize) some 71 years ago. It's an article from my husband, Doyle Gracey's writings. No...

I knew one of the steam locomotive engineers whose usual run brought him from Bakersfield up and over the Loop, through the Tehachapis and down to the desert area. They called him "Olie" (O-lee) but h...

It was brought to my attention that the monument in Philip Marx Central Park has been, once again, defaced by unknown parties. Those attending the Memorial Day Service will be able to see the damage...

They come in all shapes, sizes and dispositions. Mothers, of course. I had half-a-dozen children and each one has always managed to make me glad, sad, proud, amazed and completely baffled at times....

My earliest childhood memories are of my lying in bed listening to the Mojave wind hitting the house. That Mojave wind is stronger than our Tehachapi wind. Now, the Tehachapi wind is no slacker (breez...

During the past sixty years or so, driving south down Highway 395 from the Bishop area, one would have noticed a steam locomotive on the west side of the main street going through Independence,...

A decade or more back, when I first saw the construction/renovation of Green St., with colorful road tiles on the intersections, newly designed street signs, and an added "first for Tehachapi," a one...

Sometimes when reliving memories of years past I think of something that is just too good to keep to myself. My husband and his friend, Sergeant Major Frederick W. Filkins, were what you would call...

It was a sunny day on May 19, 1938 when my eldest brother, Everett Davis, drove my sister, Evelyn, my brother Buster and myself to the local airport in my father's 1928 Hupmobile. I had asked to go...

Laughter is the main ingredient at the monthly Honor Flight/Veterans' Breakfast at St. Malachy's Hall. It's fun to reminisce and tell experiences from Uncle Sam's military service. "I look forward to...

I was reading a portion of an old news article the other day that sounded like an advertisement for a great place to go. A good vacation spot or perhaps a girls' college with great dorms. "Each cottag...

I often hear people say, "It's never been this hot before!" Later, "It's never been this cold before!" Don't forget to mention, "We've never had such a dry year before!" or "We've never had this much...

I am a vintage Victorian style house on the corner of F and Curry Streets and have stood observing the residents of Tehachapi since the 1880s. Only three families have owned me through my 137 year...

My memories of a white Christmas in Tehachapi are scarce although last year our diaries may have listed, "snow on Christmas Eve." Usually the weather is cold, crisp and clear. That was always a plus...

The Opera House, an early Tehachapi building, was located on F Street where the College Community Health Clinic building now stands (113 East F St.), next to the little yogurt shop. It was a focal...

When I occasionally travel Willow Springs Road towards Rosamond and Lancaster, I pass Truman Road and Hamilton Road. For years I have told anyone who would listen that the two roads do not stand for...

My brother, just four years older than I, considered himself an "information, please" person from which I could gain facts and bits of history. One day when I was about nine, I asked him what made...

I just ran onto a photo of our community water tank from years past; the caption at the bottom says, circa 1914. Circa is a way of saying "about" or "approximately" or "darned if I know!" Close...

Years ago U.S. Highway 466 came directly through Tehachapi. Trucks rumbled by and auto traffic on the way to Bakersfield and parts north passed through town. Many stopped to stretch their legs and...

The Tehachapi, Brite's and Cummings Valleys are all sheltered with surrounding mountains which seem to protect us from the sweltering desert on one side and the heat from the great San Joaquin Valley...

As children, my sister and I used to have tea parties. It was usually just the two of us but occasionally my brother, Buster Davis, four years my senior, would sometimes join us. His real name is...

Quite often I encounter someone who greets me with, "Hello there, young lady!" They're just being kind for, unless their eyesight is nearly gone, they can see the wrinkles that disqualify me as a youn...

Some stories begin with "Once upon a time" and that's as good a place to begin as I speak of long time Tehachapi citizen, Adalay Elva Johnson Bassler, who celebrated her 94th birthday on July 23. A...