19th Street's transformation has Eastchester businesses excited
Now, granted, it's not all that interesting at the moment.
The historic Woolworth's building is still a couple of months from completion, and a section of Eastchester, as it has come to be known, seems to have more for lease signs than now open. But it's getting there. As Mayor Karen Goh outlined this week at the annual State of the City luncheon, food, drink and assorted diversions are in the planning and/or construction phases.
This derelict lot will eventually look like this.
The so-called Toucan building, ravaged by fire just a few months ago, will soon look like this.
And in between those spots, Bakersfield Community Theatre — the oldest continuously operating community theater in California – will be getting new life. It's moving from a quonset hut on South Chester to the middle of the action. Jan Hefner, the executive director, took us on a tour.
'It is some very cool stuff happening,' she said, 'and that's one of the things that we were drawn to, is the chance to be a centerpiece of a new entertainment district. There's other fine theaters in the downtown area too, but with the amenities that are being built up here and the new vendors and businesses and restaurants that are coming in, we think this is just an ideal spot for us to be.'
The community theater is moving next door to the historic Toucan building, which just last year was torched by fire. It, too, is making a comeback. The theater's move might take three years. But businesses already operating in this largely shuttered commercial/slash light industrial area are ready for them.
Hector Miranda owns Adventure Awaits, a 19th Street coffee shop that's been open almost three years. It's directly across from that container park.
'Things are definitely changing as we brought in an influx of traffic as well as all the new businesses that are coming up around us,' he said. 'We're very excited to have all new neighbors.'
Hoagie's Grill is right around the corner from Bakersfield Community Theater's new location. Brianna Baker, an assistant manager, is happy about the proximity.
'I'm very excited for what downtown has to offer, especially right here on 19th Street,' she said. 'There's a lot of new things opening up. And it's really nice to see the community just show up for everybody. … I'm really excited to see what downtown has in store for us.'
She and everyone else on 19th Street is hoping excitement and prosperity are right around the corner.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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14 LGBTQ+ disability activists who are changing the world one fight at a time
Happy Disability Pride Month! Footage still via Instagram @talialewis;; footage still via Instagram @jendeerinwater From left: Disability activists TL Lewis, Andrew Gurza, and Jen Deerinwater. There are queer disabled celebrities who are using their fame to advocate for more rights and better representation in media and shows that are starting to do a better job of including queer disabled characters, but it's the LGBTQ+ disabled activists who are fighting for years on end to help improve the lives of queer disabled people across the country. Intersectionality is so important, and these queer and disabled activists and advocates have a deep and intrinsic understanding of just how true that is. So to celebrate Disability Pride Month, which coincides with the anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we're shouting out the trailblazing activists who have spent their careers fighting for the rights of the queer and disabled communities. Nicole Adler Nicole Adler has been a trailblazer since she was a teenager. At just 19 years old, she was the youngest governor-appointed council member to serve on the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. As a gay woman with Down syndrome, she has spent her life as a fierce advocate for the LGBTQ+ and disability communities. Then, at 29, she made history again as the first San Francisco Pride Community Grand Marshal with Down syndrome in 2024. 'It's a huge honor to represent both the disability and LGBTQ communities. I get to carry the torch and show others that anything is possible if you believe in yourself,' Adler said at the Pride celebration that hosted over 400,000 attendees, KGET reported. Corbett O'TooleCorbett O'Toole Corbett O'Toole has been a disability rights activist since the '70s, when she helped to run the Disabled Women's Coalition and worked as a staff member at the Center for Independent Living. O'Toole, who calls herself a 'queer disabled elder,' was a pioneer in the disability rights movement, including being one of the participants of the 25-day-long 504 Sit-In, where disability activists stormed into the federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which resulted in the Carter administration signing the 504 regulations which prohibited entities receiving federal funds from discriminating against disabled people. She has continued her work as an activist and advocate in the decades since and in 2016 wrote Fading Scars: My Queer Disability History. Morénike Giwa Onaiwu Morénike Giwa Onaiwu is a disabled nonbinary woman of color who focuses her activism work on autism and HIV advocacy, and disability justice and inclusion. She is an editor of All the Weight of Our Dreams, an anthology of art and writing by Austin people of color, and is the founder and principal consultant of Advocacy Without Borders, a grassroots non-profit collaborative offering capacity development, research, DEIA activities, and related projects. She also serves as a public appointee on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Center, which is the US federal advisory committee on autism, and was also the first Black executive board of directors member of both the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network. Jen Deerinwater As a journalist and founder of Crushing Colonialism — an organization dedicated to uplifting indigenous voices — Jen Deerinwater's activism is deeply rooted in her identity as a disabled, Two-Spirit, disabled Cherokee woman. Deerinwater's work sheds light on the unique challenges faced by marginalized communities and the pervasive impacts of colonialism and discrimination in our society. Julia Bascom Julia Bascom is a queer autism rights activist who worked as the executive director of the Autism Self Advocacy Network from 2017 to 2023. Bascom has spent her career advocating for allowing autistic people to speak for themselves and make decisions about their health, rights, well-being, and sexual lives. During her time with ASAN, she helped to fight for disabled people's control over their own services, to save the Affordable Care Act, addressed police violence and structural racism, and fought against the school-to-prison pipeline, and against the use of electric shock devices to modify the behavior of disabled people. Bascom was one of the experts consulted to create the autistic character Julia for Sesame Street and founded the Loud Hands project that resulted in the groundbreaking anthology of essays written by autistic people, called Loud Hands: Autistic People, Speaking. 'Neurodiversity says people have different kinds of brains, and that's OK. 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As a member of the troupe, Lady Francesca is helping to advocate for disability awareness and celebrate the beauty, diversity, and limitless possibilities of artistic expression. Andrew Gurza Andrew Gurza, who has cerebral palsy and came out as gay when they were 15, is a disability awareness consultant and activist who has spent their career focused on the intersection of disability and sexuality. Gurza has written about the need for disability-inclusive sex education, ableism in the queer community, and the barriers to healthcare faced by disabled people that can impact access to STI testing, in publications like HuffPost, Everyday Feminism, Men's Health, Out, and them. Gurza is also well known for starting the #DisabledPeopleAreHot hashtag on X (formerly Twitter), and was featured in the documentary Picture This, which follows Gurza as they plan the Second Annual Deliciously Disabled Sex Positive Fully Accessible Play Party. In 2016, Garza started the podcast Disability After Dark, which focuses on disability and sexuality and has been going strong for more than 300 episodes now. TL Lewis TL Lewis is a Black queer disabled nonbinary artist and activist. Lewis has been working for the last two decades to abolish the medical-carceral-impoverishment industrial complex, show the links between ableism and all other forms of oppression and violence, and build solidarity across multiply-marginalized communities. Lewis also founded HEARD, an organization run by deaf and disabled people who are supporting and advocating for deaf/disabled incarcerated people, and is one of the only people in the world who has worked on the wrongful conviction cases of deaf/disabled people. Eli Clare Eli Clare is a genderqueer, trans man with cerebral palsy who is an activist, advocate, and author who works on the intersections between race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, and environmental justice and imagines a world without psych wards, group homes, and nursing homes. His books Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure, Exile and Pride, and The Marrow's Telling are so well regarded they are used in classrooms across the country. Clare has also coordinated a rape prevention program, helped organize the first-ever Queerness and Disability Conference, and traveled through the U.S. and Canada, giving speeches and teaching. Cal Montgomery Andrew Dell'Antonio Cal Montgomery is a trans, autistic, physically disabled activist and nonspeaking adult who writes and fights against institutionalized abuse of disabled youth, the need for greater support for students with cognitive disabilities, and for arming disabled kids with the skills to help them reduce their risk of harm when they are out in the world. Noor Pervez As a former student organizer turned LGBTQ+ educator, community organizer, and public speaker, Muslim nonbinary activist Noor Pervez focuses his efforts on the intersections of disability, race, gender identity, sexuality, and religion. Noor is the Community Engagement Manager for the Autism Self Advocacy Network, and is on the board as an accessibility leader at Masjid al Rabia, a queer, trans, and woman-centered and led mosque. Noor is also in the process of making an Easy Read translation of the Holy Qu'ran, designed to make learning about Islam accessible for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Finn Gardiner Finn Gardiner is a queer, Black disability activist and community organizer. Gardiner is the director of policy and advocacy at the Autistic People of Color Fund, and was part of the 2016 White House Forum on LGBT and Disability Issues and the 2019 United Nations World Autism Day event. He has focused his activism around antiracism and the intersection of gender, sexuality and disability where he fights for inclusive education, competitive and integrated employment, accessible technology, cognitive accessibility, housing justice, and community living. This article originally appeared on Pride: 14 LGBTQ+ disability activists who are changing the world one fight at a time RELATED 17 disabled LGBTQ+ celebrities who are changing Hollywood
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Yahoo
19th Street's transformation has Eastchester businesses excited
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – The transformation of 19th Street continues. The area of downtown Bakersfield between K and Q just keeps getting more interesting. Now, granted, it's not all that interesting at the moment. The historic Woolworth's building is still a couple of months from completion, and a section of Eastchester, as it has come to be known, seems to have more for lease signs than now open. But it's getting there. As Mayor Karen Goh outlined this week at the annual State of the City luncheon, food, drink and assorted diversions are in the planning and/or construction phases. This derelict lot will eventually look like this. The so-called Toucan building, ravaged by fire just a few months ago, will soon look like this. And in between those spots, Bakersfield Community Theatre — the oldest continuously operating community theater in California – will be getting new life. It's moving from a quonset hut on South Chester to the middle of the action. Jan Hefner, the executive director, took us on a tour. 'It is some very cool stuff happening,' she said, 'and that's one of the things that we were drawn to, is the chance to be a centerpiece of a new entertainment district. There's other fine theaters in the downtown area too, but with the amenities that are being built up here and the new vendors and businesses and restaurants that are coming in, we think this is just an ideal spot for us to be.' The community theater is moving next door to the historic Toucan building, which just last year was torched by fire. It, too, is making a comeback. The theater's move might take three years. But businesses already operating in this largely shuttered commercial/slash light industrial area are ready for them. Hector Miranda owns Adventure Awaits, a 19th Street coffee shop that's been open almost three years. It's directly across from that container park. 'Things are definitely changing as we brought in an influx of traffic as well as all the new businesses that are coming up around us,' he said. 'We're very excited to have all new neighbors.' Hoagie's Grill is right around the corner from Bakersfield Community Theater's new location. Brianna Baker, an assistant manager, is happy about the proximity. 'I'm very excited for what downtown has to offer, especially right here on 19th Street,' she said. 'There's a lot of new things opening up. And it's really nice to see the community just show up for everybody. … I'm really excited to see what downtown has in store for us.' She and everyone else on 19th Street is hoping excitement and prosperity are right around the corner. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Yahoo
Megalodon at the Museum: Massive shark teeth on display at Buena Vista Museum
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — For decades, kids and adults alike have watched 'Shark Week,' the week-long feature on the fish that have commanded the oceans since time immemorial. But what you may not know is that the king of the sharks might've swam down Chester Avenue millions of years ago. It probably didn't follow traffic laws, of course. At that time, Bakersfield was completely submerged underwater, part of the grand Pacific Ocean. But as the megalodon shark died out and the oceans receded to their current resting places, the sharks that swam up and down the streets of Bakersfield left remnants all over, particularly the now world famous Sharktooth Hill — leaving teeth from the granddaddy of them all. 'It was floating around here in Bakersfield around 14 to 16 million years ago,' said Koral Hancharick, executive director of Buena Vista Museum. 'For every inch of tooth, we know there are 10 feet of shark, and that holds true today. So when you have a six-to-seven-inch tooth, you have a 60-to-75-foot shark … they made 'Jaws' kinda look like a guppy.' A shark so big, they could eat baby whales whole, and their teeth, now on display at the Buena Vista Museum in downtown Bakersfield. It almost makes you glad that they've been extinct for around two million years. 19th Street's transformation has Eastchester businesses excited But when the meg, or, as Shark Week called it some years ago, Sharkzilla, was featured on the show, it was right on Sharktooth Hill where they filmed their special on one of the largest apex predators to walk — sorry, swim — the Earth. 'That was a pretty cool thing that happened here in Bakersfield,' said Hancharick. 'I just think that megalodon has a great following due to the different movies that dramatized it.' Certain movies of course, teasing that maybe there's a massive man-eating megalodon hiding deep in the ocean's depths. Doubtful, says Hancharick. 'If you talk to most scientists, its food chain was all close to shore, so it definitely wouldn't be in the deep,' said Hancharick. Well, good news: you don't have to worry about your yacht trip being cut short by a massive shark attack. Nowadays, the modern great white shark has taken the title of 'King of the Ocean,' but they should be counting their lucky stars that the megalodon, the 'Lord of the Seas,' isn't still around to show who is really the boss. If you want to see teeth from the biggest shark to ever grace the planet, you can see them at the Buena Vista Museum at 2018 Chester Ave. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
