The Bakersfield Guy's Newsletter! Issue #11

Issue #11! Local business spotlight with $1 Tacos, more local Bakersfield history, and over 30 events.

Author

Bakersfield Guy
September 04, 2025

Local Business Spotlight

Carnitas Premium- $1 Tacos- 3900 Niles St.

A friend of mine recently showed me Carnitas Premium. Located at 3900 Niles St. Firstly, everything I’ve had here has been tasty, but the star of this show are the $1 tacos that are served all day everyday from 4AM-9PM! That’s awesome for everyone including the early workers who want a cheap breakfast! Feels like I went back in a Time Machine because how can they afford $1 tacos everyday?!?

Remembering the past. Bakersfield History

Two China Towns In Bakersfield?

A few weeks ago I was doing the history piece on the Great Bakersfield fire of 1889, when I came across an image that said, “Ruins of Chinatown.” I said to myself, we had a Chinatown in Bakersfield at one point?! Apparently a lot of you had the same idea as well.

In the 19th century Bakersfield had many Chinese immigrants come in to town to work. The history they helped shape that so many of us don’t even know of is right in front of us. They came in to work on the Kern River Mines, lay down Railroads and dig canals that helped shape Kern County into the agricultural powerhouse we know it to be today!

The first of two Chinatowns came about around 1860 to 1870. The people that came here just to work had decided to settle in town. The area we know to be the downtown Bakersfield area today. This first Enclave was in the area from L St. and 20th and 22nd. This area is around where the KGET Television Station is now.

That area came to be known as Old Chinatown as New Chinatown came along later. New Chinatown spanned from about 17th-18th St and R St. This enclave was built around 1880-1890 because people from different parts of China had come speaking different dialects and had other cultural differences.

In 1880 the census had about 801 residents, and almost a third of them were Chinese immigrants. That meant that 250 out of 801 Bakersfield residents were Chinese!

I was HARDLY able to find any good pictures of anything from these Chinatowns, but here is a few good photos. In the future I’ll keep my eyes out for anything good.

The Suey On Association, a fraternal organization of Chinese merchants, was located at 2110 L Street. Date 1900

Din Toy inside the Peking Cafe at 731 18th St. Late 1920s. Din was a prominent businessman and Chinatown leader.

China Town Canton Cafe 1940.

There’s many details to these little historic areas, one of things people like to talk about is that some of these business had tunnels between them. The people of the area would sneak into the tunnels to escape the summer heat, and could also move material in between stores and businesses without being in the heat.

One theory is that the tunnels were used to gamble and as secret opium dens. A few historians have pointed out that those illegal things happened in the regular buildings, and the people involved would flee into the tunnels to escape. What a time to be alive!

Unfortunately the Chinese population would be facing a lot of uphill battles from the start. Racism, the big 1889 fire and ultimately the Earthquake of 1952 devastated what was left of the community. With the damage done from the earthquake to these buildings, they used the land to repurpose and grow a more modern city. In short, it appears the people and culture were simply pushed out. A tragic ending to what I was so excited to share with you guys.

Today there’s still plenty of signs of things that used to be. China Alley, Ming Ave, China Grade Loop, some headstone with Chinese and even Japanese writings remain in the Union Cemetery and Bill Lee’s chopsticks that many of us love for their food and Mai Tai’s has been open since the communities were still here!

🎟️ Events This Week: August 4th-10th

More events for this week. The summer has been jam packed with fun!

💡 Click the underlined event name for tickets or more info.

Opportunity Spotlight

Events This Week in Bakersfield

Thursday, September 4

Friday, September 5

Saturday, September 6

Sunday, September 7

Tuesday, September 9

Wednesday, September 10

That’s it for this week.

Another issue in the history books! Like Limp Bizkit said, “Keep rollin rollin rolling rollin”

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The Bakersfield Guy