This Way not That Way

For some reason Bakersfield likes to give the same street two different names. Brundage Lane turns into Stockdale Hwy, which really isn’t a highway at all. Oak Street turns into Wible Road, California Ave changes to New Stine and Coffee Road becomes Gosford Road. Bernard Street turns into 34th Street after crossing Union Ave. The best is Rosedale Hwy (again, not actually a highway.) Rosedale changes to 24th Street for a mile or so, then quickly becomes 23rd Street. After cutting through the heart of downtown Bakersfield, 23rd Street turns into Highway 178. Luckily this is an actual highway.

I thought about all this when I noticed that they’re putting a new stop light in on the corner of 34th and Jewett. I’m not sure why, Jewett isn’t exactly a jumping place, but evidently they need to back up traffic and it seemed like a good place, seeing as it is right next to The Buckhorn, the diveiest dive bar in town. You see, besides changing the name of a street for no apparent reason, Bakersfield also likes to give the same (or a very similar) name to two totally different streets. In order to increase the confusion the streets are usually in completely different parts of town. We have Stine Road and New Stine Road, Olive Street and Olive Drive and Jewett and Jewetta Avenues, just to name a few.

The brilliance of this plan is truly mind-boggling.