[14] Industries in and around Bakersfield include natural gas and other energy extraction, mining, petroleum refining, distribution, food processing, and corporate regional offices.

[17] The Yokuts of the region lived in lodges[18] along the branches of the Kern River delta and hunted antelope, tule elk, deer, bear, fish, and game birds.

Recording his May 1 arrival to a Yokuts village along the Kern River, immediately northeast of present Bakersfield, Garcés wrote,[17] The people of the rancheria had a great feast over my arrival, and having regaled me well I reciprocated to them all with tobacco and glass beads, congratulating myself on seeing the people so affable and affectionate.Given the remoteness and inaccessibility of the region, the Yokuts remained largely isolated from further contact until after the Mexican War of Independence, when Mexican settlers began to migrate to the area.

[22] Among those attracted to the area by the California gold rush was Thomas Baker, a lawyer and former colonel in the militia of Ohio, his home state.

[37] The earthquake, which measured 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale and was felt from San Francisco to the Mexican border, destroyed the nearby communities of Tehachapi and Arvin.

A large aftershock occurred on July 29, causing minor architectural damage but raising fears that the flow of the Friant-Kern Canal could be dangerously altered, potentially flooding the city and surrounding areas.

Aftershocks continued for the next month, and on August 22 at 3:42 pm, another earthquake, measured at 5.8, struck directly under the city's center in the most densely populated area of the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The city limits extend to the Sequoia National Forest, at the foot of the Greenhorn Mountain Range and the entrance to the Kern Canyon.

[44] Bakersfield has a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh),[45] with sweltering, dry summers and winters that consist of mild days with chilly/cold nights.

[47] Air quality is generally at its worst in fall and winter due to the California wildfire season and colder temperatures forming an inversion layer, respectively.

[58] Returning flowing water to the Kern River and along with trees is promoted as a way to improve air quality and enhance recreation in the city.

[69][70] A study by the Brookings Institution using 2008 data found that the proportion of Bakersfield metro adults age 25 and over with a bachelor's degree was the lowest (14.7%) of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States; that 100th-place finish was down from being ranked 95th in 1990.

Because the steep, north-facing edge of the bluff provides a view of the foothills, mountains, oil fields, and Kern River, the city government has attempted to balance development and preservation in this area.

[79] Other companies have opened regional offices and non-oil/agricultural businesses because of Bakersfield's and Kern County's business-friendly policies, such as having no local utility or inventory taxes.

Permanent exhibits include [citation needed] "Black Gold: The Oil Experience", a hands-on modern approach to showing how oil is extracted; and "The Lori Brock Children's Discovery Museum", a hands-on children's museum and a display on the influential "Bakersfield Sound" style of country music.

The city gained fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the Bakersfield Sound, an electric guitar-driven subgenre of country music that commercially dominated the industry for over a decade.

[86] In mid-to late September, Bakersfield holds the annual Kern County Fair, which showcases the area's agricultural produce and animal husbandry.

The Conference has had several notable political speakers to include Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Neil Armstrong, Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell, Mike Wallace, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Paul Harvey.

Due to the Dust Bowl, Buck Owens and his family migrated west where they would travel from Phoenix to the San Joaquin Valley to pick crops, including cotton.

[92] Most of Haggard's early songs reflect his time spent in prison, farming, and working blue-collar jobs in Southern California, including Bakersfield.

In the early 1990s, a group of friends from the lower and middle-class parts of Northeast and East Bakersfield formed the nu metal band Korn.

[104] It competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Big West Conference[105] Bakersfield is home to Colby Lewis from the MLB team, the Texas Rangers, Stephen Neal from the Super Bowl Champions, New England Patriots.

KCFD provides fire protection services for over 500,000 citizens living in the unincorporated areas of Kern County and the cities of Arvin, Delano, Maricopa, McFarland, Ridgecrest, Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi and Wasco.

Due to the vast number of county islands and jagged city limit lines in the south part of Bakersfield, the closest fire station is dispatched to incidents.

Bakersfield also envisioned Caltrans building a North Beltway as the western extension of SR 58, but this has been withdrawn in favor of the Centennial Corridor.

Despite the city's relatively flat topography and grid-like street system, only around 2,782 bike commuters exist, as estimated in 2013, around 0.7% of its total population then.

In 2005, SR 99 was added to the FHWA list of high-priority corridors as "California farm to market route" and designated a Future Interstate.

[152] The privately owned Airport Valet Express used to offer daily service between Bakersfield and LAX via a connection at the Van Nuys FlyAway bus station.

Later, ghouls, humans whose flesh had been destroyed and ravaged by radiation, moved into the city and resided there in isolation for several decades before it was invaded by the Unity.

[162] Lead singer Mick Jagger, emulating a quasi-spoken Southern drawl, narrates: I was driving home, early Sunday morning, through Bakersfield Listening to gospel music on the colored radio station And the preacher said, "You know, you always have the Lord by your side" Well, I was so pleased to be informed of this That I ran twenty red lights, in his honor Thank you Jesus .