Approximately 20 CCCR Members gathThe Noriega Hotel in Bakersfield is one of the hidden gems of California's central valley.
The hotel has been a center of the local Basque community for over one hundred years, providing bed,board, and a connection to their distant homeland to the mostly single young men who had come to California to start new lives. Many of these men spent months on end as itinerant sheep-herders, moving their flocks through the vast open spaces of eastern Kern County and the surrounding areas.
The Noriega is still a major center of the Basque community in America and provides a fascinating glimpse of a little-known sector of our region's history.
Today the Noriega is best known for its restaurant, which since 1940 has served traditional Basque food in a large dining hall with two long tables for family-style service. Lunch is served in one seating at noon;
the cost is $14.00, tax and a beverage included. The menu is at the discretion of the chef.
Our group will have reserved seats for all those who sign up by May 31, 2009; after that you're on
your own. To sign up contact Martin Howell at (805) 544-5389 or at <marthowe@yahoo.com>
We will meet at the Costco parking lot on Los Osos Valley Road, in San Luis Obispo, at 8:30 a.m. for a 9 AM departure on Sunday June 7, and travel to Bakersfield by way of Highway 58, a great Porsche road in anybody's book.
This is short notice, but this is a trip you don't want to miss -- sign up today!
Martin