Creativity Will Design Downtown Bakersfield Demand
When we stand on a corner like 18th and Q here in downtown Bakersfield, we may find it in a wide range of welcoming-ness. Sometimes, we see one corner alive and thriving. The other direction is a simple parking lot.
This corner specifically holds a story. It's been a gathering place for nearly a hundred years. Chinese families built community there. Between the decades, different tenants, different purposes, same beautiful bones.
Yet it sparked an idea a few years back when a beloved restaurant team couldn't help but say yes to an opportunity that could only come from someone with vision. Where one passerby would see an overwhelming big project, Moo Creamery and their development team saw beauty. They saw old relics of a time passed that needed a breath of fresh air. They saw a ceiling that could never be closed off. They saw a patio fit for a hot and cold evening, welcoming as ever.
As we know, those doors are now open for Moo Scratch Kitchen.
Throughout that process, I watched the energy from caddy corner at The Cue and Eastchester Flats, residents waiting for their morning coffee steps away from their doors. A shift was on its way.
Yes, it was the building. Yes, it’s because of the food. But more importantly, because every single decision about how this place would show up in the world was made with a plan at level that matches the ambition. The approach taken is almost contagious and it makes you want to know more.
That gut feeling you get when you walk into a place and something just works. It makes you feel. Considering how that works on the stranger, the visitor, the potential resident, that needs to be the standard for every corner downtown. But what do we call that? As in the song Maria from Sound of Music, "how do you find a word that means Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?"
It’s a flibbity gibbit - yes, it’s Brand. That's the word. No, not a logo. Not a color palette or font. Not a post on social.
A brand is a person's gut feeling. You can't control that feeling directly. But you can shape the conditions that create it. Those signals tell everyone something.
Every signal downtown sends gets amplified in a city like Bakersfield. A building name. A storefront. The way 18th and Eye feels on a Friday night. All of it is shaping what people believe about Bakersfield, whether that's from our own community or from how the region and nation perceive us.
If you're reading this, you likely already believe in downtown. You're already investing. The question worth sitting with is whether we're shaping those signals with the same level of care we're putting into the vision and execution behind the big ideas.
Every project I'll give a little update on today started with someone thinking big. A developer imagining what a corner could become. An operator seeing a space and knowing it could be something. A city leader funding a facade program because they believe in what's possible.
That vision is the creative part, and at times, the easiest part. Thinking big is creative. Bakersfield’s not known for NOT having ideas, but getting them off the ground always proves challenging and for those that have the biggest belief.
Where the gap falls is between that vision and how people actually experience it. The small decisions that build out bigger than the sum of their parts. How a place gets named. What it feels like to walk in. Whether the story is clear or confusing. Whether people trust it or just walk past it.
We've set a standard in parts of downtown that proves what's possible. The work now is making that standard the norm. To push each other to extend that thinking into building undeniably Bakersfield spaces and experiences. It's our job to close that gap on every project. Because when we do, the whole city benefits. After all, a thriving city is nothing without its downtown.
For those that don't know me, I'm one of those outsiders that chose to stay for a long while. I came to Bakersfield in 2009 from Corona by way of Seattle and a boyfriend who said we'd only be here for a few years while we figured our plan. You bet I got all the questions. "Why would you live there?" "When are you moving on?"
Here we are. Fifteen years a Bakersfield resident. Twenty years building a career at the intersection of strategy and experience. Hospitality, retail, real estate, non-profit creation, and if you can believe it, carrots. All of it here. My formative business years happened in this city and because of this city. Is there an MBA for this type of thing?
I thank my time in Seattle for showing me something I carry into everything I do. A motto I come back to is: big dreams don't stop at big cities. They move with you. You just have to find the right place and people to bring them to life.
What's weird is that I recently moved to the forbidden land of LA. And honestly, the distance has only sharpened what I already knew. Now from the outside, I see more patterns and themes. It's allowed me to step back and while doing that recognize and tell you that what's happening here is not something I was imagining or hoping to make work.
The thing is that we have to deliver on these promises. And beyond deliver, we have to communicate, design, and champion that vision.
The projects that thrive downtown made strategic decisions early. They got clear on positioning, naming, and what people should feel the moment they encounter it. Whether that's a restaurant, an apartment complex, a co-working space, or an event venue. The name means something. The space reinforces it. The presence online matches what you get in person. Because of that, they earn trust faster. A tenant signs a lease. A family chooses to live there. An entrepreneur sets up shop. Someone books the venue instead of the one across town. They attract the kind of attention that makes the next project on the block more viable.
The projects that struggle skipped those decisions. Or made them last. The product might be great. The bones might be beautiful. But the signals are unclear. People drive past because nothing told them to stop. The brand was never shaped. So it shaped itself. And usually that means it just blends in.
Downtown has real momentum, but it’s pushing us to focus on the other piece of the puzzle.
Bakersfield has a perception problem. And perception is an economic issue. It affects property values, lease rates, investor confidence, talent attraction, tourism dollars, absorption rates. Every project in the urban core that gets this right is actively changing that equation. Every project that skips it is borrowing against the momentum everyone else is building.
The standard has been set. The question is whether we hold it across every block. That means bringing the right people to the table early. The ones who know how to translate a big vision into a cohesive experience that earns trust, drives traffic, and builds value.
Moo Scratch Kitchen
18th & Q Street | 1928 New China Cafe BuildingThe building at 18th and Q has been a gathering place for nearly a hundred years. It has held different names, different tenants, different purposes. The bones never changed.
When the Moo Creamery team looked at that corner, they did not see a has-been. They saw a ceiling that could never be closed off, a patio built for every season, and a space that deserved to be treated with the same conviction they bring to their food. Ninety-five percent of the menu made in house. That kind of commitment deserved to lead the name. Moo Scratch Kitchen.
What Purveyor built with them started with that truth and extended it to every surface. Signage. Menus. Packaging. The details you only discover on your third visit. The building's century of history was honored, and the result is unmistakably Moo. Walk in and feel it. That is the standard this project is setting for every corner in downtown.
The Woolworth's Building
19th & K Street | The Dream Team ApproachEmily and Sherod Waite could have built anywhere. Faster. Cheaper. They chose downtown Bakersfield and a 75-year-old building at 19th and K. Over $10 million in private investment. Locally led. Locally funded. That decision alone tells you something about conviction.
The approach was what made it exceptional. Cater Design Group on architecture. Brooklyn artist Rico Gatson commissioned for a piece honoring the building's civil rights history. Purveyor on brand identity and storytelling. The right people, assembled intentionally, trusted to do what they do best.
The historic designation reflects what the team chose to protect. City. State. National Register through the National Park Service. Restored terrazzo flooring, wood paneling, mirrors, handrails, the original lunch counter and stools. This is the last functioning Woolworth's luncheonette in the country. They went well beyond what preservation standards required. That is a long game decision.
The building operates as multiple engines reinforcing each other. Chef Richard Yoshimura leads an elevated diner menu at the luncheonette. Reverb Coffee anchors the corner entrance with daily foot traffic. Moneywise Wealth Management relocated from Stockdale Highway to the second floor, bringing more professional services into downtown. The Basement operates as a subterranean venue for live music and events, with a recording studio and music education space coming soon to round out the programming.
Food, coffee, professional services, entertainment, cultural programming. Each one makes the others stronger. That is a third place. A building where community, commerce, and creativity share the same square footage, and people show up because they belong there.
Their opening shut down 19th Street for a block party. Forty vendors. Live music. Spoken word. Dance. The project lifted the value of everything around it. That is what happens when a team goes the distance.
Eastchester Living
Sage Equities + Cater Design Group | Greyhound Flats + Eastbank FlatsPeople choosing to live downtown is a different kind of demand. Signing a lease is a commitment. It means they believe in the block, the neighborhood, the future being built around them.
That belief gets shaped long before someone signs anything. Before dirt moves. Before investors commit capital. The story a project tells from day one determines whether any of that happens at all.
Investors need a clear story. A name that means something. Positioning that communicates who this is for and why it exists. Visual identity that signals confidence. That story is what gets capital across the line. The same story then becomes what future residents connect to. They see themselves in it. They feel it online. They drive by and get curious. One story, two audiences, built once and used everywhere.
Greyhound Flats is the proof point in progress. Sage Equities and the Mojibi family are developing 42 high-end rental units on the site of the former Greyhound bus station at F and 18th, a station that stood from 1958. Purveyor was brought in ahead of construction to shape and validate the name, positioning, and visual identity. The development team had a coherent story for investors, the city, and future tenants before a single permit was pulled. The spirit of travel, the history of those Greyhound lines, and the energy of movement are woven into the brand from the beginning. Cater Design Group is handling architecture. Wallace and Smith will build it. It is Sage's first project west of Chester Avenue.
Eastbank Flats will convert the former B'nai Jacob synagogue at 17th and S near Mill Creek into high-density housing, adding another layer to what Sage is building in this corridor.
Sage's track record backs the ambition. 17th Place sold at a record-breaking per-unit price, the highest in the city for single-owner multifamily at the time. 918 at Eastchester leased up fully. Sage has raised millions in equity, all of it invested into downtown, across five communities and counting. When the story is clear from day one, investors believe it, residents see themselves in it, and the market validates it. Set the stage early. The numbers follow.
Curating Eastchester
Saguaro Investments + Elevate Architecture | 19th Street CorridorWhat is forming on 19th Street deserves attention and intention in equal measure. Entertainment, dining, co-working, performing arts, cultural programming, streetscape investment. The ecosystem is not planned. It is happening. That makes what downtown does next consequential.
The Amara — 712 19th Street
Formerly Villa Ivy, The Amara is a premier outdoor event venue serving weddings, quinceañeras, and corporate events under new ownership, with a restaurant and speakeasy coming adjacent. Downtown needs places where community gathers for milestones. The Amara serves that function and will for years.
The Stack — 834 19th Street
Bakersfield's first container park is coming to the vacant lot north of 19th, west of Q. Developed by Dailey and delToro-Diaz, The Stack will house a dozen-plus vendors in container structures, anchored by a live stage, beer garden, arcade, pickleball courts, and playgrounds. Turnkey rental space for small businesses makes it an incubator disguised as entertainment. Target opening is late 2027 to early 2028. It only works if the experience matches the ambition of the concept, and the team knows it.
Sonder at the Brass Rail — 908 19th Street
Sonder's original location on Brimhall reached a level of brand recognition where developers started asking to put their name on buildings. Sonder's third location is under construction on 19th Street, integrated with The Stack and bringing comedy and live shows to the corridor. When operators expand into this neighborhood because they believe in it, we can say that the Downtown Bakersfield “brand” is working.
Facade Revitalization — 19th Street, O to N
The storefronts along this stretch are getting new faces, a 1950s color scheme with real neon signs. Hoagies, Killer Poke, and Bottleshock are among the businesses receiving updated exteriors. Street-level investment changes how people feel about walking a block. It signals that downtown is investing in itself, not just waiting for anchors to do the work.
The Toucan — 19th and N
Arson gutted the Toucan building on Labor Day 2024, leaving a concrete and brick shell. Developers delToro-Diaz and Dailey did not walk away. They accelerated. The rebuilt Toucan will be a design homage to 1920s and 1950s architecture, with the original Toucan sign to be preserved. Plans include 6,800 square feet of co-working space through IWG, with private offices, meeting rooms, creative space for startups and hybrid workers, and a coffee shop or bar on the ground floor. The Toucan is showing how real estate can become a catalyst for entrepreneurship infrastructure and a testament to what this city is made of.
Arts Council of Kern Gardens — 1018 18th Street
The Arts Council of Kern is creating an outdoor third space at 1018 18th Street, anchored by a city-funded shade structure. Garden programming, First Fridays, classes, and community outreach will define the calendar. This is the creative economy made participatory. A place you can sit in, contribute to, and belong to.
Bakersfield Community Theatre — 19th Street
The oldest continuously operating community theater in California is finding its permanent home on 19th Street. Ninety-eight years of history, a stage door, a marquee, a bar and theater under one roof. The Bakersfield Community Theatre gives this corridor a cultural anchor that commerce alone cannot provide. A downtown with a working theater has a different identity than one without.
17th Place, The Cue, Eastchester Flats, Cleo, 918 at Eastchester
One corridor. Dining. Entertainment. Co-working. Performing arts. Cultural programming. Events. Streetscape. Residential. All of it concentrating in the same stretch of blocks, a district finding it’s form project by project.
Every one of these projects started with someone thinking big. Where creativity lives, risk is on the other tide.
And the ones that will actually change Bakersfield’s urban core are the ones that close the gap between that vision and what people experience when they show up. The ones that bring the right partners to the table. The ones that treat how people experience a place with the same seriousness as the construction budget and the lease terms.
You already know the difference. You've walked into the places that got it right and the places that didn't. You felt it both times. The standard has been set as a form of Placemaking. Now it's about holding it. On every project. On every block.
This is bigger than any single project.
Downtown is where economic development becomes something people can walk through and believe in. Entrepreneurs need offices. Residents need walkable blocks. Performers need stages. Families need places to gather. Small businesses need affordable space with a real address. All of it needs to feel cohesive. All of it needs to signal that downtown Bakersfield is worth investing your time, your money, your life in.
When someone asks "what do you do in Bakersfield on a weekend?" downtown has to be the answer. When a company is recruiting talent from out of town and that person googles the city, this place has to show up and deliver. That's workforce development. That's talent retention. That's the thing that makes the regional strategy real.
Strategy attracts industry. Industry creates jobs. Jobs attract talent. Talent demands experience. Experience requires a downtown that delivers across every category. Housing. Culture. Commerce. Community space. It's a loop. And downtown is where the invisible work becomes visible to real people. The higher we raise the standard of that experience, the faster the loop spins. The more investment it attracts. The more talent it retains. The more the perception shifts.
Bakersfield has real assets most markets would envy. Music heritage. Agricultural roots. Central Valley character that can't be manufactured. We're close to something coherent. Closer than most people in this room even realize.
Five coherent blocks can shift a city's perception. Look at what's already happening on one corridor. Now imagine that standard across downtown. That's a decision.
The vision is here. The investment is here. The people thinking big are already here, already investing. The work ahead is making sure every project gets the full team.The partners who know how to close the gap between how big you're thinking and how people actually experience it. That's how the ambition becomes real. That's how the perception shifts for good.
I've always started by seeing what could be. This city has something worth fighting for. The distance has only made it clearer.