Bakersfield Landmarks and Monuments

(Bakersfield, California - CA, USA)

As you enter this city via Sillect Avenue, you will pass underneath one of the city's most recognisable and most photographed landmarks, the bright yellow arch simply named the 'Bakersfield Sign'.

This huge signpost sits alongside the Buck Owens Crystal Palace and spans the road, facing westwards and being found close to the intersection with the Buck Owens Boulevard. Originally erected in the year 1949 as a bridge across the busy Golden State Freeway CA-99 (Union Avenue), the Bakersfield Sign was rebuilt in its present location in 1999, exactly 50 years after it first made its appearance in the city.

Another extremely important landmark in the city of Bakersfield is the Beale Memorial Clock Tower, which stands next to the Kern County Museum. This distinctive clock tower was gifted to the city and constructed in 1904. However, just a few years later, its location began to cause traffic congestion problems. These continued right up until it was damaged by a serious earthquake in 1952, when it was removed and eventually rebuilt in 1964, on the eastern edge of the Sam Lynn Ball Park, being dedicated to the County of Kern.


Much of the city's most attractive and most historic architecture tends to be found within the city center and the neighborhood of East Bakersfield, which together form the oldest parts of the city. Architectural styles are certainly quite varied and include Art Deco, Mission Revival and also Spanish Revival, as well as some beautiful buildings constructed in the Beaux-Arts style. However, the 1952 earthquake managed to destroy a number of the city's much-loved landmarks and today, modern architecture is more in vogue and graces many parts of downtown Bakersfield.

The California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) is very much a landmark in its own right and came along in the mid-1960s as part of the California State College system, meeting the demands of the southern San Joaquin Valley area. The university contains a series of large and imposing structures, such as the Dore Theater, the Dorothy Donohue Hall, the Faculty Towers, the J. Antonino Sports Center, the J.R. Hillman Aquatic Center, the Walter Stiern Library and the buildings that make up the dorm complex, which are named after places in the famous Lord of the Rings fantasy novel (by JRR Tolkien).

Bakersfield College

Address: 1801 Panorama Drive, Bakersfield, California (CA), 93305, USA
Tel: +1 661 395 4011

Beale Memorial Clock Tower

Address: 3801 Chester Avenue, Bakersfield, California (CA), 93301, USA
Tel: +1 661 868 0701

California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB)

Address: 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, California (CA), 93311, USA
Tel:+1 661 654 2782

Kern Veterans Memorial

Address: Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, California (CA), 93301, USA
Tel: +1 661 833 4441

Padre Hotel

Address: 1702 18th Street, Bakersfield, California (CA), 93301, USA
Tel: +1 661 427 4900