JJ

About me:

Oildale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. The population was 27,885 at the 2000 census. It is an unincorporated town just north of Bakersfield across the Kern River, west of the Kern River Oilfield, and east of Highway 99. Trivia Most of the original U-2 spy planes flown out of Groom Lake were built at a secret factory in Oildale disguised as a tire factory. It is the hometown of musician Merle Haggard and writer Gerald Haslam, both of whom are often claimed by nearby Bakersfield. Haggard's famous boxcar boyhood home is still lived in today. Buck Owens' recording studio, used in the 60's, 70's, & 80's to record most of his hits and also served as the home to radio stations KUZZ and KKXX, was converted from an old movie theatre on North Chester Avenue just south of Norris Road across the street from Standard School. Today it serves as a recording studio that has been used by bands such as Bakersfield-born Korn. Oildale is home to the Bakersfield Speedway, a 1/3 mile banked clay oval that was built just after World War II. Buck Owens' song, "Beer Can Hill" is about him hanging out with race fans on a hill overlooking the track. In the movie, "The Grapes of Wrath," the scene when the Joad family first enters into the "Hooverville" and are appalled at what they see...this scene is based on the Hooverville that existed along the Kern River in Oildale near Beardsley Avenue. Daytona 500 winner and NASCAR Busch Series champion Kevin Harvick grew up in Oildale near his dad's fire station just off North Chester Avenue and attended nearby North High School.