An LA restaurant owner shuts down but returns to find a film crew next door along with a catering tent full of food and drink, prepare for a tsunami of packages this Christmas and what do you think of the city's new art project on 24th Street?

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other company or publication.

 * ... WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA: Ah, the hypocrisy of living in California during the pandemic. The latest head scratcher involves a woman named Angela Marsden who owns the Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill in Los Angeles. Like other restaurant owners Marsden is struggling to stay alive and she shut

down outdoor dining to conform with new state guidelines. And guess what happened next? She arrived at her restaurant to find an episode of NBC's Good Girls" was filming on her street, complete with a huge catering tent full of food and drink for the film crew. How is this possible, she thought, when her own restaurant was forced to close, but somehow it's okay for film studios to feed dozens without restrictions? More than anything else, it is this type of hypocrisy that has many Californian's boiling mad, and we are just getting started. Stay tuned.

 * ... DELIVERY LOGJAM: If you are using e-commerce to make most of your purchases these days, and are looking to Amazon to fulfill Christmas wishes, beware that the crunch is coming. According to The New York Times, an estimated three billion packages will be shipped this year, some 800 million more than last year. And now that we are in yet another pandemic lockdown, it is only getting worse. Experts say if you expect something by Christmas, you need to order it no later than Dec. 15. After that, you are on your own. And remember: this is the prime season for porch thefts so we can assume our neighborhoods will be full of strange cars going slowly down our streets looking for packages to steal.

 * ... ENTRY WAY: So what do you think of the new rock and steel art project the city erected on east-bound 23rd Street? It's part of the now completed 24th Street widening project and I suppose it serves as a welcome mat of sorts for folks coming off Highway 99 and headed into the downtown business district. Let's see how long it takes for the rock pyramids to be tagged with graffiti.

 * ... SPOTTED ON FACEBOOK: "My wife didn't order anything from Amazon yesterday so today the UPS driver knocked on our door to make sure everything was okay."

 * ... DIANNE HOOVER: The city of Bakersfield will lose one of its finest and most effective managers soon when Dianne Hoover leaves her job as director of the Recreation and Parks Department. Hoover spent 15 years here, working quietly, effectively and often against long odds to do a near complete makeover of the city's parks system. Among the improvements built on her watch was the Park at River Walk, the sprawling complex of greenspace and lakes off Stockdale Highway that has become immensely popular. A native of a small town near Columbus, Ohio, Hoover earned her bachelor's degreee from Graceland College in Iowa and masters from the University of Dayton and Western Illinois University.  Farewell Dianne. You will be missed.

 * ... MEMORIES: From the Facebook page Kern County History Fans comes this nugget.