Bakersfield's gold rush days may be over, but it is still one of the top agricultural and oil-producing regions in the country. This town of California, Bakersfield has a strong agricultural base located at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, and a number of of special attractions.

As with many cities in the Central Valley of California, many Bakersfield residents have ancestors who migrated to the area from the Midwest during the Dust Bowl. In John Steinbeck's historical novel The Grapes of Wrath, Bakersfield is one of the locations that the protagonists pass through.

The "olden days" of Bakersfiled heritage can still be glimpsed at Kern County Museum's 14-acre assemblage of 60 buildings representative of life in the area between 1880 and 1930. Nearby is the Tule Elk State Reserve, designed to protect this endangered species.

Bakersfield also has a truly rich music scene, as such legendary musicians such as Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Wynn Stewart helped invent a rock and roll-influenced country music style called the Bakersfield sound. Their influence was so great that Bakersfield is second only to Nashville, Tennessee, in country music fame. Rock groups Korn, Adema, and Orgy were also formed in Bakersfield.

Perhaps Bakersfield is most famous for its humble hospitality as many people who settle there, now have generations upon generations of family who feel contented by the many offerings of the city.