Welcome to the Kern River Report, where the current is always moving and the stories never dry up. This is where we post what’s really going on out here including river sessions, skate spots, desert runs, and whatever else stirs the dust in Bakersfield.
Our articles tap into the local vibe with a nod to the outsiders who get it. Whether you’re chasing old-school nostalgia or fresh drops, this is your behind-the-scenes feed for Kern River Surf Co.
You’ll see some of our latest designs in action too. If something catches your eye, you can check out the full merch lineup on our shop page.
Oh! This is the actual Kern River Report.
The Glasnost Skate Exchange Moscow ↔ Bakersfield, 1991 When concrete diplomacy rolled on four wheels In the final, uncertain years of the Cold War, when borders were softening but nerves were still tight, few people imagined that a skateboard would become an...
Is This the Origin of the Truxtun Lakes Monster? Every legend has a photograph. This one surfaced quietly—an old, grainy black-and-white image showing a massive, armor-plated fish hauled onto a dock at Greater Truxtun Lake. Men stand around it in stunned silence. No...
The Story Perched elegantly above the sun-struck waters of Greater Truxtun Lake, its long pier stretching confidently into the blue, the Truxtun Lakes Yacht Club (TLYC) stands as a monument to a vision of Central Valley nautical life that is both improbable...
There was a time—maybe real, maybe just whispered about over campfires and canal banks—when the world's most glamorous airline, Pan Am, charted a course not just to Havana or Honolulu, but non-stop to Bakersfield and Pismo Beach. This was the age of jet-set optimism,...
By C. M. Halloran, Pacific Ethnohistory Quarterly, Spring 1979 In the spring of 1950, amid Cold War tension and California’s golden postwar optimism, a little-known Norwegian ethnographer named Rolf Thiegurdsen launched one of the most bizarre and forgotten...
Old Sparky: The Devilish Summer Spirit of Kern County Skate Culture There’s a certain time of year in the south end of the San Joaquin Valley when the sun turns the asphalt into a griddle, the air stands completely still, and even the shade feels like it’s given up....
Myth Mystery, and Modern Style In the heart of California’s Central Valley, where the sun scorches the hills and the Kern River rushes with wild abandon, a legend has quietly endured—passed down in whispers, campfire stories,...
The Founding Wave and Patriotic Origin of Kern River Surf Co. Long before Bakersfield bore orchards or oil fields, before the freeways ran like veins through California’s Central Valley, the banks of the Kern River whispered legends—some real, some ridiculous, and...
CROSSING OVER: GORDON’S FERRY, CHARON RIVER INDUSTRIES & THE BATTLE FOR OUR SOULS (AND BOARDS)By the Kern River Surf Co Field Department of Regional Myths and Transportation Logistics Before the dam, before the bridge, and long before the Oildale meth gators...
My friends and I argue about which was the more popular destination for weekend high school Bakersfield drag racing. Was it out in the north side of town. Zerker Road, or was it out in the south end past Pacheco and towards...