All you (n)ever wanted to know about Ridgecrest (Los Angeles: apartments, motel)

[airmech80]

How are asians being looked at in Ridgecrest or in China Lake, I am just curious because I am planning to apply for a job in the base. I am presently here in Michigan and lived for the past 15 years. I am already making a thorough research about Ridgecrest just in case I get hired.

[David Aguilar]

Originally Posted by airmech80

How are asians being looked at in Ridgecrest or in China Lake, I am just curious because I am planning to apply for a job in the base. I am presently here in Michigan and lived for the past 15 years. I am already making a thorough research about Ridgecrest just in case I get hired.

To be honest, there aren't very many Asians in town. Do expect the occasional ignorant comments though. Good luck on getting the job!

[whitechocolate86]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

To be honest, there aren't very many Asians in town. Do expect the occasional ignorant comments though. Good luck on getting the job!

Mr. Aguilar,
I could have sworn I saw some Thai Restaurant in one of the photos you shot me...surely there can't be that much ignorance towards asians...but, what do I know?

[KNJO]

Ridgecrest has a high LDS population with 9 Wards, which my LDS friends say is high for a city of 25,000; I know it helps to be LDS if you want to work for the city; a friend of mine was told by Parks and Recreation that the only reason he got hired was because he was LDS, ten years later he switched to Baptist, as soon as it was found out by the city; he was fired!

Ridgecrest consistently has Kern Counties lowest unemployment and highest household income. Yet good paying jobs outside of the base are few and far between, count on mostly minimum wage jobs off the base.

I was surprised of the number of bipolar young people, and with ADD; to meet someone without one of the two was a rarity, must be the hi levels of arsenic in the wate

Once in a while you will meet someone under thirty in Ridgecrest that does not tweak and still has a full set of teeth, but not to often!

For a city of only 25,000 does have more to offer than other cities of its size in Kern County, A few examples:

Multimedia
Ridgecrest has six locally owned and operated radio stations: two AM and four FM, KZIQ 92.7FM is the most active in the community with a country format; its AM is talk. Many Los Angeles FM radio stations are brought in on translators, you can also pick up a few Las Vegas FM radios stations as well. Several Internet radio stations broadcast out of Ridgecrest too, with a radio network strongly considering relocating to Ridgecrest because of the low cost of doing business.

All VHF Los Angeles television stations and KCET are brought in on two separate translator systems, one brings them on their original VHF channels, and the other is UHF. KNBC 4 and KTLA 5 HD are already provided locally via translator. You can watch LA TV in Ridgecrest with rabbit ears in some parts and a small 4-bay UHF antenna in others. We were able to watch HDTV in the park with only a 4 bay UHF antenna.

Utilities:
Mediacom (Started in Ridgecrest) is the cable provide; Most of it’s analog channels are in stereo and have noise free pictures, digital cable is not the best; in that it’s a limited channel package compared to Bright House in the rest of Kern County. It’s broadband is fast when it works (5 & 10mb down)
Verizon is the phone & DSL provider, DSL is faster here than in many areas, it clocks in at 3mb down & 785kb and up consistently.
Edison provides electricity and PG&E is gas

Other tidbits: Ridgecrest does have a Sizzler restaurant, and just about every fast food you can think of. And it shows, lots of very fat tattooed woman of all ages waddling through the stores of Ridgecrest; I think Ridgecrest could use a Gym or some walking trails! For some reason the video games aren’t working!

Don’t plan on starting a home-based business like you see on TV; The City of Ridgecrest is strongly opposed to home-based businesses; There are areas nearby that are in the county where you are free to do as you please.

Ridgecrest is divided pretty evenly between Republicans and Democrats, which may be a surprise for a military town! Case in point: Until recently Ridgecrest was a two-newspaper town: With one on the right, and the other on the left. Ridgecrest also has a large Gay community as I found out walking into a very active park bathroom one Sunday morning. Ridgecrest is fairly diverse, I found and knew quite a few blacks and Hispanics of various economic classes in Ridgecrest. My boy’s best friend in Ridgecrest was black; his mother came back to Ridgecrest because kids in Ridgecrest treated her daughter better than Las Vegas.

Getting around Ridgecrest is pretty easy; Just about everything is within three miles (Mostly on Norma and the recently repaved China Lake Blvd) with much of it located centrally. The Post Office, county offices, library, regional park, fire station & sheriffs are all clustered together, and very easy to walk to. If you are disabled, don’t or can’t drive Ridgecrest is for you! My wife had no problems walking the children to the park and store etc. Ridgecrest has a pretty good bus system with dial a ride available and regional buses connecting to the Antelope Valley and Bakersfield.

Law & Order and recreation: Ridgecrest is triple covered with Ridgecrest’s own police force, Kern County Sheriffs and CHP. Fire is county and very quick to respond, if you have children, playing at the regional park is pretty safe as the fire department and Sheriffs are only seconds away by foot. Many community events from Indian powwows to car shows and free concerts occur year round at the park. A ball field adjoins the park. The fairgrounds also have little to no cost events year round, from cat shows to business expos and everything in between. A low cost RV park is located next door to park the in-laws when they come to town! Lets not forget Kernville and the mighty Kern River are a short 45 miles away, the Trona Pinnacles as seen in Lost In Space, Star Trek and the new Planet of the Apes are a short 20 miles away along with the famous Trona railway, Tremors was also shot around the Ridgecrest area as was the Long Long Trailer starring Lucile Ball around Whitney Portal. If you are from outside the area you can get an ideal the area is like by watching a few of those movies.

Cost of housing is fairly low, but going up with the much promised expansion of China Lake, We were first told 3,000 new jobs but nobody wants to move up to Ridgecrest from Ventura County; last I herd it’s going to be more like 800 jobs.

Fuel cost in Ridgecrest is about 10 to 20 cents higher than other parts of the High Desert, while living in Ridgecrest; I saved allot on fuel because everything is so close by!

School wise: the Ridgecrest high school is a pretty sorry looking campus, but so is Thousand Oaks High when compared to Taft, California’s high school or Tehachapi’s new high school. But I don’t think you have to worry about a bunch of gang bangers running the place either.

If you have kids, they for the most part will be very safe in Ridgecrest compared to the Antelope Valley, otherwise I would not be considering moving back there with a 5 & 6 year old, my boys loved it there!
If you need a place to base your business out of while getting started, office space is still affordable compared to other nearby communities, computer guys will go easy on you with your computer repairs, office supplies are fairly cheap as is business stationary like business cards (5000 double sided color $75). Ridgecrest won’t get in your way too much (I hate red tape). I can deal with the 100+ degree summers and thunderstorms that pass through during the summer; Ridgecrest’s lack of tornados is also a plus. Ridgecrest has a huge backyard to play in on the weekends how could get bored!
Ridgecrest is no Thousand Oaks but then again you can’t buy a nice house in T.O. for under $200,000, or rent an apartment for under $500. And just think of all the money you will save from avoiding the mall and driving the latest BMW!

Steve
KNJO

[KNJO]

Here are some helpful links related to Ridgecrest:
The Swap Sheet Online
swapsheet.org
Daily Independent
ridgecrestca.com
KZIQ & KWDJ studio tour
radiobrandy.com/KZIQFM.html
You are going to have to add the www. and cut and paste because this editor is messing up the links tonight.

Steve
KNJO/XRQK Radio Group

[whitechocolate86]

Wow, can they really discriminate based on religion...I have always supported mormons, while many other christian groups consider them untrue christians...but stuff like that about getting fired for leaving church pisses me off

[David Aguilar]

WOW KNJO! Spot on on just about everything!

Yes, there definitely is a high LDS population in town, and they have a very nice big church on S Norma. All LDS in Ridgecrest I knew personally were much nicer than the average person.

Originally Posted by KNJO

Once in a while you will meet someone under thirty in Ridgecrest that does not tweak and still has a full set of teeth, but not too often!

Ain't that the truth!

Originally Posted by whitechocolate86

Mr. Aguilar,
I could have sworn I saw some Thai Restaurant in one of the photos you shot me...surely there can't be that much ignorance towards asians...but, what do I know?

I actually know the guy who owns said restaurant, nice guy. I wasn't insinuating there was ignorance just towards Asians, it to some extent is towards all non white-American folks. Plenty of stereotypes preached and practiced in Ridgecrest. Just because a Thai restaurant can function in town doesn't mean there aren't some ignorant residents.

Another example: I girl I met not long after moving to RC told me her family disowned her because she has a 1/2 Mexican baby and has dated Black guys. IMO, a pretty dumb reason to disown your daughter.

[KNJO]

I have without trying ended up living in several communities that turned out to have a high concentration of LDS Members; Bullhead City & Mesa Arizona, Boulder City & Las Vegas Nevada and Ridgecrest & Thousand Oaks in California. Mesa, Arizona claims a 10 - 20% LDS population yet they control nearly 100% of the city government. If you want to get an ideal how they do business, do a Google search and read about “Mesa Arizona corruption” I can tell you it does not stop in Arizona, it’s just widely exposed there. When I told some LDS friends I was moving to Boulder City, they told me quote ”You are not qualified to live there”, Being a news reporter, I had to ask what do you mean “Not Qualified” the answer: you should be a LDS member, otherwise you won’t get any good paying jobs and your housing cost will be allot more. They were very honest because we were good friends, and they did not want me to be disappointed with how they do business. It is worth noting Boulder City is the only city in Nevada that does not allow gambling, LDS are also why you need a Sheriffs Card in Las Vegas to get the good paying casino jobs, Sheriffs Card was a deal worked out between the old mob run casinos and the LDS which controlled Las Vegas to keep outsiders from taking good casino jobs. With the card in place the LDS allowed the mob to set up shop in Nevada. If you watch the movie “Casino” The character Mr. Webb says, “we allow you to be here”, the WE is the LDS. Also look up: Meadows Mountain Massacre on Google.

This is important for people planning to relocate to a new area to find out who runs the town; failure to do so can prove to be a costly mistake. Many of these groups don’t accept outsiders and you will find yourself and your family very unwelcome, you will also pay the price in higher cost or outright run out of town. It’s not just the LDS; other groups get control of a town and decide who opens a business and who does not, whom your children will be able to play with and not; they can really be cruel to children, our neighbors are LDS; and will not let their children play with ours despite the fact they are the same age 5 & 6 and there are only a few kids to play with period in the area. My nephew’s friends were not allowed to play with him after school because he was not a J.W.; they still played by sneaking around sometimes but birthday parties were out of the question.

A colleague of mine bought a radio station in Shamrock, Texas; he failed to do his research and paid dearly with his freedom, family and business. The good old boys of Shamrock were not about to let an outsider run their radio station and loose control on the news coming of that station. These guys were brutal, and had zero respect for the law including the DA; the DA is now serving a prison sentence.

Kern County is without question is run by some very corrupt folks with allot of power, and not afraid to abuse it. Kern County is where a handcuffed black man can be shot three times in the back and have it ruled a suicide, or a gun store owner in Taft refusing to turn over a cops throwaway weapon being shot three times in the back and having it being ruled self inflicted. Look it up! It’s all documented and very disturbing.

And before someone claims my friend was fired over job performance; the city park is now run by the county, guess who is taking care of the park for the county now and just got a much deserved promotion?

For the record: Ridgecrest is not as bad as the rest of the county anymore, they have mellowed a bit because of the tax dollars going south to Lancaster & Palmdale. The powers of Ridgecrest tried for years to keep the chain stores out, but the locals complained enough to get some change. The mayor and a council member admitted to me that Ridgecrest was just like Taft (on the other end of the county) but was forced to change, the powers aren’t gone, they just work more in the background.

What David wrote is for the most part still very true, I hope I help explain why it still happens in 2008. And don’t even get me started on Taft, the best way to some up Tehachapi; Tehachapi is like that cute girl or guy you knew in high school, who turned out to be a nightmare once you got to know them only worse!

Steve
KNJO/XRQK Radio Group

[whitechocolate86]

I looked up Ridgecrest's official website and didn't see any LDS churches listed on its religion section?

[KNJO]

If you do a Google search "LDS Ridgecrest" you will get a better response. The city may feel it would not look good if they listed all that existed in the area, it may look unbalanced. The phone book is the place to look, if you can get one!
Like Mesa Ariz, they don't like to broadcast such things. I like you don't like when someone gets fired for what they believe, or kids can't play together because of the church the parents attend.
I have many down to earth LDS friends who don't care for the bad apples any more than the rest of us. Heck my own family goes to church every Sunday and get absolutely nothing out of it; and it shows
One note: if you want to get a taste of Ridgecrest; check in to the Rose Garden, last time I was there, a fine looking woman about 30 was walking buck naked around the pool in broad daylight for a hour or two. somehow she confused Ridgecrest with France!

Steve
KNJO