Next time you’re driving the Grapevine and nearing the forest of oil rigs on the outskirts of Bakersfield, search for a six-story guitar.
That can be the Hard Rock Casino Tejon, whose opening on Thursday brings industrial-strength Indian gaming — and a few Hollywood pizzazz — to a territory higher recognized for cowboy hats, farmland and petroleum extraction.
The Tejon on line casino stands within the rural neighborhood of Mettler, close to the convergence of Interstate 5 and State Route 99 — “a stone’s throw away” from Los Angeles, recommended Hard Rock Casino Tejon President Chris Kelley.
In impact, the on line casino is a $600-million wager by leaders of Hard Rock International and the Tejon Indian Tribe that they’ll seize a central position among the many many Indian casinos in Southern California.
The property is the primary full-scale gaming and leisure vacation spot in Kern County.
(Makenzie Beeney Photography for Hard Rock International)
A wind sculpture on the entrance of the on line casino.
(Cristian Costea for Hard Rock International)
The draw? Most notably, 150,000 sq. ft of gaming area — together with 58 desk video games and greater than 2,000 slot machines — placing it among the many largest casinos in Southern California, on par with many alongside the Strip in Las Vegas.
And, in fact, as a result of it is a Hard Rock enterprise, there are pop music artifacts on show. Among them: the blue hooded velvet mini costume Sabrina Carpenter wore in her “Please Please Please” music video, signed guitars from Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt, Beck’s tambourine and Natalie Cole’s orange excessive heels.
The on line casino additionally contains 4 eating places serving Asian avenue meals, tacos, pizza and American consolation meals (particularly Nashville sizzling rooster) — and a bonus characteristic. At choose hours, Kelley mentioned, workers will put up a divider to create Deep Cut, a fancier “speakeasy restaurant” that can emphasize steak and seafood.
“This is one thing no different Hard Rock Cafe has … a restaurant inside a restaurant,” mentioned Kelley, main a tour within the days earlier than opening.
Live-action desk video games embrace blackjack, craps, roulette and baccarat.
(Makenzie Beeney Photography for Hard Rock International)
Plans for the second part of the undertaking will embrace a 400-room resort and spa on-site, together with a 2,800-seat Hard Rock Live venue designed to host live shows, sporting occasions and in the end make Kern County a premier vacation spot for vacationers and followers. Officials declined to share a timeline for this subsequent installment.
Though its world empire started with a London cafe in 1971, Hard Rock International has been owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida since 2007. The firm’s native possession was “a serious affect” on the Tejon tribe’s choice to staff up, mentioned Tejon Tribal Chairman Octavio Escobedo III. Hard Rock Casino Tejon is owned by the Tejon Indian Tribe and is managed by Hard Rock International.
For the Tejon tribe and its 1,523 enrolled members, the on line casino quantities to a brand new chapter in a saga stuffed with challenges. In the 1850s, the Tejon had been included within the creation of California’s first Indian reservation — which was then closed by federal officers within the 1860s. More than a century later, in 1979, the tribe was omitted from a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs record of formally acknowledged tribes — an obvious mistake that took a long time to appropriate.
When the Tejon did win federal recognition in late 2011, gaming plans materialized rapidly. By late 2016, the tribe had set in movement the acquisition of the on line casino web site.
The restaurant Deep Cut is billed as an “elevated steakhouse expertise.”
(Makenzie Beeney Photography for Hard Rock International)
For the tribe, Escobedo mentioned, the long-term image possible contains growing a residential neighborhood — which the Tejon haven’t had for greater than a century — because the tribe goals for “monetary sovereignty.” Though he declined to specify the amount of cash that will require, he did say “it’s going to take an amazing quantity of monetary self-discipline to realize that.”
So far, issues really feel promising. Escobedo mentioned 52 tribal members have signed on to work at on line casino jobs and “I’d like to see that quantity double over the subsequent yr or so.”
Long earlier than the Seminoles purchased management of Hard Rock International, the tribe pioneered Indian gaming within the U.S., starting with a bingo corridor in Hollywood, Fla., in 1979. Through additional funding and authorized victories rooted in tribal sovereignty, tribes in 29 states throughout the U.S. have constructed a whole bunch of gaming operations, which collectively gross greater than $40 billion yearly.
Beyond its prospects for the Tejon tribe, the arrival of the on line casino means about 1,100 new jobs for larger Bakersfield, which misplaced a beloved leisure venue in August when Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace closed after 29 years.
Owens, who died in 2006, was a longtime resident of Bakersfield and proponent of the gritty “Bakersfield sound” in nation music. Besides artifacts from pop music, rock ’n’ roll and Tejon cultural historical past, Kelley mentioned, “We are going to have some Buck Owens memorabilia. It simply wouldn’t be proper to not.”
