The First Annual Bakersfield Rock & Rodz Show brought rockers of all ages to Stramler Park. They played and relaxed in the warm sun on Sept. 14 while listening to several bands play on the stage.

The crowd was small but with a full bar, food, and fresh lemonade being sold, and the sun was no excuse to miss the hot rod show. All sorts of cars were featured in the show: sports cars, rat rods, hot rods, and even a hearse.

Bakersfield College Nursing teacher Noelia Citialian and her husband Jose Citilian are the proud owners of the 1972 Cadillac M-M Hearse. Noelia says, “We like living on the dark side.” According to her, it is their family car and a great tool for bringing home groceries. Jose agrees and says, “See, this way we can roll with the whole family even if they’re dead.” This is their first car show and they haven’t made any modifications to the hearse just yet.

On the other hand, Roy Hawks, 73, owner of a 1948 Chevrolet custom pickup truck has made several modifications to his car. One day during his process, he forgot the gas line was disconnected and when he went to start his truck, the whole front end caught fire nearly catching his garage on fire. Fortunately, insurance covered the damages. The fire damages alone added up to $25,000. In total, Hawks has put $60,000 into his pickup truck. His wife has been very supportive of his project pickup. Hawks concluded with saying, “There’s a lot of history on these things and they’re never done. There’s always something you’ve always gotta do to them.”

One of the rat rod owners, Isy Cooper, 39, from Taft says he bought his 1931 Ford Model A, as is, for $10,000 and has done nothing more than paint his vehicle. He chose matte black rather than shiny black because he says he likes the way his rustic car looks. He drives his car everywhere, including to work.