I'm a Colorado guy, lots of guns, enjoy the outdoors, hunting, fishing, camping, shooting, etc. What should I know about central CA, mainly Bakersfield area, where to live, visit, taxes, etc.

Too bad the position is in CA, but it's an awesome one. CO is turning into CA either way.

I understand the posted laws about registration, mag bans, all that. How about NFA items?

If you take a job in California, you become a California resident.  

You have 1 month or 6 months (?) to change the registration of your car and get California plates.  <-- check the dmv.ca.gov web site for specifics.

You'll need a California Driver's License, too.

DO NOT bring any magazines that hold more than ten rounds - rifle or handgun.

You need to declare/register your handguns within 30 days, possibly long guns, too.  <-- check cadoj.gov web site for clarification.


All this and a lot more is covered in the sticky threads at the top of this page.




One thing to know about Bakersfield and the San Joaquin Valley, in general - there is a fungal spore in the soil that, when inhaled, gives you "Valley Fever".  It infects and infiltrates your spinal column and nervous system.  It is no joke.  It is permanent.  It is life threatening.

Link to Wiki site

Coccidioidomycosis (/k?k?s?di??do?ma?'ko?s?s/, kok-sid-ee-oy-doh-my-KOH-sis), commonly known as cocci,[1] "valley fever",[2] as well as "California fever",[2] "desert rheumatism",[2] and "San Joaquin Valley fever",[2] is a fungal disease caused by Coccidioides immitis or Coccidioides posadasii.[3] It is endemic in certain parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and northern Mexico.[4]

C. immitis resides in the soil in certain parts of the southwestern United States, most notably in California and Arizona. It is also prevalent in northern Mexico, and parts of Central and South America.[5] It is dormant during long dry spells, then develops as a mold with long filaments that break off into airborne spores when the rains come. The spores, known as arthroconidia, are swept into the air by disruption of the soil, such as during construction, farming, or an earthquake.[6]

Infection is caused by inhalation of the particles. The disease is not transmitted from person to person. The infection ordinarily resolves leaving the patient with a specific immunity to re-infection.[7] However, in some cases the infection may manifest itself repeatedly or permanently over the life of the host. C. immitis is a dimorphic saprophytic organism that grows as a mycelium in the soil and produces a spherule form in the host organism.

From CDC web site

What You Need to Know

Cough? Fever? Exhausted? Ask you doctor to test you for Valley Fever.  It is difficult to avoid exposure to the fungus that causes valley fever, and there is no vaccine to prevent the infection. Therefore, if you have symptoms of valley fever and you live in or have visited an area where the fungus that causes the infection is common in the environment, ask your doctor to test you for valley fever. If you have valley fever, you may need treatment with prescription antifungal medication.

Research is needed to find out the best treatment for valley fever.  Other research is under way to develop a vaccine to prevent valley fever and to create better antifungal medications.

Link to NIH web site

Well that post had a lot of bad news in it! Thanks for the info though.

As noted VAlley Fever is usually a mild attack like a cold and you never get it again.  The really unlucky can get recurring and/or serious cases.

Bakersfield can be very hot in summer.  Bit of a country music mecca.  Center for agricultural and petroleum industries.  Relatively close to Sierras and Central Coast so recreation is not absent.  IMHO it's nicer than Fresno, but that's not all that good.  Kerm County is supposed to be good on CCW.

Unfortunately it's the epicenter for the water problems.

Hunting is in the area.  Fishing, well you may need to head up to the hills.  Not sure if there is any decent around town.

What kind of job is it? Oil industry?

Hello !

I have a house in Bakersfield but work in Taft, CA.  

Kern County is mostly Agriculture and Oil.  Lake Isabella is a great lake to fish and boat on, when there is water, you probably saw about the drought.  Mountains all around, beach is 1.5 hours away.  

Yosemite is to the north.  We have theme parks out the ying yang and some really great food.   (Basque food for one)

Yes, Valley Fever is an issue and yes it will be worse this year thanks to the drought.

The good news is you are entering the last bastion of right wing, Christian, republican, gun toters left in this wildly rabidly liberal left state.

The sheriff loves to give out CCW permits.  So you are probably GTG for that.

Industrial line sales. Oil and commercial.

Just a heads up, but there is absolutely nothing to do in Bakersfield imo.








 

That shouldn't be to big of an issue. I tend to go out about twice a month any ways, and clients I'll be dealing with will know their favorite watering holes. I'm gonna save up and try to not purchase real estate seeing as I'll probably be there for 5 years and don't know the market very well yet.

I had no intention to over-emphasize this and it's not really bad news, unless you are susceptible.  However, I thought it was important to disclose.  

I know someone who moved to Bakersfield, contracted the disease working around their house, almost died from it and 20 years later is still being treated for the disease, itself.  

It is an unavoidable condition inherent in the locale.  "Full disclosure" has been made.

My best friend has lived in Bakersfield since '97 - NW area off Hwy 58 - I routinely spend the night at his place on my travels between the Bay Area & LA.  His comment "The best thing about Bakersfield is it's close to everything".

There are good restaraunts and things to do in town - just have to be aware of the weather.

Ha!
Interviewing for an oilfield HR/Safety position in Bakerfield tomorrow myself...which is why I'm in CA HTF.

I don't understand why people say this....

be prepared for dryness and 110 in the summer

Cool! Maybe we can do business haha

To answer one of your original questions: No NFA items in California.

Lots of restricted assault weapons and classes of weapons.  

This very helpful chart was put together by the good folks at calguns.

Bakersfield isn't so bad.  It's dirty, and I think they have some of the worst air--or is it THE worst air?--in the state...but our Sheriff is good folks, and a 2A guy (as much as he's allowed to be).

Wow, no NFA stuff. Bummer!

Thing about bakersfield is be on the far east side or farther west side.

Rosedale area and south west around CSUB if you can afford it, east side out by river otherwise.

Central bakersfield and downtown is shit.     Portions of south west are shit.

I say this from an outlook of knowing the areas extremely well.   The area of mount vernon west to stine road and roughly ming avenue to  24 th street has so many varieties of pockets of stupid pissant gangs that I wouldnt have dared considered living in those area when I bought a house 4 years ago.

Best area of town currently exists west of Ash from Ming avenue north out to Snow road.    Further west of Gosford you go the better off you will be.

Be aware that AB 109 has crippled law enforcement ability to keep petty hokd rat theives off the streets.    They are getting kicked out of local jails(across entire state) after serving maybe 1/4 their sentence.   Crooks know it and are stealing everything that isnt bolted down.



As someone who is born/raised here...

I like that people hate Bakersfield.   Keeps the cost of living low.

Everyone jokes about Bakersfield but I have no joke been all around the world and run into people who have lived here at one time or another.

Strangest was being on a little dive boat out on the great barrier reef of Australia around 89-90.    Some old fart was on the boat with us and heard where we were from.   He starts rambling off about the earthquake of the 1950s that nearly leveled the town.

Met people in Britain, Norway, all over the US.     This town has a bigger impact than people give it credit for.


But I much prefer the agriculture/dairies/ranches to suburbian Los Angeles transplants.    The ill fated govt sponsored housing boom back around 2004-2006 almost ruined the town given the idiots from LA who figured they could buy a house and commute.

Them folks be idiots.  I do the drive from Torrance to Hwy 58/Allen fairly frequently and that is not doable as a daily commute.  Or even a 3 day/week commute.

That's good to hear! I've just got to figure out which firearms of mine are legal and which stuff to keep with my brother. I'm a big fan of outdoors stuff and will love to travel the state.

Excellent chart! Thanks for the link, I guess I need to be exploring the Calguns forum as well so I don't make any costly missteps if/when I do get out here to CA.


And I had never heard of the Valley Fever thing......even though Bakersfield won't be in my immediate AO I was planning to explore as much as I can if/when I get out here, since I will only be a "temporary" transplant of a couple of years before I return home. So I'm glad I peeked in this thread to find the warning for the OP.  

I was ready to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes, mountain lions, and meth-making tweakers up in foothills/public lands, and earthquakes all over the west coast, but was not expecting to have to worry about dirt!  I got a lot more CA research to do to make sure I figure out any other CA areas' interesting anomolies I need to be aware of.

I wasn't trying to scare anyone or turn them off on the area.  Millions of people live there with no trouble from Valley Fever.  Here are two more public health concerns about which people should be aware.

Ground rodents may/most likely have bubonic plague - ground squirrels, moles, mice, gophers and even the cute little chip munks.  Colorado also has this and it is true of almost the entire south western USA.  Don't encourage them to come near.  Don't feed them or allow them access to your food through negligence.


Small rodents and their droppings may contain Hanta Virus.  For example, if you are sweeping out an enclosed area (inside a building), you want to be sure to wear a well-fitting dust mask to avoid exposure to Hanta Virus.  The sweeping will kick up a lot of dust and you don't want to be breathing all that in.

Holy crap, you guys...you guys are pretty unfazed about living in an area that seems to be able to give Australia, where every plant, insect, or animal is either lethal, toxic, or poisonous, and they are all out to finish people off, a good run for its money. CA is like Australia's kid sister or something, cute, seemingly innocent, but still shares the family serial-killer genetics...both have amazing landscapes filled with active outdoorsy beautiful people enjoying year-round great weather and a plethora of cool recreational options the rest of the US can only dream about, but the payment for living in such veritable paradises is having to navigate such a bizarre range of stuff that can finish you off in a hot minute if you F up. (And, in CA, overreaching political hacks who want to stomp all over 2A rights, of course...)

Actually, I had always naively assumed it was only the AZ desert region that had the hantavirus (especially on the Navaho res, if my info from the 80s, when I was originally planning for a career in archeology, still holds, but I had forgotten about that.) And wasn't it only a few years ago that there was a huge hantavirus outbreak at the tent campground at Yellowstone? They actually closed the campground well before the season's end trying to keep from infecting any more campers who had booked years in advance? Just never thought about extending the hantavirus possibility extending on into CA. I appear to have been quite shortsighted. Hmmm...may have to go back to my "CA or not" positives / negatives list and add some new categories to the columns!

ETA corrected by more correct poster below, TY. Brain has turned to mush.

Yosemite had the Hanta.

If you like outdoors the B'field is a nice central location.

hanta virus is also found throughout the southwest US, and Korea.

even OH has its local diseases, e.g., Ohio River Valley Fever.

CA is not dangerous, no worse than any other state, WAY safer than FL and all their toxics, hurricanes, and predators, never did understand why the slow, frail elderly went there.

the biggest CA-specific risk to it's residents' health is Sacramento Spontaneous Excraniation Syndrome - that's when the stupidity in our state capital finally makes your head explode.

Even though this thread turned very negative, I look forward to the possibility of living there! I just flew in to Oakland this morning and the interview went great so well see. Commifornia may be getting another 2A voter!

Interview at Chevron in Richmond?

Not sure what/where you're talking about.

You think the comments were less than positive about Bakersfield, wait till you see what happens if you say "Richmond."

Hantavirus rate per capita in Colorado is about twenty times the rate in California.

Oh no. Haha

Ignore the haters OP.  I'm moving back to the Merced/Fresno area this summer.  We'll have to put together a Central Valley meet up sometime

Cool! I don't know how many of my investments ?? that I will be bringing with me seeing as 90% of them are not legal in Cali. But, well see!

Yeah, I have a few that won't be making the trip down.  I'm trying to decide whether to keep them here in Seattle or stash them in Reno

 

Looks like I'll be moving to Bakersfield! I'm goin to keep my car in my parents name though and keep a CO liscense. Won't be buying many guns the next few years, unless it's in CO

Sorry OP, once your here you have 30 days to get a CA license.  The car is 10 days.   You can probably get away with it for a while, but if a CHP stops you, they will cite you.

This is one law the police and CHP seem to track and enforce.

So if the car is registered to a residence in co, it has to have Cali plates? Makes no sense.

If your car is repeatedly seen parked outside an apartment or a house, maybe repeatedly observed at a work place,...

Out of state plates are a red flag, even to me, and I am a "civilian".

Man I'm getting myself into one weird ass state! I'll see what happens, but thanks for the feed back fellas.

How do they handle folks who have a residence in two states?  Because I plan on living and working in both WA and CA.

 

I bet both states will want taxes and vehicle registration fees, Your best bet may be to spend more time in WA.

There's a list of things that make you a CA resident - one of which is accepting employment.

Both CA and WA will want their money on car registrations.  Guessing you are going to claim WA as state of residency since there's no state income tax.

WA doesn't have VLF on cars - CA registration isn't awful, it's the VLF & commercial weight fees on all P/Us that piss me off.

DO NOT FORGET TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN CA!

CA Secretary of State web site

The Department of Motor Vehicles web site will tell you what you need to know about registering your vehicle and the fees.

CA DMV

The Franchise Tax Board web site will tell you about paying State taxes.

CA FTB


From the DMV site:

Fees must be paid within 20 days of entry or residency to avoid penalties. Any vehicle owned by a California resident must be registered within 20 days of entry into California unless a special permit was obtained. Nonresidents whose vehicles are properly registered to them in their home state or jurisdiction may operate their vehicles in California until they:
• Accept gainful employment in California.
• Claim a homeowner's exemption in California.
• Rent or lease a residence in California.
• Intend to live or be located here on a permanent basis (for example, acquire a California driver license, acquire other licenses not ordinarily extended to a nonresident, registered to vote).  
• Enroll in an institution of higher learning as a California resident or enroll their dependents in school (K-12).

NOTE: Nonresident military personnel stationed in California or their spouses may operate their vehicles with valid out-of-state license plates from their home state or the state where the military person was last stationed.

wow! That's redicilous! So every college student from out of state has to become a resident? What a joke.

no, that isn't what it says, if you enroll as a CA resident to get resident tuition vote, etc, you can stay resident of elsewhere and pay non-resident tuition,