7up
Bakersfield, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

This white Art Deco palace was once home to the 7-Up Bottling Company in Bakersfield. Check out the familiar round 7-Up sign perched high above the building. Makes you want to find a cold, bubbly one, especially on a hot Central Valley afternoon.

Built in 1934, the bottling plant featured a streamlined white exterior and a tall central tower that looked like something from a World's Fair. The seven-foot-wide sign at the top was reportedly built by Bakersfield Neon and originally rotated above the city. Even better, its turning mechanism used a differential salvaged from a 1944 Ford. Now that's one way to keep a soda sign moving.

7up
Bakersfield, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

The plant was also a favorite destination for school and Cub Scout tours. Visiting children could watch the bottling operation and leave with a miniature seven-ounce bottle of soda and a paper soda-jerk hat. Not a bad field trip at all.

UPDATE: Bottling operations moved out in May 2025. Only weeks later, on June 30, a suspicious early-morning fire gutted the vacant Art Deco landmark and caused its roof to collapse. Fortunately, the 400-pound 7-Up sign had been removed just days before the fire. It was donated to the Kern County Museum for restoration and future display in its Mission Bank Neon Plaza. 09-26

Adobe Krow Architects
Bakersfield, CA
Photo courtesy Dave & Debra van Hulsteyn

Here's a little white building in downtown Bakersfield that appears ready to take off without leaving 18th Street. Built in 1938, the Adobe Krow building features rounded corners, glass-block windows, and horizontal bands that give it plenty of Streamline Moderne style.

Despite the old caption, Adobe Krow was not an architectural firm. It was an art repository associated with the work of artist and educator Vivian E. Browne.

UPDATE: The Adobe Krow collection has been relocated and its identifying sign removed. The building remains standing and has been renovated for commercial office and studio use. 09-26