BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — To some, it’s a rusted 800-pound hunk of metal. To others, an iconic piece of country music history.
Now – finally – it’s back home, in Bakersfield.
After a seven-year search, Kern County Museum officials recently announced the missing Trout’s bar sign has been recovered in Tuolumne County.
For decades, the 12-by-8 foot sign – carved in the shape of a giant rainbow trout – swam proudly over Chester Avenue. It welcomed Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and other famous country crooners.
Trout’s was a home base for the Bakersfield Sound, which catapulted the city into Country music fame in the 1950s. But the nightclub closed its doors in 2017. The iconic sign was stolen from the building’s roof days later, before the building itself burned down.
“The holy grail became this Trout’s sign,” Mike McCoy tells KVPR in his office at the Kern County Museum, which offered a $10,000 reward for the sign’s recovery. It’s a hefty sum, but McCoy says it’s a small price to pay. “[The Trout’s sign] has a lot of cultural value. For our community, especially the folks that are really into the country music scene, this was the symbol of that time period.”
Trout’s was Bakersfield’s last remaining honkey tonk, he says.
“The Blackboard is gone. The Lucky Spot burned down … These buildings all burned to the ground. They’re empty parking lots now,” McCoy says.
McCoy says getting the sign back was a herculean effort. A private investigator helped him track it down, way up in Tuolumne County. He remembers the day they found it – rusted out and leaning against a fence in California's gold country.
“It was literally like seeing the Mona Lisa in person at the Louvre,” he said.
Now this rusty Mona Lisa is back in Bakersfield, and McCoy is showing it off to a small crowd at a recent press event. 72-year-old Rocky Savage is there. His mom’s band, Inez Savage and the Savage Sound, was a staple at the honky tonk.
“I grew up at Trout’s,” he said.
Savage saw the sign being stolen a few days after the bar shut down. He witnessed a man lowering the 800-pound sign into the bed of his truck, claiming it needed repairs.
“It was just a slap in the face the way it happened,” he said.
Seeing the sign back in his hometown now brings tears to his eyes. Words alone can’t express his feelings, so he picks up his harmonica and plays a lick as the crowd gathers around him.
“I’m as happy as can be,” he said.
‘Nashville West’
The Bakersfield Sound spawned some of America’s best-loved songwriters, like Haggard and Buck Owens.
Kyle Carter knows them well. He owns the Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame.
“They're just a bunch of Okies that came out from Oklahoma, and they were trying to make a living here. There was no entertainment. So they just started making their own entertainment,” he said.
They're just a bunch of Okies that came out from Oklahoma, and they were trying to make a living here. There was no entertainment. So they just started making their own entertainment.Kyle Carter
The genre, he says, was a scrappy alternative to its slicker cousin: The Nashville Sound.
“For a long time, they called this ‘Nashville West’ … There were several bars and honky tonks around town that these guys got their start,” he said.
Unlike Nashville, though, Bakersfield has failed to keep cashing in on its country music history today. Even Buck Owens’ famous Crystal Palace is for sale.
But not all is lost.
“I think we’re seeing a resurgence,” Carter says enthusiastically.
The Bakersfield Sound is Back?
Some younger artists have done their best to pick up the mantle.
“The guitar I brought today, I call it my Trout’s Telly,” Zane Adamo says, showing off the instrument. He plays in a band heavily inspired by the Bakersfield Sound called the Soda Crackers.
Adamo says he salvaged some wood from the scorched Trout’s building, and used it to build a custom Fender Telecaster.
“We don’t have any more honky tonks to play in. So signs and guitars made out of old bar stools, they’re all we’ve got,” he said.
The Kern County Museum is restoring the Trout’s Bar Sign to its former, neon glory. The public can see it at a new exhibition called “Get Lit” this May.
In the meantime, Adamo says he’ll still be playing his guitar – a little piece of Bakersfield he carries with him wherever he goes.
