Subsequent 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 may be the Onerous Rock On line 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, advised Onerous Rock On line casino Tejon President Chris Kelley.
In impact, the on line casino is a $600-million guess by leaders of Onerous Rock Worldwide and the Tejon Indian Tribe that they will seize a central function among the many many Indian casinos in Southern California.
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, after all, as a result of this can be a Onerous Rock enterprise, there are pop music artifacts on show. Amongst 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 consists of 4 eating places serving Asian road meals, tacos, pizza and American consolation meals (particularly Nashville sizzling hen) — and a bonus characteristic. At choose hours, Kelley mentioned, workers will put up a divider to create Deep Minimize, a fancier “speakeasy restaurant” that can emphasize steak and seafood.
“That is one thing no different Onerous Rock Cafe has … a restaurant inside a restaurant,” mentioned Kelley, main a tour within the days earlier than opening.
Plans for the second part of the challenge will embody a 400-room resort and spa on-site, together with a 2,800-seat Onerous Rock Dwell venue designed to host live shows, sporting occasions and in the end make Kern County a premier vacation spot for vacationers and followers. Officers declined to share a timeline for this subsequent installment.
Although its international empire started with a London cafe in 1971, Onerous Rock Worldwide has been owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida since 2007. The corporate’s native possession was “a significant affect” on the Tejon tribe’s resolution to crew up, mentioned Tejon Tribal Chairman Octavio Escobedo III. Onerous Rock On line casino Tejon is owned by the Tejon Indian Tribe and is managed by Onerous Rock Worldwide.
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. Within the 1850s, the Tejon had been included within the creation of California’s — which was then closed by federal officers within the 1860s. Greater than a century later, in 1979, the tribe was from a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs checklist of formally acknowledged tribes — an obvious mistake that took many years to right.
When the Tejon did win federal recognition in late 2011, gaming plans materialized rapidly. By late 2016, the tribe had the acquisition of the on line casino website.
For the tribe, Escobedo mentioned, the long-term image probably consists of growing a residential neighborhood — which the Tejon haven’t had for greater than a century — because the tribe goals for “monetary sovereignty.” Although he declined to specify the sum of money that may require, he did say “it’s going to take an incredible quantity of economic self-discipline to attain that.”
To this point, 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 12 months or so.”
Lengthy earlier than the Seminoles purchased management of Onerous Rock Worldwide, the tribe pioneered Indian gaming within the U.S., starting with a bingo corridor in Hollywood, Fla., in 1979. Via additional funding and authorized victories rooted in tribal sovereignty, tribes in 29 states throughout the U.S. have constructed a whole lot of gaming operations, which collectively gross
Past its potentialities for the Tejon tribe, the arrival of the on line casino means about 1,100 new jobs for higher 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. Apart from artifacts from pop music, rock ’n’ roll and Tejon cultural historical past, Kelley mentioned, “We’re going to have some Buck Owens memorabilia. It simply wouldn’t be proper to not.”
