The historic Woolworths had its grand reopening downtown after years of renovations Saturday Oct. 25 from 3pm to 7pm.

What used to be an antique mall with a classic Americana diner is now reopened as a half luncheonette half cafe. The space welcomed locally owned small business Reverb Coffee. The downstairs that used to be filled with antiques has plans to become a live music venue in the foreseeable future.

The event garnered a large crowd for an evening of community partnered with music from live bands, a DJ, and local vendors.

Xavier Ruiz said, “I think it’s great that they got all these people here, and I’m just amazed at all the people; a new generation.”

The reopening of this famed building brings an awareness to the new age of Bakersfield. The building’s presence has been here since the 1930’s, so this new renovation highlights the city’s contemporary advancements.

For a lot of people this building stands as a tie to their childhood, so it was no wonder the line for the luncheonette almost hit Chester Avenue. Once inside, you were seated either at the counter, at a table inside, or an outside table which is a new addition to the establishment. Xavier Ruiz said, “It’s a nice community thing, you know? For us, this is old school, right? This has been here all our lives, and so this is nice to see what they did to the old building. I hated when they knocked down old buildings that have been a history here… My mom used to work here. I used to sit at the counter of the restaurant cafe part.”

The redevelopment of the building brought some modern stylistic decisions. There are no more checkered floors of the diner and they swapped the shiny white quartz walls for a steel and wood aesthetic. They exchanged the classic American diner look for more of a current charm.

“I’m actually really excited to be in here. I really like all the design choices they made,” said Isabel Rodriguez.

Nonetheless, the grand reopening brought the Bakersfield community together to celebrate something we are all familiar with. It brought hope to the new generation that it will continue to uphold the strong history of the building. And just like Ceclilia Anango said, “This is wonderful. We need more of it to get the people out.” Events like these allow us as a community to gather and honor Bakersfield’s history.