Ashley W explores Arvin & Lamont

Arvin and Lamont, CA
Institute Exploratory Visit Report
September 28, 2011
Ashley Walden, Associate Producer

I visited Arvin and Lamont, CA on Wednesday, September 28, 2011.  I arrived in Arvin first as it is the incorporated city and is home to the high school where Arvin and Lamont children attend. In Arvin, I took a driving tour and stopped by the Arvin City Hall, Arvin School District, Kern County Library, Arvin Branch and the Veterans Memorial Hall and campus. I also saw Grimmway Academy and several churches that could be potential partners.

Arvin
Arvin City Hall/ 200 Campus Drive, Arvin, CA /arvin.org
At city hall I was able to talk with the administration, notably Vanessa who was helpful in giving me the landscape of the town and a brochure. The office was warm and helpful and offered assistance in the future.  I found that Arvin is only 5 square miles and most of the town lies on Campus Drive and most of the business on Bear Mountain Blvd, which lies perpendicular to Campus.  This office will be instrumental in learning more about Arvin and their resources.

Kern County Library - Arvin Branch /201 Campus Drive Arvin, CA 93203/(661) 854-5934
The Kern County Library is located across the street from the City Hall as well as the fire department. The homes on this street are pristine and the yards are perfectly manicured. The library was closed and has noticeably short hours.

Grimmway Academy is the newly build/ still being constructed charter school owned by Grimmway farms. This might be a great partner in working with younger children and their families.

I noticed two senior living facilities in Arvin (Walnut and Evergreen).

Arvin Union School District office is located on the main strip, Bear Mountain Blvd and is newly constructed. According to a sign outside the building is a project of the Arvin Community Redevelopment Agency. The receptionist, Gema Rivas was very helpful. I saw these signs in a couple other places around town. We should get know this organization.

Arvin High School lies on the outskirts of the town. It is one level and huge. There is an auditorium and a gym. From the district office, I found out that they do hold summer school.

Veteran’s Memorial Hall -  414 4th Street, Arvin CA- was a gem! The Veteran’s Memorial Hall in Arvin is a campus that is landscaped and has had it’s Spanish architecture updated to preserve its beauty. It is a place used often to take wedding photos.  There is a main hall that has a stage and huge open hall for audience seating and rehearsal. There are 3 women restroom stalls and 2 men restroom stalls in the performance hall. There are also rooms A-G that are open-room areas. They are potential bedrooms. There is a large kitchen with ample cooking space as well as two 8 burner stoves and lots of cabinet space.

The side if town with the Veteran’s hall seem to not be as well kept and may be home to the lower income families of Arvin.  There was a lot of franchised and small businesses including Burger King, McDonalds, Chinese, Mexican, and Thai food restaurants, dollar tree and advanced auto to name a few. There is a laundry and several churches. I got the sense that you could do everything you needed to live your life there.

Lamont
It took me maybe 15 minutes to drive to Lamont mostly because I was unfamiliar with the county roads. Which by the way go on for days with only plains in sight. There was not as much to see in Lamont at least in the area I went to. I visited the Boys and Girls club per suggestion of Laura from the Kern County Arts Council and the Kern County Library- Lamont Branch and saw the Kern County Arvin/Lamont County services.

Boys and Girls Club of Kern County/ 8301 Segrue Road, Lamont CA
I got the opportunity to speak with Amerika Nino, one of the coordinators for that branch. She informed me a lot about the center and the programs. She serves approximately 50 children at her branch. She also spoke to me about the rivalry between Arvin and Lamont and that the residents of Lamont and Arvin see themselves very exclusive of each other. Additionally with the Lamont students being forced to go to the Arvin high school; it often presents problems. There was a new high school recently built that about 10 percent of Lamont students now attend called Miramonte High School in Fairfax. When Miramonte was commissioned, Lamont pursued having the school built there. However since Lamont is county land instead of city, Fairfax landed the new school. She also mentioned the gang rivalry between the two towns.

The Lamont Public Library branch was opened when I went. They had a dustbowl history display at the front of library. The library has computers, no-wireless Internet. The front-desk clerk was kind of nice, but not very helpful.