Faces of Downtown Bakersfield Series: Woolworth’s Reimagined

At The Hub of Bakersfield, we see the heart of our city in its people and its buildings. One of the most inspiring stories we’ve witnessed is the revival of Woolworth’s, a downtown landmark brought back to life by Emily and Sherod Waite.

“Our main business was looking to purchase a building. We’re growing and needed more space and we wanted to look downtown. Then we heard that the owners of the Woolworth building were going to retire and sell it. We thought, well, that could work perfectly for our business. We thought someone from Bakersfield really should take over that building. It’s an iconic historic building. We just dove in head first and figured it out along the way,” Sherod explains.

Emily reflects, “It’s been so beautiful to see it come to fruition. With so many things and with permits, stuff takes so long and it takes a lot to stick with it and keep going, but it’s been so beautiful.”

Woolworth’s isn’t just a diner. Surviving the 1952 earthquake, it’s one of Bakersfield’s few historic buildings left. Sherod says, “We could take this building, keep all the really cool design and architectural features of it, and then also make it something that we can use for our core business.”

One of its most remarkable features is the original lunch counter, the last fully functioning Woolworth’s lunch counter in the world. Emily says, “Typically nowadays, you cannot flip burgers two feet away from someone. But we stuck to that from the beginning. Everyone told us early on, just get a new hood, just get a new grill top. So that can be up to code. And we said no, we want to keep the old one. We want it to be the original one.”

Sherod adds, “Seventy-five years of grease in a shaft that is a quarter or third of the size of what it should be today, built into a historic plastered wall, provides a lot of challenges. That took a lot of time to figure out. A lot of effort and a lot of money to make sure that we kept that. But we found a solution and it happened.”

Today, Woolworth’s is multi-use. Sherod says, “Being able to have businesses that are beyond wealth management is exciting to us because it’s literally everybody. Anybody can come here and have a burger. Or anybody can come here and listen to music or enjoy the event or whatever we have going on.”

Emily highlights its role for local creatives: “We have such a robust and supportive creative community here in Bakersfield. Whether it’s painters, musicians, poets, writers, dancers, whatever. There are a lot of really talented, creative people in Bakersfield and we lack a lot of support systems for them. That is one of the things that we are attempting to provide here.”

Sherod adds, “Many of our employees had never spent any time downtown at all, and had a perception of downtown being inaccessible or dangerous or dirty. Almost immediately, our employees have fallen in love with it. Clients too.”

Emily says, “If you’re willing to talk to the furniture store owner next door, you can make a friend. Downtowners want you to be here. They want you to be a part of the community if you’re willing to step into that community with them.”

At its core, Woolworth’s is about belonging. Sherod says, “We want this building to feel like it belongs to Bakersfield.” Emily adds, “A place where everyone feels welcome, where people are proud to be part of this community. This is my hometown. I belong here.” See the historic building yourself and grab a burger or stop at Reverb for a coffee, Monday-Saturday in the heart of Downtown Bakersfield.