COVER STORY
THE BLVD, THE NEWEST FUN SPOT, IS NO HONKY-TONK.
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COVER STORY
M By Robert Sax
any Californians and music fans know Bakersfield as a hard-working town built on mining, oil, and farming, and famous as the home of country music legends Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and the “Bakersfield Sound” of the 1950s and 1960s. In their 1988 number one hit record “Streets of Bakersfield,” Dwight Yoakum and Owens sang, “Trying to find me something better, here on the streets of Bakersfield.” Today, just up the road from the late Owens’ famous Crystal Palace nightclub, native son David Bynum has launched what he feels is “something better” in entertainment for Bakersfield. It’s a contemporary FEC called The BLVD and it’s no honky-tonk. “[Country music] is a great touchstone for our community, but there’s a large portion of our community that’s not interested in country music,” says Bynum. “And even if you said, hey, I love country music … it’s not like there’s ten places to go to. I mean, there’s the Crystal Palace where you can usually catch a good concert and there’s a couple of other places that have live bands, but more often than not it’s not country.” Bynum says that when he was growing up, the complaint about Bakersfield was “there’s nothing to do,” especially for families with young children. “In Bakersfield, you tend to start a family a little bit younger, you don’t live in Bakersfield in your 20s for the nightlife,” says Bynum, a young father himself. “You live here because your family is here. People spend their dollars on their children or on spending time with their family.” That’s why he set out to create an experience that he felt Bakersfield’s families needed and didn’t have. An attorney by profession, Bynum’s initial foray into family entertainment was Rush Air Sports, a 40,000square-foot trampoline park with recreational climbing and soft play areas. “Rush was my first experience with the entertainment business,” says Bynum, “It really gave me the first taste in entertainment experiences, especially in Bakersfield.” He opened it in November 2014 and ran it for three years before selling it to another operator; it’s still in business across the parking lot from The BLVD. While running Rush Air Sports, Bynum saw that trampoline parks did a really good job of entertaining people up to about age 16, after which there was a steep fall off in usage. “I was kind of searching for the answer
to what can we do to entertain people that doesn’t leave parents sitting on the sidelines?” says Bynum, “So how do you do that? How do you entertain adults and yet have something for the kids? I kind of need something that does it all.” He imagined it as a familyfriendly place that becomes more adult-oriented as the day goes on. Bynum found his answer in the bowling-based FEC concept. “It has been exactly what I was looking for
Owner, David Bynum (left) with mom Mary, dad Greg, and brother Don.
before I even knew I was looking for it,” he says. He credits an early meeting with Brunswick, his capital equipment supplier, with ultimately convincing him to go the bowling route. He had a suitable location, a 45,000-square-foot former big box store, but he had to figure out if the FEC model would work in Bakersfield before approaching investors. Fortunately Brunswick introduced Bynum to FEC/restaurant consultants Trifecta Management Group, who did a feasibility study for him. Mike Auger, managing partner of Trifecta, directed the study. What surprised him the most was how big the potential market was. As a Southern Californian, Auger knew where Bakersfield was but not much else. “I’ve driven by it and through it, but I didn’t know that it had over 850,000 people in Owner David Bynum IBI
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COVER STORY with 14 lanes in the main play area and another eight lanes in a boutique VIP section with its own bar. All the openplay lanes feature state-of-the-art equipment from Brunswick and are equipped with HDTVs and 15-inch projection screens in the masking units. The boutique area has all those bowling goodies plus sofa seating and a lounge area with sports on TV, billiard tables, and plenty of space to socialize. The BLVD also has a host of popular attractions for those looking for something besides bowling. There’s an indoor ropes course and a two-story laser tag arena with Bakersfield theming, its metropolitan statistical area (MSA),”says Auger. (The United States Census defines an MSA as “a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area.”) This meant that The BLVD had a lot of potential customers nearby.
There also wasn’t much local competition in the bowling category. “There were a couple of AMF centers, kind of circa 1970, more traditional bowling centers in the market,” says Auger. “And there was another concept called Firehouse several miles away.” He and Bynum saw Firehouse, a sports bar with bowling, billiards and arcade games, as going after a different market segment. Supported by the feasibility study and a business plan, Bynum was able to raise investment from a group of about 30 investors, most of them locals who knew Bakersfield and agreed that it needed a place like The BLVD. About nine months later The BLVD was ready, at a cost of $8.9 million. Auger describes The BLVD as the first of its kind on that scale in the area. At its core are lanes of bowling, 26
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including oil derricks, local street signs, and the iconic Bakersfield sign that welcomes visitors driving into town. Rounding out the fun is an arcade with more than 60 video and redemption games and a prize center. For those who prefer fresh air bowling, there are bocce courts in the
COVER STORY
outdoor beer garden, which offers draft beer and local micro brews. Several of those micro-brews are from the Temblor micro-brewery next door, which is run by Bynum’s brother Don. There’s also a selection of cocktails and mocktails like the Misty Martini, Border Mule and The BLVD Fizz that are more Hollywood than honkytonk. Topping off the extensive drinks list are the signature BLVD Bowls which are mammoth cocktails designed for sharing and served in a glass bowl garnished with popsicles. Food also gets first-class treatment at The BLVD, starting with its executive chef Briann Avila, who learned her craft at top restaurants in Las Vegas. “Briann has been fortunate enough to work under world-renowned chefs and in some of the most prestigious kitchens in Las Vegas,” says Auger. The diverse menu at The BLVD features gastro pub-style, farm-to-table cuisine, from shared-plate items ranging from ahi tuna poke stack to chicken piadini and roasted brussels sprouts, and larger entrée choices like classic burgers, hearth-baked pizzas and Cajun chicken pasta. Bynum says business has been great since the opening in April 2018, and
part of that success is due to Trifecta Management’s operations expertise. “I think of myself more as an entrepreneur and a business developer,“ he says, “I knew a trampoline park was easier to tackle than something with the restaurant component, the bowling machinery, the arcade, and laser tag. Trifecta had done our feasibility study and they became a natural operations [partner].” Mike Auger confirms that the Bakersfield public is enthusiastic about its new place to play. “Based upon our experience and the volume and the feedback and comments we’re getting from the guests, this is definitely something that the marketplace has been wanting,” says Auger. It’s drawing a good mix of customers at various times of day, from families to young adults to sports fans. “Sports viewing has really taken off with the NFL season.
The various attractions – bowling, the arcade, a laser tag and ropes course – are all doing very, very well,” says Auger. So if you find yourself on the streets of Bakersfield looking for great fun and entertainment, go check out The BLVD. You may not hear any honky-tonk songs, but you will still have a good ol’ time. ❖
Robert Sax is a writer and PR consultant in Los Angeles. He grew up in Toronto, Canada, the home of five-pin bowling.
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