Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(
www.calmzoo.org
; 10500 Alfred Harrell Hwy; adult/child $9/5; 9am-4pm; )
The zoo and botanical gardens have a menagerie of native animals and a rattlesnake house,
which has every type of rattler in the state. It's about a 20-minute drive northeast from
downtown Bakersfield.
Cesar E Chavez National Monument
HISTORIC SITE
( 661-823-6134;
http://chavezfoundation.org
; 29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Rd, Keene; admission $3;
10am-4pm)
This newly designated national monument, Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz, is the national
headquarters of the United Farmworkers of America and was the home of civil rights lead-
er César Chávez from 1971 until his death in 1993. On view are exhibits on Chávez's
work, his office, and grave. Keene is 27 miles southeast of Bakersfield down Hwy 58.
Chávez was born near Yuma, Arizona in 1927, and was 11 when his family lost their
farm and became migrant farm workers in California. At 14, he left school to labor in the
fields. Eventually, he became a champion of nonviolent social change, negotiating for bet-
ter wages and access to water and bathrooms in the fields. His work resulted in numerous
precedents including the first union contracts requiring safe use of pesticides and the aboli-
tion of short-handled tools that had crippled generations of farm workers.
