Kernville: Pine Cone Inn
It's not so much a place to see the sights as it is a place to do 'em. Kernville...just a three hour drive from L.A.--could very well be the setting for the ultimate Mountain Dew commercial: Swimming, hiking, jet skiing, windsurfing, rock climbing and mountain biking are but a few of the activities from which to choose. For the more pastorally minded, there's also fly fishing at the native trout preserve located 10 minutes from this town still cough in the '50's--and yes, a river does run through it. Famous for high-intensity rafting, the Kern River is the original River Wild, full of bumps, humps and some serious curves.
After an exuberantly overactive day, settle down for the night at the Pine Cone Inn, a retro style lodge, complete with lava lamps, an Elvis statue and large stuffed animals propped up in the bar sipping wine."Eclectic, bizarre, and twisted"
are some of the words often used to describe this gem of a place. And best of all, animals are more than welcome - - especially if they are domesticated. Kernville offers a weekend to forget fancy-shmancy and instead go with the flow.
Los Angeles Magazine's
52 Weekend Getaways
May 1996.
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SPORTS AFIELD February 1999
CALIFORNIA: Kernville
Population: 2500.
Location: Central CA.
Elevation: 2706 feet.
Peak Season: May-October.
Kernville lies on the banks of the Kern River in the steep foothills of the
Sierra Nevada range at the southern end of Sequoia National Forest, four hours
north of Los Angeles. Great windsurfing on Lake Isabella. Backcountry camping
trips into the Sequoia National Forest. Mountain biking on the steep pitches
of the Greenhorn Mountains. Book a river trip with any of the three permitted
rafting companies operating through Tom Moore's Sierra South (760/376-3745).
Prices range from $75 to $125 for rafting trips. Mountain and River Adventures
(800/861-6553) has mountain biking, hiking and river gear. Riverside lodging
at the Pine Cone Inn (760/376-6669) starts at $48.
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By JILL HOFFMANN
Californian correspondent
KERNVILLE -- Surrounded by Las Vegas trinkets, lava lamps and Elvis
memorabilia, Pine Cone Inn proprietor Roberta Piazza is a woman who loves to
be fascinated.
The off-beat and comfortable environment of the Pine Cone's spacious dining
room suits the vibrant Piazza well as she orchestrates the atmosphere from
her perch on a stool behind the bar.
Known by many for her years in local news television, Piazza stepped out of
the limelight in 1984 and returned to her hometown of Kernville to regroup
following years of deadlines in the frenzied television news atmosphere.
"I was suffering from serious adrenalin poisoning," Piazza said. "I walked
all over this place for nearly a year before I got calmed down and then I
didn't want to go back."
Although Piazza still yearns at times for the excitement of urban life and a
touch of the adrenalin she used to experience in her career, she admitted
"You get spoiled to this life real fast. There's a lot of freedom to this
life when you just get in your car and go where you want and do what you
want when you want to do it."
Billed as an "hysterical landmark," the Pine Cone Inn was built by Piazza's
parents, Al and Aileen Piazza, in the 1950s when the small town of Kernville
was still in its infancy after being relocated for the construction of
Isabella Reservoir.
Piazza jokes that she has been working at the Pine Cone since before she was
born since her mother was pregnant with her when the Inn first opened.
"I crave a large amount of sociability," Piazza said. "I have a really ideal
situation here because I get this constant stream of people coming and
going."
Piazza loves to regale visitors with stories of the area's history and
scrapbooks of her life and friends are stowed beneath the bar within easy
reach whenever an opportunity presents itself during conversation.
Piazza's appreciation of the Kern Valley has deepened considerably since she
first left the area after graduating from Kern Valley High School in 1972..
"Like most kids that grow up here, I couldn't wait to get out of town,
couldn't wait to get out of Dodge," Piazza said. "I think there are probably
still skidmarks and contrails left from my exit after high school."
Piazza took the advice of a high school teacher and decided to pursue a
career in television and landed her first on the air job at the age of 17
and became the first woman to anchor the news in Kern County.
Piazza spent 12 years in television before returning to the Kern Valley but
continues to make a mark by helping to support the Valley behind the scenes..
As a member of the Kern County Board of Trade, Piazza has a particular
appreciation and flair for developing the Kern River Valley as a location
for television and film shoots.
The Pine Cone Inn often has served as a base of operations for film and
production crews in the area, and Piazza continues the tradition started by
her parents when they served the cast and crew of Bonanza which filmed in
the area.
"We had the first color tv in town and so Sunday nights people would come up
to watch Bonanza and Wonderful World of Disney," Piazza said. "Hoss and
Little Joe and Pa Cartwright would be having pancakes here and then Sunday
night I'd see them on TV."
Growing up in the atmosphere of the Pine Cone Inn also instilled a strong
work ethic in Piazza, something she credits to her parents.
"If you work hard, that's where your satisfaction is," Piazza said. "When
you create something, when you build something, when you change something
and make it better, you feel accomplishment that way."
Piazza's return to the Valley also allowed her to spend several close years
with her parents before her father's death in 1988.
"My father was full of enthusiasm," Piazza said. "The thing he really liked
to do was just sit around and talk to people, and that's the thing I like
too -- finding out where people are from, what they're thinking, what they're
doing. All the people who traipse through here are a window to the world."
Today, Piazza runs the Inn along with her mother, whom she described as
creative, a woman with big dreams.
"I tried a lot of different things here and it certainly has my thumb print
on it now," Piazza said.
Some of her innovations at the restaurant never quite caught on like folk
music concerts and a fancy chef.
"People didn't want fancy chef food," Piazza said. "So I just kick back now
and relax and go with what I know will work."
While she may stick to the tried and true on the restaurant's menu, when it
comes to running a business in the Kern River Valley, Piazza is always ready
to try a new approach.
Five years ago, Piazza teamed up with a group of friends and fellow Kern
Valley business women that included Karen Phillips, Judy Hyatt, Pamela
Williams, Marianne Moore and Ann Wiederrecht.
"I knew them all separately and I wanted to get all of them together,"
Piazza said. "My favorite thing to do is throw a party. I love putting
together a group of people and seeing what each different person brings to
the table."
The group of women, who called themselves the Kern Women's Academic Council,
commiserated over the local economy and offered each other support and then
decided they had to take action.
The now popular notion of ecotourism in the Kern Valley had its humble
beginnings at the Pine Cone Inn with Piazza and the small group of women
when they organized the first annual Kern Valley Bioregions Festival in
1995.
"We want people who are going to appreciate this place for its natural
beauty," Piazza said. "We don't have to build a convention center. We want
people who are going to love it just as it is, and there's a whole body of
them out there."
This year, the 4th annual Bioregions Festival drew more than 500 people to
the Kern Valley for birding and other natural science field trips and
lectures.
"It's a wonderful little success story," Piazza said. "We can see that it's
making a difference. We have real tangible proof that these things can be
done and you can have an impact on the community quickly."
Although the group no longer meets formally, the women keep in touch and
Piazza has found a new social mission on the Internet, spending several
hours a day conversing with members of her Cyber community that includes
journalists, artists and writers.
A laptop computer at the bar of the Pine Cone helps keep Piazza current with
friends online as she attends to business at the Inn.
Friend Judy Hyatt said the Pine Cone has taken on many facets of Piazza's
personality.
"It's a feel good place. It's a place you can go and have a laugh, have a
drink, have a good dinner and be relaxed," Hyatt said. "It's a great place
to have a really good conversation."
"She's here because she loves it," Hyatt said. "So she brings an enthusiasm
that she shares with her guests that keeps them coming back."
Keeping guests to the Kern Valley happy is a priority for Piazza as she
juggles the responsibility of the Pine Cone with her work for the Board of
Trade.
"We have to move the next step up in both marketing the place and making
some real community-based decisions about what we want the Kern River Valley
to be," Piazza said.
"I would like it to be a little easier to get along and get by, but you know
what?" she said. "It is paradise."
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