Bakersfield, CA. This is bad news, preceding others that will surely follow due to the current pandemic crisis. The Noriega Hotel in Bakersfield, the oldest Basque establishment still functioning in the United States, has announced that it will not reopen after closing due to the Coronavirus. Founded in 1893, by Faustino Noriega and Fernando Etcheverry, it has been managed since 1931 by the Elizalde family. In 2011, it was awarded the best classic popular restaurant in the United States by the James Beard Foundation.
Over the last decades, Basque hotels that served as support for Basque immigrants have been gradually closing. Converted into restaurants with Basque-American food service that attracts many people, until turning Basque food or Basque family style into a brand, or stamp in some areas of the West. At the same time, however, many of these neighborhoods with older establishments have greatly changed over the years and have become degraded.
In the case of the Noriega, its closure due to the Coronavirus has placed a period on a situation that was already delicate. The hearts and eyes of many remember fondly family and social gatherings that have built lives. Not only for several generations of Basque-Americans, but also for the general population of Bakersfield and California in general. Today, the announcement of the Noriega’s closure is regretted.
The press has also shared the news. The prestigious Los Angeles Times qualifies the closure as the end of an era.
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