go honky-tonking - View this location on map

they may not make honky-tonks like they used to, but in bakersfield, they never got rid of them. trout's (661-399-6700) is the real deal -- a dark, dank bar festooned with budweiser bunting, and a large, well-lighted area reserved for serious pool players. thirty years ago, you might have found trout's to be a more rough-and-ready spot, but now it's a place for aging ranch hands and their wives to kick up their heels to the hard-driving country-boogie of red simpson, a local legend who has made a career of singing about the trucking life, as well as other local country-tonk acts. New York Times
805 north chester avenue, Bakersfield, CA

Local spot, Cultural, Nightlife