12/23/24 Reviving History: An Inside Look at the Last Woolworth's Diner Renovations & 2025 Reopening Plans

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Monday, December 23rd BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management instagram: MoneywiseWealthManagement Guest: Emily Waite, Direcotr of the Woolworth's Building Follow their Instagram Page for Updates: @historicwoolworth

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From the padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text in at 661-396-1000.

• 0:09Speaker 01

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• 0:30Speaker 02

  Securities offered through S E F Securities, Inc., member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through S E F Investment Advisors, Inc. S E F Securities, Inc. and Money Wise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.

• 0:40Speaker 00

  Now, let's start the Money Wise Show.

• 0:42Speaker 03

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the padded radio room off Stockdale Highway on ESPN Bakersfield, 1230 AM, 101.1 FM, and always streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can call or text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. I'm Sharad Waite, and sitting here with me is?

• 1:03Speaker 04

  Sammy Abiyawi.

• 1:04Speaker 03

  Sammy, welcome.

• 1:05Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 1:06Speaker 03

  Happy Monday. This is the day before Christmas Eve. Markets are going to be closed early tomorrow as we're preparing for the Christmas holiday.

• 1:14Speaker 04

  Festivities.

• 1:14Speaker 03

  Festivities.

• 1:15Speaker 04

  My wife was cooking until all day yesterday.

• 1:17Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:18Speaker 04

  She baked cookies, made all sorts of stuff.

• 1:21Speaker 03

  Nice.

• 1:21Speaker 04

  House smelled really good.

• 1:22Speaker 03

  You're getting ahead of the game a little bit.

• 1:24Speaker 04

  Great times, man. I love Christmas time.

• 1:26Speaker 03

  Christmas is awesome. This is such a, it is a great time of year. Of course, we're going to talk about some of the headlines that are happening. But before that, I want to get right to the message board. We really encourage any of our listeners out there that have got questions or comments, send them our way, 661-396-1000, and that can be 24/7, anytime. It doesn't have to be while we are live. So do you have it there, Sammy?

• 1:48Speaker 04

  Yes, sir, I do. I'm planning to retire in about three to four years, and I'm starting to feel concerned about the impact of rising healthcare costs on my retirement savings. Are there any strategies or steps I can take now to help manage or reduce healthcare expenses in retirement? Thank you, Money Wise, and have a wonderful holiday.

• 2:07Speaker 03

  Awesome. Great question. So let's talk about this. Because it is, my experience has been in advising people towards retirement that healthcare is one of their biggest concerns and one of the biggest reasons why they feel like they need to have ample money saved and put aside because everybody knows somebody who's going through, who goes through some major health event and it sort of changes the trajectory of their retirement. To give you an idea of some of the statistics, nearly half of Americans retire earlier than planned due to poor health or a disability of either them or somebody that

• 2:47Speaker 03

  that they're care, that they care for. So that's a lot of people, really, you got about a 50/50 chance of you not retiring when you think you're going to retire because of some health issue. Now, this is just going into retirement. It's, it gets, it doesn't get any easier when you look at the statistics in terms of how much the average American spends during retirement. So the average lifetime healthcare costs, this is something that has commonly been referenced in several articles. I've seen Fidelity Investments, for example, do a, do this study and they estimate the expected cost of a retired couple, of 65-year-old retired couple

• 3:32Speaker 03

  retiring today, it's $300,000 is what the figure is.

• 3:38Speaker 04

  For, for the, the lifespan, like the remaining years of their life?

• 3:43Speaker 03

  Right. So the remaining years from 65 to life expectancy.

• 3:47Speaker 04

  Catastrophic type of surgery or anything.

• 3:50Speaker 03

  That's right. Yeah. So that's an average. That means that there are some people that are paying, you know, some sort of major health issue where it's millions of dollars and others that maybe don't have any health issues. They, they die in their sleep and there's no cost, right? So, but either way, if you're looking at the average, $300,000 is pretty substantial. The annual out-of-pocket expense for individuals on Medicare can range between $4,000 and $7,000 per year, per person, depending on your health and, and what kind of supplement or coverage you have. So, we're not even talking about long-term care, which is usually what comes to mind when people are thinking about healthcare. They're thinking, oh, if I, you know, I have Alzheimer's or I have a stroke.

• 4:35Speaker 03

  Now I need somebody to take care of me. I don't want to go into a nursing home. Those expenses are really going up substantially. Nursing home costs are can be as high as a hundred thousand dollars a year. Assisted living is is still expensive, quite a bit less than nursing home costs, but still you're looking at at least fifty thousand dollars a year for assisted living. And then in-home care or getting some home health care, depending on how much it is, can run between twenty, thirty dollars an hour, at least twenty dollars an hour. That would be barely be minimum wage, but you know, up to thirty dollars an hour. So all of these costs are are substantial. And so.

• 5:16Speaker 04

  So what can we do? What steps can, I mean, for these folks that are going into retirement, three, four years from now? And what can they do now to help with some of these concerns and things you just brought up?

• 5:30Speaker 03

  I think that, now, this is going to sound really bad and but or strange, but the one of the things I think that you can do the most is, I have to find the statistic, but there is an incredible return on your investment if you are investing in and using gym memberships, for example, or you're paying towards some activity that increases your activity level. You are, you know, better health.

• 5:59Speaker 04

  I can, I can feel you're hesitating, given this advice, because it might be construed as you being a jerk, but you're not. I can assure you that. I've experienced this with my own mom.

• 6:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:10Speaker 04

  See, I'm the caregiver for my mom, right? And if we had done certain things like the one you just, things you just mentioned, I think certain things could have been avoided.

• 6:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:21Speaker 04

  Like mobility, for instance.

• 6:23Speaker 03

  Right. It does, some of those things accumulate over time as we age, right? You don't just wake up one day usually and go, oh, boy, I can't get up and get up off the couch and do that. You generally have some lifestyle issues that are preventing you, which is so serious when you have broken hips, for example, and elderly, with elderly people, because it can. It can change your lifestyle enough to where you're not active, you're not getting out, leads to cardiovascular disease and other problems. And those are very, very expensive to deal with. Chronic health problems are, is what becomes so expensive. So taking care of yourself, I guess, is the first thing to do is try to do that when you're younger.

• 7:03Speaker 04

  I agree.

• 7:04Speaker 03

  And that can, that obviously involves diet and exercise, seeing your doctor, getting screened. Us, for example, Sammy, in our age group at 45 and up, now colorectal screening or, or colonoscopies are recommended.

• 7:20Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 7:21Speaker 03

  So that, because you have a high percentage of that age group that can have cancers that are not detectable until it's too late, then those, that's very expensive. So, so sort of your basic standard screenings, go through that.

• 7:34Speaker 04

  Yeah. And Frank, insurance companies encourage you to do that.

• 7:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, they do.

• 7:38Speaker 04

  In fact, you can do your physical and it does, and it does not even go towards your deduct, you don't have to pay a deductible for that.

• 7:46Speaker 03

  Right. That's right.

• 7:48Speaker 04

  Insurance companies are actually encouraging you to do certain things. So what I'm hearing you say is start taking care of yourself because the diabetes that you get in your 60s started in your 40s and your 30s.

• 7:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:58Speaker 04

  Your Parkinson's disease, your other diseases started early because, because we sit down a lot and we, we take certain things for granted. And guess what? We prioritize our, our work versus our health.

• 8:11Speaker 03

  Right. So you can, you could, you know, no matter what you do though, Sammy, even if you follow the perfect diet and exercise, there's still life happens and you don't have a lot of say over some of these things that are genetic and that are, you're predisposed. So, so here's some advice though, that we can give, you could do financially.

• 8:29Speaker 04

  Yes. Financial advice.

• 8:31Speaker 03

  So this is where insurance obviously is king. Everybody, I hate insurance because if you don't use it, it's a waste. But if you look at the odds in terms of how you're going to need insurance and in your retirement years, it's so dramatically high that it's worthy of having good health insurance. And usually that means you're, you're sort of stuck with what your employer will. Offer, but work with getting with your insurance provider and making sure, especially if you're in Medicare. Your, your prescription coverage Medicare Part D, for example. I have, I've had clients that have had changes in their medications that their insurance wouldn't cover.

• 9:13Speaker 03

  If they were on a different insurance plan, it saves them hundreds of dollars a month in their prescription costs. So.

• 9:20Speaker 04

  I agree with you, understanding your, your insurance plan.

• 9:23Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 9:23Speaker 04

  Is step number one.

• 9:24Speaker 03

  And making sure it matches what your needs are, what, what prescriptions you are taking so that, you know, just, you know, you're covering your bases. Some people think, well, I don't know, my, my Medicare doesn't cover it, so it doesn't cover it's like, no.

• 9:35Speaker 04

  No, call the 800 number.

• 9:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, there are 800 numbers. Yes.

• 9:38Speaker 04

  Call the 800 number and take advantage of the staff that they have in order for them to explain to you what's going on.

• 9:44Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 9:45Speaker 04

  I learned so much with my mom, shared.

• 9:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:47Speaker 04

  We had, we had a major surgery and I had to go through all these steps.

• 9:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 9:53Speaker 04

  Right. And, and frankly, there's a lot of tools out there that you could use.

• 9:57Speaker 03

  Especially during the open enrollment period for Medicare.

• 10:03Speaker 03

  The professionals that sell Medicare policies don't get paid anymore depending on where you go. They all get paid sort of a flat fee just for helping you with the application. So like you say, take advantage of asking questions. Making sure the plan meets your needs. So you don't become financially in trouble even before then. Now, the great state of California has done some changes recently in terms of long-term care. And I think this is important to note before there was a long-term care program administered by Medi-Cal in California. Remember Medi-Cal is our Medicaid program. It's our state program that also gets some federal funding. We call it Medi-Cal. Medi-Cal has food stamp programs and poverty programs, but they also have a program that is not.

• 10:48Speaker 03

  A poverty program, in fact, it's to stop people from becoming impoverished because they're going into a nursing home. It's really an anti-poverty program. And in 2025, state of California, or 2024, the state of California changed the rules so that there were no limits on how much you could have in assets. There's no asset limit to qualify for benefits. There's still some income limits, I guess, or copays that you have to pay depending on how much income you have. But at least you don't have to worry about losing everything that you have because of a nursing home stay. At least in the state of California, that's becoming more and more difficult, which is good news. It's terrible when mom or dad

• 11:31Speaker 03

  works their entire life, and then the last six months of their life, they need a nursing home, and they have to sell their house or do something drastic. And this is money that they, you know, took them 40 years to save during their working years. So it's really a problem that I'm grateful. The state of California has done some work there. So even if you don't have long-term care insurance, just know that there is some long-term care coverage through the state. Unfortunately, Medicare does not cover long-term care benefits. All that Medicare will cover is generally up to 100 days of skilled therapy. That's

• 12:12Speaker 03

  in a, you might be in a nursing home, but you're getting therapy to try to get better. But as soon as you are not showing any improvement, Medicare wants to cut that benefit off. And then you've got to start looking at other things, whether it's long-term care insurance or your state Medi-Cal program. So there's some tips there.

• 12:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, definitely. I think savings on creating your own type like side plan, just put some savings aside. Is there a way for us to contribute more towards maybe an HSA or certain things like that, Sherrod?

• 12:46Speaker 03

  So contributing to an HSA is a great, a great process for somebody who's in their working years, because it's a way that you can save towards your medical expenses, but get some tax benefits. To it. Generally, when you're retired and you're already in retirement, you're on Medicare, for example, HSA doesn't really like you're not really looking for tax benefits. Now you're just looking for hopefully staying healthy and not having too much out of pocket. So having good coverage and long-term care insurance again is something that is really nuanced. It's not for everybody, but long-term care insurance certainly for some people is still something to explore, although it's becoming a lot trickier, I think, to justify the expense

• 13:28Speaker 03

  of long-term care insurance when we have the state coming in with so much benefit for at least for nursing home care. So hopefully that helps. We really appreciate our listeners interaction here and questions. We keep them coming our way. 661-396-1000. We're going to take a break. We come back. Much more to talk about. We're Money Wise.

• 13:47Speaker 00

  Need to get your financial fix on the go? If so, subscribe to the Money Wise Podcast and catch up on all past shows whenever.

• 14:03Speaker 03

  Thanks for tuning in. We're the Money Wise. 661-396-1000 is the number. We'll take your questions or comments. We've got a message here from a listener. It says, is Tesla an overpriced stock? Sammy, is Tesla overpriced?

• 14:16Speaker 04

  I believe so compared to their revenue versus their profitability versus the value itself. I would say, in my opinion, it is. However, I'll let you chime in, Sherrod.

• 14:30Speaker 03

  Here's the problem with is it overpriced? Essentially, how do you value a stock? And is a stock overvalued or undervalued? Well, it kind of depends on who you're asking. If you're asking Elon Musk, he'd probably say, oh, it's undervalued. Why would he say that? Well, because he's also going to say, we're going to have our robots driving you around and your car is going to be flying with jets and it's also, you know, a little money machine.

• 14:58Speaker 04

  Self flying.

• 14:59Speaker 03

  Self flying, a self flying car, right? Okay, so in Elon Musk's world, he thinks this is a steal, right? What, $430? There's a share right now for Tesla to the moon. This should be a thousand dollars, right? According to, I mean, it's similar. I'm not saying this is a cryptocurrency or similar to cryptocurrency because obviously they're really creating a product. And there's, you know, there's market share. They have, they have some value here for what they're creating. But also what they're creating is what they think the future value is.

• 15:30Speaker 04

  So he's banking on their his future growth. Especially because of the relationship he's got with the president.

• 15:35Speaker 03

  Incoming president.

• 15:37Speaker 04

  And, and the benefits he might be getting out of that friendship.

• 15:41Speaker 03

  Right.

• 15:42Speaker 04

  And, and so, so, so, yes, I agree with you. In his mind, it is not.

• 15:46Speaker 03

  Right.

• 15:46Speaker 04

  Overpriced is actually enterprise. And he thinks that it could be valued a lot more than it is today.

• 15:52Speaker 03

  Now, if you ask an analyst or somebody who is following the stock, if it's, if it's undervalued, overvalued, there may be a very strong case for them to say, well, this is strongly overvalued. Because the only way that you can justify Tesla being worth $430 a share, which makes the market cap of one point, almost 1.4 trillion dollars for this, you know, fairly young electric vehicle company. They could say, listen, the only way that we can justify $430 a share is if everything that Elon Musk is saying comes true and all of these production targets are hit.

• 16:27Speaker 04

  And it, it really depends on your perspective.

• 16:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:31Speaker 04

  Right? Of, of, of the future or the ability to maintain the, the leadership in the EV market. Now, absent of China just, just flooding the rest of the world with their EVs. Yeah, I would say, you know, Elon Musk believes that his company is the lead EV company in the world. Maybe he's sitting on some patents that he has not talked about yet or certain things, or maybe a range of thousands of miles.

• 16:58Speaker 03

  Right.

• 16:58Speaker 04

  With, with the batteries. We don't know.

• 17:01Speaker 03

  Right.

• 17:02Speaker 04

  We don't know.

• 17:02Speaker 03

  Well, what we do know is Tesla's stock has been going through the roof over the last year or so, and it also has an incredible amount of regulatory risk. As you mentioned, Elon Musk is trying to do his part to get in with the president so that whatever happens to the tariffs or to the the electric vehicle credit system, he wants to make sure that he's got the president's ear on that, which means we don't know how that could turn out. And we also don't know how much Tesla will be able to continue to fend off the incoming challenges from all these other automakers around around the country and around the world.

• 17:44Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 17:45Speaker 03

  So there's it's really very, very difficult to say. We've given the example over and over of Amazon, how Amazon was not a profitable company for decades, and yet its share price was going up. Well, it was because shareholders were thinking that.

• 18:01Speaker 04

  Future.

• 18:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, with the future is like, we want to own a piece of what we think this company will be in the future. And where what market share Tesla has in the future and how much it's able to profit off of its cars compared to some of these other carmakers is still unknown and untested. So but I have to say, I do like the product. And I do like electric vehicles. I'm excited for where we're going with them. This kind of along the same line, Sammy, I don't know if you heard, we mentioned this yesterday, but Honda and Nissan have announced officially that they are in talks to merge.

• 18:42Speaker 04

  The two, one of what two of the largest Japanese companies are merging, was it was it Honda?

• 18:49Speaker 03

  Honda and Nissan are the ones that are talking right now. It's just, you know, initial talks. They're just making it public that they're exploring the potential of merging. But they they fall way behind Toyota. Toyota is the number one car manufacturer in the world, and they are far more they sell far more cars than.

• 19:11Speaker 03

  About Honda Nissan together.

• 19:12Speaker 04

  They have market penetration all around the world because of their cars and the longevity that their cars.

• 19:19Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 19:20Speaker 04

  Honda is is considered like a luxury car where I come from in Morocco.

• 19:26Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 19:26Speaker 04

  Luxury car because of the amount of money you have to shell in order for you to get a Honda Accord compared to here in the US. Nissan is kind of like a mid thing and it's not very popular. Now Nissan had entered into a joint venture with Renault from France for quite some time. And if you remember their CEO Renault CEO ran Nissan, he eventually fled Japan in a hurry in a box. If you remember that story.

• 19:55Speaker 03

  I forgot about that. Yeah, yeah.

• 19:58Speaker 04

  So so it's it's it's interesting that now Nissan is coming and now joining or starting a joint venture with Honda.

• 20:05Speaker 03

  They're trying to compete with the big players and they they've got to, you know, figure out a way to get the supply chains going their way. Find these batteries and all of these.

• 20:17Speaker 04

  You know what's interesting? They're doing this in light of all, in my opinion, also of the Korean companies merge. I think was it Kia and Hyundai that merged.

• 20:27Speaker 03

  Yeah, their parent companies, yeah.

• 20:29Speaker 04

  Or or something. And they've been penetrating the market really well with their EVs here in the US. I don't know if you've seen the Hyundai EVs.

• 20:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, I've seen them.

• 20:39Speaker 04

  Look good.

• 20:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:41Speaker 04

  I hear good feedback about, you know, the the miles and the milers and the batteries.

• 20:46Speaker 03

  Hyundai Hyundai was the only company that Toyota said they were scared of Hyundai and Kia. They that that back in the day, this is maybe five, 10 years ago. Toyota, I was very nervous about what what Hyundai and Kia were doing and in there. And it's not just the the product. A lot of people think that it's that, you know, the design and the functionality of the product. And that is certainly important, but equally important, what Tesla has showed is the ability to manufacture that that the the product is far more challenging for engineers than it is to just make. A product. It's easy for the engineers to create a product, but it's hard for them to create a product that can be replicated and manufactured on a global scale.

• 21:29Speaker 03

  And and not bankrupt the company. And you know, this is something that Toyota has figured out a long time ago. And now Tesla is on its way getting there.

• 21:39Speaker 00

  Is this the same type of thing that happened probably a decade or two with Chevy when when Cadillac and Buick and all that merged over to Chevy? Uh. Cause I remember it was a big deal, you know, 15, 20 years ago, when Cadillac and all these other ones just all merged into one.

• 21:58Speaker 03

  Yeah. GM did some consolidating because GM also had Saturn, that that car company that they had for a while.

• 22:05Speaker 00

  It was Buick and a bunch of them.

• 22:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, there's still Buicks out there.

• 22:08Speaker 04

  No Saturn though.

• 22:09Speaker 03

  No Saturn. No.

• 22:10Speaker 00

  But they're all under that that GM.

• 22:13Speaker 04

  GM brand.

• 22:13Speaker 00

  Umbrella.

• 22:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. I was looking up, well, what would be the name of Honda and Nissan if they were to merge? Would it be Hanisanda? Nisanda?

• 22:25Speaker 00

  You have to ask Emily though. She's really good at those.

• 22:27Speaker 03

  Han Ni, Ni Han, He Sun.

• 22:31Speaker 04

  Okay, shared. All right, shared.

• 22:32Speaker 03

  Can I keep going? I got a whole list here. Yeah, cut me off.

• 22:35Speaker 00

  Stimly.

• 22:38Speaker 03

  Okay, fine. Honda Sun. That's what it'll be.

• 22:44Speaker 03

  The world's changing, you know, eventually we're gonna have, you know.

• 22:47Speaker 04

  So you just called him Mr. Honda.

• 22:48Speaker 03

  Mr. Honda. Yeah, we're gonna have, just like banks, right? We're gonna have two banks in the country. Everything is consolidated down. We'll have what? It'll eventually just will have one bank. Same thing with cars, you know.

• 22:59Speaker 04

  Well, hey, there's certain countries that that's all they have, you know, is a couple of banks.

• 23:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:04Speaker 04

  We have the privilege of having, well, we had 10,000 banks up until 2008.

• 23:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:10Speaker 04

  And then now with the consolidation, we have less than 4,000.

• 23:13Speaker 03

  Right. And we're seeing the consolidation in cars too.

• 23:16Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 23:16Speaker 03

  Um, there's some new cars that are popping up, but we're even seeing some of the new car companies reach out for help like Rivian. And some of the other new EV companies are just, you know, they're just, it's just so expensive to manufacture and create. Great a global manufacturing supply chain is is just incredibly difficult. It's what bought Tesla to the brink of bankruptcy several times and Elon Musk had to camp out at the at the, you know, at the office and work, you know, two weeks straight without sleep to try to get their Model 3 off the line. And there's several times throughout the the car company's history where it was just on the brink of bankruptcy just because they were just pushing it.

• 23:56Speaker 04

  Love him, hate him. That's I'm talking about Elon Musk. He's he's a from an executive standpoint, from a management standpoint, the dude has something because whenever Tesla was in trouble or any other company, he figured out a way.

• 24:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 24:12Speaker 04

  He camped, like you said, until he figured something out.

• 24:16Speaker 03

  Well, this is now a perfect time for us to take a break. We come back. Our guest will be joined by our guest Emily Waite is going to be here. She'll give us her read off her love letter to Elon Musk and talk about how much she how much she loves Elon Musk. No, we're going to get an update from the Woolworths building by Emily. She's the director of the Woolworths downtown. We're Money Wise. We'll be right back.

• 24:36Speaker 00

  If you're a business owner who provides a retirement plan for your employees, contact Money Wise Wealth Management to see if you're maximizing your options and minimizing your liabilities. Money Wise 401k plans are customized to you and your company's needs. 661-847-1000.

• 25:00Speaker 03

  Welcome to Money Wise Show. We're live taking your questions or comments. 661-396-1000. I'm Sharad Waite. Here with Sammy Abiyawie. Our guest Emily Waite. She's the director of the Woolworths downtown here in Bakersfield. Hey, Em.

• 25:15Speaker 02

  Hey, I'm so glad I get to be the guest today. I'm sitting in a different spot, different microphone.

• 25:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, you are.

• 25:21Speaker 02

  Chair is different.

• 25:22Speaker 04

  It's the hot seat, though.

• 25:24Speaker 02

  Okay, I'm ready. Fire them at me.

• 25:26Speaker 03

  Get us up to date. Tell it. Tell our listeners what's going on with the Woolworths.

• 25:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, you bet. Um, it's churning and burning in there. I don't know if anyone's driven by or seen any of the social media posts, but there is a lot going on inside the building. Lot of construction happening, walls going up, equipment going in.

• 25:46Speaker 04

  Walls going down.

• 25:47Speaker 00

  I saw the wall went down.

• 25:48Speaker 03

  Walls going down, too.

• 25:50Speaker 04

  Right. Do you see that wall that went down?

• 25:51Speaker 02

  Oh, right. Yeah, of course. We popped just this week. We popped out the the two new storefronts are going to be on K Street. The demo team popped them out and they are huge. Each one weighed six and a half tons.

• 26:04Speaker 04

  My god.

• 26:04Speaker 02

  And they cut it out and then they tipped it over onto some old tires.

• 26:10Speaker 04

  That video is awesome. I have not seen that video. Go and try to see it. It's really cool.

• 26:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's on Instagram. What's the Instagram handle?

• 26:16Speaker 02

  Historic Woolworths.

• 26:17Speaker 03

  Historic Woolworths on Instagram. You can go see it. What's really cool about this building, Bakersfield should know is it was finished in 1950, two years before the major, the last major earthquake that we had here in Bakersfield is over, it was 7.2 earthquake that hit in 1952. Leveled a bunch of buildings downtown, damaged our clock tower that was on Chester and Truxton, major, major change in downtown. That this building, we haven't seen any damage.

• 26:46Speaker 02

  No, it's a solid, concrete building, including hollow clay tiles on the second floor. And it just held up amazingly. It's a huge quality solid building for sure.

• 26:59Speaker 03

  Yeah. So the storefront on K Street, this is on the corridor of 19th and K. The, the holes that were cut out, the six and a half ton concrete slab was like, I don't know, was it 12 feet by 12 feet or something? It's a huge open, open saw. So you can imagine a drill.

• 27:17Speaker 02

  Double door storefront with windows on either side.

• 27:19Speaker 03

  Imagine a circular saw that was attached to this thing just cut into about 12 inch thick steel reinforced concrete and steel. And then you can imagine that just can kind of get pushed over and falling over outside on the sidewalk on K Street. It was super cool.

• 27:35Speaker 02

  It was pretty cool, pretty cool. Yeah. So that is one of many things going on. Stuff's going on all the time over there in construction. So we are on the path to opening next year. We've had a little bit of a delay. We're pushed, we're pushed into summer of next year to be open.

• 27:50Speaker 03

  So about six months away from opening.

• 27:52Speaker 02

  About six months away and there's still a lot to do before then, but we are right on track. Yeah, we're very excited, especially to open up the lunch counter again. We know that everyone's very excited. In fact, we were just down at the building this morning doing a walkthrough and we had a passerby that said, What did he say, Sherri?

• 28:12Speaker 03

  He said, you guys, I can't wait for it to open up. I grew up here.

• 28:16Speaker 02

  Save her, save her, save her. Is what he said. Save this girl. We said, oh, we are. And he said, I can't wait to come back. So, yeah, we're getting the burgers, the fries, the shakes. They're coming back. We're going to have some expanded seating in the lunch counter and as well as some outdoor seating, which is what we were doing over there today. We were talking with the city about putting outdoor seating out there.

• 28:33Speaker 04

  So Emily, you said little delays.

• 28:35Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 28:35Speaker 04

  Now, now the delays are not coming from our general contractor. They're doing a great job, I think.

• 28:39Speaker 02

  They're doing a fantastic job.

• 28:40Speaker 04

  The city's doing a great job.

• 28:41Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 28:41Speaker 04

  So I think that is it just an elevator delay?

• 28:45Speaker 02

  Yes, yes. I should mention, that's a great question, Sammy. Yeah, everybody is on task. Everyone is is working their tails off. The delay is coming from the one thing that we need to be functional for ADA compliance and for all the other things, which is the elevator. And there are not very many elevator companies and they, you don't have a whole lot of say. You're sort of like stuck with their timeline and everything.

• 29:10Speaker 04

  It's a worldwide problem, I think. It's not an American problem. It's not a Kern County problem. It's a worldwide problem. I think when I was visiting Morocco last time, one of my friends told me the same thing. They're waiting on the elevator company to come in and do the delivery or the install or whatever, and they they waited a year and a half.

• 29:26Speaker 02

  Wow, yeah.

• 29:27Speaker 04

  For that, which is our case too, because we've ordered this a long time ago.

• 29:31Speaker 02

  And you know, this is new for us. We haven't done any development like this before, any construction. So we're learning a lot along the way. And this is one of the things that apparently is a common

• 29:39Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 29:40Speaker 02

  issue with this type of stuff.

• 29:43Speaker 03

  Well, Sammy, we were talking about also advising our our sons or young people what career to go into. You said, you said, go into elevator, you know, repair, manufacturing, sales or plumbing?

• 29:57Speaker 04

  Plumbing.

• 29:58Speaker 03

  Electricians.

• 29:59Speaker 02

  Electricians, yes.

• 30:00Speaker 03

  When you're involved in a project like this, you just realize how scarce some of these

• 30:04Speaker 04

  The trades are.

• 30:05Speaker 03

  Trades are, yeah.

• 30:06Speaker 04

  The new millionaires are going to be plumbers and electricians.

• 30:09Speaker 02

  I agree with you, Sammy.

• 30:10Speaker 04

  And I think, you know, elevator people as well.

• 30:12Speaker 02

  One of the things I've said we've learned a lot in this project, one of the things we've learned a lot, and I have grown to appreciate so much, is all of these tradesmen that are highly Really skilled, very talented, hardworking people and you can't do it without them.

• 30:25Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 30:26Speaker 02

  That you you have to have them. We need them.

• 30:29Speaker 03

  We have what's what's known in the world as the big four and elevators. There's basically four global elevator manufacturers right now. Otis, Schindler, Coney and Bison Crup. They're only American manufacturers Otis right now. The rest are in in Europe. Now there's some other smaller players like Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Toshiba.

• 30:56Speaker 02

  Nobody talks about those that I've heard.

• 30:59Speaker 03

  Well, because you have a you have an issue with if you think about how you don't think about how important elevators are until you either have to build one or repair one or use it. And you're like in a building, you're like, really, I gotta use it?

• 31:11Speaker 02

  I should mention that we are adding a complication to that we are asking of this elevator company, which is we're asking them to retrofit a modern elevator in a historic building in a shaft that was for a freight elevator. So it is very complicated for all parties involved. So that adds another layer. So that's where we're at with the timeline.

• 31:33Speaker 03

  Yeah. So talk about then you mentioned the lunch counter, obviously lunch counter is coming back open. What can people expect from the Woolworths Luncheonette?

• 31:43Speaker 02

  Great, great question. The Woolworths Luncheonette, I always like to remind people it's the last functioning Woolworths lunch counter in the country. Very special, very important. We're getting it put on the national registry and all of that because it matters a lot. But the lunch counter will be opening up as you were used to it when it closed down. And what that looks like is the original stools, the original counter, the original lunch equipment that is functioning and being used to serve people. You will also see the original walls and ceiling and all of that kind of stuff in a lot of of the space. You will also see an addition of seating.

• 32:22Speaker 02

  And one thing I want to mention, the lunch counter at the time it closed down was for many, many years, red, black and white decor in there, which was great. People loved it, but that is not what the original color scheme was. So. When you pull up the linoleum black and white floors, what we found was the original terrazzo tile, which is a hugely beautiful historic flooring. And so that that will look a little bit different, but everything else will be really simple, as well as the menu, which we're bringing back the standard burgers, fries and shakes and all those things that everyone loves.

• 32:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, the terrazzo is funny. Sammy grew up in Morocco where actually terrazzo is just like the standard flooring.

• 33:07Speaker 02

  Oh, really?

• 33:08Speaker 04

  It's the cheapest thing you can have in Morocco.

• 33:10Speaker 02

  Wow. So you're like, what are these people?

• 33:12Speaker 04

  I can bring my team from Morocco. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the job, we might not find them.

• 33:17Speaker 03

  Well, I love it. If we were to recreate the terrazzo that was underneath that original flooring, I think it's about 80 bucks a square foot, you know, to buy and install, recreating that. It's like, that's just out of the ordinary.

• 33:33Speaker 02

  It's just priceless. Yeah. And we won't be doing anything to it except cleaning it and sealing it. So you'll be able to see all the history and everything that existed in there.

• 33:42Speaker 04

  That's awesome. That's really cool.

• 33:43Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonna be really, really great, that lunch counter. But I am curious how Bakersfieldians are going to feel as they walk into it. It's been, it'll be almost three years from the time we had to shut it down to start construction and do demo and all that until it opens up.

• 33:57Speaker 02

  Right.

• 33:58Speaker 03

  How much of the people were going to remember the lunch counter for how it was during the 90s, post, post Woolworths bankruptcy?

• 34:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:07Speaker 03

  Versus those who remember it really for the, that's almost 50 years of how it was during Woolworths. Well, Woolworths was open in 1950.

• 34:17Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 34:18Speaker 03

  The 50s, 60s and 70s, where it was that terrazzo and the, you know, the, obviously we're gonna have the stools and the bar and the, and the, that's all gonna be the same. What makes this lunch counter unique, I think, is the, is also the positioning of the grill that is right by the bar.

• 34:36Speaker 02

  Right.

• 34:37Speaker 03

  And stools.

• 34:38Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 34:39Speaker 03

  Essentially, you can see your food being prepared right there. It's kind of unique.

• 34:41Speaker 02

  It's very unique. And that, that has also been a really high priority for us through the construction and it's taken a lot of navigating to keep that functioning like it was at the time, but also bring all things up to code, right? We have to have venting. We have to have proper venting for circulation and. So that has been a monumental task, but one that we wanted to provide the public when they came back, they wanted to be able to see burgers being flipped right there on the other side of the counter, you know? And you, you mentioned like, what, what are they going to feel like when they go in there? I think there's a couple of different, you said there's, you know, there's a couple of different quote generations of Woolworths, you know, where it was initially and then where it's been since the nineties. And I think everyone feels like a sort of ownership of that whatever phase that they

• 35:25Speaker 02

  loved it as, but we're, we're hoping to bring both of those together so that everyone can recognize themselves in that lunch counter from whatever iteration they came before.

• 35:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, and I, I, I hope that there is a positive response.

• 35:43Speaker 02

  I do too.

• 35:44Speaker 03

  So much thought has gone into it where we want to honor what the foundation of that building was there, what, how it was designed and how it was laid out originally in 1950. Actually, it was designed before the war, 1943, before the United States got involved in the war, before 1940, World War II. And so honoring those unique aspects of the building is actually what has allowed the building to get on, to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. So maybe talk about that. What does that, what does that mean?

• 36:14Speaker 02

  Right, right, exactly. Well, what it means for us is we wanted to preserve as much of the history as we could. And we didn't exactly know what that meant. But we also knew we needed to be a functioning space for modern day and for the communities to access. So we enlisted a, an architectural historic, historic architect firm out of San Francisco that has been consulting us on this process. And so what that means is we come up with our ideas, the architect comes up with the plans, and then every step of the way, we have to check with the National Park Service. We have to make sure that our plans are aligning with everything that would keep the building on the Historic Registry.

• 36:58Speaker 02

  So what that means is you can't just put a wall anywhere. You can't just put a new storefront on. You, you can't, there are so many things you can't do. And not that we want to do them, we want them to guide us and tell us how to do it right, because we don't want to destroy those historic components. But we also want to make it, you know, A sustainable functioning community hub.

• 37:23Speaker 03

  Right, and we're looking at, at least here in Bakersfield, over 40 years, or close to 40 years since we've had a building placed on the National Register. The last two buildings that were placed on the Register were the Bakersfield Californian Building and the Kern Landco Building, also on, I think that's also on 19th Street.

• 37:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:44Speaker 03

  Or 20th Street downtown. Either way, it's been almost 40 years.

• 37:47Speaker 02

  Hopefully it's gonna be a big deal for Bakersfield. Yeah, and there are a different, I should mention that our historical designation is for the architectural components. There are other historic designations, but that's why we chose the architectural component. It fit the building the most because of how special that architecture is in that time.

• 38:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, so, you know, if you haven't seen the Woolworth Building, what makes it architecturally unique, as strange as this may sound, is it's on the corner.

• 38:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:13Speaker 03

  And it has a rounded corner.

• 38:16Speaker 02

  A curved corner.

• 38:17Speaker 03

  A curved corner, which is, that was a newer technological advancement for building larger buildings like this at the time. It was really a reflection of new manufacturing techniques that were developed in the United States to make cars and airplanes, where you had these streamlined curves.

• 38:36Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 38:36Speaker 03

  On the corners, rather than the point, the more pointy curves that you would see in the Art Deco era.

• 38:44Speaker 02

  And there's so many examples of this. If you go to our historic Woolworth's Instagram, you can see all of the examples of these. Because more than just the curved corners, there's a lot of other examples of that art modern architectural style that people can see.

• 38:57Speaker 03

  We've got a couple of comments and questions here about the Woolworth Building. Keep them coming our way. We're gonna take a break. We come back, we're gonna answer these. If you've got a question or comment, 661-396-1000, that's the number that you can text or call, we'll be happy to address it. We're Money Wise, we'll be right back.

• 39:13Speaker 00

  Have you been putting off your finances? Seize the day. Call the Money Wise office at 661-847-1000, or email [email protected] for more information.

• 39:32Speaker 03

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. Thanks so much for tuning in and for the messages. 661-396-1000, that's the number you can call or text. This is Memzy here playing. Buffer music.

• 39:45Speaker 04

  That's cool.

• 39:46Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 39:47Speaker 04

  I don't think I've ever heard your music.

• 39:49Speaker 03

  We're hearing it now.

• 39:49Speaker 02

  Well, there's an album coming out in a few days. I'll send it to you.

• 39:51Speaker 04

  All right.

• 39:53Speaker 03

  Hey, yeah. Check out Memzy on Spotify, Apple Music, wherever you download and listen to your music.

• 39:59Speaker 02

  Okay, okay, let's get on.

• 40:00Speaker 03

  All right. I'm Sherwood. Here with Sammy and Abby. Sammy, here's a message.

• 40:02Speaker 04

  That's a different interview.

• 40:04Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 40:04Speaker 03

  Have you come back and talk about that?

• 40:05Speaker 02

  There you go.

• 40:06Speaker 03

  Another message here, Sammy. One for you. It says, I know Sammy has a history in the banking industry, but how were you introduced to trading? Sammy, how were you introduced to finance?

• 40:15Speaker 04

  Brace yourselves for this one.

• 40:17Speaker 02

  Can't wait.

• 40:18Speaker 04

  A brown era person, what do you think?

• 40:24Speaker 04

  It started early in my mom's womb. Started trading there and then when I came out, I did my first trade with.

• 40:30Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh. You've been trading now.

• 40:32Speaker 04

  I've been trading all my life.

• 40:33Speaker 03

  It's a fine line between trading and bartering, but we'll call it the same thing. Morocco is the world capital of trading, right?

• 40:40Speaker 04

  The bazaar.

• 40:41Speaker 03

  It's the bazaar, the.

• 40:42Speaker 04

  The souk, the souk in Morocco, not the bazaar.

• 40:44Speaker 03

  The original, though.

• 40:46Speaker 04

  The original, the OG.

• 40:47Speaker 03

  The OG, where you had truly like trade between Europe and Africa.

• 40:51Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 40:51Speaker 03

  Right there.

• 40:52Speaker 04

  But, but on a serious note.

• 40:54Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:55Speaker 04

  As an ex-banker, I did a lot of underwriting and in order for you to underwrite, you have to understand the company financials, balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement. So I've learned that in order for me to make good loan decisions, I have to underwrite to the financial health of every borrower or every company I touched. And that just translated for me to understand a little bit more. Now, I don't do a lot of tradings. I'm not a financial advisor, but I do understand balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and I can make a decision if I want to invest in a specific company. I have the tools.

• 41:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, you're just like such a perfect position to be in professionally, to have the underwriting abilities, to see where strengths and weaknesses are within a company, to decide whether or not they're credit worthy.

• 41:40Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 41:40Speaker 03

  Essentially, whether or not they're the man, not just credits, management, it's, it's maybe trade advantages, all kinds of assessments that goes into a.

• 41:53Speaker 03

  Somebody who would be doing underwriting for a company. So it's the same really assessment that you do when you are deciding to make an investment into anything.

• 42:05Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 42:07Speaker 03

  Is the company profitable or will it be profitable? How, when has it been profitable?

• 42:11Speaker 04

  Sustainable profitability, yes, all of that.

• 42:14Speaker 03

  Yeah. Another question or comment here, it says, "Thank you all for your hard work. As a longtime client of MoneyWise, I truly appreciate what you do. I think our community is going to absolutely love this place once it reopens. By the way, is there any truth to the rumors about eerie sounds or ghosts in the old buildings?" So M, talk about the Woolworths, talk about the haunted Woolworths.

• 42:35Speaker 02

  I don't know if my answer is going to be your favorite, so maybe you want to answer that one.

• 42:39Speaker 03

  I'd say yes, for sure, there are sounds and ghosts. That building is remarkably solid, so it doesn't creak. But there are so many doors and levels.

• 42:50Speaker 02

  It definitely's got a creepy vibe.

• 42:51Speaker 03

  Super creepy.

• 42:52Speaker 02

  But I will not, I will say, I have not experienced anything myself. But, but yeah, I mean, there probably is, who knows?

• 42:58Speaker 03

  I have been in that building by myself many times over the last few years, shutting down or whatever, and especially when it's dark.

• 43:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:06Speaker 03

  And I will, I will creep myself out, usually a little bit because, not because I'm worried about a ghost, but I'm worried about, I don't know, maybe an unhoused person that like camped out in the basement is going to jump out, you know.

• 43:17Speaker 02

  There's definitely lots of nooks and crannies.

• 43:18Speaker 03

  Lots of nooks and crannies. It has a great basement, the Woolworths basement is the same floor print as the first floor and the second floor, so, you know, almost 11,000 square feet.

• 43:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:30Speaker 03

  Down in the basement with high ceilings, so definitely come and check it out when that is done.

• 43:34Speaker 04

  We have one more.

• 43:36Speaker 03

  Let's hear it, Sammy.

• 43:37Speaker 04

  "Thank you for sharing an update. I'm excited to see if, see it open again and hope others will help keep it away from vandalism like other older buildings have gone through. Did I hear summer of 2025 or 2026? God bless."

• 43:51Speaker 02

  It, summer 2025, yep. So just about six months away is, is where we're at. And we are doing everything we can to prevent the vandalism also without damaging the historic components. It's a challenging endeavor, but we're hoping for the best and. Planning for the worst.

• 44:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, so about six months away from now, so summer of 2025. Another message here, it says, I'm thrilled to hear that you were able to purchase Woolworths. As a longtime local, I know many of us are proud to see it preserved. My first job in the eighties was at the diner, so it holds a special place in my heart. Will the family continue to run the diner, or have they retired? Also, will the diner only be open for lunch? Thanks for keeping this beautiful building alive. So many cherished memories have been made there. I can't wait to bring my family, just as mine did with me. Wishing you a wonderful holiday. Oh, thank you for that.

• 44:42Speaker 02

  That's so nice.

• 44:43Speaker 03

  I love hearing when people say they worked there.

• 44:45Speaker 02

  I love hearing the stories. We hear stories all the time of people's experiences there.

• 44:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, so the family that ran the lunch counter before they retired and, and the antique store, two separate families, and they both wanted to retire. So they're in happy retirement now, so they won't be coming back. We'll be running it with, with the operator of the lunch counter.

• 45:06Speaker 03

  And we have a really great operator, and I say we, the us that own, that own the building. And it is Richard Yoshimura, who many know from Moo Creamery.

• 45:18Speaker 02

  Right.

• 45:18Speaker 03

  Which he was a partner in Moo Creamery, and then later the Kitchen Downtown, which is also right by the Woolworths building. But he has years of experience. He's a trained chef, professional chef, that has many years of experience down in LA and some very prominent restaurant circles. And he's, he's an incredible chef and a great community member.

• 45:42Speaker 02

  He also loves Bakersfield and the history and the diversity of the town. So he's a great fit. He's a great fit for us. And just to answer the question about when it will be open, it will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at night, so it will be open for lunch and dinner.

• 45:57Speaker 03

  Yeah, our goal is to do lunch and dinner. At least that's our hope right now, certainly lunch.

• 46:02Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 46:03Speaker 03

  And, and then, you know, dinner is, is what our goal is.

• 46:06Speaker 02

  Gotta see how it goes. You guys gotta come out and buy burgers.

• 46:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, come out, buy burgers, come out. We're about, again, six months away from opening at the Woolworths. If you want to find out more information about the Woolworths, Emily, what's the best way?

• 46:17Speaker 02

  Historic Woolworths.com at Instagram. Instagram Historic Woolworths.

• 46:22Speaker 03

  Instagram Historic Woolworths. If you do, if you put that in, it will, it will pop up. A website is coming.

• 46:28Speaker 02

  A website is coming. You'll see that.

• 46:30Speaker 03

  In the meantime, go check us out on Instagram and you can keep following along in terms of where we're doing and how we're doing, when we're going to open up. Thanks so much, guys. Thanks for participating. Want to thank all of our listeners. And before we leave, we want to remind you of these three things. Be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 46:51Speaker 02

  Securities offered through SCF Securities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through SCF Investment Advisors, Inc. SCF Securities, Inc. and Money Wise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.