First look: Inside California’s new $600 million casino that’s bigger than Caesars Palace

The next time you’re driving through a vineyard and near a forest of oil rigs on the outskirts of Bakersfield, look for a six-story guitar.

It will be Hard Rock Casino Tejon, which opens Thursday to bring industrial powerhouse Indian gaming — and some Hollywood pizzazz — to an area best known for cowboy hats, farmland and petroleum extraction.

The Tejon casino is nestled in the rural community of Mettler, near the confluence of Interstate 5 and State Route 99 — “a stone’s throw” from Los Angeles, suggested Chris Kelly, president of Hard Rock Casino Tejon.

In fact, the casino is a $600 million bet by Hard Rock International and the leaders of the Tejon Indian tribe that they can play a central role among the many Indian casinos in Southern California.

The property is the first full-scale gaming and entertainment facility in Kern County.

(Mackenzie Binney Photography for Hard Rock International)

A statue of the wind at the entrance to the casino.

(Christian Kostia for Hard Rock International)

contract? Most notably, 150,000 square feet of gaming space – including 58 table games and more than 2,000 slot machines – places it among the largest casinos in Southern California, on par with most along the Strip in Las Vegas.

And of course, since this is a hard rock company, pop music icons are on display. Among them: the blue hooded velvet mini dress Sabrina Carpenter wore in her “Please Please” music video, signature guitars from Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt, a back tambourine and Natalie Cole’s orange high heels.

The casino also includes four restaurants featuring Asian street food, tacos, pizza and American comfort food (especially Nashville hot chicken) — and a bonus feature. During certain hours, Kelly said, employees will create a divider to create Deep Cut, an upscale “speakeasy restaurant” that emphasizes steak and seafood.

“It’s something that no other Hard Rock Cafe has … a restaurant within a restaurant,” said Kelly, who led a tour in the days leading up to the opening.

Live action table games include blackjack, craps, roulette and baccarat.

(Mackenzie Binney Photography for Hard Rock International)

Plans for the second phase of the project will include an on-site 400-room hotel and spa, a 2,800-seat Hard Rock Live venue designed to host concerts, sporting events and ultimately make Kern County a better destination for travelers and fans. Officials declined to share a timeline for its next installment.

Although its global empire began in 1971 with the London Cafe, Hard Rock International has been owned by Seminole Tabor, Florida since 2007. The company’s original ownership was a “huge influence” on the Tejon Tribe’s decision to form the team, said Octavio Escobedo III, president of the Tejon Tribe. Hard Rock Casino Tejon is owned by the Tejon Indian Tribe and operated by Hard Rock International.

For the Tejon tribe and its 1,523 named members, the casino is entering a new chapter in a story full of challenges. In the 1850s, Tejon was involved in the creation of California’s first Indian reservation – which was then closed by federal authorities in the 1860s. More than a century later, in 1979, the tribe was deleted from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs’ list of officially recognized tribes—an apparent mistake that took decades to correct.

When Tejon won federal recognition in late 2011, game plans quickly materialized. In late 2016, the tribe began moving to acquire the casino site.

The restaurant’s deep cut is billed as “the ultimate steakhouse experience.”

(Mackenzie Binney Photography for Hard Rock International)

For the tribe, Escobedo said, the long-term picture likely includes building a residential community — which the Tejons haven’t had in more than a century — because the tribe’s goal is “fiscal sovereignty.” Although he declined to specify the amount of money he would need, he said “it takes a lot of financial discipline to get it.”

So far, things feel promising. Escobedo said 52 tribal members have signed up to work at the casino and “I’d like to see that number double next year.”

Long before the Seminoles took control of Hard Rock International, the tribe began playing Indian games in the United States, starting in 1979 in Hollywood, Fla. Started with a bingo hall. Through other investments and legal victories rooted in tribal sovereignty, tribes in 29 US states have created more than $4 billion in annual gaming operations.

Beyond its potential for the Tejon tribe, the casino’s arrival means about 1,100 new jobs for Greater Bakersfield, which lost a beloved entertainment destination in August when the Buck Owens Crystal Palace closed after 29 years.

Owens, who died in 2006, was a longtime Bakersfield resident and champion of the iconic “Bakersfield Sound” of country music. In addition to artifacts from pop music, rock ‘n’ roll and Tejon cultural history, Kelly said, “We’re going to have some Buck Owens memorabilia. It wouldn’t be right not to.”