BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Not much of Bakersfield’s century-old Japanese Buddhist church is left, but what remains will be preserved – and just in time.
The temple, which dates back to about 1910, was due to be demolished any day. The city had already signed off on it.
Kern County Museum Executive Director Mike McCoy stepped in last week and, with the agreement of the owners, forged an agreement to move the building that stands mid-block near 22nd and N streets.
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The building was a house of worship for decades, and then during World War II, was used to store some of the possessions of local Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps across the western U.S. Later, the building housed the judo dojo martial arts school. In recent years, it has been vacant and targeted by arsonists…