RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Kern County >> Fruitvale >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Fruitvale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fruitvale and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Fruitvale:
    • 35.383292, -119.083159
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Fruitvale
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Kern County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kern County
    • Since Fruitvale is near Tulare County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tulare County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Fruitvale

Communities Also Named Fruitvale ...

We found ten communities that are also named Fruitvale.

There are two communities within California that are also named Fruitvale.

Beyond California, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, nine are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In California ...
    • Alameda County
      • This Fruitvale is located in Alameda County and lies 240 miles [386.2 km]<1> to the northwest of the Fruitvale that is located in Kern County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alameda County community of Fruitvale.
    • Fresno County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Fruitvale [Fresno County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Fruitvale lies 951 miles [1,530.5 km]<1> to the north of the Fruitvale that is located in Kern County.
    • Colorado
      • Mesa County
      • This Fruitvale is located in Mesa County and lies 635 miles [1,021.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Fruitvale that is located in Kern County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mesa County community of Fruitvale.
    • Idaho
      • Adams County
      • This Fruitvale is located in Adams County and lies 665 miles [1,070.2 km]<1> to the north of the Fruitvale that is located in Kern County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Fruitvale.
    • New Mexico
      • Bernalillo County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Fruitvale [Bernalillo County].
    • Oregon
      • Lincoln County
      • This Fruitvale is located in Lincoln County and lies 690 miles [1,110.4 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Fruitvale that is located in Kern County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Fruitvale.
    • Tennessee
      • Crockett County
      • This Fruitvale is located in Crockett County and lies 1,681 miles [2,705.3 km]<1> to the east of the Fruitvale that is located in Kern County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Crockett County community of Fruitvale.
    • Texas
      • Van Zandt County
      • This Fruitvale is located in Van Zandt County and lies 1,341 miles [2,158.1 km]<1> to the east of the Fruitvale that is located in Kern County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Van Zandt County community of Fruitvale.
    • Washington
      • Yakima County
      • This Fruitvale is located in Yakima County and lies 779 miles [1,253.7 km]<1> to the north of the Fruitvale that is located in Kern County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yakima County community of Fruitvale.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Fruitvale ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Bannister
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Bannister is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bannister
  • Greenacres
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
  • Greenfield
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenfield is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenfield
  • Hights Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Hights Corner is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hights Corner
  • Oil City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Oil City is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil City
  • Oil Junction
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Oil Junction is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oil Junction
  • Oildale
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Oildale is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oildale
  • Panama
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Panama is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panama
  • Pumpkin Center
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Pumpkin Center is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pumpkin Center
  • Quailwood
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Quailwood is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quailwood
  • Rosedale ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Rosedale is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosedale
  • Strand ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Strand is located in Kern County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strand

How Far From Fruitvale to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Fruitvale to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Fruitvale and extending to:

  • Bakersfield, which is the Seat of Kern County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 257 miles [413.6 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Fruitvale to Sacramento, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,306 miles [3,711.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 90 days and walking would take 131 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,501 miles [12,071.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,270 miles [13,309.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,276 miles [10,100.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fruitvale) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Fruitvale could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Fruitvale, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Fruitvale to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fruitvale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.3833, Longitude: -119.0832       In this case, the coordinates for Fruitvale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 337.12 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 337.298 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.138 degrees.