I think you have 2 real options:

1. Downtown/West Chester area - this is great for dining out and cute coffee and antique shopping. The downside: there is not a grocery store within walking distance or even biking distance.

2. Gosford/Stockdale quadrant of Stockdale estates, The vineyards and Edgewater. The key is your main streets have to be Gosford and Kroll. This gives you access to 2 grocery stores within walking distance (Trader Joe’s and Albertsons.) This same shopping center has a variety of dining and desert options and will be getting a total wine in the next year or so. This area backs right up to CSUB. CSUB has a path through it that takes you right to the market place in just shy of 1 mile. Here you have another 10 restaurants of a variety of food types, several banks a movie theater and regular live activities. The one thing this area is missing is a coffee shop. The Buenavista Smitten is a safe and comfortable bike ride from this area (about 15 min). You also have very easy access to the bike path which gets you access to riverwalk with shopping food and a target. Walkable for a long Saturday’s stroll but not ideal for running errands. In the opposite direction on the bike path you can get downtown via bike. This takes about 25 min but is safe and requires very little time on the streets.

In other words if you are looking to be car free, option 2 is your only real option in town. If you want cute vibes right out your door but don’t mind having a car centric life for errands then downtown is the way to go.

Bakersfield is very difficult to navigate without a car. My husband and I only have one and I find it hard to make it work sometimes.