I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Did you stay home or was it your turn to go to Granny’s for Christmas? Like many folks, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend creator/star Rachel Bloom, travelled over the holidays. Rachel, who is seven months pregnant, and husband Dan Gregor were headed back to LA (I presume) when they got stranded in Bakersfield due to road closures. The problem was that the rest of the Southern Californians were facing the same issues as they were returning home, which meant poor Rachel was in a real life “no room at the inn” situation. So she took a chance. Like, a BIG chance, and asked Bakersfield Twitter if anyone had a place they could stay the night, lest they be left to sleep in their car. At 12:23 Friday morning, Rachel sent this out to the Twitterverse:
We are stranded here or theoretically north of here (every highway going south is closed) and every hotel that’s open is at least a 2 hour drive away and we’re about to just sleep in our car
— Rachel Bloom (@Racheldoesstuff) December 27, 2019
And by 12:40, they’d been offered a room. Some lovely Bakersfieldians named Kate and Steve saw the tweet at that late hour and opened the doors to our weary travelers.
Rachel Bloom experienced a true holiday miracle after she and her husband, Dan Gregor, were stranded during a storm in Bakersfield, California, on Friday.
“We were about to go to bed,” Kate told KGET News of she and Steven before they saw Bloom’s tweet.
“We figured that our house is a little better than the Denny’s parking lot,” Steven said, with Kate joking, “marginally better.”
“I tweeted and just said ‘Hey we have a room. There’s cats and dogs and pie and bagels. Come on down,’ ” Kate added.
Bloom accepted the couple’s offer and shared the good news in a video of herself, saying, “We didn’t have to sleep in our car last night, honestly thanks to social media and the kindness of people on it.”
“I am just glad we were there because it is so scary to have to sleep in your car,” Kate said. “Like anybody, whether or not it is a beloved television personality. Nobody should have to sleep in their car when it is 30 degrees out.”
Kate also joked that they told Bloom to name her child after the couple. “We all agreed she would name the child Karen Steven Kate,” she said.
I’m not making more Nativity jokes only because everyone on Rachel’s comment thread beat me to it. But it is crazy (pardon the pun) similar to that other couple’s story, youknowwhatImean. Obviously, the biggest takeaway from this is phew, I’m glad Rachel and Dan found a safe and warm place to hang their hats for the night. I won’t bore you with a lesson in California’s road grid, but the 5 Fwy is a major artery between Nor and So Cal. Bakersfield is the last hub on the 5 before ‘The Grapevine,’ which leads you over the mountains that separate the San Joaquin Valley from LA. California freeways like The Grapevine get closed a lot because weather scares us. (Well, that and Hwy 1 keeps getting washed away and if you got stuck on top of The ‘Vine, there is nowhere to go or stay and you’d die, so there’s some logic behind it.) This was a bad situation made worse by Rachel being seven months pregnant, thank goodness for the Hollywood ending. But, as Rachel said on Twitter and her IG stories, many others weren’t as lucky as they were. Rachel and Dan have fame on their side but what about all those poor regular folks? I wouldn’t open my doors to some stranger off Twitter in this situation, but if I’d read about it later, I’d feel bad I didn’t. I hope people who are more clever than me figure out how to connect people like this in a safe way. That would be a really cool use of social media.
The second takeaway is: folks, it’s happening in Bakersfield. Remember, this is the site of Keanu Reeves hiring a van and playing tour guide to a lucky group of stranded travelers who needed to get back to LA. Bakersfield appears to be an untapped resource in celebrity experiences. Forget Hollywood and Vine, forget The Ivy – if you want your chance to ‘accidentally’ mix up your suitcase with your favorite star’s, hang out at the Best Western in downtown Bakersfield!
Photo credit: WENN Photos/Avalon and Getty Images
It’s baffling to me how pregnancy is basically considered a disability in the states, but once the child is born there’s no parental leave or other assistance. In any case, what a sense of entitlement on her—isn’t she the one who went crying to the papers several months back because Doofie Howser didn’t recognise her at some dog-and-pony show?
Your comment reminds me of when Romney joked that people are so entitled they think they deserve food and housing. How dare she seek shelter! She should sleep in her car, because… reasons!
She didn’t even bring up her pregnancy. How is she acting entitled?
Oh, do you mean the time that she was at the Tony Awards and NPH tweeted something snide about the way she speaks and how he had no idea who she was, and then she tweeted back to him that they’ve met several times because her husband was a writer on HIMYM for five years? Because that’s something a GQ interviewer asked her about in a one-on-one situation. Weird of you to categorize it as a sign of her entitlement or “crying to the papers”, but… I guess it’s not a Celebitchy comment without some really gross misogyny being trotted out, is it.
She asked for help and someone helped her. It’s a nice story, isn’t it? Why so angry with her?
And yeah, NPH was the jerk in that other situation. He made the snide tweet, she responded and pointed out that her husband wrote on his show for FIVE YEARS, and (after getting blowback for a couple of days) NPH apologized and she accepted. End of story.
Your comment was so out of place I thought you commented on the wrong article…
Who said anything about her pregnancy being disabling?
Some women do have very difficult pregnancies and some have easy pregnancies.
I used to go to Bakersfield all the time and really got to know the place from the inside out. Its really a sweet city and they try so hard. Other than the terrible air quality and broiling hot summers, it would be a nice place to visit and live. Too bad I can’t ever go back.
This is such a sweet story. I am so glad they found a place to stay.
You can’t go back? Are ya wanted by the Bakersfield PoPo?
This is a cute story. Steve and Kate are awsome. Hopefully Rachel sends them a VERY nice thank you gift.
Lol
Actually…I was in a long term relationship with the City Managers son. He is pretty much the King of Bakersfield… been in the job 20+ years. He was not happy that I broke up with his son and given his power and connections I would feel nervous going back. I’ve had a weird life *shrug*
The ‘grapevine’ has been the site of some truly horrific pile-ups. Fire, ice, and especially Tule fog – a thick, zero visibility ground fog that settles in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley areas of California’s Central Valley. I’m glad they were safe.
Ooh, this story totally reminded me of this Carolyn Wonderland song: Room at the Inn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzgOymqfpNQ
I wonder why we call it the Grapevine. Never occurred to me before. This is a great outcome! I’ve spent time nearly stuck on the vine where those colored trucks are parked with a car with a bad radiator and gallons of water! Man the 90s were hardcore.
I’d love to entertain Rachel Bloom with my pets over the holidays.
They say a missionary named the route for dense vines that grow there, but it stuck when the ‘5’ became California’s main transportation corridor. Produce moved in/out of state by rail, but from one end of the state to the other on the ‘grapevine’ (late 18th early 19th century).
I grew up in Kern County. Have Family in Law Enforcement, Dr’s, Lawyers, the WORKS! Good People live in these parts! As evidenced by her sleeping quarters for the night ~
I spent the later part of my childhood in Bakersfield and go back to visit since my parents live there. There are a lot of great people there but there’s also a way too large population of racist assholes which I have experienced firsthand. I-5 closures happen often this time of the year but this year was record breaking. I was fortunate enough to wait it out in a warm safe home and then head back with the CHP escort to SoCal. I don’t go on twitter much so I didn’t see the tweet, but my bro is a big fan of RB and probably would have loved the opportunity to help.
I’ve been stranded in Bakersfield before. There is a fantastic Mexican restaurant there, where they make guac at your table!