‘Bartell’s Backroads’ How to Find California Travels

A passionate and engaging storyteller, Barthel’s relentless curiosity and good nature paved the way for the success of his award-winning show.

During production, he spends an average of six hours a day on the road documenting California’s diverse personalities and places, such as Modesto’s Jacob Gaddam and Plasterville’s Wood Carvings. “I want to tell people that I have the best job in California,” Bartle says.

His knowledge of the state is respected – “John knows more about California than any other Californian,” says Gonzalo Magagaga, CEO of the special projects group – but Bartle grew up on an 80-acre ranch in another state.

Imler, Oregon is, in Bartel’s words, “at the top corner of the state,” and it’s where he got his first brush with the fairy tale. When he was 15 years old, his motorcycle broke down in a forested canyon along the railroad tracks. As he waited for it to cool down and start up, he saw a large, dark-haired creature coming down the hill.

“We made eye contact,” he says. “It was the most important aspect of Bigfoot.” When his mother arrived at his residence, she became the first confidante to hear of the conflict. Bartle isn’t sure whether to believe him or not as she listens with open ears. Regardless, it hasn’t stopped him from reporting other Bigfoot-related stories like the Felton Bigfoot Discovery Museum.

The son of a nurse practitioner and small business owner, Bartel describes himself as a farm boy. “I come from a very simple background,” he said. “You’re not going to see us in our Sunday best.”

On weekends, Bartel’s father, a traveler at heart, took the family on road trips throughout Oregon, Washington and Montana, which sparked a sense of exploration and curiosity in Bartel. Back home, Bartle and his friends made their own fun of jumping on cows or dragging extra parachutes behind them to see how much air they could catch, believing they were the next act of “Jackass.” . “I was always making movies as a kid,” Bartel says.

Fascinated by history, he once recruited his classmates for a historical film on Lewis and Clark. But he is ready to leave his hometown after graduating 18 students.

Bartel chose to attend Southern Oregon University. He studied video production, wanting to become a film director.

Due to his dyslexia, he became fascinated with writing and found himself guided by the work of Steven Spielberg and Mike Rowe. Bartel’s first weekly TV show, “John Bartel’s Half-Hour Power,” which he described as “a late-night show with sketch comedy,” allowed him to hone his skills by interviewing personalities such as the school janitor or star football player.

“I think I learned how to get people’s feelings and that I’m interested in what they have to say,” Bartle said. It was then that his real interest was not in Hollywood, but rather in television.

Since the “Half Hour Power” days, Bartle has reported on a variety of subjects. He began his career in Medford, Oregon, as a camera operator in the fishing department and went on to write features for Blue Ridge Cable in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He later found an investigative reporting job in McAllen, Texas, primarily covering border issues. While there, he won an Emmy for his investigation into corruption in the Progressive Police Department.

Although the work was meaningful, the investigative reporting took a toll on Bartel. “It gave me a new faith in myself, but it also gave me a kind of bitterness towards humanity,” he says.

When Bartel’s contract expired in Texas and the other reporter found a job in California, he applied to different stations and found himself lucky when he was given the thumbs up by Channel 10 in 2016.

“If you’re someone who can take responsibility, come up with ideas and be yourself, it allows you to do that,” Bartel said. Although he was initially assigned to cover incidents such as fires, shootings or accidents, Bartle always went the extra mile to deliver stories as well. The promotions department noticed Bartel’s hard work and eventually coined the name “Bartel’s Back Streets”.

“‘Bartel’s Back Street’ is a history lesson disguised as a travelogue,” Managa says. “Bartel is passionate about highlighting small communities that you don’t typically see in the news.”

For example, Bartell attempted to cover Native American culture and reported on the Hupa tribe’s white deerskin dance after months of trust and correspondence. Photojournalists and colleagues Rory Ward and Tyler Horst described him as extremely dedicated and one of the friendliest reporters at ABC10. When he’s not on the road, Bartell can be found writing scripts at his desk or zooming into Google Maps to find places in California he hasn’t covered yet.

The bones of a good story, Bartle says, “is part of my curiosity, vision and finding the right character.” “I like coincidences. People doing their own thing or going through a lot. But sometimes the story just doesn’t exist right away.”

Telling people it’s snowing is the most casual thing you have to do as a TV reporter. here you go. Look at the snow,” says Bartle. But “what else?” It allows him to strike gold.

What one sees as the boring place they’ve lived their entire lives, Bartle finds fascinating. After spending some time digging in Soda Springs, he recalls a time when a local told him about an ice cave down the road.

“Long story short, I went up there and it ended up being the Donner Summit Railroad Tunnels, an abandoned historic tunnel. They made the most amazing glaciers, huge. At the end, many snowboarders flip.

As the interactive map shows, the “Backstreets of Bartel” cover an impressive amount of ground. So where’s next? At the age of 93, Bartel’s long-term goal of touching every corner of California is coming to an end since Jacques-Andre Estelle filmed a room at the Felicity World Center. The stories of the other corners await post-production and will be completed this year.

Beyond that, Bartle plans to return to counties he feels “need more love,” such as Tehama, Solano and Plumas counties. “California is the most diverse state I’ve ever been in,” he says, adding that the redwoods and eastern Sierra are his favorites. “There is plenty of room for everyone to find their own little corner.”

Kayla Mihalovic is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. Her work has appeared in Airbnb Magazine, Flaunt Magazine and PSFK.