Big Shoe Repair in Bakersfield, California
While "the old woman who lived in a shoe" might only exist in a nursery rhyme, there are a surprising number of very real, gigantic versions of footwear scattered around the globe. These mega-shoes range in function from a wedding venue to an ice cream shop. This particular one, however, keeps things literal. To this day, it's the biggest shoe repair shop in town. It was built by cobbler Chester Deschwanden in front of his house in 1947. Despite being largely preoccupied with his own business, he spent his nights and weekends building the shoe himself with plaster and lath. At 16 feet tall, 10 feet wide, and 30 feet long, it clocks in at a size 768. Unlike some other shoe-shaped buildings, it actually has a shoelace consisting of a 50-foot rope. The building served as Deschwanden's Shoe Repair for 45 years under Chester and his son, Donald. When Donald Deschwanden passed away in 1992, the store was abruptly abandoned and became infamous for the piles of shoes left inside. The building's future was in doubt after a car hit it, but that was repaired and the Deschwanden family sold it to local business Salomon Olvera. He felt that it should remain true to its original purpose, and he found the perfect tenant in Felipe Torres who runs Big Shoe Repair today. Torres jokes that "the only shoe that he can’t repair is the one that he works in." Indeed, he and Olvera suffered financial difficulties after a second car hit the building in 2023, but thankfully they were able to fix the damage.
While "the old woman who lived in a shoe" might only exist in a nursery rhyme, there are a surprising number of very real, gigantic versions of footwear scattered around the globe. These mega-shoes range in function from a wedding venue to an ice cream shop. This particular one, however, keeps things literal. To this day, it's the biggest shoe repair shop in town.
It was built by cobbler Chester Deschwanden in front of his house in 1947. Despite being largely preoccupied with his own business, he spent his nights and weekends building the shoe himself with plaster and lath. At 16 feet tall, 10 feet wide, and 30 feet long, it clocks in at a size 768. Unlike some other shoe-shaped buildings, it actually has a shoelace consisting of a 50-foot rope. The building served as Deschwanden's Shoe Repair for 45 years under Chester and his son, Donald.
When Donald Deschwanden passed away in 1992, the store was abruptly abandoned and became infamous for the piles of shoes left inside. The building's future was in doubt after a car hit it, but that was repaired and the Deschwanden family sold it to local business Salomon Olvera. He felt that it should remain true to its original purpose, and he found the perfect tenant in Felipe Torres who runs Big Shoe Repair today. Torres jokes that "the only shoe that he can’t repair is the one that he works in." Indeed, he and Olvera suffered financial difficulties after a second car hit the building in 2023, but thankfully they were able to fix the damage.
