Four cars lay in the backyard of a Bakersfield home, with another one being worked on in the garage by a California State University, Bakersfield custodian. 

Joseph Mendez is a custodian at CSUB and an auto shop owner. After a career in the Navy, in 1993 he applied to work in CSUB Athletics. In 2010, he moved to Facilities, working as a custodian. However, it was at the university that Mendez discovered his passion for cars. 

“I thought that I had wasted my brain, my brain power, my capacity to think, be a critical thinker, and to do things. So, I asked the good lord. Hey, put my brain to use. I know I can do a lot more than what I’m doing here,” said Mendez.

 And so, the Lord gaveth with the 1996 “Super Saturday” custom cars & trucks show on the CSUB campus. From that event, he learned how to do business contracts, marketing, soliciting, promoting events, and creating a brand as a show promoter for the car event.

 Now, Mendez operates an auto shop in the backyard of his house. He is working on a 1961 Impala convertible in the garage, and the four cars in the yard belong to his kids. They are a 12-year-old girl and a boy who are seven months apart.  

 Mendez is also starting a new company, specializing in e-commerce apparel, clothing, and podcasting. The new startup will enable him to speak to the movers and shakers that help create the Lowrider culture, such as Alberto Lopez, owner of a lowrider magazine, and John Bertoldi, owner of one of the largest car clubs “Lowrider Club Majestics” before they pass on and regenerate the movement with major corporations at the helm. 

 But besides the history and familial work ethic, what got Mendez into building cars was the multi-functionality of business and creativity.  Mendez is passionate about being in communications with high corporations with multi-million owners and the satisfaction of building something very creative that can compete at a very high level in competitive cars. As well, Mendez will be able to meet and know a lot of people in the automotive business and produce advertisement cars for major corporations that get massive attention.

 However, this experience is something he shares with only some. Mendez has limited the people he works with in his auto shop to close friends and his children, whom he is teaching how to do bodywork and mechanics. Mendez keeps things under wraps in the competitive world, only associating with a limited circle of automotive people. As he sees it, “You got to keep everything secretive until it finally comes out.” 

 Mendez has a track record of working alone. One of Mendez’s most memorable achievements on campus is the Beautification Award. The Beautification Award is for keeping the campus clean and litter-free.  

 The campus is divided into zones, where departments, student organizations, or staff organizations have the opportunity to adopt a zone. As part of that adoption, they are to keep it litter-free and beautified in a way that represents our campus.  

 Mendez is one of the only people to have won the Beautification Award individually for cleaning up the pond that houses Byoung-Tak Mun’s sculpture of a dragon tail on the campus grounds on his days off. For this achievement, he was invited to a mandatory luncheon with Dr. Thomas Wallace, vice president of student affairs, who awarded him the Beautification Award.

 “I am very proud of him and the commitment that he made to us, having a beautiful campus. I mean, to think that an individual would give up his personal time and commit to that. I think it’s commendable,” said Wallace. 

 However, Mendez will not be able to participate in the Beautification Award again as he is set to retire by the end of the year. While CSUB will lose its custodian, Bakersfield will earn a full-time auto shop specialist for competitive cars.  

 “I see a very bright future for his career. With his determination and skills, he’s bound to achieve great things. As for retirement, I believe he’ll enjoy a well-deserved and fulfilling one. His future is full of opportunities and success,” wrote Martha Barraj, lead custodian, in an email. 

 Mendez has been part of CSUB for 30 years. From his time on campus, he ignited a passion for automobile bodywork and mechanics while keeping the campus clean and reclaiming the beauty of abandoned sculptures and ponds on school grounds. Although we may not be able to see where life will lead Mendez after retirement, we know that based on his hard-working spirit and commitment, there will always be an opportunity for him.