By Kathleen Hokit, Published on October 7, 2026
Before algorithms picked the next song and DJs could carry thousands of tracks on a laptop, Daniel “Chito” Rodriguez found his instrument at a flea market.
It was a used Technics 1200 turntable. The price? $100. Nearly 30 years later, the Bakersfield DJ still owns it. In fact, he’s never really let any of them go. There are about 10 turntables tucked away in storage, plus a few speakers waiting on repairs.
“I’ll fix them one day,” he says. “I actually found the turntable at the flea market, a Technics 1200. I still have it, my first turntable, for $100.”
That loyalty to old gear, old records and old friends says a lot about the man behind the decks. So does his name.
DJ Chito
Chito’s family has called him Chito since he was a baby, when his older sister, only about a year and a half older herself, tried to say muchachito, or little boy. It came out “Chito,” and it stuck. Years later, when it came time to choose a DJ name, the answer was already waiting.
“That’s just what I fell on,” he says. “It is what it is at this point.”
Finding his sound in San Jose
Chito grew up in Bakersfield. As a teenager he went to local parties and watched the city’s DJs, the ones he still calls his mentors, and wondered what was happening behind the turntables. There weren’t online tutorials or endless performance clips to study.
“Back then there was no internet, so you didn’t get to see it. It wasn’t like you could just go see it on YouTube.”
In 1996, he left for San Jose State University to study biology. He and a friend from his dorm went hunting for equipment, bought records and taught themselves to mix. House music grabbed him first, including artists such as DJ Sneak, Daft Punk and Global Communication.
Record shopping became its own ritual. He’d pull a stack, head to the listening station and buy whatever caught his ear. Sometimes a cool cover got his attention before the artist’s name did. Eventually, he started recognizing the producers he loved and reaching for their records first.
College parties, however, wanted more than underground house. To keep the floor moving, Chito started collecting hip-hop and R&B records, too.
“I used to hate it then, but now when I look back, I have this big collection of hip-hop and R&B stuff from way back then,” he says.
The reluctant detour made him the versatile DJ Bakersfield knows today.
Grinding for the kids
Chito originally planned to teach. He had already married his wife, Reyna, and was working in a teaching program with sixth, seventh and eighth graders when he realized the classroom wasn’t for him. When he told his wife, she asked the obvious question: what now?
A DJ friend in San Jose had gone into heating and air conditioning and kept telling him it was good, steady work. So when the couple moved back to Bakersfield in 2007, Chito made the switch. Today he works for Oasis Air.
DJ Chito and his wife Reyna at 2026 La Vie Bohème: A Night at the Moulin Rouge
At home, everything centers on family. He and his wife have a 19-year-old son, who is heading into his second year of university, and a 13-year-old daughter. The six-year gap between the two used to seem like a lot. Now he sees the upside.
“He’s in school and we’re paying just for one child in school, and then when he finishes, then [our daughter] is going to be [starting],” he says.
Big vacations have mostly waited. Between full-time jobs, weekend sets and saving for the kids’ futures, there hasn’t been much room for them.
“We’re both working and we’re saving money. We’ve been grinding for these kids, to make sure we can provide for them.”
The family still plans trips. Then, he says, someone gets sick or something comes up. So they keep it simple and head to the beach. Their typical road trip is visiting their son on campus in La Jolla.
The art of reading a Bakersfield dance floor
By day, Chito fixes air conditioners. At night, the turntables still call.
DJ Chito is a fixture of downtown Bakersfield nightlife. He has been a resident at BassMint on first Fridays for about a decade, and on third Fridays he hosts Rectify, an all-vinyl night at The Mint Bar. Both nights run from 9 p.m. to close, and he tries to get there early. He also recently brought his sound to La Vie Bohème: A Night at the Moulin Rouge at the historic Woolworth building, the night after a Rectify set. He was humbled to be asked.
DJ Chito DJing at the Basement at Woolworth’s, Bakersfield, Ca. La Vie Boheme, Sept. 2026
Chito organizes his records by beats per minute, but he doesn’t walk into a show with a rigid playlist. He may have a short routine ready, a combination he knows will land, but most of the night depends on the people in front of him. He also packs far more records than he needs, just in case the next DJ doesn’t show.
“I don’t know exactly what I’m going to play, but at least the speeds are there. As I’m going through it and an idea hits me, then I can play it.”
That flexibility came with time.
DJ Chito and Booklettrato at The Basement in Woolworth’s, Bakersfield, Ca.
“In my younger days, I’d be playing somewhere and totally not reading the crowd. I’m just like, ‘You guys need to listen to this. I know what I’m doing. I know better than you.’ But now, I guess with time, you learn.”
When a song starts clearing the floor, he notices. When a groove works better than expected, he lets it breathe.
“If you had an idea in your mind, but this is working so well, then you’ve got to just keep going with it,” he says.
The DJ who never says no
Ask around the downtown scene and you’ll find that DJ Chito isn’t just a fixture. He’s a big reason it feels like home.
Part of that is his open-door policy.
“If you ask me to DJ, I don’t ever say no,” he says.
He’s just as generous from the crowd. When he’s at other DJs’ shows, phone up, filming their sets so they have something to post.
“I’m always videoing everyone,” he says.
He admits that he isn’t a natural showman. Talking on the mic still doesn’t come easy, and for years he rarely posted social content from his own shows. Then he started posting a quick video on the spot, and the followers came. Now he pushes his friends to do the same.
“If you don’t kind of go with the tide,” he says, “you’re gonna get swept away.”
DJ Chito and the flashmob performance (he was in on the plan all along!) – The Basement in Woolworth’s, Bakersfield, Ca.
For a lot of people, that kind of warmth makes a dance floor a safe place to just let go and dance. Chito tends to brush off how much that matters. When he hears it, his first instinct is pure family man.
“Can you record that?” he jokes. “Send it to my wife, so she understands what I really do.”
Digging for the next great track
The crates have mostly become digital carts, but Chito still hunts for music with a record collector’s patience.
“I’ll listen to like 2,000 or 3,000 songs a week to try to find like 10 that I like.”
He skipps Spotify and Apple Music. He jokes that Spotify kicked him off. Instead, he digs through sites like Bandcamp, where he follows artists such as a California husband and wife team, Slope114, making music on old-school modular synthesizers. In Bakersfield, he’s a regular at Going Underground. He still buys vinyl and digital tracks, especially when the money goes straight to producers, who he says often get shortchanged by streaming platforms.
The math has changed, too. A $300 digital cart might get him 100-plus songs. Back in the day, $300 bought about 30 records.
His advice for anyone curious about DJing is refreshingly simple: Start.
“Go for it,” he says. “It’s never been easier. You can get a basic controller for a couple hundred bucks, and if you really take to it, then you can buy a nicer one.”
And for anyone who says there’s nothing happening in downtown Bakersfield, DJ Chito has a suggestion.
“Go out,” he says. “Leave your cave, because there’s a lot going on.”
Kern Magazine’s signature questions
What do you love about your community?
“I think Bakersfield gets a bad rap from people who are haters, but I think people here are really nice. The people I’ve met, especially in the music scene, are pretty cool. They can be a little guarded at first, but if you’re showing that you’re real, then everyone’s cool. I really like Bakersfield’s music scene because they’re open and friendly. I try to be that way, too, when people come up to me.”
When you eat local, where do you like to go?
“Me and my friends, a couple of DJ friends, go to Los Reyes in Old Kern. The owner comes out and we talk to her. She has her menu, but you can be like, ‘Make me this,’ and you tell her what you want and then she’ll make it. I love that.”
For date nights, he and his wife have been regulars at Luna, where he recommends the chilaquiles stack and the flank steak plate.
When you want to get out of town, where do you go?
“We go to the beach. Because of the life we live, we’re working and we’re saving money, to support our kids. So there’s not a lot of time to just say, ‘Yeah, let’s go here.’ It’s mainly simple stuff. Let’s go to the beach.”
His most recent getaway was a family one: a trip to the beach in La Jolla when they drove their son to school.
What music are you vibing with right now?
“It’s really just what I’m listening to that week. Every week is different. A lot of Brazilian house music is pretty much always good.”
He also says DJ Sneak, one of his earliest influences, is still making great music.
And because we have learned our lesson here at Kern Mag, we have to ask (…IYKYK…) What do you love most about your wife?
“I love when we go out and we dance together nonstop. I love that she still loves me. What I love most about my wife is how supportive she has always been of me and my passions. Giving me the freedom to chase my love for music, even when it means late nights away from home. Reyna’s my biggest supporter, an amazing mother, and the person who keeps our family grounded. After all these years, I still feel lucky to have her by my side.”
Set built by Bakersfield Community Theatre at La Vie Boheme
