Hansen’s: One Less Old Fresno Market

Hansens-Grocery Hansen's: One Less Old Fresno Market

Little isles of the past.

The West Side of Fresno is littered with old little markets that have been there forever. I try to pop into them whenever I can. Just get a soda or something. Make an effort to notice any old, unique traits the market still carries with it.

(I have not done any of that recently, what with the, you know, going around.)

Today I noticed there is one less. Hansen’s Market at Mckinley & Bryan. There used to be a cool overhang there. It appears there was a fire or something. Let me check on that. Hold please.

….. *sounds of Internet searching* ….

Holy crap! I guess I haven’t been there in over a year. They DID have a fire there last April. A fire started by a break-in.

Two dudes used a stolen truck to smash through the front door. The truck got stuck and started a fire. They got away.

That sucks, man. One less portal to Fresno’s past.

A Guide To Finding the NEOWISE Comet In The Fresno Sky From A Dumb Dumb

how-to-see-comet-NEOWISE A Guide To Finding the NEOWISE Comet In The Fresno Sky From A Dumb Dumb
From Space.com and NASA – How To Find NEOWISE

I know little to nothing about stars and stuff. But I do enjoy them. And pretending I know. And I really like starting at Space.

Thursday night my dumbass managed to find the NEOWISE Comet in the Fresno sky. If you’re like me and too lazy to drive out to the country to get a clean look, you can still give it a try in town.

Here is how:

  • Wait until dusk is giving way to night (9:15 ish?).
  • Look at the Northwest Sky. Like, as if you could see the Taco Bell at Herndon & Marks in the sky. If you live West of Herndon & Marks, look at Taco Bell in the sky then turn around.
  • Find the Big Dipper (it’s literally the only thing outside of the Moon I can ever identify quickly).
  • Point at the “bottom star” of the dipper.
  • Follow your pointer finger down to the tree line.
  • Hopefully, around there, you’ll see a star with a smoggy, dust-like tail.

It definitely helps to at least have some binoculars and an open view of the NW sky.

It’s not out very long. It lasted maybe an hour on Thursday and Friday.

For tips on photographing it and stuff, Space has some.

*If you’re reading this after July 23rd, NEOWISE is pretty much gone. Sorry, brah.

This Old Fresno Der Wienerschnitzel Needs To Be The New Normal

Blackstone-and-Gettysberg This Old Fresno Der Wienerschnitzel Needs To Be The New Normal
Yep. I shopped a Google Street View pic of Blackstone & Gettysburg Wienerschnitzel because I’m too lazy to go take the picture myself.

The walk-up window style like the old (still going) Der Wienerschnitzel on Blackstone & Gettysburg, needs to be a forever trend in Fresno.

Nobody truly knows when this COVID-19 will end. We need to assume … another year? Two? One month. Fuck, I don’t know. Eating outside is less dangerous, this we know.

Virus or no, Fresno needs more permanent outdoor eating options. Sorry, Fansler, spend the money on a real patio at your restaurants next time. (Ohhhhhhh owwwww, burrrn!)

We should have had walkup windows and patios everywhere the whole damn time, dude.

I don’t know if you have walked around outside much lately, but the sun is out there. Like, a lot. Not much rain to contend with (Suck on that, hard, Portland!). Fresnans are very familiar with sunshine. We are made for outdoor eating.

Do we need lots of canopies and umbrellas and coverings of all kinds? Crap yeah we do.

Block that sun. It needs to be blocked, it’s kind of a jerk sometimes. Put up a mister. Some plants. Whatever.

Fresno, needs more outdoor everything. More walk-up windows would be a start.

Side note: Here is an old picture (I think I found on a Fresno Facebook group) of the above location. I assume it’s the original Der Wienerschnitzel in Fresno. Not much has changed:

Original-Der-Wiernerschnitzel-Fresno This Old Fresno Der Wienerschnitzel Needs To Be The New Normal

Bandgeek: New Fresno Music [Summer 2020 Edition]

Aire-Especial Bandgeek: New Fresno Music [Summer 2020 Edition]

Aire Espacial. A new song titled Circa. Click it to stream or download it:

Audrey Paris Johnson. She is a local drummer from many Fresno bands, and she has wound up playing drums for an Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Mars Volta) project. It’s pretty damn cool:

Sahab. I’m not sure if it’s new, I think it is. Either way, I like to watch and listen:

Ultra Diamonds. It can’t be bad if it’s from any of these people.

Johnny Q. While the music may be 16 years old, it is newly released and it counts and I love it. Check it out on Spotify.

Enjoy the bite of Fresno music. Hopefully I’ll be able to put together another post like this before the summer ends.