Culture – Page 4 – The Fresnan

Memory Map: Palm & Bullard

February 8, 2022February 15, 2022 The Fresnan 2 Comments

As I have noted in the past we have some good groups in town keeping old Fresno pictures and memories alive. I would like to add a nerdass entry with my memory maps – hand drawn maps of an area of Fresno with memories of things that once were.

Today we are at Palm & Bullard.

NW Corner

cc4e53b4-3772-4ea2-a2d0-c6798f36e178 Memory Map: Palm & Bullard — Opus 1 hasn’t changed a bunch

Home of the Opus 1 shopping center. It’s always been there since I have been alive.
Outside of a few shops changing to something else, it’s the same.
There used to be a cool little record shop. It was around at the tail-end of the 80s and maybe at the beginning of the 90s. Now would be a great time for it it be there again. I believe it was in the spot that the Grape Tray is in.

SW Corner

img_3459 Memory Map: Palm & Bullard — This in not the actual one but it’s damn close

At one time a nice little Foodland Market. Then a Walgreens. Now a yarn place of some kind. Has a neat little green space next to it where Bullard kids would go have their fights after school.
Foster’s is still there and thankfully hasn’t changed… like, AT ALL.
There once was one of the Fotomat places that looked like the one pictured above.

NE Corner

4f9756b2-03de-4201-b9db-778647a194ca Memory Map: Palm & Bullard — As it is today and stuff

Old Save Mart location. Still empty. Seems like it will be empty forever. My Grandmother lived in the apartments behind the shopping center and we got to bring the carts home when shopping – for some reason I thought that was cool.
There used to be a Sierra Nut House. Now there is a car wash.
Bullard Village Drugs was the jam before all the Walgreens and CVS style places took over. Good magazine section and a good Pharmacist.
Bullard Liquor is now nothing.
The dry cleaner is still there and hasn’t changed. ?
Mama Mia’s is thankfully still there – home of my favorite gnocchi in town.

SE Corner

d79250bf-6b43-44d7-9405-310165614fbb Memory Map: Palm & Bullard

7-11 has always been there. Not a whole lot has changed. Although when I was a kid there was a little video game room where the Slurpee machince is now. I dropped many quarters into those.
There was a little one of those Fresno PD phones on the side of 7-11 (maybe it is still there). Ironically, the parking lot is where Bullard kids would go to find out where the “illegal” parties were at.
The 76 station is now one of those dinosaur gas stations.??

Feel free to share any history or stories you have about the area, in the comments.

I have another memory map post about Blackstone & Shaw too.

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Where Is The Fig Garden Area Of Fresno?

December 21, 2021December 27, 2021 The Fresnan 3 Comments

I have been wanting to do a series of posts about the areas and districts of Fresno for probably 14 years now. It’s about time I get started.

I’ll start with my area: Fig Garden/Bullard/NW Fresno.

I live near Bullard High so I often refer to it (to those that ask) as the “Bullard Area.”

Am I in Fig Garden? Yes. Am I in NW Fresno? Yes. But within those two, I am in Bullard. Hey, Instagram recognizes it in their location option, so why not?

7648f4b6-d0a4-4c66-bc78-872467ba0c6b Where Is The Fig Garden Area Of Fresno?

But who the hell am I to say? So I put it out there to Fresno Twitter:

Imagine you lived North of Shaw in NW Fresno, the area of Bullard High/Fig Garden and gave a crap about such things, which is better to say you are in?:
— Mike Seay (@thefresnan) December 21, 2021

Obviously in NW Fresno. Maybe in Bullard. Definitely in (with Fresno Twitter’s backing) Fig Garden.

img_2867 Where Is The Fig Garden Area Of Fresno?

Me too. I never say Fig Garden either, as accurate as it may be.

Where Does Fig Garden End?

Well, to the East is easy: Blackstone. To the South: Shaw. To the North: the SJR. But where is the Western border?

Same. I guess Fig is technically NW, but NW to me is further north and further west than Fig Garden.
— Cee (@nowherecee) December 21, 2021

Ok so things start becoming just NW Fresno at some point. But the border is?

My first thought is Marks. But I have seen some maps that have Fig Garden centered at Bullard and Valentine. So we should pick something different.

The Loop. The FIG GARDEN loop. You live East of The Loop (Fig Garden Drive to Shaw), you are Fig Garden. West? You are another thing. Then use Brawley up to Locust as a border to the North.

There we are. Fig Garden broadly defined. Maybe I will start saying I live in Fig Garden now?

I still want to work on the little districts within NW Fresno and then build out the rest of Fresno. But we have a start here.

COVID Is Not The First Thing That Scares Me About Thanksgiving Eve At Livingstone’s

November 18, 2021November 24, 2021 The Fresnan

For the sake of this post, I will put aside the debate about if it is safe enough to go to a packed bar in the final (we hope) throws of a pandemic.

That said…

Tonight is Thanksgiving Eve. Traditionally a big night in the Tower District, where Fresno Natives (now living out-of-town) come back and mix with current Fresnans.

Those current ones have to listen to old friends pump up their post-Fresno lives, like they’re trying to sell us on bitcoin.

Livingstone’s traditionally has been the epicenter for these meetups. At this point, I am afraid to go.

Not because I am worried I’ll run into some weird person from my past. It’s because I likely would not run into anybody.

Like, not one person I know.

Been away from the Tower scene too long. And any old friends I might see hardly go out anymore either.

I might be too old for Livingstone’s. (ouch that stings)

Enjoy yourselves, younger Tower people. Enjoy Livingstone’s and Strummers and Goldstein’s and Vini’s and Fresbrew and Spokeasy’s and whatever.

Enjoy it while it lasts, kids.

Fresno Letting The Past Die Again

August 11, 2021August 11, 2021 The Fresnan

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Gut wrenching stuff for Fresno architecture this past week.

We first learned that a different group of assholes (different from the Tower Theatre assholes) have taken over the Liberty Theater (Fresno’s oldest) and gutted it:

Before:

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Then the gutting:

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Like [takes deep breath] THEY REMOVED A WHOLE DAMN BALCONY WITHOUT PERMISSION!

The Fresno Bee’s Marek Warszawski does some great follow up work to find out how they were able to get away with this.

Basically, the city approved them to do SOME demolition inside but not all of what they did and then city never really came out to make sure they were taking care in what they were ripping out, so the contractor had carte blanche to keep ripping.

Fine them. stop construction. do what you can, City of Fresno, but it’s too late now. It’s gone. Can’t get it back.

Is Kylo Ren overseeing renovations?

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NEVER, KYLO!

I’ll never join the Dark Side nor will I abide the Liberty being gutted to become a church. It’s NOT what it was meant to be.

It makes me sick. I mean, William Saroyan used to hang out in that balcony – Bill would definitely have been a Jedi, btw.

When I was part of Creative Fresno we helped put on some shows in the Liberty. It gave me the chance to explore all around that theater and I was amazed at how everything appeared to be original.

In fact, the projector room was still there with the old projector equipment, looking like someone just quit one day, in like 1952, and nothing had been touched since.

Now it’s just fucking gone.

The Dumb Drum dudes put together a great video around that time, exploring the theater with (ironically) a focus on the now fucking gone, balcony:

I used to think that a business or church taking over an old unused building, even for some different purpose than the building was intended, was better than it sitting there and rotting away. Not anymore.

Better to sit and rot in faint hope that it one day will be restored, than to be gutted.

As an example, Hotel Fresno sat FOREVER, rotting away. There was a lot of talk that it would be better to just tear it down. But now, people will be staying/living there again WITH as much of the original architecture retained or restored.

So, we can do things properly here, sadly it takes people that respect Fresno. It seems there are a lot of churches around that don’t.

*Pics stolen from Vintage Fresno’s Instagram feedand Miguel Arias.

Fresno Needs A Damn Beer Hall!

March 18, 2021March 18, 2021 The Fresnan

We do. We need one – you know, when the COVID is gone (someday I hope to delete that statement from this post).

Just a straight up fucking BEER HALL!

Take one large hall. Then add…

A bunch of long-ass tables.
A solid list of beers on tap.
Pitchers (You remember pitchers, right!?)
One simple food – likey tacos. All the meat variants and veggie variants – BUT THATS IT! Don’t fuck with a bunch a different things!
Lots of water around.
A safe, open, welcoming, friendly environment.
A large bathroom for all peoples.
A large wait staff that comes to your table very regularly so you never have to get up and try to wedge yourself into a busy bar to hopefully get a bartender’s attention.

It’s actually really simple. Not that fucking hard to do and nobody is doing it exactly like that. IT WOULD RAKE!!

And it wouldn’t matter where you put it. How about one of you assholes with money just fucking do it already!?!!