![fresno-street-eat-Fresyes-1024x819 5 Things I Will Do at Fresyes Fest [2023]](https://i0.wp.com/thefresnan.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/fresno-street-eat-Fresyes.jpg?resize=648%2C518&ssl=1)
We can debate what our biggest festivals are some other time. But it might be Fresyes Fest. Biggest or not, I PLAN on going (I don’t get out much, so I am cautious with my optimism of leaving the house for something).
Fresyes Fes is this Saturday. It is centered around the Brewery District. Streets will be blocked. Beer will be drank. Music will be played. Tacos will be eaten.
Here are five things I plan to do, maybe you can to:
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If you are on ‘Fresno Internet’, I’m sure you have seen that FresYes Fest is Saturday.
If you haven’t been before, my number one tip is to go early. It starts at 1:00 so go at 1:00! (Unless you are not broken like me and enjoy large crowds then go whenever)
I plan to stick around for Bill Clifton & The Chicken & Whiskey Band’s set there in the 3-4 mid-afternoon sweet spot, then I will have one foot out the door – time to hit the road.
Reason being, that is the time (4:30ish) when the lines really start forming. The mess starts happening. The youth begin to takeover. People from weird places like Clovis start showing up.
And that’s totally cool and stuff – I just don’t want to be there for it. My curmudgeon self won’t endure.
The only thing that might get me to stay is Joshua Tehee hosting a stage:
I can’t say I have heard of any of those bands which is totally cool because I am ready to be impressed or whatever – it has been too damn long since I’ve seen some local talent live.
I also might stay for beer – if there are no lines. Also can stay for taco variants:
But again, you gotta be there early, even for tacos.
“Where the fuck do I park!?” Like, dude, wherever. Look at the map:
Alrighty, well, it doesn’t exactly hold your hand and show you where to park but just act like you’re going to a Grizzlies game or jury duty and you’ll be fine.
But also, maybe get your Uncle to give you a ride down there and just wing it for a ride home – make an adventure out of it. One year I walked over to The Raddison and got an Uber home from there.
Anyway, it will be fun, even for grumpy dudes like me. See ya out there EARLY. ✌️?
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:
Then the gutting:
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?
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.
— floyd (@fdotsanchez) February 6, 2021
I thought Floydy photoshop it. When I realized it was real it was like “Oh wow, how cool.”
You don’t always see cool stuff like that just come out of nowhere.
In case you didn’t recognize the Downtown Club that was Bart Simpson on that old parking garage at Inyo coming up on Van Ness.
And then it was gone.
Lame, dude.
At least some of us got to enjoy it for a weekend.
I had not sat down inside or outside a Fresno business for nine months. Until…
Yep. I broke down and went to the new (still improving) beer garden setup at Zack’s Brewing in Downtown Fresno.
I had a couple beers along with some tri-tip.
It’s looking good, the beer is still awesome, food was great and it all felt weird.
I sat outside and away from everyone. Wore a mask except to drink and eat. I felt safe enough.
But I didn’t have to go. I could have stayed home. This is what I have done this whole Pandemic: Getting takeout & delivery. No inside or even parking lot seating, for me.
But I broke, had some beers and got some flack for it on Facebook with a reminder of how things are going out there:
I can’t say disagree with the flack. But I wanted to support a friend’s business and have a Birthday Beer.
Zack’s and Tioga are making things as safe as possible and I was thirsty for an hour of normalcy.
We have all made our Corona choices somewhere. A tasty beverage on a nice Sunday afternoon broke me.
Now I gotta re-focus, a long Winter lies ahead.
One of the byproducts of the pandemic and sheltering-in-place is getting nostalgic for things. When you are an odd person like me, apparently the nostalgia rabbit hole goes down to old Fresno websites.
I randomly ran into my friend and podcast co-host, Joshua Tehee, while picking up beer at Zack’s Brewing in Downtown Fresno. I had to take a picture as I have not seen the dude in-person in a while and certainly not with his mask on.
It reminded me of a segment on the old Fresno Famous website called “Famous People”. A Fresnan is asked a series of fashion-related questions. Those questions would be turned into a blog post.
So I reenacted this segment on my Instagram page and Josh was nice enough to play along. These are exactly how the questions used to go:
Name: Famous Whitewater. Spotted: Zack's Brewing. Occupation: Writer at the Fresno Bee. Instructor at Aikido of Fresno. Local musician, It'll Grow Back, Strikingly Originals and more. Podcast host. The Ensemble: Mask from Take Care Supply. Shirt from $crap$ Shoppe. Pants from Chrome Industries. Helmet from Explore Thousand. Watch by Timex and Engineered Garments. Fashion Philosophy: Don't buy cheap clothes. Buy one thing that will last forever. Place To Shop: (See shops above). How Much Would You Pay For Shoes?: I haven't tested my upper limit but it would be a lot, I'm sure.
Thanks for playing along, Josh. And if I can revive any other old Fresno Famous things, I’ll let you guys know.