Tag: Fulton Mall

Who Drove Fulton Street Best: Swear Bear or Lee Brand?

The Fresnan 1 Comment

img_3617 Who Drove Fulton Street Best: Swear Bear or Lee Brand?

Yep, amazing. The turnout for the Fulton Street opening was amazing. It was like a Christmas Tree Lane walk night on steroids.

It was a fun and crazy night with so many people it could speak volumes to what the future of Downtown Fresno and bla bla bla blaaaa… let’s talk about the important issue.

Which Mayor of Fresno did the best on their inaugural ride down Fulton Street?

Was it current Mayor, Lee Brand? Or former Mayor, Ashley Swearengin? Watch a brief video of them riding down Fulton (complete with asshat blogger commentary) and lets decide together:

Winner: Swear Bear! It was the pointing to the crowd moment that puts it over the top.

To Finish Up On Fulton Street Day

Keep in mind I am a very odd, introverted person, but I would like to share my favorite little moment of Fulton Street Day, as it shall now be named.

It was not the tacos or the popups (although they were all rad in their own way). It was not the fancy cars or the Ale Trail Festival (although all of our future and current Downtown breweries are making excellent beer). It was Grizzlies Stadium. The Chuk.

Because of this:

The-Chuk-768x1024 Who Drove Fulton Street Best: Swear Bear or Lee Brand?

They had the gate open to let people in to watch the Astros game on the Jumbotron and to use the facilities. Only four people (outside of the workers) were taking advantage. It was a little slice of relaxing heaven given the crazy amount of people on Fulton. A nice place to recharge the batteries. So thanks for that, whoever decided to do that.

Looking forward to seeing what happens to the spaces on Fulton. If you have a favorite takeaway from Fulton Street Day, please feel free to leave it in the comments.

An Open Fulton Street Allows Fresno To Move On

The Fresnan 2 Comments

Fulton-Street-Before-1024x669 An Open Fulton Street Allows Fresno To Move On

I didn’t want this. The Fulton Mall open to traffic.

I wanted the mall to be cleaned up. I wanted the art refurbished. I wanted the fountains to be working. But I didn’t want cars. That wasn’t possible.

It became “street or the same”. The same was a bad option. Same was an ignored Fulton Mall with little to no working fountains, forgotten art and too many people not comfortable with parking in garages and lots where they can’t see their car.

So I then begrudgingly became a supporter of traffic returning to Fulton. Better a shiny new sidewalk with working fountains and freshly polished art, than overgrown trees and neglect with no end in sight.

Saturday is the big thing-a-ma-jig to celebrate Fulton Street opening. For me, it will be more of a wake for Fulton Mall. But, it will be one of those fun wakes. The kind where you have a couple drinks and celebrate the life the person lived. Just, in this case, the person is a concrete open-air mall.

At Least Fresno and Downtown Can Move On To Other Things

We have debated what to do with the Fulton Mall for over a decade on Flowing With Famous. It’s going to be weird no longer needing to talk about it. Sure we still need to watch how the shops and restaurants will do now that there’s traffic. But we all get to move on now.

What is next? What should Fresno tackle now? Chinatown maybe? It will (fingers crossed) get a Hi-Speed Rail Station. That could be the push Chinatown needs to start getting some much-needed attention and renovation. It’s my pick anyway. Leave a comment on what you think the next project Fresno needs to tackle.

In the meantime, we have a wake to attend. I’ll see you out there. I hear they’ll have beer and it’s a safe bet it will be tough to get a parking spot.

Shameless Harrison Ford Tangent Ahead!

BTW, the Draggin’ the Main theme gives me yet another chance to use one of my favorite clips from American Graffiti, a movie about life growing up in the Central Valley in the 50’s (Modesto to be exact), so it’s relevant to Fulton Street, mmka?

A movie with, none other than Mr. Harrison Ford. Please tell me Bob Falfa dragged Fulton once:

*Pic was stolen from here.

When Is The Damn Fulton Street Opening Anyway?

The Fresnan 6 Comments

img_1596 When Is The Damn Fulton Street Opening Anyway?
ME: I have grown weary of the continuous string of Fulton Street Mall updates within my social media feed.

VOICE IN MY HEAD: What the hell are you doing posting about Fulton Mall Street then!?

ME: I dunno, bro, I gotta post about something! People expect, you know, something.

VOICE IN HEAD: Jesus, you suck at blogging and this is already boring.

ME: Agreed.

But you see, a big thing happened on Fulton today. To make room for cars they moved the Clock Tower across the “street”. I guess the time had come…

I know this because it was all over local social today.

It was on Facebook:

john-rupe When Is The Damn Fulton Street Opening Anyway?

On Twitter:

On Instagram:


On Google Plus: Just kidding, nobody posts on there anymore.

There is even video:


So now that’s out of the way, the City Of Fresno feels confident enough to announce a Grand Opening date for cruising Fulton Street. That date is October 21st!

You may be like me and have questions about this Fulton Street and its October (yeah, we’ll see) opening. Let’s go through a few:

  • Will there be asphalt? Yes.
  • Will there be room for two cars? Yes.
  • Will there be room for Clovis dually trucks? No.
  • Will the fountains work? Supposedly.
  • Will Parker get in some sort of zany wreck on Fulton Street? One can hope.
  • Will there be parking meters? Yes.
  • Will I have to learn how to parallel park? Yes. It seems that parallel will be the parking style of choice, down Fulton.
  • Will I be able to get drunk on the sidewalk? Hopefully. And if Fieldwork opens up a taproom on Fulton? For sure.
  • Will that old buffass dude with the boombox still be blasting on Fulton? Yes – he will find a way.

So I’ll see ya out there in October, I guess, fighting for a parking spot. Actually, I probably won’t even try and end up parking in front of Tioga like I always do.

*top pic stolen from City of Fresno’s Twitter feed.

What Will Be The First Chain on Fulton Mall-Street?

The Fresnan 14 Comments

I don’t really want any chain/corporate places on the Fulton Mall Fulton Street. But it’s coming. You damn well know it. Hell, to some, it’s kinda the point of the whole thing.

And what with Fulton Street asphalting as quick as it can…

…it’s time to talk about this.

There are those that would say, having a Starbucks and a Chipotle open on Fulton Street will signal it is back. To others, the thought makes the stomach turn.

But really, will the first be a Starbucks? Chipotle? Habit? Pieology? Maybe an Apple Store (that actually would be kinda rad):

MarcBlakeAppleStore-1024x669 What Will Be The First Chain on Fulton Mall-Street?

Maybe, David Pismos Westwood Yosemite Ranch Tahoe Joe Fansler, could prove he is the Fresno Restaurant Master and open a place on Fulton.

Could Fulton (no CVS doesn’t count) stay all local and no chains? I’m interested in finding out.

(Apple Store graphic by Marc Blake)

Fulton Street? Dude. So Not Impressed.

The Fresnan 12 Comments

Okay. So yeah, I know I’ve been away for a while, not blogging about Fresno and stuff. And yes, this Fulton Mall becoming Fulton Street is the big cool thing in Fresno right now. And I am sorry to write such a negative post, right off the bat.

But I am not feeling Fulton Street:

fulton-street Fulton Street? Dude. So Not Impressed.
The “new look” of Fulton Street

I know the project was short two million but I think they could have done better than that.

Sure it’s nice fresh asphalt. Fresh new asphalt is super pleasing. I can smell this new Fulton Street and be transported back to the 1950s. I can almost see Bob Falfa’s 55 Chevy looking for somebody to race.

And, okay, the art and the fountains all seem to still be in place, so that’s cool. But gosh, I was expecting a little more.

While I’m here, would it really cost that much to at least clean up the construction mess? I was totally stoked to go cruising down Fulton Street like my grandpa and stuff but there’s all the things in the way:

fulton-street-cleanup Fulton Street? Dude. So Not Impressed.

HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DRIVE THROUGH THIS, SWEAR BEAR?! PICK UP THE SHIZZ! Maybe get Mayor Swear’s church group out there to clean it up or something?

Geez. I came back for this?