Long spans of time can go by and I don’t post and I feel shitty and then I get a few in there and feel better about myself.
The thing I just realized and it’s why I sat down to post, I am too fucking old to blog about Fresno in the way I wish I could.
The old days.
Work. Age. Life. They all keep me from running around the Tower or Downtown or some thing at Fresno State, with any kind of regularity.
So, I cannot be what I want, what the hell do I do?
There are only so many Save Mart & Whole Foods posts I can do (grocery stores are my number one social places these days).
This is not some setup to tell you I am quiting The Fresnan like that other time. I just need to tell you that I know things are not the same and they can’t ever be.
But I can still figure out a place for this blog and newsletter. It may be something else, but something.
Anyway, thanks for being here. Fresno and blogging rule!✌️
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
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
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
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
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.
A glitch in the Matrix is audibly happening inside the Save Mart at Bullard & West, if you want to go and check it out.
Formally it was Home to just ranking #2 on the Most Annoying Parking Lots in Fresno. But now, I am starting to believe, is taking part in a bizarre experiment to see how much the human brain can withstand.
What the hell am I talking about?
For months (hell, maybe all year), the in-store music that plays over the PA system has been messing up. It cuts out and skips regularly. Like, a lot.
You can listen for yourself (just audio with a static picture):
Am I the crazy one? You hear how the song skips out, right? You hear it too…RIGHT!?
It’s like a wire is loose or something, bad connection somewhere.
I’m shocked at how long it has been going on because I can’t believe the employees are able to live with it. It’s super annoying and to hear it all day every day should drive you to fix it immediately or just keep it off.
But the staff has learned to ignore it, I guess.
I for one don’t go in there much unless it happens to be super convenient for me. I understand I am weird on many levels and I hope you can tell I am having some fun here, but little things can be a big deal.
If you don’t care about how annoying something like a constant drip of audio glitching could be to customer’s and especially to employees of the store, maybe I don’t care about shopping there either.
But also: Glitch in the Matrix!
My neighborhood Save Mart might very well be the portal where the computer programing running this simulation called “Life” is updated.
The store has new floors but couldn’t be bothered to fix the PA system? Interesting.
WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU, FRESNO!?!? WE ARE ALL IN IT!
Take the blue pill (or is it red pill?) and check it out for yourself and tell me I am crazy. Crazy right.
This is the Save Mart that Kopi and Mayor Swear Bear shop, for fucks sake! THIS CAN NO LONGER STAND!
UPDATE!: Glitch fixed. Due to a tip from a Fresnan reader and this post, the system now appears to be working normally! I can confirm as I went in there last night and the music did not skip once. Well done, Save Mart #54 – Bart and Vic P would be proud.
I have yet to remember to bring shopping bags in with me when I go grocery shopping. Not once.
Oh I have them in my truck. And I go to a grocery store at least once a week. So I have had MANY chances to remember since the plastic bag ban – a ban I am in favor of, for what it’s worth.
Usual stores I shop at (for no particular reason):
Save Mart on Herndon & Milburn.
Save Mart on Bullard & West.
Save Mart on Ashlan & West.
Whole Foods.
The Market.
Anyway, the other day I actually remembered while I was turning to park. “Bring in your bags” my brain said. So here it is. I have finally remembered. It took three months but I have done it.
Nope.
The 20 or so seconds between remembering and shutting off my vehicle was enough time for me to forget AGAIN.
One day. One day I will remember. Until then I get to act like a rich badass and buy all the paper bags!
Save Mart Checker: “How many bags should I charge you for sir?” Me: “Four! No, wait, FIVE! That’s right, I’m just too damn important to bring in my own bags.”
Related: How I feel when I forget my bags in Whole Foods:
