Road Trips : Fresno : Places

Tower District (Olive Avenue near Broadway)

Centered around the deco Tower Theatre, this area is home to many restaurants, bars, and coffee houses, and is the closest thing Fresno boasts to a "bohemian" atmosphere. During my 1997 visit, people were pretty upset that Strabuck's was trying to enter the area. I don't blame them. Of course, by 1999, the Starbuck's had landed on Olive. Score one for the generic corporate masses. The Tower is officially becoming "cutesy".

In the Tower District, you can still find a couple of great live music venues, at least one amazing used record store (and I mean actual vinyl here), and an interesting, if disturbingly Christian, used bookstore. There's also a really nice residential area of bungalows and 1920s apartment buildings surrounding the Tower District.

And then there's the Chicken Pie Shop. It looks to be an absolutely amazing diner. I wouldn't know for sure, though, as I seem to have a knack for arriving right at closing time.

North Blackstone Avenue

"The Strip". Lots of neon and 50's architecture if you look closely enough. Also one of the last remaining Bob's Big Boy restaurants in captivity. Best by night.

Thrift Stores

Fresno is a major mecca for thrift stores. Downtown, in the 700 blocks of both Broadway and Van Ness are the places to be, near Inyo Street. There are about eight stores in this area, most of them worth at least a look. My absloute favorite was the AmVets store on Inyo at Broadway. Also worth checking out is the Thrift Center at 820 East Shields, a few miles north.

Downtown

Fresno's downtown is located to the southeast, rather than in the center of town. It's pretty much a dead zone, with little retail or street life, and most buildings vacant. There aren't even many (occupied) office buildings. But those empty buildings are definitely worth a look.

See renovated theatres like Warner's (or not-renovated ones like the Crest), empty department stores, and the ghostly Fulton Street pedestrian mall, a veritable relic of misguided 1960s attempts to "revitalize" downtown.

East Belmont, East Tulare, and Kings Canyon

The major commercial strips of the inner-city east side are wonders to behold, from the old chain-store prototypes (which now house Mexican supermarkets, tacquerias, and more) to the amazing food. I could drive them for hours.

North Fresno

All stucco and chrome and generic. It's Anywhere USA, despite the obvious planning which went into the Riverpark development at Blackstone and CA-41.

Clovis

A suburb of Fresno with a nifty old downtown, a large collection of strip malls, and a great view of the Sierra. Popular pastimes include visiting the many antique stores and driving really slow.