Tag: christmas

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Downtown Update: Peeve’s, Broadway, Fulton Mall

On By jamesinclair

I did some rounds downtown this week, and took some (but not enough) pictures. I decided to combine them into one update.

Peeve’s Public House, the successor to the Fresno Brewing Company on the Fulton Mall had their grand opening for a small market which sells only local goods. There’s a good selection of items, and prices range from attractive to ludicrous.

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The bar area hasn’t changed much from the FBC days, although they have a larger menu of drinks. Hooray for cider on tap. On the other hand, their non-alcoholic drink menu (coffees, teas) has shrunk.

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Outside, they’ve decorated their tree. In the past, I’ve said that the “Downtown Fresno Partnership” should do more to make the mall a holiday destination, especially by investing in lighting. It’s a shame that they’ve done no such thing – there’s nothing festive about the mall. Click to read more!

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Review of Fresno/Clovis Christmas light displays

On By jamesinclair

I’ve previously talked about how a few streets in the Fresno area have a long running tradition in which the entire street, or neighborhood, tries to outdo each other by lighting up every home with an explosion of holiday lighting and decorations.

On Christmas Day, I did a last minute visit to the three areas described in this Fresno Bee article at 8:30pm.

Cindy Lane / Wawona Estates

Not to be confused with Candy Lane, which apparently is not worth visiting anymore.

This is the most modern development, so property sizes are small, even with large homes. This means that homes are closer together, so the lighting displays appear more continuous. Further, homes are closer to the street. I’d estimate that over 80% of homes had decorated and lit up, and most went all out, with thousands of lights, figures, signs and more. It helps that the homes are in a very affluent area. Click to read more!

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Fulton Mall should have holiday specials to attract crowds

On By jamesinclair

The PBID Partners of Downtown Fresno recently hired a new president, Kate Borders from Milwaukee. One of their first orders of business with the new head was voting to destroy the mall, and turn it into just another street. A week later, the mayor’s office released her preference on what to do with the mall, and her preference was to return it to cars while leaving some token reminders of what once was.

Fortunately, things move slow in politics, and when funds are tight, even slower. As such, even if the mayor gets her way, the Fulton Mall will be around at least until 2014.

For many in Fresno, the reasons to go downtown are few. 40,000 people work in the downtown core, but have little incentive to stay after work. The PBID doesn’t have the money or power to transform downtown in one swoop, but can continue bringing people downtown with the same kind of events that have been working for the last few years. That is, even though they voted in favor of destroying the mall, they, nor the city, actually has the money to go through with it. Click to read more!