While I have the time and the computer (!) I thought I would record some random observations of our temporary home in Fresno now that we have been here over a month.
Fresno was settled as an agricultural center largely by Armenians escaping oppression in their home country. The flat and arable lands of the San Joaquin Valley offered fabulous opportunities.
There is all kinds of details of the Wikipedia page here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno,_California#Armenian_population
Now the metropolitan area (This includes the conjoined city of Clovis) is over 1 million making the 36th largest city in the US and the commercial hub of the central valley.
You don't have to drive very far out of town to see just how important agriculture remains. There's lots of farming going on. Principal products are grapes either for wine or raisins. But there are also almonds, olives, pomegranates, all of which have their roots in the original Armenian settlers. There used to be lots of figs but more about that later.
As an agricultural area, the whole town is laid out in sections. And, of course, it's also flat so consequently the main part of the city is like a grid with main streets all a quarter of a mile apart and very straight. Very much like Richmond BC for those of you who might have been there. It's really easy to find your way around most of the city!!
Which brings me to the drivers. They aren't as bad as San Jose. There are fewer massive SUVs and Hummers quite a few more Priuses (Priii?) and more reasonable size cars. Unfortunately there are still a large number of drivers who race from stop light to stop light, flooring it as soon as the light turns green then slamming on the brakes when the next light turns red before they get there. Guess they haven't figured out what that does for their fuel economy not to mention the maintenance issues.
And, even though talking (or texting) on a cell phone while driving was outlawed over a year ago it is still rampant and really, really scary!
There are a number of defined neighborhoods but the most interesting is the one known as Fig Garden and, you guessed it, it was originally fig farms...now luxurious homes. The main drag through Fig Garden is Van Ness Avenue and every Christmas for 87 years the residents have produced "Christmas Tree Lane" along their special street. It's just spectacular....lights everywhere. We drove it the second night it was open...amazing just doens't cover it!! There's loads more about "Christmas Tree Lane" here:
http://www.oldfig.org/about/christmastreelane.html
Right in the heart of the Fig Garden area is a VERY upscale shopping center called Fig Garden Village. The shops include some fairly basic stuff like Whole Foods and CVS but also some really upscale clothing and accessory stores like Williams Sonoma...but it's fun to window shop...I intend to check out the cigar shop when Santa isn't looking!!
The population of Fresno is very largely Hispanic. There are times in stores and the malls when I have trouble remembering that I'm not in Mexico!! The up side of that is that every corner has at least one Mexican restaurant. Everything from mom and pop taquerias to fairly upscale dining rooms. Costco here sells really acceptable tamales!
On our first few days here we discovered El Pescador. It is on Blackstone which is one of the main North/South thoroughfares quite near Fashion Fair the mall Santa Ross is at. It is run by two brothers (and it appears a whole raft of the rest of the family) and has quickly become one of our favorites. Here's their website but a warning! It will make you hungry!!
http://www.restaurant.com/microsite-menu-image.asp?pgn=gcp&rid=360095&mcn=&eb=False&nav=menuimage
Just to add to the fun of driving around Fresno are the multiple train tracks that bisect the city. There are over and under passes in many places but also lots of good old fashioned grade crossings. Since these lines are major north-south links for the whole west coast there's LOTS of traffic!! And bless their little diesel-fueled hearts they run all night and so do their horns! Even though we are probably at least a mile from the nearest right-of-way (and there's a major freeway inbetween that we DON'T hear!!) we have been awakened more than once in the middle of the night!!
Everyone here seems oblivious to the racket, the trains after all were here long before the people!! But some of the houses (and the gym I go to) are so close to the tracks that it's a miracle they sleep at all!!
Discovered that the major cemeteries for Fresno are just south of us. Every religion and some ethnic groups are all represented with their own final resting places. Some look really old so I intend to go explore sometime.
The City of Fresno is dotted with a large number of parks but many are fenced in completely with no visible gates! Some appear to be part of some sort of drainage or water storage system
but many are clearly parks but not open to the public. We suspect that this may be a cost-cutting situation but it is kinda strange.
There are two really large parks, Woodward Park on the north side of town and Roeding Park just about a mile from us. These are also fenced but you can get in for a fee!! Roeding Park contains the Chaffee Zoo which dedicated readers will remember that we checked out on our first visit here in February.
The Zoo has a Christmas light display which we plan to check out but probably not until Ross has some time off and when Marg is here.
We have both been totally blown away by how 'small town' Fresno feels. Everyone is so friendly. Even in the short time we've been here there are stores where they know us when we go in. And even businesses that we go into for the first time are so welcoming and helpful...it's very pleasant!!
Even the staff at the Post Office (often derided for being the surliest of public employees!) are so friendly and helpful....have good senses of humor and seem to be genuinely friendly. We can think of several places back home who could benefit by some exposure to what customer service should be!!
There's probably many more things to comment on but they will have to wait for the next installment!!
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