Fresno’s Fulton Fizzle
My friend Al and I took a long walk through our old Fresno High neighborhood the other day. We like trekking around the area we grew up in because it has plenty of old houses and old trees and old memories.
So we walked and walked on that lovely sunny day-between-storms, and we kept walking all the way downtown, where we decided to take a look at the progress being made toward ripping out the old Fulton Mall and re-opening Fulton Street.
And what we saw was almost enough to bring tears to our tired old eyes — and not tears of joy. What we saw was a mess — one that extends well beyond the construction project.
Yes, there’s no question the mall has to come out because its useful days are long gone. When it was built, way back in 1964, city leaders had hopes that downtown could be saved. The great old department and clothing stores were still there — Gottschalks, Penney’s, Harry Coffee’s, Walter Smith, Montgomery Ward, Woolworths, Newberry’s. Bank of America had not one but two ornate buildings, and those grand old movie theaters — Warner’s, Hardy’s, the Wilson and the Crest — still lured crowds to their big screens.
But just a few years later, city officials made the fateful decision that would eventually destroy downtown and the mall. They approved construction of Fashion Fair in northeast Fresno, and soon enough, shoppers discovered they did not have to venture south of Shaw to buy their must-haves. Additionally, homebuilders accelerated their efforts to lure buyers father and farther north, and they succeeded.
That led to the departure of virtually every major retailer on or around the Fulton Mall. As they left, those “legacy” businesses either were not replaced or were replaced by cheaper stores with cheaper products that attracted only those with small pocketbooks.
Fast-forward to 2017. Downtown Fresno is, frankly, not very alluring. Only those who must work downtown — at the courthouse or in other government buildings — regularly venture there. Buildings along the mall — including some of our historic old “high rises” — are either empty or decaying or both. And those businesses that remain on the mall are, shall we say, not designed for upscale shoppers.
Now, the mall is being torn out — soon to be replaced by a re-opened Fulton Street that downtown advocates hope will lead to a rebirth of our central city core. But the truth — the hard truth — is that a re-opened Fulton Street likely won’t do downtown much good
If you disagree, I invite you to do what Al and I did a few days ago — walk the length and breadth of the mall/street. Sure, it’s not a pretty sight because part of the mall has been torn up, part has not, and there are big fences around most of it. But try to get beyond that look — and try to visualize that future small “new” Fulton Street with some on-street parking. Look at the buildings and businesses that are there now — struggling for survival.
And tell me how that small “new” Fulton Street is going to lure the types of businesses downtown that will, in turn, prompt Fresnans to reassess their collective decision to abandon downtown and travel farther and farther north to live, shop and dine out.
Yes, the Fulton Mall needed to go away because its time was well past and because city officials had to do “something” — anything — to avoid looking as if they were abandoning downtown.
But honestly, changing the Fulton Mall into Fulton Street won’t change downtown Fresno’s fate. And, yes, those nearby new lofts and apartments are nice, but they’re not nearly enough to bring downtown “back.” The truth is — downtown’s deterioration can be slowed, but it cannot be stopped because the vast majority of Fresno residents long ago decided where they want to live and shop and play.
And it’s nowhere near Fulton — whether it’s a mall or a street.