Downtown’s Doldrums
I like to walk a lot, and most of the time when I stroll around town, I head back to the Fresno High area where I grew up. I’ll park my car near Hamilton Jr. High and then stroll in any direction that suits my fancy that particular day. It’s not unusual for me to log five or six miles as I look at all those old homes and old trees and remember oh-so-many things that I did or saw or took part in a half-century ago.
The other day, I decided to drive downtown and walk the length of the Fulton Mall — or at least, what’s left of it. It was a dispiriting exercise, to say the least.
The mall was constructed way back in 1964 in an effort to “save” downtown, which was being threatened by the likes of Manchester Center. I was at the mall that September night when the first Gov. Brown came to Fresno to dedicate it. I was just a teenager, and to me, the mall looked gorgeous.
And it was. But that didn’t stop all those grand old stores that had been on what used to be Fulton Street from eventually fleeing. Gottschalks and Penney’s and Woolworths and Newberry’s and Montgomery Ward and Harry Coffee’s all closed up shop downtown, and that pretty much sealed the area’s fate.
Fast-forward to today. The city has decided — wisely, I think — to get rid of the mall and re-open Fulton Street. So now the mall is a mess. Part of it has been ripped up and replaced with asphalt. Part of it has been ripped up and is dirt. And many formerly lovely trees have been pulled out or soon will be.
Worse, many of the mall’s storefronts look barren. There’s not a lot of foot traffic going by any of the stores these days, and I have no idea how the mall businesses will survive these months of construction.
It’s all quite depressing, but I don’t think the city had many options. Downtown is in desperate need of a re-start. Yes, new lofts have gone up — but no one thinks they, alone, can bring downtown back. And, yes, someone’s trying to raise interest in getting money together to fix up some of the decayed buildings downtown, but anyone who puts money in will want a return for their investment, and that’s no guarantee, given downtown’s decrepit state.
Maybe nothing can “save” downtown Fresno. After all, residents have “voted” about downtown’s fate by moving and shopping farther and farther north. And once they’ve moved north, they rarely want to go back south — downtown — except, perhaps, to work. And after work, they get into their cars and head back north to Herndon Avenue and beyond.
I’m pretty sure re-opening Fulton Street won’t bring downtown back. I’m also sure that doing “nothing” — leaving the mall in place — wouldn’t have fixed anything, either. I wish downtown well because I really like and appreciate this city, having grown up here and having spent much of my life here.
About the best I can say is — I’m glad I still have memories of that time so long ago when downtown — and the mall — were still “destinations” for so many of us.