Fresno Growing Up
There were still several major retailers downtown. Gottschalks, JC Penney and Newberry’s five-and-dime had stores there, among others. But the freeway bypass kept would-be shoppers from even seeing the store signs, and some locals found the new maze of one-way streets daunting, if not downright prohibitive. An Oakhurst resident expressed his frustration in a letter to The Bee. “We used to go to Fresno to trade several times a year before,” he wrote, “but now we never venture into the downtown area and seldom into Fresno at all. Strangers who are not up to date on your rules and regulations get confused with the one-way streets.” The letter was written in 1963, several years after Fresno adopted the one-way grid. It took more than a little getting used to.
Allen Funch, right, developed Fig Garden Village, described in this sign as “a complete shopping village of 60 stores and shops” with all the “services and selections of merchandise available in a metropolitan area.” 1956. Photo courtesy of Fig Garden Village.
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Parking meters were another problem that kept people from venturing downtown. Manchester Center had a huge asphalt lot filled with free spaces for its patrons, and it wasn’t the only new shopping center in town. Fresno was growing fast, with regional shopping centers popping up all over the place. These strip malls weren’t just markets, drugstores and barbershops. They had a whole range of retail options that eliminated the need to leave the neighborhood. Fig Garden Village opened about the same time Manchester did, on Shaw near the north end of old Van Ness Boulevard. The relaxed, ranch-style architecture with gabled roofs and wood shingles really did make it feel like a “village”—and one with a wide variety of shops from which to choose. In addition to Village Drugs and Village Foodland, it offered fine dining at Harvan’s (later Pardini’s), women’s fashion at three locations and even a fullfledged department store called J.M. McDonald’s (that had nothing at all to do with the burger joint). The store, which later yielded its space to Gottshchalks, could trace its origins to its namesake, a former retail executive who had helped build the JC Penney chain. For many years, it served as the largest retail anchor for the center. There were other attractions, too. I remember going to Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour for very loud, stomach-expanding experiences. Friends would always dare one another to finish off “The Trough” (for pigs). Farrell’s offered some kind of prize for those who managed to do so. I’m not sure what it was, because I never saw anyone actually do it, but simply being able to brag about the accomplishment itself was reward enough. An
even larger offering called “The Zoo” was on the menu for $8.95 or so. But Farrell’s wasn’t just about the ice cream, it was about the atmosphere. Menus and much of the restaurant were the definition of Americana: Red, white and blue were everywhere, and the waiters were all decked out in straw hats and costumes that hearkened back to the era of silent films. Whenever someone told the waiter about a birthday, he’d lead a mini-parade through the restaurant, banging on a big bass drum. I don’t think my parents liked the place, for the same reason they didn’t like the heavy metal music I favored at that age: It was just too loud. Why drive eight miles to shop downtown with that kind of selection? It was all about convenience.
Fig Garden Village tenants in 1963 included: Bilsten’s TV, Record and Appliance Olan Mills photography Cover Girl women’s fashions Bank of America My Hardware Bashford Travel Agency Cashion’s Dresses Valley Camera Larre’s women’s wear Patrick James Men’s Shop Village Drugs