Fresno Famous

Thanks for the info on Joe Steakhouse

Thanks for the info on Joe Steakhouse.

Thanks for the info

Thanks for the information about Fagan.

search famous for info

actually, joe's steak house has come up several times on fresno famous. in fact, a lunch review of it has even been written here.

Regardless of how it closed

Regardless of how it closed or if it was shady, Fagan's was a great place to have a beer after work and listen to some music.

Fagan's Closed None too Soon

Fagans was terrible. Bad food, worse service. That won't make it anywhere, especially downtown.

We were stoked when we heard

We were stoked when we heard there was a pub downtown. So we went to Fagan's.
In our opinion, the food tasted horrible. We didn't even finish it. The owner served us. She was just as unpleasant as the food. We chose to never go back and told our friends. I'm sorry to say, that to me, it's not a big surprise it's gone.

Fagan's music booking

I tried to get the Folklore Society to pick up and sponsor the Liz Carroll and John Doyle show but their manager booked them somewhere else. So they're not coming as far as I know. I did get the Fingal band here (previous note)and they will be of the same quality--top drawer.

Regardless of why fagans

Regardless of why fagans closed.. There are still plenty of businesses to be supported Downtown... Joe's Steakhouse & Grill is located right on Van Ness in between Kern and Inyo just down the street of Fagans. And I'm sure many of you have NEVER heard of us!!!! We are open Mon-Fri 11-9 and Sat 4-9 and have GREAT FOOD... and GREAT SERVICE!!! Although it seems as if Fagans closing has made many people think there is nothing left downtown...but there is there are plenty of businesses which should be patronized.

John Doyle

How about the John Doyle and Liz Carroll show on the 18th of March?

Fagan's music booking

One of the acts scheduled to play at Fagan's--an Irish acoustic band called Fingal--has been booked to play at Cynthia Merrill's on Friday, Feb. 2. I will be sending out announcements re this concert this weekend to various media, Fresno Famous, etc. Fingal was just too good to pass up--a trio of Irish musicians, all members of bands who were/are now superstars in Celtic music. They play fiddle, guitar and acordion as well as sing in Gaelic and English. Check them out at http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.asp?epk_id=84926. Tickets will be available at Cynthia Merrill's. Please keep supporting live Celtic music.

That's really too bad. That

That's really too bad. That was a neat place. Did she say when she planned on relocating?

I have to say that Full

I have to say that Full Circle Brewery as packed as much as it could possibly be last weekend.

Some venues are picking up

Some venues are picking up stuff.

Full Circle is in talks to get the Crosby Loggins show that was going there. What was supposed to be at Fagan's last weekend -- that band Bill -- ended up going to Babylon. Some of the Irish stuff is going to Seqouia.

I'm sure it'll all work it self out.

There's a certain circle of life to music venues here.

Music events

Does anyone know if the music events at Fagan's will be rescheduled elsewhere?

Free Parking

I wouldn't say Club Brazil or the Basque restaurant across from the Amtrak station has free parking. Especially during Grizzly games there is no parking for Club Brazil. The Basque restaurant has a small parking lot but not a lot of it. Fagan's had free parking after six just a block away even during Grizzly games.

city crews..

Hmmmmm,
Lets see now..

They were not vandals, they were city crews.. (unless the slang term for gang as 'crew,' has made it this far west and somebody is trying to introduce the lingo, about twenty years late...)

A city crew cutting down a tree would be, um, not really VANDALISM, in the strictest sense of the word,,,
unless we're talking a pack of disgruntled city workers cutting down said trees with a spiteful intent,
(were they smiling or frowning when they cut said trees down?)

-Maybe they were taking owls hostage, looking for raises?
(But I've found most city employees to be a rather friendly and benevolent bunch...) who'd frown upon such tactics...

Were they a 'rogue' band of city workers?
(as in free range and completely untamed and wild people with chainsaws?) -it could happen, I could be found wandering around most afternoons with a chainsaw in my pickup, back east...

(Please note: 'rogue' was not capitalized (Rogue,) which is a whole 'nuther thang, (These could be a group of completely untamed and wild people (possibly with chainsaws,) -doing said thing in the name of performance art,
(and you'd have to pay to watch, ---and gosh darn it, it would be quite worth watching, and would probably have a decent soundtrack, and better scriptwriting, (afternoon lecram...)
BellyDancing Chainsaw wielding alt. people who are (quite often,) employed by various places of higher education...
Now THAT's a good time... (I'm putting on aftershave.)

-Maybe it was the fire department, tired of rescuing cats from trees, who figured, '...well since we can't just shoot 'em down, like they do in Clovis,
We'll just go to the root of the problem, and make the whole situation safer...'
(this last suggestion is probably least likely, as I don't find most Fresno Firemen looking up trees, scowling and then mumbling '...fluffy, you piss me off, and TREE???!...you're goin' down, suckah...' as they ride past...

This one thing is true..
There are now several neighborhood dogs, walking around knockneed in that area, now eyeing ANYTHING vertical to whiz on...
(I'd forwarn that guy with the VW Microbus's, else he's due for some reeeeely steeenky hubcaps...)

game on, Fresno, game on.

Tree Cutting on Olive

I wish it was a joke! City tree crew was out falling trees along the north side of Olive from the Peach Pit east to the Tower Theatre Tuesday morning first thing!

Bubble and Squeak was my fav dish

Goodbody's was great!
Kenny Hall used to to a radio show taping there every month or so.

Goodbody's...yeah, I remember

The British Pub on Maroa was Goodbody's. I LOVED their Shepherd's Pie, real comfort food! Mmmm.

Does anyone remember the

Does anyone remember the English Pub on Maroa? It was around for a very long time and was very popular. The food was as decent as English food gets. On Sundays they catered to a family crowd wit a high tea. At night there were the beers and dart contests.

Touché.

Touché.

Free Parking

AntiMusick asked: What do these downtown bars have (Full Circle Brewery, Fresno Hofbrau, Club One, Shepherds Inn, Basque Hotel, Cosmopolitan Tavern, Club Brazil, and Tokyo Garden) that Fagans did not have?

Unless I'm mistaken all of the other venues, with the exception of Club One, have convenient and free parking.

Oh Please

Fagans closed because it was run by a person who shouldn't have a job dealing with the public. Or just working with other people for that matter. She knew nothing about running an Irish pub other than ordering stuff to decorate it out of the Guinness Store catalog.
Few people will patronize a place downtown. Especially one that's kind of hidden from view. If the owner (publican) treats the customer rudely they won't come back and there's not enough new face traffic to offset the loss.
I went there several times. It was obvious to me in having just idle talk with them that they knew nothing about being an "Irish" pub.

Hell at one point they were asking to have us burn some CDs of Irish music to play.

Of all the times I was there myself or people I was with were treated rudely by the owner except for once.

No, Downtown can't sustain a pub at this point. And newsflash for Fagans: It won't be any different for the north either. At least not with that management.

Taxes

You area an idiot ! They do not let you go 2 years without paying taxes(they will stop you if are 3 months off) ..Fagan's was only open 22 months ..You do not know what the you are talking about ..So don't talk

Fagan's closed down because

Fagan's closed down because the owner hadn't paid her taxes in 2 years.

what?

please tell me this is a joke.

dude, you're talking to a guy who has chainsaws and who has loved his chainsaw and has spent many a happy hour felling dead trees, clearing paths, cutting up downed ones, and stacking up firewood..
-then again, I lived in Upstate NY, with NOBODY around for miles to hear said chainsaw which I (sniff,) had to leave behind with the new tennants, (as, alas, there was no calling for chainsawing here in the 'no.)
(It's painful for me to talk about it.)

Chainsaws are hellishly loud.
Electric ones are not so loud, but they are quite slow, have no guts whatsoever, and you'd need a power source to cut down anything bigger than a blade of grass.
-even a sawzall is loud at 06:00 in the Tower.

How the frank was anybody able to cut down trees on Olive without the cops, (or anybody else,) knowing???

(euphamism given in full lather,,,,, no offense intended towards the much loved frankd...)

okay, okay, I'll change it... hang on...

How the funk was anybody able to cut down trees at this hour without anybody noticiing?

(all apologies given to George Clinton, Bootsie, and Rufus (featuring Chaka Khan.)

Speaking of Tower District

While Tree Fresno and the City are busy planting new trees in Chinatown today, City vandals armed with chainsaws were busily sawing down the street trees along Olive Avenue around 6 this morning!

restaurant business

There are so many places fighting for the same dollar, I think even a hint of bad service or bad customer relations, may be enough to sway the balance in the wrong direction. I could only imagine that in downtown, one would have to almost trip over themselves putting their best foot foward. The margin of error just isnt big enough for a mediocre experience.
If people arent leaving your place saying "man, that was some great service" or "those were some great people" or "the food was fantastic!",I dont think people will come back downtown, with all it's negative misconceptions, when there is so much else out there.
I guess the same could be said for all business', but in downtown when there isnt much else going on down here, you HAVE to make people remember you in a good light.

well...

I would say that Fagan's was before its time in the sense that I honestly believe a bar/venue type place like that will be able to flourish in Downtown Fresno someday -- someday soon, hopefully.

With regard to the

With regard to the possibility of Fagan's being before it's time, I sincerely doubt that. Body In The Bog had been around for quite sometime before Fagan's. And while I haven't been to the new incarnation, I hear that it is in keeping w/ it's spirit. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
We also now have Grogg's, so clearly the idea of an Isles style pub is nothing this area can't handle.

bad press

I have to say that the things I've heard from various local musicians have kept me from patronizing Fagan's. I didn't even go there to see Tempest, much as I love them.
Speaking of Tempest, their new gig calendar just came out & their usual Fresno March date lists Fagan's as the venue. I wonder if anyone even bothered to tell them that they were closing.

I'd have to say this

Sorry, but Fagans had a LOT of bad press.
(I tended to read of the shenanigans on FresFam, and it weren't pretty.)

I also knew someone who worked there, and they amplified the comments about the owner being an extremely volatile and difficult person to work with.

-Other folks who I knew from the area had no problem with her, -but I think the whole 'where there's smoke, there's fire,' thing may have made people think twice.

I've been to Full Circle, (several times,) as well as Tokyo.

Full Circle: Wonderful people, what they do have they do very well with,(yeah, food would help, but everything else is great.) and I've always enjoyed my visits there, (even when it's really hot in the summer time,) The staff has always made me feel welcomed and treated me like a friend, though none of them know me from a fence board.

Tokyo has been sort of the same, friendly staff, (I'm not especially fond of their soundsystem on most nights I've been there, (way too harsh and overloud,) -the best I've heard was with Julia Dawn (-but the room was completely stuffed with bodies, which brought down the hard/harshness of the accoustics significantly,)
-but it is a friendly place, and I'm looking forward to regular eats and maybe a 'jazz brunch,' thing (that they do?) as well.

I've honestly also never heard anything bad said about Tokyo or Full Circle, quite the opposite, -when it comes to the way the place is run.

I think when competing with such big places as there are now (for food and such,) that are all over the town, what WILL keep a place that is more mom-n-pop doing well is friendly service, good prices, and good food, (or well done sound and presentation of bands.)
Something such as 'well done sound,' (which covers a minor sin, (such as wine that tastes like kerosene,)-'Starline,' with good staff, -means a lot.

Though there were no shows I really wanted to see slated for Fagans,
-what I heard and knew of was enough to cause me to think twice.

I do wish the (former,) owner well, and hope their next project goes better.

Fresno Hofbrau

I thought I saw in the classifieds that Fresno Hofbrau is on the market, but, I have not heard of any sale.
The people at Full Circle are friendly, but, have no food except popcorn, unless that has changed. They did encourage you to bring your own food, though. The friendly staff is what makes it popular enough to stay open.

fresnofamous.com/fagans.html

Is this link

http://www.fresnofamous.com/fagans.html

still available to read I found some of your blogs from 2005 with that link but there is nothing there except a Page Now Found message.

http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/351
http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/404

What do these downtown bars have (Full Circle Brewery, Fresno Hofbrau, Club One, Shepherds Inn, Basque Hotel, Cosmopolitan Tavern, Club Brazil, and Tokyo Garden) that Fagans did not have?