Fresno Famous

the old Hotel Fresno

they left it empty for over 25 years,
you can not fix something easily or cheaply
after it has been left to rot all those years
not one attempt to fix it
until after the city wanted to tear it down
poor timing, but the city has gotten tear down fever again
quick, remind them they'll be gone in 2 months

call Ashley, see if she'll put a stop on that
call Henry T., see if his good friend Reza can develop it

Re: Board of Supervisors

I don't think it was the council though. More like the County Board of Supervisors, as it was the County Courthouse, and their decision to tear it down.

City Council Was Replaced

After people fought to have the old Courthouse spared and it still wasn't, the City council was voted out in the angry aftermath.

Re: downtown buildings

I know which building you're talking about. It's the old Dino's Recreation Center. It has no roof! But you'll have to ask the city about that. All I know is the city has been working with the current owners and they've been dealing with this in court for some time, re: the Hotel Fresno.

unkaaaaaay

got it... beautiful buildings get torn down for.. um, (thinking of the spaceship..) other buildings...

The thing I'm wondering about is:
-Why the Hotel, (understandable if the place is becoming a cathotel and shooting gallery with a caving ceiling and such...)
--but NOT these other structures, (such as the lovely facade painted desert tan,) on VanNess?

-the one I'm thinking of IS on a very busy street, subject to a lot of seismic vibrations (due to traffic,) --and is not even a fully supported wall, (you can see sky through the broken windows that are not painted over ---and it ain't through a well placed skylight, bubba...)

-are we going to have to consult with the pipe lady on this or something???

Re: the old Courthouse

The destruction of the old county courthouse really woke a lot of people up to the cause of historic preservation. I think it's one reason people have fought so hard to save the Old Administration Building. Fresno seemed to have a complex in the 1960's that everything old downtown had to be torn down or replaced with something "better". Remember, the city was going to tear down the Warnors Theatre for a parking lot before the Caglias stepped in and bought it. I think the loss of the courthouse is a valuable lesson, which we need to remember. I'm not saying the Hotel Fresno is as significant as the old courthouse, but we often don't appreciate something till its gone.

As far as the supposed lack of seismic strength of the old courthouse, it was before my time, but many people will tell you that it had nothing to do with the ability to withstand an earthquake. There's a famous photo from the Bee of the demolition crew finally bringing down the dome - it turned out to be a MUCH harder job than they had thought.

Yes

That was the old courthouse. Demolished in 1966 for I think seismic-friendly reasons...in that it wasn't.

Only thing that's left of it is the cupola, the mini dome on top of the dome. Used to be in the courtyard here at the Met, now it's in storage at an equipment yard just off 41/Van Ness.

okay...

if that was the old courthouse?
THAT should have been saved...

buildings come and go

just like people some buildings come and they go... it's happened to many buildings... just remember the old Fresno Court House, one of the first mistakes of Fresno demolishing a building.

Hotel Fresno in the 1950's

Hotel Fresno Pictures

Re: Hotel Fresno

It will be a terrible shame if such short sighted thinking results in the demolition of the old Hotel Fresno. From what I understand, the current problems involve asbestos: the current owners haven't paid to complete the removal of the pile of debris sitting in the building. Of course, this would have to be removed prior to demolition, so it's a moot point. I'm sure there's other issues as well, like the roof, and the article in the Bee mentioned that the owners didn't have the building totally secure. It seems like fixing those problems would make more sense than tearing it down in order to punish the current owners for not following through on their agreement. Before the current group bought the building, it sat in a FAR worse state than it does today for about 20 years, and the City did nothing. Perhaps if they had stepped in sooner, the building wouldn't be in such a sad state right now.

Slow down!

What's the rush to do anything with Hotel Fresno? The Fresno Republican building faced a similar situation. Hurry, we must redevelop or demolish it as soon as possible. PRONTO, THERE IS MONEY TO LOOSE!
That mind set has left Fresno with a dirt lot with little prospects at a historical intersection. And it could also rid Fresno of a grand building in a section of downtown which has no plans of development (as it shouldn't, because it faces RR tracks and 99).
Let's slow things down a bit, maybe something will come up in the future to save the structure. Worst case scenerio, Fresno is left with a tombstone of a bygone era, which isn't such a bad thing.

shakey shakey shakey

One thing that kills your old beauties off on this side fo the continent are your earthquake laws...

-Can the building comply or be (re-built,) economically to meet such things???
-If not... there's your answer...

Further:
--Not sure about here:
-but in the Metro-NY region, if you do anything, (building wise,) that is intended to serve the public, be involved with public service, or have any 'public funds,' involved in it? It has to be completely compliant with ALL the latest codes in terms of EVERYTHING.

(I was serving as a missionary -foster care 'housparent,' with an outfit in Penna, and, when faced with renovating an existing structure (a beautiful old massiive farmhouse,) and modifying it to suit our needs as an agency (we were in child-care and treatment of emo. dist. children,)
--because there was public funds, (county monies,) that went towards the effort, -and because it had 'anything,' to do with caring for kids, (who were all taken out of 'hazardous,' living conditions to begin with? Everything had to be 'perfect.'
--we just buldozed the old place, and built a new 'state of the art,' house (10 separate rooms, two wings, second floor for staff lodging,) ---for way less than it would have cost to save the old building.

-That we were dealing with children made it particularly sensetive, -but the reality of it was, if you are doing anything in terms of serving the public, you have to be way ahead of code...

(...one kid chomps a piece of lead paint while waiting to get their paperwork filled out?
...or anyone falls anyplace on an old stairwell,
...or anyone finds asbestos floating around and someone has respiratory problems???
Party is over... (not even in litigation... OVER.)

-Heck, you folks freak out at mould,,,
(I used to see so much mould in the bathrooms and sneakers of my clients??? I could still go back, film it and make more money than if I was showing 'SAW 4.')
...give me ideas, in fact.

I dunno... using that place for anything other than private enterprise would make a lot of lawyers drool... (even then...)

why not?

As my travels this weekend took me past both Hotel Fresno and shortly before it, the Rescue Mission and the nearby latest tent city, I have to ask...

Why can't the city buy/whatever the Hotel and, on the ultra-cheap, turn it into a low-income housing/homeless shelter facility...if nothing else is gonna be done with it?

I know, the City does NOTHING on the cheap...but I can't help but think the Hotel is structurally relatively sound and with a little plaster and some windows...

I dunno. I hate to see it go (to waste) but I'm tired of looking at it in its current state too.

sad

the unfortunate reality of it is that the building may be cheaper to tear down and build something else on it for less.

I understand the code-enforcement's concern, and, if the building is a hazard, it will have to be made less of one, or removed completely.

What I don't understand, (however,) is how there are other buildings
-(if memory serves correctly, directly across Joe's Steakhouse or something,) that is over two stories tall, the roof has either collapsed and caved in due to fire, or other failure...
and it stands there with a coat of 'tan paint,' on it...

I know of other buildings in similar condition...

Why are these things still standing???
(far more dangerous if the wall were to collapse, I mean Zakk's farms had one of its main walls come down a day after the fire, and that only moments after officials were in front if it, barely sparing them.)

(The building across from the steakhouse-spiral ramps is on a busy street, just below the heart of downtown with a very active sidewalk on two of it's sides on VanNess,

---the Hotel just sort of sits back in the middle of a parking lot kind of by itself...)

Strange timeline for actions to be taken, no?

Demolition of the old Hotel Fresno

It's a shame they might tear it down. But they have had an awfully long time to get their act together and do something with it. I think the city has bent over backwards waiting for these people to renovate it. I was down there the other day and noticed a lot of new development all around it.

What a loss.

So sad, it's actually a nice structure. It's a shame Fresno can't seem to hang onto its historical buildings. I don't envision anyone stepping forward to save it. There's not enough happening downtown to make it a worthwhile investment. Especially given the current state of the real estate market. Best case scenario is that it gets cleaned up to code and left alone. Worst case is that Fresno loses another part of its history.