Fresno Foto Friday #8

Posted by BryanJune 5, 2009 - 11:14pm

Every Friday I’ll post a Fresno pic that I find interesting for any number of reasons

Witness the demise of six blocks of Broadway Street, beginning with the establishment of the Fulton Mall in 1964 which diverted the street around the mall to H St., followed by the opening of Grizzlies Stadium in Spring 2002 which eliminated the south end, and finally the construction of the IRS Building that began in late 2002 which eliminated the north end. Broadway Street was once Highway 99 and used to be a bustling downtown street, home to the Hotel Fresno, the Carnegie Library, the White Theater, and more. Now… that area is gone, even the street itself. The last bit remaining is the Hotel Fresno, which now sits isolated on a small plot of land surrounded by faux streets and parking lots. After the break, check out the weird pieces of road left from the Tuolumne diverter and the bizarre intersection that tries to send you on a road that doesn’t exist. It’s been 7 years. Time to fix this stuff? I think so. Speak up in the comments.

(click photos to see enlarged view)

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349111 CommentsFresno+Foto+Friday+%2382009-06-06+06%3A14%3A21Bryan

The Fresnan says:

June 6, 2009 at 12:20 am

Wow, I just went through here today. I don’t know what should be done but this is an insanely good post here, Bryan. This is, like, all…journalismey and shit – it has no place in a blog post.

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Angel says:

June 6, 2009 at 7:48 am

Talk about poor urban planning. Downtown has a long way to go…what do we think? 20 more years maybe. Maybe.

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@davechilders says:

June 6, 2009 at 11:10 am

I agree with The Fresnan…fantastic post. I was JUST speaking with someone from the Fresno Art Museum about Broadway the other day, such coincidental timing. I actually had no idea that it used to be 99, or that it was the hub of so much activity. I think the idea now that Reza and some others have is that we can build it up as a corridor between Tower and Downtown to try and use the energy from Tower to jump start downtown. I like that idea myself, especially if there can be some good, affordable, reliable and predictable transportation involved, so that you could theoretically bounce from region to region without risking DUI or further damaging the air quality. But with so many areas that all deserve to be high priority (Fulton Mall, Chinatown, Lowell, etc)…one just has to wonder how much time, energy and money it is going to take to start seeing some real impressive progress.
That sound you hear is me crossing my fingers…

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Abe Lopez says:

June 6, 2009 at 11:30 am

I was sick when Mayor Swearengin held the The Downtown Summit at City Hall, but I this is exactly what I wanted to talk to her team about. There are a lot of confusing intersections in downtown and I believe that Mr Scharton and his team want to tackle the re-establishment of the downtown grid. Obviously some of it can not be restored with out the demolition of some buildings. But it is a comforting to know that it is an issue that they wish to address.

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ed says:

June 7, 2009 at 11:51 am

so, in our podcast with reza assemi, we talked about broadway, and how it could be a great artery into downtown but it’s been neglected.

having said that, i would say that there is a lot of growth happening right now on broadway, south of divisidero. it’s mostly (or entirely, i’m not sure) all reza’s development, but there is growth happening.

myself, i actually think fulton is a way better artery into downtown, especially if they were to open up part, or all of the mall to traffic.

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antimusic says:

June 7, 2009 at 1:58 pm

I’ve been talking about that intersection near hotel Fresno for years now (see my posts on FresnoFamous)… since the new IRS building cut off the Broadway bypass… it’s been time to redo those roads that were once Broadway…. also did you know that before the Stadium was built the other part of Broadway went by a small tree lined ponding basin that the homeless used to camp out in when it was dry. Also if you are south of the Stadium and you want to get on to 41 to go north Broadway south of Ventura is the place to get on… but most people who do not regular visit downtown know that unless they have fancy GPS in their cars.

also Reza should have called ‘Iron Bird’ … ‘Rock Park’ in honor of the Monument near by for the 100 founding date monument to the city of Fresno.

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antimusick says:

June 7, 2009 at 2:07 pm

also since i see you are looking at old satellite maps. Did you know that Google’s Street View does not show the areas North of Herndon south of the River and bordered by Serra Sky Park and Palm Ave.
Also if you look at Google’s satellite map the one taken in 2001 you do not see any of the shanty towns but the street view taken in 2007 you see them. Also there is a spot on the street view at Stanta Clara and F st where the street view seasons change from fall/wenter to spring/summer.

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ed says:

June 9, 2009 at 9:13 am

i see that scharton et al are focusing on fulton (pecha kucha presentation represent!).

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Bryan says:

June 9, 2009 at 6:42 pm

Joe Moore provided some good info on Facebook. He says the RDA has plans for Broadway (unsure on details) that will take shape once work on Hotel Fresno continues. The credit crunch has slowed progress on that project. I’d like to know what the RDA is planning for Broadway though.

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Bryan says:

June 9, 2009 at 9:10 pm

@davidchilders @ed I agree with you both about the north end of Broadway. Reza has done a great job helping to improve that area as a gateway to downtown. Though I do agree Fulton is an equally, if not more, valuable gateway. I’m really hoping this Fulton Specific Plan committee has a unified vision of traffic on the mall.

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Elliott Balch says:

June 13, 2009 at 3:19 pm

Sorry to join the discussion a little late. The breakup of the street grid has been a huge problem for Downtown. Solving or overcoming the problems created by the closures of both Broadway and Fulton will definitely be part of the Specific Plan.

The committee is not filled yet. We would encourage those interested in this issue — especially property owners, business owners, residents, and employees in the Plan area — to apply online today at http://www.fresno.gov/Government/CityClerk/BoardCommissionApp.htm.

Elliott

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