Fresno Famous

Because I like writing in bullet-points, here's the Famous Quick List, a handy-dandy guide to the things that have caught my attention this week:

The OAB

In my estimation, Fresno City College has always been the coolest of the city's institutions of higher education. I base this mostly on aesthetic value — it looks like a university should.

Much of that, of course, is owed to the Old Administration Building, with it's classic ornamentation, brick arches and stone balconies. Built in 1915, the building is on the National Historic Register and is the only thing left from the original campus. It also sat vacant and rotting for close to 30 years, because earthquakes are stronger than brick buildings. In 2002 a bond measure made it possible to start a massive restoration process that is close to being finished. The south and west wings are planned to reopen for students and faculty in time for the spring semester.

Here is historic preservation that worked.
Sure, it cost a lot of money — more than $55 million so far — but the Community College District entered into it with a detailed plan for both the restoration and, more importantly, how it would be funded. The results are outstanding. The new/old classrooms and offices are filled with molded ceilings and wood floors, natural light streaming through the building's original windows, all topped off with the added space for the latest tech.

Bike lanes

Thanks to the city's Bike Master Plan and Measure C, Fresno has gotten a bunch of new bike lanes lately — the ones on Van Ness and Wishon are of particular note for those in the Tower and around downtown. It's a positive step for those of us who like to ride around Fresno. Now if we could get some more bike racks ...

A quick message for drivers: bicyclists share the road and they're not going away. So please start acting accordingly. Like, stop yelling (or barking or “ah-ah”-- ing or whatever) at cyclists as you pass. We get it, it's funny to scare the dude on the bike, but seriously, it's getting old.

And so this isn't an “us vs. them” thing, here's one for bike riders: don't act like jack-assess, either. Obey the rules of the road. Use lights. Wear helmets.

Stepping down from the soapbox.

Picture Fresno

People love other people's picture's. It's the voyeur in us. So, when searching through Flickr gets tiring, try Picture Fresno. Each week, the site sets up a theme or challenge, then has community members submit photos that are judged by a panel of artists/experts/community types. They select a weekly favorite and award prizes.

This week's theme is chit-chat, which brings us to ...

Pecha Kucha Night Fresno

For the eighth volume of the event, which takes old-school salon-style gatherings and adds Power-Point technology and beer, the theme is 8-9-10, which happens to cleverly coincide with the date. Presentations start at 7:30 p.m. at the Starline and will include artist Shannon Hunter, coffee aficionado Leo Rios, bike-rider and writer Anothony Taylor and me (sadly, I won't be talking about books). As always, get there early because the seating tends to fill up quickly.

FYI, this is another event brought to you by the great minds at Creative Fresno.