Fresno Famous

How about you swing a bit of Frank Sinatra and sing with me.

“When I was 30, it was a very good year.”

How good? You decide. Here’s Famous’ picks for best of 2008.

* Creative Fresno

Since its inception, Creative Fresno has been consistently milling around the city’s core, making itself known mostly through the massive Mindhub e-mail list and the Creative Economy Council report (and follow-up report card). But this year, the organization hit its stride, with a series of events aimed at forming the cultural infrastructure needed for long-lasting creative change.

Those include: any of the monthly Blenders (never the same place twice), several MindForum discussions, the FUSE Festival and, most recently, the Tokyo-inspired Pecha Kucha Night.

Full disclosure: I am on the board of Creative Fresno. But I’d say this anyway.

* The Blogosphere

Let me be the first to say it, Fresno. This was the year of the blog.

Sure, the nerds (and dorks) have long been blogging and the blogosphere has always been more the realm of the anti-establishment. But in 2008, even the professionals got in the action. The Bee started pushing heavy with its blog offerings (the Beehive, opinion blog, Central Valley Moms), and several blog sites have become go-to places for the Fresno 4-1-1 (like, information). Even Channel 47 News anchors now have (and follow) blogs.

So, if you really want to know what’s happening in Fresno, the answer is in the blogs. Well, it’s probably on Twitter, by now.

* Granite Park (Dakota and Cedar avenues)

Forget the Cabo Wabo debacle and whether or not the place is in (or around) the ghetto, Granite Park is awesome because A.) It’s not north Fresno. It’s not downtown either, but beggars can’t be choosers and it’s nice to see some infill for a change. And B.) It’s chock full of potential. While we’ve personally enjoyed the Public House (for beer selection alone), we’re waiting joyfully for the opening of the Russian-themed steak house, Red. Da, comrades.

If all else fails, you can always run through the rusted roller-coaster parts and pretend you’re in “Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park.”

* Audie’s Olympic

I’ll apologize outright for the fact I continue to call this place Club Fred. It’s Audie’s Olympic and in the last year it has become the place for some wonderfully awesome shows — think Helmet, High on Fire. And they’ve also had some interesting (in a great way) offbeat performances like the Rhoda Penmarks Rogue Festival show and The Beehive’s Four Year Anniversary party. Mostly, it’s just a nice place to hang out and drink cheap beer. And what cool-kid hipster doesn’t love Pabts?

* Cafe Corazon (R.I.P.)

Sometimes our biggest moments have to be our biggest failures. How else would we learn?

Such was the case with Cafe Corazon, the anti-Starbucks, mom-and-pop cafe that opened up on the Fulton Mall in November of last year — and closed just about one year later.

While it was open, it served (some would argue) the best coffee and pastries in town. More than that, it was the type of establishment that could bring the Fulton Mall back to life — an actual third space that wasn’t afraid to stay open late (and on weekends). It was a place you could hear live music, see a poetry reading, or just hang out and read a book.

Let’s hope the fact it closed doesn’t stop someone from trying again.

To hear more: The Fresnan and I ramble on some more about the 2008's hits (and misses) on the latest episode of Flowing with Famous.