Fresno Famous

Photos of today's Downtown are starting to roll in to the Fresno Famous group on Flickr.

The old Ace Tire Service won't be with us much longer; it could become the permanent home of the Valley Academy for Arts and Science (A new arts-focused charter school opening this fall downtown. Enrollment is open by the way, but the deadline is June 23).

We hope you'll participate in this community-wide photo experiment. All you need is some digital images to upload to the free photo site Flickr. Check out all the details on the Downtown Photo Project.

The older parts of town are home to some amazing examples of mid-century signs. Fresno already has a Heritage Sign designation, which allows a sign to be affixed to a pole at another location (not sure if it prohibits the destruction of the sign). One city that's embraced its vintage sign heritage is Las Vegas. On the Fremont Street development old neon signs are scattered throughout the pedestrian promenade, with commemorative plaques explaining their history. While that works with the gaudy visual display that is Vegas, I'm not sure there's an area of Fresno where vintage signs as public art would work. The Tower? Maybe when we start talking about Motel Drive revitalization in 2030.

This post brought to you by the excellent free WiFi at McCarran Airport, Las Vegas.