Fresno Famous

"The Movies" so rocks!

I may take up jeffatthemovies offer. Every time I go into that place and ask them to hang a flyer they are very very willing. AND ...I repeat.....AND they are the only place in town , when I was searching for the documentary "Theremin: an electronic Oddysey", they were the only place in town that had it.
If they are willing to have us create our own special brand of
noise outside their shop, I would so so play there.
Maybe some nice Saturday morning/afternoon, you may hear the clanging of guitars and the whirring of a theremin.----and it all started because of jeffatthemovies invitation-----man, he may not know what he's started!

Off the Strip

Musicians, you may not make any $$ & incur the wrath of FresNO PD but you are welcome to set up on the sidewalk in front of our TOWER DISTRICT store & play to passing traffic (perhaps pick up rhythms to improvise around). Anyway, it may ascertain recognition of your art.

Yeah? My buddies?

Yeah? My buddies?
My "buddies" have played one show at Starline in the nearly five years I've lived here.
I've had, I think, three parties there in almost five years.
Yep, it's my fault your band can't get booked there.
As for Venis ... nada.
Don't misplace your anger, oh anonymous one with the anonymous band.

Mike Oz
(live at Starline six nights a week! tip your waitress)

more legit bitchin'....

Tower IS hanging by a thread! When it had Beats Me, Java Cafe and Intermezzo Cafe..it was GREAT. Great owners, cool peopole.

Now, it's full of small groups who think they're too good for anyone(just hang out near the Livingstone's/Starline area on a good night to find this out!).

Another thing too is the bar/club owners attitudes! I'm a musician here in Fresno and boy is hard as hell to book my band at The Starline or at Vini Vicci's! Damn! The owners are rude as hell unless you're The Same Shape or Julia Dawn or any of Mike Osequeda's buddies.

It's just horrible, maybe I need to be like the guys in The Sleepover Disaster and move to Oregon....

The Tower is hanging in by a

The Tower is hanging in by a hair. Please frequent the businesses there. Determination and outside backing keep some alive.

residents of downtown

I think most business' will struggle downtown, until there are more people living downtown. Even the restuarants that are "successful" are only open during the daytime hours. I dont know how much longer Mezcal will be able to stay open late. Whenever I drive by there I don't see anyone inside. Places like "Old Fresno" and El Torritos are closer to residential areas which seems to help. At least there are cars in thier parking lots after dark.

It seems that what is offered downtown isn't going to convince people to stay after work. Especially when they have their own neighborhood establishments to support. Maybe someday someone will open a chain restuarant downtown that may help. But even that is a catch 22, people won't want to put a restuarant where there aren't enough people and there won't be any more people till there are more places and things to do. Even Riverpark wasn't built until there was a ton of residents in north Fresno.

I think some of the planned projects to bring more residents to the downtown area will help. Until then I think we will see many more downtown business' struggle.

maybe some are but...

"but the Tower area is not exactly thriving. The businesses come and go there also. The ones that are there are hanging on by sheer determination. The chains like Starbucks may be Ok, but the locals are having a dificult time."

uhhhh, maybe some are just hanging on, but it sure seems like there are others that are thriving. do you think chicken pie shop would have lasted this long on sheer determination? what about roger rocka's? or international furniture? lauck's bakery. the host of businesses on the s.w. corner of olive & wishon. cafe rousseau is not only making it, but has expanded from being a single storefront to taking over their entire building (i think this was a total 3 expansions). landmark, livingstones, bobby salazars and irene's have all been around for quite some time and continue to make it. these are all local businesses.

sure, some things have come and gone in the tower (coconut club, mexiphilia & all it's incarnations of brix, etc.) but in general the businesses of the tower seemed to be doing alright (i haven't seen their bank statements though).

as for chains in the tower, we've got starbucks, blockbuster & dollar tree. not much else, at least not in the central tower district.

I wish the Tower well, but

I wish the Tower well, but the Tower area is not exactly thriving. The businesses come and go there also. The ones that are there are hanging on by sheer determination. The chains like Starbucks may be Ok, but the locals are having a dificult time. Starbucks can go where angels fear to tread.

"Yesterday" is the song I hear

I used to "live" at the Wild Blue Yonder. They closed in the early 90s ... not because no one went there, but the owners had different ideas of where they wanted to be. They needed a change.
…
Sometimes I yearn for the Blue, and those days. But those were my days, back in the day.
I think there's always a chance of restarting something that worked, maybe not in the same location, but …

When I first moved to Fresno, I went to Metamorfosis poetry readings at Arte Americas, Ahh! Yeah at the Starline, after a few years those groups scattered. Miss them
Hey Tim, Mike, Bryan, Devoya, Marissa, Dorina!!!
http://www.lineonline.org/midsummernight/midsumnight.htm

http://www.lineonline.org/ccp3.html

Inner Ear is still going strong
http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/1207

Everything changes. Instead of blaming persons, places or things for why a place doesn't have longevity, go out and make something new, something that you can "live" at, something that will live out YOUR youths, too. Something that you can memorialize 30 years from now.

That is something that I think the Creative Economy Council meant when they said we need a "3rd space"; like home, work, & a 3rd space (bar, bookstore, hangout, mall, etc…), pgg 5, 42 & 43 of their report "Making the Grass Greener" Jan 9, 2006
http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/1175

Fagan's

Against all sterotypes, I am a resident of Clovis north of Herndon who dearly wanted a cosmopolitian venue in downtown Fresno to make it, and tried repeatedly to patronize Fagan's.
The problem?
Incredibly rude and/or non existant service.
E.g. approaching our waitress with a smile to ask for a second round of drinks only to be snapped at "look lady I'll get to you when I can"...
Carrie's scrowling face...most notably when my date and I were instructed by her to "get off the dance floor" (along with physician who is head of UCSF Medical Center Family Practice Residency program and his wife) when we not understand that there was an unannounced "dance contest" going on...
Best intentions only go so far as concerns customer service, which was sorely lacking at Fagan's.
I wish Carrie et al no bad will, but she needs to understand her own contribution to Fagan's demise.

logging

ps
yep, i'm wit you.
you sound like a leader and i am a small people

they say mark twain said....

The above guest posted:
"Downtown will never be what we want it to be."

They say mark twain said:

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too can become great. "

p.s.
So, are none of us logging in these days?...are we all doomed to be 'guests' forever?

Carrie,

Carrie,
Move the Business North. Nuff said. Downtown will never be what we want to to be.

A customer who's waiting for a move

Fagan's

You can throw that "heartfelt" letter in the trash for all I care, and in no defense of the owner's tantrums, grandstanding, rudeness and whatnot or how they poured a Guiness, if that establishment was located across the street from Starbucks in the Tower it would still be there. Not just surviving, but thriving. Downtown is not, NOT a destination point at this time, it's dead after dark except for specific shows(and Arthop). If they had the foot traffic generated by Cafe Rousseau, Thaiphoon, The Revue, Teaser's, Landmark, Salazars, Starbucks, Sequoia, Palomino's, Million Elephant, Veni's, Starline, Livingstone's, Lipari's, Babylon, Fred's and even the Dollar Tree they wouldn't be out of business.You could put anyone of those establishments Downtown in Fagan's location and they would be struggling for survival.There are many, many factors in running a successful business (including luck) and maybe they didn't do it right but lots of people who did are still out of business. Read the responses from the people who used to go out but now stay home. SUV,Flat screen tv, dvd, netflix,drugkix, age, kids, fear of a dui, you name it, Fresno crowds are extremely fickle(ask any local band). Throw in Downtown parking, the perception people have of Downtown, no other clubs within walking distance to bounce off of and you get an idea of how hard it is to keep a business open in an area that isn't a well traveled destination point after dark. Maybe she didn't put her best face forward, but she did stick her neck out. It's too easy too blame one person here, there are way too many other factors involved.

oh, boo-hoo

The biggest problem with the "heartfelt" Fagan's letter is that it is not. There is no personal responsibility taken except for "I'm too emotional." The staff did it, the cops did it, Fresno wasn't "ready" . . . Come on . . . The service was (to be verrrrrry kind) spotty because an incredible amount of staff turnover, the food (if it ever came) was often not very good and almost always cold. The bar was good, but how do you ruin a bar? Guiness is Guiness, despite the myth of the "pouring" of it. I don't care about perfection when I'm drinking - I just want some more, and it was a long, dry wait between them. Sometimes no second drink was even offered or possible, no matter how much waving to the grumpy staff.
Rudeness, tantrums, grandstanding . . .these are not things I go to a pub for. I have lived in many a big city, and gone to many a pub, and I can tell you that this was the first time I've ever heard person after person say "I'll never go there again." That's why it closed - enough "never agains" and sooner or later you run out of customers.
By the way, I remember the closing of the Wild Blue, the Java, Goodbody's - on and on. I don't remember a lot of Boo Hoo - I do remember some AWESOME "wakes" and closing parties.

yeah what she said!

Exaaaaactly!

C'mon everybody, get yourselves a bar, a good stereo stystem in your home (if you don't already have one) and have your friends crash at your place!

Plus, you'll save some dough on the D.U.I.'s and automobile towings!

Let's all say it at once....IN FRESNO, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME...IN FRESNO, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME.....IN FRESNO, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME.....

:)

luck of the Irish....

hey...if we all start boozing at home...what are all those charming cops and their fun-loving checkpoints going to do???

Fagan's...etc.

...and basically that would be AT HOME. I agree with what alot of peopole are doing here in this town. Create your own bar at home and invite your friends over. Fresno's "nightlife" is a crap hole so make your own fun at home. This is a "stay home town" anyway...as you can tell. So let's just all continue to stay home and get plastered there with our friends!

Cheers.....

Fagans closing

Yes, Fresno does indeed like chains. As a Fresnan who has been clubbing, dining, drinking and dancing in this town for 30 years, I have a pretty good perspective. I used to "live" at the Wild Blue Yonder. They closed in the early 90s ... not because no one went there, but the owners had different ideas of where they wanted to be. They needed a change. Club Fred was the Olympic Bar before it was Club Fred in any incarnation, a down and dirty, windowless biker bar where they sure didn't serve Heineken. :) And before there was Livingstone's, it was Our Town, where I once left a baggie of 'shrooms instead of cash for the minstrel. And how about Cafe Midi .. in the Tower and later on Maroa? As a parent now, and a lot older, I just don't spend my time in clubs anymore, and don't do much drinking outside of friends' homes, and haven't been dancing in waay too long. Sometimes I yearn for the Blue, and those days. But those were my days, back in the day. Everything changes. Instead of blaming persons, places or things for why a place doesn't have longevity, go out and make something new, something that you can "live" at, something that will live out YOUR youths, too. Something that you can memorialize 30 years from now.

Fresno and chains

Boy howdy!!! Does Fresno love the chain restaurant! If you can put a brand name out on the front of your building this town will love you. Just look at Pinedale, I mean Riverpark.

It is not just Fresno. Pubs,

It is not just Fresno. Pubs, Speakeasy's, bars what have you, have gone out in Oakland, San Francisco, N.Y., Paris, etc. People appear to like chains. They have the money to promote and decorate and wait around until the customer gets around to going.

business...

The owners want to blame the people, the people want to blame the owners but truth is, everyone involved is to blame!

Let's face it, there have been great places in this town that had EXCELLENT owners, great at managing their business, good attitudes, great at keeping up with booking the bands, the restaurant affairs, the whole 9.

Yet those same businesses with those excellent owners who were great at public relations and managing....are closed now!

So then who do you blame?

It just may be that the people of this city could care less about having a good club, pub or nightlife all together no matter owns the place.

It's time to stop passing the buck and facing the truth here.

I've been to several really good venues here in town, on weekend nights mind you. Great service, excellent local bands, good food.....10 people in the audience.

Now these are WEEKEND NIGHTS I'm talking about folks! In nice/popular venues!

The whole point here is that it's not just the owners or not just the people of this city. It's both. And who knows if it will ever change.

Fagan's and other business.

Some of these business' need to take some responsiblity for shutting down and/or not being successful. Yea, I'm saying it.

These businesses are like being friends with a person with multiple personality disorder. Are you a bar? Are you a live music venue? Are you a fine dining establishment? I'm sorry....but you can't be it all on various nights and expect us to remember which night is which. And I'm not slaming Fagan's specially either.

I see the businesses as either a. poor management b. Owners who didn't have a clear vision of what they wanted c. Lack of doing their homework about the type of business they wanted to bring and where they were bringing it to. I could go on.

Take Club Fred for example. Sure the original owner wanted to sell. That's his right. But...the type of club with the type of live music it had going on was good. It worked, people were happy. Then the new ower wants to do "club nights" with a DJ and B95 (again, not personal) and all hell breaks loose, the usuals are gone and live music suffers. Seriously....did the B95 sound work for a live music venue in the Tower? No. Did you need to be a business owner to figure that one out? No.

Same issues with Citron. Starts out as a high end restuarant with live jazz. Ends up being a 22 yr old thug hangout at night. How did that happen?

Avalon? Personally I never thought they needed to do the scremo live bands and its been nicely cleaned up and back to what it used to be (granted the bathrooms will forever smell like pee).

Pick a type of business. Stick with it. Stop having multiple personaility issues and expecting business people to remember what night entertainment is on vs. just dinner or lunch or when you aren't doing lunch but you'll do dinner or you have the are booked for a $25 concert night and not dinner. Honestly...I'm too busy to remember that Tuesdays at 7pm is open mic night but Mondays are cool to take the family there for dinner. I don't blame the cops. I blame the owners.

Fagan's.

I don't know if it's just downtown Fresno or just Fresno in general, because so many cool spots and nightclubs in this town have shut down for just the same reason as Fagan's.

Look at how many have gone down the tubes just in the past 10 years! New owners take over one venue, then in 2 years they're gone, then new owners take over that venue and call the place a new name but then before you know it they too are gone...and on and on.

This has happened repeatedly in the Tower Discrict, downtown AND other areas of Fresno. It's happened with Citron, Avalon, Soho in the Tower(which had changed it's name/owners about 5 different times since it opened), Club Fred and now Fagan's. I hate to say it, but this town will not be a city where a real pub, restaurant or nightclub can flourish without the help of EVERYONE coming together collectively to help it do so. And by "everyone" I'm talking the folks with cash and the people all over the city (not just in your own clique or in your small corner of the city).

There are so many people in the northeast and nortwest sides of town that could help upbuild the other areas of this city but they won't. Then there are people in the Tower and downtown who refuse to network with the people on northend.

It's a neverending story....an on-going dilemna plaguing this town.

Plus, with everything that's going on with the cops in this town, and the pubs and clubs shutting down left and right before your eyes, ...I only see it getting worse.

So sad about us. . .

I, for one, will be very sad to see Fagan's go (if it does, as it sounds like it will). Sure, it may not have been the most hoppin' place around, but it had a nice laid back atmosphere, great beers, and a good heart.
I loved that they had Stella on tap (there are only a few places in Fresno that do), that they had chess and checkers tables, that they used it as a local music venue, that they gave discount prices on certain beers after the Grizzlies games, and that they had the guts to open an Irish bar in downtown Fresno!
In this time when we are trying to revitalize our downtown, losing a place like Fagan's is a shame. Especially if the building sits empty for any period of time.
Well, cheers to Fagan's- good luck!

Here's To The Try

I have some mixed feelings on Carrie's letter and the potential loss of not only another downtown business but also a great idea.

First, I was proud to bring my out-of-town friends to Fagans. I think the pub's vibe was fine, maybe somewhat large for an Irish pub, I haven't been to Ireland, so I wouldn't really know. The music venue was better than most downtown options and they served Hobgoblin beer. Fagans even became a meeting place for several friends from my church.

However, I did have some experiences that made me question my own loyalty to a place that wants return customers.

Carrie's attitude wasn't a problem... running a bar is tough. She's a tough lady.

For me, it was a matter of stopping by there to do some work on an slow Thursday afternoon, asking to plug in my laptop and being told that there is no available outlet and that they didn't even know how to get Fagans' Wi-Fi going, no "sorry" or "gee, how can I solve your problem"-- the City of Fresno's Wi-Fi also was down (no surprise). I even bought lunch and beer to help the work go down better-- paid $15 w/ tip, even though the service was substandard.

It was visiting the pub after work and finding the doors locked and closed during business hours-- it was 9:30pm on a Tuesday a month ago. Apparently there was a problem, but as we waited for additional friends to arrive, the employees cleaning inside didn't bother to acknowledge the customers anxiously waiting outside in the cold. Once we got in our cars to leave, an employee came out. No explanation, no sign on the door. Not even a wave to me, a somewhat regular customer. Nothing.

There were other circumstances and practices that led me to believe that this was going to be difficult marriage (as Carrie terms it). But I'm a downtown business owner and have lived South of Belmont for going on eleven years, I want to frequent businesses that will look at me as their cohort and partner in this city.

I will give Carrie plenty of credit for the try... and grace because it's an uphill battle for a downtown business to succeed.

If Fagans Irish Pub re-opens, will I try it again? Sure. But here's to hoping that basic public relations will be something to be considered in luring people downtown where friends should meet.

I agree (somewhat)

I got the same feeling from the letter, but I'm grateful she gave it a shot. I wish more places downtown would stay open late like she did.

Hopefully someone can take over that space and make it work.

Are you kidding me?

I really hate to see any decent Fresno restaurants close and I commend the owner of Fagan's on her effort and vision but let's be serious here. In her letter to the Bee she's basically castigating everyone from city government to her own customers for not keeping her precious dream alive for her. You knew the risks when you started a business downtown so don't get pissed off at Fresno for not buying into your management style. From my own first hand experience I agree with previous posts that the customer service was never that great and frankly I don't believe it was that great of a place to see live music (namely due to management). Time to grow up and place blame where blame is due. It's not city hall, the police dept, or the unenlightened populace of Fresno that caused your demise; it's the person who made poor business decisions and takes customers for granted. Sorry lady but that's capitalism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling
A video

It's a shame when you put your money into something and it doesn't work out. But going in there a few times and talking to the people I would venture to say none of them had ever even been to Ireland before.

(erm)

...what exactly IS hurling, actually...?

(I mean, I know what 'hurling' is in the, um, 'to hurl,' sense, but I don't think projectile vomiting is a sport... at least not in Ireland...)

anybody???

It doesn't look like Fagan's will be back

It doesn't look like Fagan's will be back or that it will be sold intact. She has set an auction date. It's too bad. A truly wonderful sounding room.

http://fresno.craigslist.org/for/258556117.html

Thanks

I'll keep that in mind. Now go fuck yourself!

press

Whare isn speell cheek wen yoou neeed if?

I like Fagens.

Fagans

I went in there several times, the vibe never seemed quite right. I can't explain it, it almost seemed too uptight for its own good. I think it would have a better feel if it didn't have all that space for music. I think it would make it a little more intimate. As it is now, when there is no live music, it feels like your drinking in some wharehouse.

I went in there one day with

I went in there one day with a friend and commented to the woman running the place about the hurling match they had on the TV. She looked at me all puzzled and asked "Hurl what?" They had no clue what hurling was. I told her that as it is the national sport of Ireland and that they claim to be an Irish pub, maybe they should know that kinda stuff. Went in there a few times. Sometimes decent. Sometimes the owner was downright rude.
FYI, you know Carrie used to work at The Bee. More of The Bee's global conspiracy?