Lost Fresno

Go to our website to see all high resolution quads of this map and find your old house! We took a street map of Fresno in 1960 and scanned it so those of us that need our memories refreshed, could better find old hangouts, restaurants and maybe even where your house was located. We simplified the map to only include Barstow Ave. to the North, California Ave. to the south, Peach Ave to the West and Marks Ave. to the East. This was after all, the known Universe of Fresno for ma...ny years. Long before the major expansion of the North/East ~ Clovis area and the incredible growth of Northern Fresno starting at Shaw. In the 1950's we saw major housing tracks develop in the North Fresno (Cedar & Ashlan) and the exodus from the downtown. However, for the majority of the years that old Fresno was thriving, this central area depicted on our map was where it all happened. See more

Of the two drive in's, Bob's and Mars, I liked Mars because when you were booted out for not buying anything you could go across the street and sit in the self service car wash lot and still check out all the people on Belmont. It seemed all the "surfer types" would be at Bob's(surfing in Fresno?) and the more "harder" types would be at Mars. Don't know which category I thought I was in but I didn't drive a woody or a panel truck. My 61 Bel-Air sat so low the only drive in I went to was the Moon Glo cause I didn't scrape the frame when looking for a parking space.

Kiddie Kinema was at Shields and Cedar behind Cedar Lanes. My parents owned it in the 60's and 70's. At one time there were three "Kiddie" theaters. The one at first and Barstow was called "Kiddie Cinema" and I dont recall the loxation or name of the 3rd. My parents owned Kiddie Kinema, and a friend of my dad owned Kiddie Cinema. Both men were managers of drive-ins at the time. My dad managed Star-Lite drive in and the friend managed, I believe the Motor-In drive in. In the 70's the bigger theaters (Country Squire, etc) started showing movies aimed at kids on weekends, which was when the "Kiddie" theaters operated. They pretty much put the smaller kiddie theaters out of business because they could get the Disney movies. The Kiddie theaters did not have the seating capacity Disney required for it's movies.

I grew up on Hampton Way just off Cedar and Ashlan. We moved into a brand new track home in 1954 with only 2 streets built in the entire area. Hampton Way and Buckingham were islands in a sea of farmlands. The builder had promised that a shopping center would be built near our location, it was one of the reason my parents choose to buy that house. I remember my folks talking about the shopping center that would be built some day. The years passed and I kept asking when we wou...ld have our shopping center. Each time the subject would come up, they would get frustrated that nothing was being done. I started to believe it too but new streets and houses were popping up all around us. Change was afoot, including the brand new Centennial Elementary school just down the street from us. ASHLAN PARK ARRIVES Finally, after all the waiting and 8 years later it finally appeared as if by magic. I have no recollection of the actual building process, it was simply done, it was November 10, 1962. I would walk the 2 blocks past Buckingham and around the irrigation canal (now filled in after many a child had drowned) and crossed the busy street of Ashlan, well it was wide anyway. The shopping center’s anchor store was the Triple J Drug Store which was a variety store and coffee shop. It had a garden shop too. Much later it would change hands to the Li'l General and finally in the 80's to the Thrifty Drug Store. I bought many a comic book there. Walking down the row of stores, there was a breeze way and a few stores that as a kid, I spent many hours at. First was the slot car track called "The Pit Stop". I would watch the giant winding track for hours but I never could afford the slot car of my dreams. Then there was the billiards hall where I learned to shoot pool with my best friend. I also used to have my hair cut at the little barber shop in the same breeze way and a decent Mexican Restaurant was also located there. The thing that always impressed me about the entire shopping center was the huge sign on the corner. Very stylish for the time and so very tall.

I have no doubt that the young Fresno kids of today would be surprised to learn that a full scale dairy farm used to exist along Cedar Street just down from Ashlan. Yet to our family it was simply the place we went to buy milk. However, we didn’t always go to Harpain’s. At first we, like most everyone else of moderate means, had milk delivered every morning by the Milkman. If I was sleeping lightly in the morning I sometimes would hear the sound of a metal clank on the doorst...Continue reading

I've read some posts about the old Farmers Market and I was sad to hear that it's gone. But then so many things are gone that I loved as a child, and of course that's why we call it "Lost Fresno" here. It was almost magical walking into the large open court yard with it's high peaked roof made out of skylights so that it felt like you were outside. And the smells from all the different food vendors who make you hungry even if you weren't before you arrived. My favorite one was the bar-b-que place. Note: This memory was reprinted form our forum at lostfreno.com

One of my favorite memories of growing up in Fresno was date night on the weekend. And there always seemed to be new and exciting adventures for a boy who had $5.00 of lawn mowing money in his pocket. I would cut a couple of neighbors lawns and have enough to take a girl to dinner and a movie! Occasionally, I would get creative and come up with another fun date activity: enter the Sky Slide on Blackstone. It was huge and brand new in August of 1968. It looked like fun and I w...as only slightly afraid, but hid that from my date. I can't remember the price for 2 of us, maybe a dollar? We climbed up the four stories on metal stairs and were handed a potato like slack to sit on. Then we were off and a few seconds later it was over. But a hell of a ride, I tell ya. When I first found this site, I read the "Top 10" old Fresno memories and saw it posted as the "Giant Slide on Blackstone. I didn't think that it was the correct name when I first read it as I had always remembered it as the "Sky Slide". It had made a very big impression on me because it was one of those fun dates that always sticks with you. Today, I found this article announcing the opening and sure enough: Sky Slide was the name. This memory was reprinted from our forum. See more

My mom was a good friend of Carols and we used to go by Penny Candy all the time. In the 60's I got lots of groovy stuff for my room there, like posters and a psychedelic fringed paper lamp that hung in my room until college. My brothers used to buy gag stuff like fake barf and rubber chickens. I didn't know she started charging a dollar to go in, but it sounds about right. She was always really nice to my mom and all of us, being like minded liberal friends, but she could be kind of loud, at times with customers, and she sort of scared me when I was younger. She was large, loud and proud, and wore colorful mu-mu's sometimes, as I recall. Note: this memory was reprinted from our on-line forum.

When Cedar Lanes was torn down, I cried. I ate dinner there almost every week-night of my young life, plus many breakfasts and lunches too. Cedar Lanes Coffee Shop, that was where I was finally big enough not to sit in a booster seat for the first time. Right after I turned 21, I went to Cedar Lanes, to the dining room, Finally I got the amazing prime rib and had a cocktail. Note: this memory was reprinted from our on-line forum - check it out at www.lostfresno.com