Reza Assemi has been keeping an urban diary for 12 years. At age 17, he left Fresno and pursued business, hiking national parks, and a philosophy degree. When he returned to the Valley, he brought curiosity, creativity, and imagination and began to invest those qualities in creating something entirely new out of old things in the city. He has made a mark and is continuing to make a mark.
At the corner of Olive and Wishon in Fresno’s Tower District, there is an institution dating back to 1956. Family and community legend date it back even earlier to the Great Depression when Mary Richardson made chicken pies and put them in the window to cool. The undisputed truth is Grandmother, Mary Ross (AKA Grandmarie) did provide the influence and flavor that still lives on this corner. The Chicken Pie Shop is one of the few institutions in Fresno with continuity of ownership and management that dates back well over 50 years.
Each week we’d hear the same tune through the 80s—-the theme song for the TV show Cheers, set in a Boston neighborhood bar that functioned as a "third place” for its regulars, a home-away-from-home and a place away from work where they could hang out and be accepted. A place where they are known.
One of the first things you notice when you meet Ta-Raw Hamilton, otherwise known as “Chef Hamilton,” is passion. Ta-Raw is passionate about food, health, and life! She is passionate about ideas and building dreams. That is evident in her approach to everything she and her family do. The culinary team of Tara, Rachel, Kyal, and Ariana Hamilton are at the heart of Revive Cafe and Organic Fresno.
If you are in the Fresno Tower District between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and you get that familiar craving for a cup of coffee with atmosphere, you really owe it to yourself to discover Café Corazón.
Caroline Wade is first an artist and then a pastry chef. After that, she is part of a new breed of entrepreneurs who incorporate social networking in real time and online to create relationships and buzz to build their businesses. She describes herself as “Owner, Artist, and Pastry Chef of Caroline's Creations.”
Anthony “Ap” Armour, Bryan Feil, and Garth Richards cannot tell you who “runs” Neighborhood Thrift. What runs the organization is a sense of mission and a vision for what the ministry can and does accomplish in people’s lives. They describe themselves as a “triumvirate,” formed around a common purpose to launch a bold venture in the heart of the Tower District of Fresno.
Expect bright, happy, cheerful food served by a bright, happy, cheerful host when you visit Raspados California in Fresno. Ricardo Aceves loves what he does and he loves the food he makes.
No one is quite sure of the origin and no one owns the word, but a “hashtag” is hash mark (#) followed by a word used as a type of bookmark in social media, most notably Twitter. It facilitates cross pollination and collaboration of ideas by creating groupings and words. It creates space in cyberspace where ideas can grow. It is a new word in a world of new words, concepts, and constant change.
The Fresno Arts Council's ArtHop is a local treasure. On the first and third Thursdays of every month, the art community opens its doors to the public to browse, appreciate congregate, and communicate with artists and others who love art.
