I was born in Fresno in 1937, went to Winchell, Longfellow and Edison High. We all dragged the main and ate burgers at Stan’s drive in. Fresno had many ethnic groups in west Fresno. Large German, Italian, Hispanic, Black and Asian neighborhoods and they all went to Edison. I worked at Gottschalk’s and Fresno Distributing. I left in the early 60s.

This idea turned downtown into a shit pile, killed the downtown and destroyed the retail market when everything moved north.

😂 This narrator has the DEBBIE DOWNER mentality for most of this video .

So this redevelopment scheme back then was to enhance pedestrian traffic, remove automobile traffic and dependency in the urban core, and to preserve and stimulate the downtown core…was an abject failure. The urban planners, architects, social activists, politicians, and business people were all wrong. And the Fulton Mall was a disaster. Seems like they tried to copy a European style central core environment, and place it on top of Fresno.

I lived in Fresno my whole life until 2021 and moved. I was 24 when i moved away. It has its rough areas like anywhere does but I miss it.

Where did this ambition go in American planning? Truly amazing!

❤ father of the shopping mall he did well in his life ❤

Idk why people hate Fresno so much . Especially the natives .... I am born and raised in Fresno ..i love my city and how much it has grown

Downtown Fresno is not the same like back in the early 60s it's all messed up nothing but homeless a lot of empty buildings I don't go there no more hope they bring it back

I am in and from Fresno. It is currently not as good as it used to be. Too much crime and gangs

So, where is the theater organ which used to be there?

We shopped downtown at the Fulton Mall in the late 60s and 70s at Gottschalks, Woolworth and JC Penny. We loved it. I forgot the name of the wedding gown store where I bought my wedding dress.

Im 62 and was born in Fresno. Family moved to Oregon when I was 14. I visited last year (2022). Its worse than before. Like I was driving Fulton Mall! Dirty garbage from people not caring or drug use homelessness. Oh but hey, my golden key from Story Land that I've had since I was 9 still works. Although they took away the real animals and painfully changed the stories!

The idea that a city needs a "main core" is BS. It's also a socialist idea. Decent people naturally flee from these "main cores" because of crime. Call it "white flight" or whatever you want to call it. People want to be safe. It's a noble ideal. Instead of blaming hard working families, blame the criminals. Even back when this was made they used leftist terminology; "diversity", "underprivileged". How's that Fulton Mall working out? It's been torn out because it became an open toilet for all the homeless and an easy way to rob pedestrians. Suburbs are the only way to get away from all that "diversity" that the ruling class always tries to shove down everyone's throat. I want to live around people who share my values.

Sure a shit hole today. No one goes down there. Dangerous homeless people drugs and gangs.

My Mom and Dad met in 1963 cruising Fulton. Mom was a senior at Roosevelt Dad was based in Lemoore. There first real date was Cedar Lanes

Clovis used to be way out there. The mall, rink-stadium china town, 🚂 depot near by little family owned basque restaurant, um good. skid row. Now bullet train. Progress 🤺💐

This documentary is an incredible moment in history. This comment section is interesting to read. I love Fresno💚💚

Looks way different

This is not fresno

Very sad. “The Fulton Mall was a six-block corridor in downtown Fresno, California which was closed to traffic in 1964 and made into a pedestrians only mall. Despite opening to much fanfare, the downtown mall suffered from the city's suburban expansion, especially the opening of the Fashion Fair Mall six miles to the north. By the 1980s, most storefronts on the mall were empty and plans to renovate the mall were discussed. In 2017, car traffic was reintroduced to the street after most the public art and amenities had been relocated to sidewalk areas.[1]”

Downtown is the one place in the whole city I always get lost in! I could barely find my way to work when I worked at Gottschalks on the Fulton mall!

Unbelievable!

Just stumbled upon this documentary. My family moved to Fresno/Clovis area in 1970. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Wait did I see that right? Was the jail originally a parking structure?

Some hasn't changed much

It's was SO great, the city ripped out the mall in 2020 reopening the road to traffic

Hey, could you please tell me the name of the melody in the trailer? or the song from the trailer? I've been looking for it and I can't find anything. please tell me what it's called!

The horse poop was the problem the news paper read. And the smog was the next news cycle. Don't worry yourselves to death over problems we have the ability to solve. People live in the conditions they choose.

Fresno was small town in early 70s. But also metropolitan. For a small town Fresno had lot of concerts. Many filmed on KZbin. Ratcliff stadium 1965

Sweded huh...Be Kind Rewind

Downtown mostly homeless ppl now 👎

Homeless people hangout on Cedar and Shields. I hangout on the outside of Rite Aid all the time on Shields and Cider after shopping there.

It’s just full of nasty homeless people now with needles hanging out there armed. We don’t need another new mall for people to hang out we need more mental health facilities to help people in need

I think the California Highspeed Rail is why downtown looks so much different today. A few years ago they got rid of the open mall. Now there's condos, new businesses, which brings in customers and revenue. And they are building the highspeed rail station which runs right in front of Chuckchansi park. Fresno is becoming a modern city, starting in the downtown area.

Hahahahaha... 😭

Awesome 😀😃😄😁😆😅🤣😂🙂🙃😉😊🥰😍🤩😘😗☺😚😙🥲😋😛😜🤪😝🤑🤗🤭🤫🤔

Product of its time. No color/ethnic people besides when used for displaying crime/poverty.

I love that Security Bank Building in Downtown

When I was young living in Selma and would always go to Fresno, my parents would always drive past Blackstone and me looking at all the stores and restaurants. Such as River Park. Fine childhood of mine 🥰

That place is where junkies get there food 😂

Fresno look so clean back then now it looks all gettho

Downtown Fresno is cracking now 😁

I remember Herndon was the edge of Fresno. Everthing beyond was open fields.

The MEPs used to be there. Everyone that joined the military in the Central Valley had to go through MEPs

I’m the one who put the sign on the marque for tan Mexican Movie with Vicente Fernández

your footage is now an historical archive ... thank you so much for documenting it when you did.

sad it's all gone now they gutted the inside .

OMG how things have changed. In a span of a few decades Fresno has gone from a City Reborn to a City of Shit.

I believe this is the theater that my grandmother played the organ at when she was a girl.