March 1, 1989, Page 8 |
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imii.iii ir
One of the eleven shoe stores on the mall tries to attract customers to help clean out Its Inventory before Its closes.
Thor Swift/Dairy CoUegi,
k3ymbols die by rote here, and are
ressurected. The seventy-two-year-old
Bank of America Budding (formerly the
Bank of Italy Budding) sits at the city's
core, the beleaguered epicenter at 1015
Fulton Mall in downtown Fresno, and
presents to the passerby a splendid facade,
red brick and carved ledges and, according
to the real estate sign in the window,
some seven stories of "available
rentaVotfice space."
In fact the building is home neither to
the Bank of America nor to the Bank of
Italy nor to any other tennant, is in fact
completely vacant, the handles of its
glass doors wrapped with thick chains and
padlocked and "NO TRESPASSING"
signs taped id the windows. Through
these windows a sinister pallid glow is
cast on the stripped bank counters, and if
one hazards to call the number in the
window, ostensibly inquiring for "leasing
info," one is bound to get this recording
We are out of the office. We will soon
be remodeling our building at 1015
Fulton Mall. If you are interested in
office or retail space . . .
The recording has been on eternal loop,
people on the Mall say, with much the
same message for several years now, ever
since the building was proclaimed by
inspectors lo fail earthquake standards, the
"remodeling" apparently frozen in time at
the B of As relocation just down ihe
street, off the Fulion Mall, and contrary
to the reassurring "Well get back to you"
at the tape's end, one's call is, as mine
was, likely 10 remain unanswered, a lost
cry in ihe dark.
It has been called the symbol of
Fresno—an increasingly ambiguous
locution—but precisely what ihe Fulton
Mall is said to symbolize depends on
whom you talk to, and when. It either is
or is not, in its present-day form, "dead in
the water." Its potential to become a
"regional" shopping center, in the mold
On The Mai
of a Fashion Fair or a Manchester Center
or a Sierra Vista, either is or is not
"exhausted." The Mall either symbolizes
Fresno's "abject failiae" to control its
destiny, to plan its growth, to rebuild
itself, or its "up-coming challenge."
To stroll down the Mall itself,
between the fountains and the roofless
kiosks and the bronze sculptures, is to
experience a visual vertigo, a nexus
between what is and what was supposed
to be. One can see what Victor Gruen bad
in mind when be began designing it in
the spring of 1959, and one can sec what
Victor Gruen pointedly did not have in
mind in the spring of 1959. Both images
coexist, playing off each other, each day,
in the opaque Fresno sunlight
There are benches to sit on and there
are trees lo sit under and (here are
fountains to look at and sculptures and
mosaics to ponder, but many of the
fountains work only marginally, water
gurgling into dirty pools, and many of
the Mall's 19 sculptures, some created by
world-renown artists (Pierre Auguste
Renoir, for one), have verdigris growing
on the bronze and water damage in the
stones; and the wood benches have
deviated drastically from the "neutral earth
tones" suggested by Victor Gruen. have
now been painted bright pink and apple
green and are in various stages of peeling.
Thai there are benches at all puts the
Fulton Mall in an exclusive category in
Fresno (one after all can sit for
indeterminate hours in fairly pleasant
environs) and comprises much of the
Mall's charm. But these same benches are
used mostiy by people who do little or no
shopping—by elderly Hispanic men in
cowboy hats and baseball caps and brown
Though Cart Larsen Is tho only "staff" In his office, he Is director of the D
ovewrtooks the Fulton Mall.
fedoras who frequent ihe mall day in and
day out, who gravitate toward the Mall's
central court, around its sixty-foot tall
clock tower, and who socialize or read the
paper or stare blankly into space; and by
teenage boys who gather in trios and leer
at passing women; and by street people-
who lay out their bedrolls and pan¬
handle—all of which tends to exacerbate
much of the Mall's, and downtown's, and
ultimately the entire city of Fresnt
central dilemma: that people seem not
want to come here, that it is quite casj
drive by the city without ever knowi
or caring to know, it existed.
1 he Mall is a reality! Downto
streets, wHck yesterday *ere Om scent
Object Description
| Title | 1989_03 The Daily Collegian March 1989 |
| Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
| Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
| Publication Date | 1989 |
| Description | Daily (except weedends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif.: BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
| Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
| Contributors | Associated Students of Fresno State. |
| Coverage | Vol.1 no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
| Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
| Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
| Language | eng |
Description
| Title | March 1, 1989, Page 8 |
| Alternative Title | Daily Collegian (California State University, Fresno) |
| Publisher | Associated Students of Fresno State, Fresno, Calif. |
| Publication Date | 1989 |
| Description | Daily (except weedends) during the school year. Microfilm. Palo Alto, Calif.: BMI Library Microfilms, 1986- microfilm reels; 35 mm. Vol.1, no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- |
| Subject | California State University, Fresno -- Periodicals. |
| Contributors | Associated Students of Fresno State. |
| Coverage | Vol.1 no.1 (Feb 8, 1922)- to present |
| Format | Microfilm reels, 35 mm. |
| Technical Information | Scanned at 600 dpi; TIFF; Microfilm ScanPro 2000 "E-image data" |
| Language | eng |
| Full-Text-Search | imii.iii ir One of the eleven shoe stores on the mall tries to attract customers to help clean out Its Inventory before Its closes. Thor Swift/Dairy CoUegi, k3ymbols die by rote here, and are ressurected. The seventy-two-year-old Bank of America Budding (formerly the Bank of Italy Budding) sits at the city's core, the beleaguered epicenter at 1015 Fulton Mall in downtown Fresno, and presents to the passerby a splendid facade, red brick and carved ledges and, according to the real estate sign in the window, some seven stories of "available rentaVotfice space." In fact the building is home neither to the Bank of America nor to the Bank of Italy nor to any other tennant, is in fact completely vacant, the handles of its glass doors wrapped with thick chains and padlocked and "NO TRESPASSING" signs taped id the windows. Through these windows a sinister pallid glow is cast on the stripped bank counters, and if one hazards to call the number in the window, ostensibly inquiring for "leasing info," one is bound to get this recording We are out of the office. We will soon be remodeling our building at 1015 Fulton Mall. If you are interested in office or retail space . . . The recording has been on eternal loop, people on the Mall say, with much the same message for several years now, ever since the building was proclaimed by inspectors lo fail earthquake standards, the "remodeling" apparently frozen in time at the B of As relocation just down ihe street, off the Fulion Mall, and contrary to the reassurring "Well get back to you" at the tape's end, one's call is, as mine was, likely 10 remain unanswered, a lost cry in ihe dark. It has been called the symbol of Fresno—an increasingly ambiguous locution—but precisely what ihe Fulton Mall is said to symbolize depends on whom you talk to, and when. It either is or is not, in its present-day form, "dead in the water." Its potential to become a "regional" shopping center, in the mold On The Mai of a Fashion Fair or a Manchester Center or a Sierra Vista, either is or is not "exhausted." The Mall either symbolizes Fresno's "abject failiae" to control its destiny, to plan its growth, to rebuild itself, or its "up-coming challenge." To stroll down the Mall itself, between the fountains and the roofless kiosks and the bronze sculptures, is to experience a visual vertigo, a nexus between what is and what was supposed to be. One can see what Victor Gruen bad in mind when be began designing it in the spring of 1959, and one can sec what Victor Gruen pointedly did not have in mind in the spring of 1959. Both images coexist, playing off each other, each day, in the opaque Fresno sunlight There are benches to sit on and there are trees lo sit under and (here are fountains to look at and sculptures and mosaics to ponder, but many of the fountains work only marginally, water gurgling into dirty pools, and many of the Mall's 19 sculptures, some created by world-renown artists (Pierre Auguste Renoir, for one), have verdigris growing on the bronze and water damage in the stones; and the wood benches have deviated drastically from the "neutral earth tones" suggested by Victor Gruen. have now been painted bright pink and apple green and are in various stages of peeling. Thai there are benches at all puts the Fulton Mall in an exclusive category in Fresno (one after all can sit for indeterminate hours in fairly pleasant environs) and comprises much of the Mall's charm. But these same benches are used mostiy by people who do little or no shopping—by elderly Hispanic men in cowboy hats and baseball caps and brown Though Cart Larsen Is tho only "staff" In his office, he Is director of the D ovewrtooks the Fulton Mall. fedoras who frequent ihe mall day in and day out, who gravitate toward the Mall's central court, around its sixty-foot tall clock tower, and who socialize or read the paper or stare blankly into space; and by teenage boys who gather in trios and leer at passing women; and by street people- who lay out their bedrolls and pan¬ handle—all of which tends to exacerbate much of the Mall's, and downtown's, and ultimately the entire city of Fresnt central dilemma: that people seem not want to come here, that it is quite casj drive by the city without ever knowi or caring to know, it existed. 1 he Mall is a reality! Downto streets, wHck yesterday *ere Om scent |
