I just thought about Adam walking around in high heels and socks at Landmark last night. Then I thought about the random group of guys walking around in dresses looking for money because they lost some bet that they said had to do with the March Madness Brackets but I have my suspicions. And now I am thinking about the ever so painfully hilarious ass slapping session at the end of the night. Good times in Tower as always:)
Ed, where are the pictures?
Showing posts with label Tower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tower. Show all posts
Thursday, April 3
Thursday, February 7
Tree Fresno's 11th Annual Run Through The Trees
Coming up on Sunday March 9th, I will be running in Tree Fresno's 12th annual Run Through The Trees in Tower. The 6.1 mile run starts at 8:00 AM and a 2 mile Run/Walk starts at 8:05. The race starts at the corner of Van Ness and Olive and ends at Wishon and Olive so if you don't want to run or walk it, you should come out and watch (Ed you could wave from your window). If you want to see the course and get more information go here.
The race fee is only 20 bucks and you get a free, and I am sure extremely cool t-shirt, porobably with trees on it. I believe this is also the same day as the 6th Annual Valley Classic Bike Race, so it will be an action packed day.
Wednesday, February 6
Things that I Love
I really love getting woken up at 2:15 in the morning by a woman screaming and crying on the street right outside of my apartment. For about 10 minutes she was yelling and begging and pleading with someone not to leave. I finally got up and looked outside to see what was going on and a woman in pajamas was screaming into the passenger side rolled up window of the truck while banging her fists on it while the truck continued to roll down the street. She then started begging him to tell her that he loved her and that she would leave and let him go if he just told her he loved her. This request continued for probably 2 minutes before I could hear the guy, windows still rolled up finally say "I love you" and drive off. She then walked away crying.
I thought it would be much louder being Fat Tuesday last night but it was either pretty quiet (except for the screaming crazy woman) or I was sleeping pretty hard because I didn't hear much. My apartment is great but I have overheard some bizzare things in the middle of the night.
I thought it would be much louder being Fat Tuesday last night but it was either pretty quiet (except for the screaming crazy woman) or I was sleeping pretty hard because I didn't hear much. My apartment is great but I have overheard some bizzare things in the middle of the night.
Friday, December 28
Changes in Tower
A couple of weeks ago there was an article in the Fresno Bee that said Lauck's Bakery would be closing at the beginning of the year. This was right on the heels of the drug store that shares the same parking lot closing its doors and also "M" shutting down not too long ago as well. The reasons that were cited were increased rent prices, even though rent in Tower is lower than most other places in Fresno, without the increased customer base to support it.
Although it is unfortunate to see businesses fail, I honestly wasn't a fan of any of those establishments. I appreciate that Lauck's is an icon in the Tower District and has been there for many years but I was never impressed with their product. I went in there a few times to pick up something to bring to staff meetings and found a very limited selection and the quality was standard but not exceptional. I know some people love that place but its appeal is more nostalgic to me at least. We also went to M once for dinner and again everything was decent but nothing I would tell my friends about (had you not all been there with me).
So with some of the old blood packing up and leaving there is ample opportunity for new establishments to take their places. I have always said that I would love it if there was a sushi place in Tower and the Laucks article mentioned that a sushi restaurant would be going in and just today I saw the sign for it coming soon across from Starbucks. It seems like if they do a decent job with the restaurant it would be a popular destination. I know I will be looking forward to trying it in the near future.
There are other opportunities for new developments in this area though that could make the Tower District a very successful area. Business development has always been intriguing to me as well as the entrepreneurial spirit associated with it so I look forward to seeing what indeed comes to fruition.
Austin is a very entrepreneurial city with a great deal of independently owned establishments that usually have a quirky edge to them. I know I talk a lot about how cool Austin is but it really is pretty great. One of my favorite things to do there was to go to the Alamo DraftHouse. I very possibly could have described this place to you before so if I did I apologize but I am going to talk about it again because I think the Tower Theater would be a great place to use a similar concept. Basically they took an old run down theater downtown, ripped out every other row of seats and in their place put a narrow table top that stretches the length of the row. When you get there there is a menu in front of you and once you decide what you want you write it down and the waiter/waitress will come pick it up and within the first 15 minutes of the movie starting you have your food. We are not talking about popcorn and whoppers either the menu has appetizers, burgers and fries, pizza, salads etc. and the food is actually pretty good. They play regular movies but have a lot of themed shows that they do as well. For example I went to the R. Kelly Sing-a-long and they played the entire trapped in the closet series complete with commentary from a couple of comedians who hosted the show as well as some of his old music videos that they just rip. They play a ton of old movies that aren't classics but horrible funny, they have mini film festivals, there was an 80's prom theme show where they showed Pretty in Pink and everyone dressed up in 80s prom attire and my favorite thing they do is a live version of Mystery Science Theater where they take popular old movies (like The Lost Boys) and again have commentary the entire time from comedians who sit up front. Oh yeah and did I mention they serve alcohol too??
I see the Tower Theater being right next to an available restaurant and I get all a tingle. If I knew anything about starting a business I would think it would go over pretty well. I wouldn't even know where to start. Hopefully though other people do and they will bring that knowledge to the area and get something creative, fun and successful to the most unique and arguably the best neighborhood in Fresno.
(Is anyone even still reading??)
Although it is unfortunate to see businesses fail, I honestly wasn't a fan of any of those establishments. I appreciate that Lauck's is an icon in the Tower District and has been there for many years but I was never impressed with their product. I went in there a few times to pick up something to bring to staff meetings and found a very limited selection and the quality was standard but not exceptional. I know some people love that place but its appeal is more nostalgic to me at least. We also went to M once for dinner and again everything was decent but nothing I would tell my friends about (had you not all been there with me).
So with some of the old blood packing up and leaving there is ample opportunity for new establishments to take their places. I have always said that I would love it if there was a sushi place in Tower and the Laucks article mentioned that a sushi restaurant would be going in and just today I saw the sign for it coming soon across from Starbucks. It seems like if they do a decent job with the restaurant it would be a popular destination. I know I will be looking forward to trying it in the near future.
There are other opportunities for new developments in this area though that could make the Tower District a very successful area. Business development has always been intriguing to me as well as the entrepreneurial spirit associated with it so I look forward to seeing what indeed comes to fruition.
Austin is a very entrepreneurial city with a great deal of independently owned establishments that usually have a quirky edge to them. I know I talk a lot about how cool Austin is but it really is pretty great. One of my favorite things to do there was to go to the Alamo DraftHouse. I very possibly could have described this place to you before so if I did I apologize but I am going to talk about it again because I think the Tower Theater would be a great place to use a similar concept. Basically they took an old run down theater downtown, ripped out every other row of seats and in their place put a narrow table top that stretches the length of the row. When you get there there is a menu in front of you and once you decide what you want you write it down and the waiter/waitress will come pick it up and within the first 15 minutes of the movie starting you have your food. We are not talking about popcorn and whoppers either the menu has appetizers, burgers and fries, pizza, salads etc. and the food is actually pretty good. They play regular movies but have a lot of themed shows that they do as well. For example I went to the R. Kelly Sing-a-long and they played the entire trapped in the closet series complete with commentary from a couple of comedians who hosted the show as well as some of his old music videos that they just rip. They play a ton of old movies that aren't classics but horrible funny, they have mini film festivals, there was an 80's prom theme show where they showed Pretty in Pink and everyone dressed up in 80s prom attire and my favorite thing they do is a live version of Mystery Science Theater where they take popular old movies (like The Lost Boys) and again have commentary the entire time from comedians who sit up front. Oh yeah and did I mention they serve alcohol too??
I see the Tower Theater being right next to an available restaurant and I get all a tingle. If I knew anything about starting a business I would think it would go over pretty well. I wouldn't even know where to start. Hopefully though other people do and they will bring that knowledge to the area and get something creative, fun and successful to the most unique and arguably the best neighborhood in Fresno.
(Is anyone even still reading??)
Friday, May 11
Taste and Toast of Tower
Kendall and I decided to venture out to the Taste and Toast of Tower event last night, here are our stories:
One of the stangest places for wine tasting was the International Furniture Store (Yes, they have leather). They had two tasting stations set up and a long line snaked thru the store. The first taste was decent, however unmemorable cabernet (mabye?). As we were standing in line for the second taste however, our patience began to wear thin. The one man that was pouring was really going thru the pitch as thoroughly as he possibly could and the tasters seemed completely oblivious to the long line of tasters waiting for their turn, our impatience growing with each irritating second. A rather high pitched bell rang each time someone came or went from the store, which was particularly brutal when it got stuck and rang continously for several minutes (ok probably only 7 seconds or so but my patience was really low at this point. I just wanted some friggin wine!). A group of 4 tasted every wine selection and happily listened to the man pouring give the history, discuss the flavor and talk about all the other typical wine chatter for each bottle. As we sloooowly progrssed to the front we thought our saving grace would be the cheese and cracker platter we were approaching. As Kendall and I grab some cheese, I notice that something is amiss but am unable to put my finger on it. Then Kendall being the brilliant cheese connoisseur that she is, identifies the unnaturally orange substance as Kraft American cheese slices, cut into fours. Finally making it to the wine, we took a quick swig and walked away. This is how it is done people. You are at an International Furniture store that has a life size ceramic dalmation dog and is serving Kraft American cheese slices, this is clearly not Napa Valley, keep it movin!
Besides the Kraft American cheese fiasco, most of the other restaraunts offered some great food. Typhoon had pad thai (or pad tay which is apparantly from Tayland - we actually overheard someone pronounce it pad tay) and some apple peanut thing, a potato chip with a spicy sauce and a tea. I believe this is the best food we had all night although Veni's also had a nice little spicy pulled pork taco that was also pretty good.
Besides the food and the wine it was also fun running into people; John Mayer- So are you gay because you were wearing a pink shirt and talked sort of fem (Yes Adam, I took away some man points for the pink shirt)-just wondering; Wally-you are an anomaly with your unibrow and lack of those typical good looks but you are still most adorable and and sigh inducing; boy wonder, hard to get a word in with you but I hope you enjoyed your shot of patron you crazy animal.
We got a bit of a late start so several places ran out of wine (boo hiss) but it was an enjoyable and entertaining time. And cheers to the Tower Theater ball finally being lit up:)
One of the stangest places for wine tasting was the International Furniture Store (Yes, they have leather). They had two tasting stations set up and a long line snaked thru the store. The first taste was decent, however unmemorable cabernet (mabye?). As we were standing in line for the second taste however, our patience began to wear thin. The one man that was pouring was really going thru the pitch as thoroughly as he possibly could and the tasters seemed completely oblivious to the long line of tasters waiting for their turn, our impatience growing with each irritating second. A rather high pitched bell rang each time someone came or went from the store, which was particularly brutal when it got stuck and rang continously for several minutes (ok probably only 7 seconds or so but my patience was really low at this point. I just wanted some friggin wine!). A group of 4 tasted every wine selection and happily listened to the man pouring give the history, discuss the flavor and talk about all the other typical wine chatter for each bottle. As we sloooowly progrssed to the front we thought our saving grace would be the cheese and cracker platter we were approaching. As Kendall and I grab some cheese, I notice that something is amiss but am unable to put my finger on it. Then Kendall being the brilliant cheese connoisseur that she is, identifies the unnaturally orange substance as Kraft American cheese slices, cut into fours. Finally making it to the wine, we took a quick swig and walked away. This is how it is done people. You are at an International Furniture store that has a life size ceramic dalmation dog and is serving Kraft American cheese slices, this is clearly not Napa Valley, keep it movin!
Besides the Kraft American cheese fiasco, most of the other restaraunts offered some great food. Typhoon had pad thai (or pad tay which is apparantly from Tayland - we actually overheard someone pronounce it pad tay) and some apple peanut thing, a potato chip with a spicy sauce and a tea. I believe this is the best food we had all night although Veni's also had a nice little spicy pulled pork taco that was also pretty good.
Besides the food and the wine it was also fun running into people; John Mayer- So are you gay because you were wearing a pink shirt and talked sort of fem (Yes Adam, I took away some man points for the pink shirt)-just wondering; Wally-you are an anomaly with your unibrow and lack of those typical good looks but you are still most adorable and and sigh inducing; boy wonder, hard to get a word in with you but I hope you enjoyed your shot of patron you crazy animal.
We got a bit of a late start so several places ran out of wine (boo hiss) but it was an enjoyable and entertaining time. And cheers to the Tower Theater ball finally being lit up:)
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