I’ve interviewed for a job there. It’s a good job in my field and it’s closer to friends and family than the other jobs that are being advertised. I’d never been there before the interview and everyone I’ve talked to goes, “Ew. Fresno.”
Having spent one day there, I know about the heat and the haze and I’m told its the meth capital of California. Is there anything good about it? Or are there horrible city secrets I should know before I consider moving?
Personally, it means I’m almost to Grandma’s. I think there’s some antique stores (and I know there are some good ones in towns around there). I think there’s a Dairy Queen…
I had a dislocated shoulder reduced there. So, good drugs, as you said.
You are fairly equidistant from Sacramento, the Bay Area, the central coast, and the southern part of the state, so it’s a 3-hour drive pretty much anywhere you want to go. Your decision as to whether that’s a good thing or not, which actually sums up most of what I’ve heard about Fresno.
The “Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill” was the first modern landfill in the United States, and incorporated several important innovations to waste disposal, including trenching, compacting, and the daily covering of trash with dirt. It was opened in 1937 and closed in 1987. It is now a National Historic Landmark.
I was just in Fresno last night for a concert; I live about an hour and fifteen away. It’s my local “big city” although I’m really much more likely to go to Modesto. As cities go, I guess it’s OK. I’m not the person to ask, because I prefer small towns or rural living to cities, but I know that it’s also quite easy to get either of those very close to Fresno too.
People say that Fresno has a very small-town feel to it, but I’m guessing that’s people coming from other cities talking, not people from actual small towns. They have an awesome minor-league baseball stadium, the park I was at last night was beautiful, and there’s some serious shopping developing there. It’s got a pretty seedy inner city if you watch the news, but if you’re coming from Oakland, that might not bother you. Meth is a problem, but that’s all over the Valley, not just in Fresno.
I guess if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to live in a city, I’d pick either Fresno or Bakersfield over Sacramento, the Bay Area, or LA. Which might be an anti-recommendation, depending on what you like
The paper is the Fresno Bee if you’d like to research it from that angle. Fresnans tend to really like their city.
I’m from a town right near Fresno (Visalia if you know it). Fresno, to us, was just known for higher crime and such, but thats mostly the downtown and seedier areas. It has some pretty nice neighborhoods in it, not a “small town feel” at all AFAIK, maybe I just think that because it was bigger than Vtown. Its in the middle of ag country, so lots of fresh veggies and fruit stands, but also migrant workers and such (goes hand in hand).
I don’t think its horrendously worse than anywhere else, but I still always apologize when I hear someone is from Fresno (or Bakersfield). Its a valley thing.
So it’s famous for a salad and a big old dump and is located about 3 hours from everywhere but Yosemite?
I did like what parts of it I saw and I spent a while perusing the phonebook to check for the presence of my favorite chain stores (which are all well represented). If they’ll only offer me the job…
If you’re sitting on Moro Rock up in Sequoia National Park at sunset in midsummer, it looks very much like the sun is setting right into the very middle of Fresno, and if your imagination is good you can almost hear the screams of the incinerated residents.
Hmmm… Valley fever? There’s a lot of that around… I believe someone mentioned the Dairy Queen. It doesn’t smell quite as bad as Livingston…
Fresno is quite a lot like a stunted Sacramento without the rivers and delta breeze… err… I think that’s called “damning with faint praise.”
I’m sure they have an Applebee’s by now.
At least it doesn’t have a giant embarrassing tractor shaped building right next to the highway like Turlock… and the name doesn’t mean “lard” like some other cities we could mention…
The only thing I know about Fresno is that it’s the hometown of Marcus Wesson – which, if you think about it, is actually a good thing. How many towns ever have TWO psycho mass murderers?!?
Back in the days of the WCHL (West Coast Hockey League), the Fresno Falcons once visited the San Diego Gulls at the venerable San Diego Sports Arena (now the iPayOne Center) in a playoff game. A Gulls player committed a penalty and was sent to the sin bin. The Jumbotron then showed a clip of a(nother) Gulls player sitting down in the penalty box and being handed a book to read while he serves his penalty. The book: “Great Moments in Fresno History”. Every page was empty.
Nah, in summer traffic it’s just about 3 hours from Yosemite, too…
I really like Oakland (at least parts thereof), so you won’t get me suggesting that you move to Fresno (unless you have a really great Oakland apartment that you’ll sublet to me!).
