"Fresno Historical Landmarks" #fresnocalifornia #historical #landmarks
Happy Monday Witches!
Within this episode, we will be sharing some of the histories of Fresno California Landmarks.
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~~~~~•~~~~~~•~~~~~~~•~~~~~~~~•~~~~~~~~~~•~~~~
1. Forestiere Underground Gardens: https://undergroundgardens.com/
2. Santa Fe Hotel: https://historicfresno.org/nrhp/sfhotel.htm
3. Garfield Schoolhouse Arch: https://clovisroundup.com/lets-talk-clovis-1883-garfield-colony-school/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So if you're from Fresno, listento this.
Did you ever hear about the Garfield School arch right there
on Miniwawa and Shepherd? I feel like I seen it but I
don't remember. I'm sure everyone's seen it now.
Even though it is located in Clover side of the area, I still
consider it Fresno because it's technically Fresno County.
So I'm still considering it Fresno so don't come for me now.
(00:23):
Brick looking thing is known as Garfield Schoolhouse Arch
located on Shepherd and Miniwawawhere it was originally a school
before it was the short fire fire and the only thing left was
the solitary arch. Hammer, Witches and Norms,
(00:45):
Welcome back to the Witch Artistpodcast.
Welcome back. We're your host, Diamond Witch.
There we go. And today we're going to talk
about Fresno, CA historic landmarks.
Why I came out that idea becausewe were on vacation for two
weeks, right? And when you see this video,
it's going to be May 11th. Well, happy Mother's Day.
Happy Mother's Day to other momsout there.
(01:05):
To other mothers out there now within this podcast we're going
to be talking about Fresno, CA historical landmarks such as.
Forestry. Underground gardens.
And then we're going to be talking about the Santa Fe
Basque Hotel, where now it's known as Shepherd Hotel.
And then the third one would be the Garfield School arch.
(01:30):
School Arch. I wanted to talk about this was
because on Instagram we're popping, people are watching our
video on Instagram. Thank you guys.
Thank you guys for supporting. I'm definitely gonna put this
clip in there, but everyone's been asking about the history.
And so I was like, wow, TikTok is more about scary places,
urban legends, you know, historyas well.
But on Instagram they were like eating it up for Fresno history.
(01:53):
And so I was like period, like, let's do 1 for them.
So TikTok, oh, TikTok, Instagram, this is for y'all.
Before we get into the podcast views, discretion is advised.
Everything we talk about just pure speculation and the
research that we've done, again,for audio listeners and viewers,
discussion is advised. But with that being said, let's
get straight into the podcast. So we're going to be talking
(02:13):
about a moment for ourselves. On to the next clip.
How you been? I've been OK, tired.
Well, we did take two weeks off for what did it feel like 2
weeks. No, no, it feels.
It feels like one week, maybe one day, 2 days.
Well, because we went to Cha Ching, Cha Ching, I lost so much
(02:37):
money. Me too.
No, you didn't. I lost your money.
Something like that. Yeah.
I was so sad. Hey, there's so many lost.
Yeah, true, true. But yeah, So for my birthday,
when we, I wanted to go out Saturday, but I wasn't feeling
good at all. Been good are we able to mention
(03:00):
this? But you know, Yeah, I know.
But you know, cuz something happened to your family.
Yeah, my uncle passed away, my daddy's brother.
And so when we went there to thefuneral, not saying I take it
sick, but it was more of like overwhelming.
Yeah, we're getting too deep. We're getting too deep.
(03:20):
So, well, let's get on to the podcast.
Let's get it started. So have you ever been to the
first 3 underground garden? No, I've never been there.
Yeah, so I remember being there,but I haven't been there for a
long, long time. Let's say school time.
So very long time. So you went there for like a big
school trip? Yeah, so school trip.
(03:41):
So I remember when we were at school, you know, we always have
school trips going on and one ofthose 3 was actually going to
the underground garden, which islocated on Shah by 99.
Lucky, yeah. But I remember it was, you know,
nice. It was pretty and that area.
So it was like fresh like like fresh breeze, I guess you could
(04:03):
say. Well.
Because of the trees. The trees because it's on the
floor underground. Oh, so it really is underground?
It is underground. Being from Fresno, I've never
heard about this Fresno historical landmark.
And so it is called the ForestedUnderground Garden, right?
Yeah. Now who is Baldessare?
Forestier pronounced as Baldassare which is Italian
(04:26):
origin and then his last name isForestier which is French.
He was born on July 8th, 1879 and passed away on November
10th, 1946. He was born in the hamlet of
Filari on the northern tip of Sicily.
He migrated to United States in the 1900s after a conflict with
(04:49):
his father, and sometime later he moved and purchased a land in
Fresno, CA. Yeah, wow, you don't know what
the right. Well, obviously they're not
going to talk about it. Well, back to the story.
The reason why he purchased the land in Fresno was because he's
always wanted to be a citrus farmer.
Soon after Bazdasite. Sorry, like it's hard for me to
(05:11):
pronounce. Soon after Bazade I decided to
dig a small cellar to escape thesummer because it was hot at the
time. His influence was due to when he
was a child, he was infatuated with the Roman catacombs and
wine cellar he had seen when he was in Italy.
Do you know the catacombs? Not really.
I'm thinking of like the, you know, the bees catacombs.
(05:34):
No. Well, it's actually an
underground burial site or burial place.
Underground the Roman. The cat, yeah.
And I was just like, like the one in Paris.
Well, let's talk about the design of the underground
garden. There's about 65 rooms in the
underground gardens. It has a summer bedroom, a
winter bedroom, a bath, a functional kitchen, a fish pond
(05:59):
and a parlor with a fire. The intricate pathways are
created by sections over a span of 10 acres without a blueprint.
And I was doing diggings. I didn't know.
I didn't understand, like what they mean by blueprint.
Well, when he was creating the underground garden, he did all
freehanded. He basically was like carving
things. And he did it without any plan.
(06:21):
He said I'm going to go down there and start carving.
He just started carving. Pretty much pretty much a
Minecraft in real life. Respectfully, respectfully, I
did research and I want to know like how did this man do it
right? I found out that he did it by
using a couple of farming tools,which were epic a shovel and a
wheelbarrow. By the time he was 44 years old,
(06:44):
he already had finished and planted over 10 acres.
Yeah. And within these 10 acres of
land, Mr. Forestier planted multiple varieties of fruit
trees and vines up to 20 feet underground, from oranges to
lemon and even grapefruit. And there's actually more.
(07:05):
Also not to mention he even planted other fruits such as
kumquat. I didn't know what that was.
So I I'm gonna put a picture here.
And in Jujubee, we all know whatJujubee plants are.
And also loquat, which are like,I never knew what that was, but
we always eat it when we were little.
And so the forested underground garden was named the Historical
Landmark by the State of Department of Parks and
(07:27):
Recreation on October 12th, 1979.
This dude was ahead of his time.Not only did he created this
place which he constructed, but he did a whole planting within
this area of different fruit andtrees.
And they said well from the article that I read, the trees
(07:48):
were not so high where you're able to like they're Venable so
you can pull them down and grab the fruit and eat them.
I was like, I want some. Now I do also have to mention,
but sadly on November 10th, 1946, just at age 67, Mr.
Baldaccier Fodastier passed awaywhere he was buried at the Holy
(08:11):
Cross Cemetery on Belmont Ave. And you want to know what his
last words was? His last words were and I quote
to make something with a lot of money, that is easy, but to make
something out of nothing that issomething.
It's not cute. Confusing.
Confusing a bit. Really.
(08:33):
I felt like he basically said you came up with your own
basically to say like you have you do something for money, but
by building something out of nothing, it's basically like
worth more than money. So memorable, Yeah.
Well what do you guys think about that?
Am I tripping? No, it makes sense now.
(08:53):
Well, also come to find out he never had any children, no.
Children. No, he never had any children
and basically the garden was passed to his two descendants
generation. Well, everything we talked about
will be LinkedIn the descriptionbox below.
Now, have you ever been there? Yeah, I've been there, actually
(09:14):
been. I've been there a long time ago,
the school years pretty much because they used to do field
trips and well, the other gardenwas pretty much one of the field
trips that we do. And you know, I still remember
how it looked like, you know, itwas pretty much all on the
ground. You know, you see like trees
planted, you see all this like stone walls and everything.
(09:39):
And they will take us like the tours like different sections of
the rooms. But I think at that time for me,
it did not look like he grew up in like a like a house, I guess
because that way it was mentioned that, you know, it was
pretty much his home, like, you know, it was a home, but on the
ground. It was 65 bedrooms.
I'm sure it looked more than OK.So since you went there, was
(10:01):
there any walls? Like as in like let's say the
room was just a door and then it's closed like this.
Imagine a podcast studio but with the door.
Or was it all in the open? Like you can just walk.
No, I, I remember seeing like, you know, they build like like
like the club in the doors. I think they were indoors at
that time. I think they probably to come
(10:23):
out maybe the way there was, butit's been a while since I've
been there. Well, because it's technically
like an attraction, right? Yeah.
So they basically wanted to lookvery like a museum, let's let's
say that, but in a historic way.Plus, it's very unusual, you
know, how that became to be because, you know, something
like that doesn't really happen in the real world, I guess to
(10:45):
say. Oh yeah, I mean, he built that
for like until he was 44. Kudos to you, man.
Rest in peace. By the way, You created
something so beautiful. And now it's in historical site
and thank God because not to allegedly a lot of Fresno
historical sites here, landmarks, they've been either
(11:07):
demolished or somebody said, allright, let's get rid of it.
Like off topic, you know, the cello, the grain cellos down
right there in the northern downtown.
So it's basically a rice or you can say like a California plant.
Yeah. If you really think about it, it
looks like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers mountain with the
(11:28):
cylinder. Yeah, so like 3 premiers.
Yeah, OK. Think of it like that.
So Zaki Farms took over, but then in 2018-2019 it was finally
like closed. And so within August, I believe
August or September 2024, the city of Fresno said, let's
demolish it. And then from what I did on the
research also, I found out that on March 11th, they actually
(11:51):
tore it down and they're creating a room for the, that,
that train thing. What's it called?
The the fast moving train. Yeah, the high speed high.
Speed rail, yeah. And that, that that's sad to me
because just like when we found out about the first house that
was built and then what's that freeway called Night 180, the
(12:14):
one I thought, yeah, on Blackstone and Abbey, they
basically tore the house down tocreate that freeway, which I'm
not mad about, but historical landmarks or things that are
first in Fresno should not be destroyed or demolished.
I feel like they should kept it as is or somehow built the.
Around it. Around it.
(12:34):
But who are we, right? This is way before our time.
You know. Moving on to our next historical
landmark is known as Santa Fe Basque Hotel and Bar here in
Fresno, CA, but now it's known as Shepherd Bar.
I've been there. No.
Well, I haven't been there either, but it's downtown next
to the Amtrak. So back in the days that when
(12:57):
the Amtrak was being built, Santa Fe Hotel was there.
And so the people that travel from the Basque, they were
basically think of shepherd hoarders.
They're basically was the one that was hoarding them.
And so they came to Fresno to stay in and won't bless them.
Migrated. They immigrated to Fresno to the
Santa Fe Hotel where they will be held, where they'll be
treated to give employment and to you don't have a place to eat
(13:22):
and stay. Well, let's get into the
history, because yeah. So, so that Basket Restaurant
and bar is actually located in downtown Fresno.
Well, originally it was located in downtown Fresno.
The hotel was built back in 1927and was served as a burning
house for newly arrived immigrants, especially those in
(13:43):
the Basket country. So Santa Fe restaurant was such
was home for a lot of players and it was actually a ship camp,
a ship camp. So what they actually say is
they serve family style meals, fried chicken and chops, both
sides of lamb and pork stews, bread and butter.
(14:08):
So here's an interesting story that happened when he was in
downtown, and it's that it was actually raided by the police
during prohibition times and they have been there like 5
times within the nine months of being there.
And this was actually posted in the first B back in the 1990s
thirties. Oh, so they were doing something
(14:30):
shady, Allegedly. Allegedly stopped going on over
there. We don't judge.
So now doing the research, you know, we found out that it's a
show tomorrow. Now, without the hotel, it's
actually just a restaurant. I wanna go eat.
Once you go. I wonder how the food tastes
like back then and not just sound insensitive or weird, but
(14:53):
like now we have like, you know,we could put soy sauce or
ketchup and you know, other how do you say condiments?
But I wonder what did they? They probably just had black
pepper and salt back then all. Very simple, you know, simple
stuff, I guess. You see.
Yeah, you know, it wasn't. It wasn't processed like it is
(15:14):
now. Oh yeah?
Well, that. Was more like what do you call
it originally? No.
So a delicacy, basically a traditional dish in our culture,
we have this thing called lab. It's basically a whole bunch of
vegetables with rice powder and it's cooked with lemon.
(15:36):
Some people will order it with like not cooked at all.
So they just put the the cat in it or the meat like beef put in,
put it in the thing and then they put the lemon and start to
cook it like ceviche. I could not eat it.
It's too chewy. I like it fully cooked.
I feel like is too chewy. Yeah, we are totally different.
(15:57):
Different. Well, so you're from France now.
So you're from France now. Have you heard of the Santa Fe
Best Care Restaurant and bar, which is now known as Shepherd
in downtown and. Then like you said, the new
location is on Shilton. I want to try it out.
(16:20):
Let's go visit. So if you're from Fresno, listen
to this. Did you ever hear about the
Garfield School arch right thereon Minnewawa in Shepherd?
I feel like I seen it but I don't remember.
I'm sure everyone's seen it now.Even though it is located in
Clover side of the area, I stillconsider it Fresno because it's
technically Fresno County. I googled and it said Clovis is
(16:43):
actually in Fresno County so I'mstill considering in Fresno so
don't come for me. Well back to the story.
The brick looking thing is knownas Garfield Schoolhouse Arch
located on Shepherd and Mini Wawa where it was originally a
school before it was destroyed by a fire and the only thing
left was the solitary arch on March 14th, 1883.
(17:04):
The recently formed Garfield Colony was named for President
James A Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881, organized
a school district there, Clovis,CA at the time.
Rancher Jeff Couric donated one acre of his land to build the
school in 1883 on the northwest corner of present day Shepherd
(17:25):
and Maniwa Ave. In 1887, two more acres were
purchased for a reported $40 in gold coins.
Local grower John Cadwaddler wasalso a donor of the land for the
school. On June 27th, 1899, Garford
School District along with the Red Banks, Jefferson,
(17:47):
Mississippi, Walters Temperance and Clovis District joined the
Clovis Union High School District.
In 1883 the school that was there was replaced in 19 O 6 by
a new building but they basically expanded the area
because the school was getting big.
And then in 1912 the school bondwas approved and so they that's
(18:08):
when they created it. Also not to mention that's when
they created the school arch, the brick and they placed it on
there. Sadly on February in the year
1990 the school caught on fire and it was burned down.
But the only thing that remainedthere is the arch.
It's still there. Yeah, it's still there.
And so I posted on Instagram a couple days ago, people were
saying, oh, I thought it was like a portal.
I'm like, why would you guys think that was a portal?
(18:31):
We talk about Fresno history andhaunted places, and people still
want to make that into somethinglike, well.
I I thought it was haunted. I thought it was a portal.
Like why would y'all think it was a portal?
Is it a portal? Maybe, I don't know.
Well, I wanted to go earlier today, but you were busy.
I wanted to just take pictures and stuff.
You know, I'm always busy. I know.
(18:51):
You're doing your thing, which Iget, which I get, which I get.
So if you're from Fresno, did you ever hear about the
historical landmark there on Shepherd Mini Wawa known as the
Garfield School Arts? Drop down a comment, let us know
in the podcast. What did you learn today about
the historical landmark here in Fresno, CA?
I. Feel like I learned a.
Lot. Me too.
I feel like we're in history class.
(19:12):
History. I was bad history and.
You guys might saw us stumble for a little bit.
We did take two weeks off, so we're barely getting back into
the groove. You know, for me, when I found
about the school arch, the Garfield school arch, I was
always fascinated with it. I was infatuated.
I'm sorry. I always see and I'm like, what
is that? You know, like, what is that
(19:33):
building just there? Like what?
So when doing this digging, I would never believe that there
was actually used to be a school.
And yeah, Can you believe that? No, I mean no, actually no.
Because now there's a farm, likethere's a blossom trees and
everything around there. Yeah.
(19:54):
So if you guys go on the Table Mountain and you guys see it,
think of us. Schoolhouse Arch.
What about you? What did you learn?
From is the underground because,and I was always fascinated by
it and I have like a huge thing with, you know, things being
underground, I guess. So let's say if I end up getting
(20:15):
a house, I want to like a underground little thing going.
On and it's pretty hard. It's pretty pretty, yeah.
And we put, we're putting the images up here, even though it's
not ours, we will link to the owner of the the pictures, but
we have to use them because theywere so beautiful, you know?
So with that being said, thank you guys for joining our podcast
and we'll see you every Monday for audio and on Sundays for
(20:39):
visual. But with that being said,
blessed be everyone. Bye.
So if you're from Fresno, listento this.
Did you ever hear about the Garfield School arch right there
on Miniwawa and Shepherd? I feel like I seen it but I
don't remember. I'm sure everyone's seen it now.
Even though it is located in Clover side of the area, I still
consider it Fresno because it's technically Fresno County.
So I'm still considering it Fresno so don't come for me now.
(00:23):
Brick looking thing is known as Garfield Schoolhouse Arch
located on Shepherd and Miniwawawhere it was originally a school
before it was the short fire fire and the only thing left was
the solitary arch. Hammer, Witches and Norms,
(00:45):
Welcome back to the Witch Artistpodcast.
Welcome back. We're your host, Diamond Witch.
There we go. And today we're going to talk
about Fresno, CA historic landmarks.
Why I came out that idea becausewe were on vacation for two
weeks, right? And when you see this video,
it's going to be May 11th. Well, happy Mother's Day.
Happy Mother's Day to other momsout there.
(01:05):
To other mothers out there now within this podcast we're going
to be talking about Fresno, CA historical landmarks such as.
Forestry. Underground gardens.
And then we're going to be talking about the Santa Fe
Basque Hotel, where now it's known as Shepherd Hotel.
And then the third one would be the Garfield School arch.
(01:30):
School Arch. I wanted to talk about this was
because on Instagram we're popping, people are watching our
video on Instagram. Thank you guys.
Thank you guys for supporting. I'm definitely gonna put this
clip in there, but everyone's been asking about the history.
And so I was like, wow, TikTok is more about scary places,
urban legends, you know, historyas well.
But on Instagram they were like eating it up for Fresno history.
(01:53):
And so I was like period, like, let's do 1 for them.
So TikTok, oh, TikTok, Instagram, this is for y'all.
Before we get into the podcast views, discretion is advised.
Everything we talk about just pure speculation and the
research that we've done, again,for audio listeners and viewers,
discussion is advised. But with that being said, let's
get straight into the podcast. So we're going to be talking
(02:13):
about a moment for ourselves. On to the next clip.
How you been? I've been OK, tired.
Well, we did take two weeks off for what did it feel like 2
weeks. No, no, it feels.
It feels like one week, maybe one day, 2 days.
Well, because we went to Cha Ching, Cha Ching, I lost so much
(02:37):
money. Me too.
No, you didn't. I lost your money.
Something like that. Yeah.
I was so sad. Hey, there's so many lost.
Yeah, true, true. But yeah, So for my birthday,
when we, I wanted to go out Saturday, but I wasn't feeling
good at all. Been good are we able to mention
(03:00):
this? But you know, Yeah, I know.
But you know, cuz something happened to your family.
Yeah, my uncle passed away, my daddy's brother.
And so when we went there to thefuneral, not saying I take it
sick, but it was more of like overwhelming.
Yeah, we're getting too deep. We're getting too deep.
(03:20):
So, well, let's get on to the podcast.
Let's get it started. So have you ever been to the
first 3 underground garden? No, I've never been there.
Yeah, so I remember being there,but I haven't been there for a
long, long time. Let's say school time.
So very long time. So you went there for like a big
school trip? Yeah, so school trip.
(03:41):
So I remember when we were at school, you know, we always have
school trips going on and one ofthose 3 was actually going to
the underground garden, which islocated on Shah by 99.
Lucky, yeah. But I remember it was, you know,
nice. It was pretty and that area.
So it was like fresh like like fresh breeze, I guess you could
(04:03):
say. Well.
Because of the trees. The trees because it's on the
floor underground. Oh, so it really is underground?
It is underground. Being from Fresno, I've never
heard about this Fresno historical landmark.
And so it is called the ForestedUnderground Garden, right?
Yeah. Now who is Baldessare?
Forestier pronounced as Baldassare which is Italian
(04:26):
origin and then his last name isForestier which is French.
He was born on July 8th, 1879 and passed away on November
10th, 1946. He was born in the hamlet of
Filari on the northern tip of Sicily.
He migrated to United States in the 1900s after a conflict with
(04:49):
his father, and sometime later he moved and purchased a land in
Fresno, CA. Yeah, wow, you don't know what
the right. Well, obviously they're not
going to talk about it. Well, back to the story.
The reason why he purchased the land in Fresno was because he's
always wanted to be a citrus farmer.
Soon after Bazdasite. Sorry, like it's hard for me to
(05:11):
pronounce. Soon after Bazade I decided to
dig a small cellar to escape thesummer because it was hot at the
time. His influence was due to when he
was a child, he was infatuated with the Roman catacombs and
wine cellar he had seen when he was in Italy.
Do you know the catacombs? Not really.
I'm thinking of like the, you know, the bees catacombs.
(05:34):
No. Well, it's actually an
underground burial site or burial place.
Underground the Roman. The cat, yeah.
And I was just like, like the one in Paris.
Well, let's talk about the design of the underground
garden. There's about 65 rooms in the
underground gardens. It has a summer bedroom, a
winter bedroom, a bath, a functional kitchen, a fish pond
(05:59):
and a parlor with a fire. The intricate pathways are
created by sections over a span of 10 acres without a blueprint.
And I was doing diggings. I didn't know.
I didn't understand, like what they mean by blueprint.
Well, when he was creating the underground garden, he did all
freehanded. He basically was like carving
things. And he did it without any plan.
(06:21):
He said I'm going to go down there and start carving.
He just started carving. Pretty much pretty much a
Minecraft in real life. Respectfully, respectfully, I
did research and I want to know like how did this man do it
right? I found out that he did it by
using a couple of farming tools,which were epic a shovel and a
wheelbarrow. By the time he was 44 years old,
(06:44):
he already had finished and planted over 10 acres.
Yeah. And within these 10 acres of
land, Mr. Forestier planted multiple varieties of fruit
trees and vines up to 20 feet underground, from oranges to
lemon and even grapefruit. And there's actually more.
(07:05):
Also not to mention he even planted other fruits such as
kumquat. I didn't know what that was.
So I I'm gonna put a picture here.
And in Jujubee, we all know whatJujubee plants are.
And also loquat, which are like,I never knew what that was, but
we always eat it when we were little.
And so the forested underground garden was named the Historical
Landmark by the State of Department of Parks and
(07:27):
Recreation on October 12th, 1979.
This dude was ahead of his time.Not only did he created this
place which he constructed, but he did a whole planting within
this area of different fruit andtrees.
And they said well from the article that I read, the trees
(07:48):
were not so high where you're able to like they're Venable so
you can pull them down and grab the fruit and eat them.
I was like, I want some. Now I do also have to mention,
but sadly on November 10th, 1946, just at age 67, Mr.
Baldaccier Fodastier passed awaywhere he was buried at the Holy
(08:11):
Cross Cemetery on Belmont Ave. And you want to know what his
last words was? His last words were and I quote
to make something with a lot of money, that is easy, but to make
something out of nothing that issomething.
It's not cute. Confusing.
Confusing a bit. Really.
(08:33):
I felt like he basically said you came up with your own
basically to say like you have you do something for money, but
by building something out of nothing, it's basically like
worth more than money. So memorable, Yeah.
Well what do you guys think about that?
Am I tripping? No, it makes sense now.
(08:53):
Well, also come to find out he never had any children, no.
Children. No, he never had any children
and basically the garden was passed to his two descendants
generation. Well, everything we talked about
will be LinkedIn the descriptionbox below.
Now, have you ever been there? Yeah, I've been there, actually
(09:14):
been. I've been there a long time ago,
the school years pretty much because they used to do field
trips and well, the other gardenwas pretty much one of the field
trips that we do. And you know, I still remember
how it looked like, you know, itwas pretty much all on the
ground. You know, you see like trees
planted, you see all this like stone walls and everything.
(09:39):
And they will take us like the tours like different sections of
the rooms. But I think at that time for me,
it did not look like he grew up in like a like a house, I guess
because that way it was mentioned that, you know, it was
pretty much his home, like, you know, it was a home, but on the
ground. It was 65 bedrooms.
I'm sure it looked more than OK.So since you went there, was
(10:01):
there any walls? Like as in like let's say the
room was just a door and then it's closed like this.
Imagine a podcast studio but with the door.
Or was it all in the open? Like you can just walk.
No, I, I remember seeing like, you know, they build like like
like the club in the doors. I think they were indoors at
that time. I think they probably to come
(10:23):
out maybe the way there was, butit's been a while since I've
been there. Well, because it's technically
like an attraction, right? Yeah.
So they basically wanted to lookvery like a museum, let's let's
say that, but in a historic way.Plus, it's very unusual, you
know, how that became to be because, you know, something
like that doesn't really happen in the real world, I guess to
(10:45):
say. Oh yeah, I mean, he built that
for like until he was 44. Kudos to you, man.
Rest in peace. By the way, You created
something so beautiful. And now it's in historical site
and thank God because not to allegedly a lot of Fresno
historical sites here, landmarks, they've been either
(11:07):
demolished or somebody said, allright, let's get rid of it.
Like off topic, you know, the cello, the grain cellos down
right there in the northern downtown.
So it's basically a rice or you can say like a California plant.
Yeah. If you really think about it, it
looks like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers mountain with the
(11:28):
cylinder. Yeah, so like 3 premiers.
Yeah, OK. Think of it like that.
So Zaki Farms took over, but then in 2018-2019 it was finally
like closed. And so within August, I believe
August or September 2024, the city of Fresno said, let's
demolish it. And then from what I did on the
research also, I found out that on March 11th, they actually
(11:51):
tore it down and they're creating a room for the, that,
that train thing. What's it called?
The the fast moving train. Yeah, the high speed high.
Speed rail, yeah. And that, that that's sad to me
because just like when we found out about the first house that
was built and then what's that freeway called Night 180, the
(12:14):
one I thought, yeah, on Blackstone and Abbey, they
basically tore the house down tocreate that freeway, which I'm
not mad about, but historical landmarks or things that are
first in Fresno should not be destroyed or demolished.
I feel like they should kept it as is or somehow built the.
Around it. Around it.
(12:34):
But who are we, right? This is way before our time.
You know. Moving on to our next historical
landmark is known as Santa Fe Basque Hotel and Bar here in
Fresno, CA, but now it's known as Shepherd Bar.
I've been there. No.
Well, I haven't been there either, but it's downtown next
to the Amtrak. So back in the days that when
(12:57):
the Amtrak was being built, Santa Fe Hotel was there.
And so the people that travel from the Basque, they were
basically think of shepherd hoarders.
They're basically was the one that was hoarding them.
And so they came to Fresno to stay in and won't bless them.
Migrated. They immigrated to Fresno to the
Santa Fe Hotel where they will be held, where they'll be
treated to give employment and to you don't have a place to eat
(13:22):
and stay. Well, let's get into the
history, because yeah. So, so that Basket Restaurant
and bar is actually located in downtown Fresno.
Well, originally it was located in downtown Fresno.
The hotel was built back in 1927and was served as a burning
house for newly arrived immigrants, especially those in
(13:43):
the Basket country. So Santa Fe restaurant was such
was home for a lot of players and it was actually a ship camp,
a ship camp. So what they actually say is
they serve family style meals, fried chicken and chops, both
sides of lamb and pork stews, bread and butter.
(14:08):
So here's an interesting story that happened when he was in
downtown, and it's that it was actually raided by the police
during prohibition times and they have been there like 5
times within the nine months of being there.
And this was actually posted in the first B back in the 1990s
thirties. Oh, so they were doing something
(14:30):
shady, Allegedly. Allegedly stopped going on over
there. We don't judge.
So now doing the research, you know, we found out that it's a
show tomorrow. Now, without the hotel, it's
actually just a restaurant. I wanna go eat.
Once you go. I wonder how the food tastes
like back then and not just sound insensitive or weird, but
(14:53):
like now we have like, you know,we could put soy sauce or
ketchup and you know, other how do you say condiments?
But I wonder what did they? They probably just had black
pepper and salt back then all. Very simple, you know, simple
stuff, I guess. You see.
Yeah, you know, it wasn't. It wasn't processed like it is
(15:14):
now. Oh yeah?
Well, that. Was more like what do you call
it originally? No.
So a delicacy, basically a traditional dish in our culture,
we have this thing called lab. It's basically a whole bunch of
vegetables with rice powder and it's cooked with lemon.
(15:36):
Some people will order it with like not cooked at all.
So they just put the the cat in it or the meat like beef put in,
put it in the thing and then they put the lemon and start to
cook it like ceviche. I could not eat it.
It's too chewy. I like it fully cooked.
I feel like is too chewy. Yeah, we are totally different.
(15:57):
Different. Well, so you're from France now.
So you're from France now. Have you heard of the Santa Fe
Best Care Restaurant and bar, which is now known as Shepherd
in downtown and. Then like you said, the new
location is on Shilton. I want to try it out.
(16:20):
Let's go visit. So if you're from Fresno, listen
to this. Did you ever hear about the
Garfield School arch right thereon Minnewawa in Shepherd?
I feel like I seen it but I don't remember.
I'm sure everyone's seen it now.Even though it is located in
Clover side of the area, I stillconsider it Fresno because it's
technically Fresno County. I googled and it said Clovis is
(16:43):
actually in Fresno County so I'mstill considering in Fresno so
don't come for me. Well back to the story.
The brick looking thing is knownas Garfield Schoolhouse Arch
located on Shepherd and Mini Wawa where it was originally a
school before it was destroyed by a fire and the only thing
left was the solitary arch on March 14th, 1883.
(17:04):
The recently formed Garfield Colony was named for President
James A Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881, organized
a school district there, Clovis,CA at the time.
Rancher Jeff Couric donated one acre of his land to build the
school in 1883 on the northwest corner of present day Shepherd
(17:25):
and Maniwa Ave. In 1887, two more acres were
purchased for a reported $40 in gold coins.
Local grower John Cadwaddler wasalso a donor of the land for the
school. On June 27th, 1899, Garford
School District along with the Red Banks, Jefferson,
(17:47):
Mississippi, Walters Temperance and Clovis District joined the
Clovis Union High School District.
In 1883 the school that was there was replaced in 19 O 6 by
a new building but they basically expanded the area
because the school was getting big.
And then in 1912 the school bondwas approved and so they that's
(18:08):
when they created it. Also not to mention that's when
they created the school arch, the brick and they placed it on
there. Sadly on February in the year
1990 the school caught on fire and it was burned down.
But the only thing that remainedthere is the arch.
It's still there. Yeah, it's still there.
And so I posted on Instagram a couple days ago, people were
saying, oh, I thought it was like a portal.
I'm like, why would you guys think that was a portal?
(18:31):
We talk about Fresno history andhaunted places, and people still
want to make that into somethinglike, well.
I I thought it was haunted. I thought it was a portal.
Like why would y'all think it was a portal?
Is it a portal? Maybe, I don't know.
Well, I wanted to go earlier today, but you were busy.
I wanted to just take pictures and stuff.
You know, I'm always busy. I know.
(18:51):
You're doing your thing, which Iget, which I get, which I get.
So if you're from Fresno, did you ever hear about the
historical landmark there on Shepherd Mini Wawa known as the
Garfield School Arts? Drop down a comment, let us know
in the podcast. What did you learn today about
the historical landmark here in Fresno, CA?
I. Feel like I learned a.
Lot. Me too.
I feel like we're in history class.
(19:12):
History. I was bad history and.
You guys might saw us stumble for a little bit.
We did take two weeks off, so we're barely getting back into
the groove. You know, for me, when I found
about the school arch, the Garfield school arch, I was
always fascinated with it. I was infatuated.
I'm sorry. I always see and I'm like, what
is that? You know, like, what is that
(19:33):
building just there? Like what?
So when doing this digging, I would never believe that there
was actually used to be a school.
And yeah, Can you believe that? No, I mean no, actually no.
Because now there's a farm, likethere's a blossom trees and
everything around there. Yeah.
(19:54):
So if you guys go on the Table Mountain and you guys see it,
think of us. Schoolhouse Arch.
What about you? What did you learn?
From is the underground because,and I was always fascinated by
it and I have like a huge thing with, you know, things being
underground, I guess. So let's say if I end up getting
(20:15):
a house, I want to like a underground little thing going.
On and it's pretty hard. It's pretty pretty, yeah.
And we put, we're putting the images up here, even though it's
not ours, we will link to the owner of the the pictures, but
we have to use them because theywere so beautiful, you know?
So with that being said, thank you guys for joining our podcast
and we'll see you every Monday for audio and on Sundays for
(20:39):
visual. But with that being said,
blessed be everyone. Bye.
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