Love the phallic lighthouse logo...

i'll be going to the Public House tonight for a special dining session before the actual grand opening. when i hear pub, i hear Guiness!! If you don't read back from me, the place was great....

So, When exactly WILL Fresno be ready to rock? I've been ready. I can't wait for Sammy to open the doors!!! Do we have an opening day yet? The article says Fresno Wabo is set to open in April and here we are in May, 2008. I really am trying to be patient and I know Sammy will be worth the wait, but come on...I need my Sammy fix! Are there any other links out there to keep me updated? The Granite Park website doesn't have any updated info....any ideas?

The developer has a reputation for being VERY slow to get things done. This whole development was s'posed to open years ago.

Anyways, Wabo has a new late-June opening date. Sammy was all set to play in May, but Milt Barbis can't get anything done on time at Granite Park.

Still, kudos to him for actually GETTING it done. Public House is cool, Victory Grill is really nice, and both Cabo Wabo and the new ice bar "Red" will be open at the same time.

What I DON'T like is that Barbis set the place up originally as a playpark for kids and young-at-hearts. He had the Fresno Hall of Fame set to be there, the Jose Elgorriaga Clock Tower, and those nifty baseball fields. Those fields (and the soccer fields) were to be the impetus for a hotel Barbis planned to build (have tournaments there and folks can stay right there in the hotel!).

Well, plans change. Soccer fields are gone. One baseball diamond is demolished, with (I hear) the other two to go also. The Hall of Fame is now part of the Kern Street sports walk (which is fine by me).

I just don't like Barbis' constant plan-changing, delaying, and potential outright lying (or at least telling the truth because he really didn't have a clue).

Now it seems there'll be a theme park with roller coasters. On the north side was a proposed business center, but only one building is being built there (albeit I haven't seen a lick of work done there in months either). Was supposed to be a nine-building complex, but I don't think Barbis can sell the other 8 slots.

I have high hopes for Granite Park, but I can also see it dying in 5 years with this inexperienced maverick Barbis behind it. I hope his natural enthusiasm and charm can translate to success for this 'heart of Fresno' mall...and I hope more than just drinking folk will want to make it a success.

Still, for me? Roller coasters for the kids mixed with 4 bars and one physical therapy clinic doesn't really make it for me. Here's hoping!

I like it that there's this down-home farm there that's actually a dairy. You can peek in the round glass windows and see the cow milking machines.--and a petting zoo with vicious monkeys behind chicken wire and a llama that spits.
(cue the wavy video wayne's world flash back machine bringing us back to reality)
Doh! That was a gazillion years ago at Harpain's Dairy!
I should have known it was a flashback when I saw I was riding that beat-up green metalflake Huffy stingray bike!

At least that sacred ground is being used for something halfway INTERESTING (the current what-ever it all turns out to be) and NOT another strip mall with a Vons, a donut store, a yogurt store and a eyeglass store---like the one just down the way on Dakota and Cedar. In fact that whole interesection is pretty hideous with the fast food globules
plopped down over on the southwest corner. (The northwest corner is lovely as always with the old Episcopal church.)

Here's to something interesting happening in my old 'hood!
Harpain's Dairy is Dead! Long Live [PLEASE insert interesting things here].