![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12052025_99history-4.jpg\")
State Route 99 viewed from an overpass in West Fresno\u2019s Chinatown neighborhood, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. Julianna Morano | Fresnoland<\/p>\n
With a new UCLA report detailing the destructive history of the 99 Freeway, Fresnoland\u2019s Julianna Morano sat down with West Fresno residents who lived that history and others still working to undo the damage on the city\u2019s west side.<\/p>\n
Four-hundred homes were demolished to make way for the freeway\u2019s construction and about 1,000 residents were displaced, UCLA researchers say.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just created a further geographic isolation of West Fresno,\u201d said Veronica Stumpf, a realtor whose family has roots in West Fresno\u2019s Germantown that once thrived before the 99 cut it in half.<\/p>\n
Communities like Germantown essentially disappeared as residents began sprawling north, triggering West Fresno\u2019s decades-long population decline.<\/p>\n
And it didn\u2019t have to be that way.<\/p>\n
Much of that destruction could have been avoided had state officials instead selected one of the alternative routes that West Fresno community leaders pushed for back then.<\/p>\n
Read the full story from Julianna Morano here<\/a><\/p>\n Preserving West Fresno history<\/a><\/p>\n A team of artists is looking to preserve and celebrate West Fresno\u2019s history in a public art project at Fresno City College\u2019s West Fresno Center campus<\/p>\n But there\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n West Fresno has paved over, tossed aside and displaced hundreds, maybe thousands of residents, over the years, leaving relatively few historic photos or images.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t exist, as far as the city\u2019s concerned,\u201d said Michelle Ethridge-Meyers, who took over her family\u2019s daycare, Bambi\u2019s Day Care Nursery, 40-odd years ago. The business has been open since 1969 and has taken care of multiple generations of West Fresno\u2019s children.<\/p>\n The Fresno-area artists are working on a \u201cceramic quilt\u201d \u2014 combing glazed tiles and sculptural relief \u2014 adorning the fountain and reflecting pool in front of the West Fresno Center on Church Avenue.<\/p>\n The team is also turning to West Fresno families to help fill in those archival gaps, launching a community survey to help collect more of those photos from families who\u2019ve held onto them.<\/p>\n Read the full story from Julianna Morano here.<\/a><\/p>\n Maybe Fresno\u2019s best chile verde is red?<\/a><\/p>\n The green chile sauce is red, it looks like a Wendy\u2019s and always sounds like the 1980s.<\/p>\n It\u2019s Al\u2019s Cafe, a West Fresno breakfast institution.<\/p>\n In June, Fresnoland reporter Pablo Orihuela sat down with Al\u2019s Cafe manager Sandy Richardson, who has been with Al\u2019s since nearly the very beginning.<\/p>\n Al\u2019s Cafe has been serving Fresno since 2000, operating on G Street in Chinatown for several years before moving to its current Jane Addams neighborhood spot in a defunct west side hamburger stand.<\/p>\n Wendy\u2019s classic 90s-style branding can still be seen on the doors as patrons sit down to order the diner\u2019s signature Chile Verde (which is red, instead of green) or other classics like Country Fried Steak and Chilaquiles.<\/p>\n Read the full story from Pablo Orihuela here<\/a><\/p>\n Inside this Tower District\u2019s creative vending machine<\/a><\/p>\n What if you could package Fresno\u2019s creativity and sell it out of a clunky vending machine in a popular Tower District bar?<\/p>\n That\u2019s the idea behind the JoyStick Vending machine \u2014 a bright fixture in an otherwise dimly lit corner inside Goldstein\u2019s Mortuary and Deli in the Tower District.\u00a0<\/p>\n The vending machine\u2019s rows are lined up with Fresno-themed items like pins and stickers, novelty items like a special deck of UNO cards, mystery gifts and switchblade combs.<\/p>\n Most of the items are a few dollars, and a few others are at most $20.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fresno artist Marco Tovar said the idea of a vending machine stocked with local art was hard to explain to people at first, but eventually was embraced by 20 local artists who jumped at the opportunity to have their art be featured inside the vending machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read the full story from Omar S. Rashad here.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UPLOAD4_Missionary-Society-of-Second-Baptist-Church-of-Fresno-circa-1900.jpg\")
Fresno City College faculty are in search of historic photos of West Fresno for an art installation that aims to preserve and celebrate the neighborhood\u2019s history. This photo of the Second Baptist Church of Fresno Missionary Society, a church that still operates in West Fresno, was taken in the early 1900s. Credit: Courtesy of the Fresno City & County Historical Society<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DSC0617.jpg\")
A plate of chile verde at Al\u2019s Cafe. The chile, typically green, is red given the recipes lack of tomatillos. The recipe is from the diner\u2019s namesake, Al Contreras. Pablo Orihuela | Fresnoland<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_7633.jpg\")
One row of goodies inside the JoyStick Vending machine includes a packs of bubble gum, switchblade combs, button and acrylic pins, an artist\u2019s prints and playing cards. The vending machine has been inside Goldstein\u2019s Mortuary and Deli for about two weeks. Omar Rashad | Fresnoland<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/steven-camacho-II.jpg\")
Fresno artist Steven Camacho Nu\u00f1ez puts finishing touches on his mural at Fresno\u2019s San Pablo Park Monday, July 14, 2025. Credit: Julianna Morano | Fresnoland<\/p>\n