Experience Yesterday's Fresno of Tomorrow

The Downtown Association of Fresno presents a free screening of the rare 1968 film "Fresno - A City Reborn" Wednesday August 12th 2009 at Milano Restaurant, 1243 Fulton Mall. The short documentary film was created by the Victor Gruen company to document Fresno's groundbreaking urban renewal campaign of the 1960s, which led to the construction of the Fulton Mall. The film contains a wealth of rare color footage of Fresno of the 1960s, and paints Fresno as a national model for solving the "urban crisis" of the post-war era. In 1968, the film was screened at the White House for an audience that included First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, as part of her national beautification campaign. The film screening will begin at 7:00 PM. A special guided tour of the Fulton Mall will take place prior to the film, starting at 6:00 PM, outside of Longs Drugs/CVS  on the Fulton Mall at Tuolumne.

The film dates from the era of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" and a time when Fresno was seen as leading the way in creating innovative solutions to urban decay and suburban sprawl, with a community united behind a plan devised by the best and brightest urban planners of the day. While Fresno abandoned its downtown plan in the 1970s, and experienced the very sort of "urban crisis" that the plan was supposed to prevent, the film remains a fascinating historical document, a reminder of a Fresno which no longer exists.

A City Reborn
Wednesday August 12th
Milano Restaurant
1243 Fulton Mall
Mall Tour: 6:00 PM
Film Screening: 7:00 PM
Free