When Andrew and Rochelle Benelli bought their home from the original owner in 1992, the blueprints came with it.
The owner was from the East Coast, Rochelle Benelli says, so the 1941 house has a Cape Cod look with white siding and green shutters."I love this area," says Benelli, sitting on her living room couch. "I'm on a first-name basis with almost everyone on this street. I have a back-door policy with my next-door neighbor. We're like Lucy and Ethel."The Benellis' street between Clinton, McKinley, Palm and Fruit avenues is lined with sycamore and Chinese pistache trees. Hamilton School, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school, is at Clinton and Palm avenues."I love having the school so close, and I know almost every teacher," says Benelli, wearing jeans and a red Hamilton Hurricanes T-shirt. The couple's daughters — Audrey, 12, Jessica, 9, and Madeline, 7 — walk to Hamilton and pick up a neighborhood friend on the way."People in this neighborhood are awesome. We joined the Hamilton Task Force to make it a neighborhood school," says Benelli, who volunteers in the school office. "I love that, as a magnet school, it's open to kids in the neighborhood first."Don and Frieda Smith moved into the neighborhood in 1962."We bought in this area because Fresno High was supposed to be one of the best high schools," she says, taking a break from raking leaves.Now, younger families are moving into the neighborhood, Smith says. There are two "for sale" signs on her street.Joe and Katie Barile have lived down the street from Hamilton School for about 11 years."My grandchildren go there," Barile says. "It's very handy" because the children often visit her after school. "It's a great neighborhood. We love it. Everybody's friendly."While she's talking, her recently retired husband installs a new porch light. "Hey, look at that. It works," Joe Barile says, reaching inside to flip the switch.Joe Barile says he likes his neighborhood: "It's very comfortable, homey. We all vote at the church right down the street. We walk to vote."And his wife adds: "That's another nice thing about this neighborhood. You see people out."Don Bowman, who moved to Fresno from Oklahoma this year, has lived in the Hamilton neighborhood for three months. "The weather's different here. It's so dry," he says."It's quiet during the day," says Bowman, who's working on a truck in the driveway. "I'm a mechanic for about 60 people."Victoria Johnson Hill, who lives across the street, says residents hold a yard sale along the street every spring."It's fun. Even if we don't participate, we sit out there and watch people," she says. "I have a Christian ministry in my home" called Virtuous Women Mission Circle. "The girls bring things to sell. Sometimes my sister sells barbecue."We all go to each other's yard sales and buy a little something to support them."Johnson Hill recalls what attracted her to the Hamilton neighborhood nine years ago. "What caught my eye the first time we drove by, it was about 9:30 at night and an elderly couple was sitting outside. It was safe and quiet."