This longtime business inside Fresno’s Tower Theatre building is moving north. Here’s why
Longtime Tower District catering company The Painted Table is leaving its home at the Tower Theatre building and moving north.
The Painted Table’s owners have purchased Tornino’s Banquets’ business and will move to the location at Blackstone and Shaw avenues.
The Painted Table is a well-known local catering company that has been operating from inside the Tower Theatre building, just to the right of the theater, for about 11 years.
It uses the kitchens to do off-site catering, but also uses the bar and dining area that was once home to The Daily Planet for special events.
The Tornino’s space will allow them to essentially quadruple the number of people they can host at in-house events, said Painted Table’s owners and married couple Jeromie and Rodney Hansen.
“Our catering business has been bursting at the seams for many years,” Rodney Hansen said. “It was the just the perfect opportunity. It had nothing to do with what was happening with Tower. We made this decision long ago, way before this happened.”
Tower Theatre sale
Hansen’s referring to the recent controversy about the potential sale of the Tower Theatre to Adventure Community Church.
The pending sale has raised concerns among the LGBTQ community and inspired a protest last weekend.
Many neighbors are also concerned that a church taking over could mean the building would need to be rezoned. Fresno City councilmember Miguel Arias said that rezoning could put the permits of nearby bars, nightclubs and future cannabis businesses in jeopardy because they typically cannot be within 1,000 feet of a church.
But The Painted Table has been looking for a place to expand long before news of a potential sale ever surfaced.
“We’re not leaving Tower because of anything that’s been happening,” Hansen said. “Tower has been our home.”
They still hold the lease on the space until April 1.
Tornino’s
The Tower space allows The Painted Table to serve 120 people at a sit-down dinner, without a dance floor.
At Tornino’s, they can seat 600 people with a dance floor.
It has three banquet rooms and can seat anywhere from 50-person events to 500-person weddings, and up to 800 people in theater-style seating.
It also has a bigger kitchen.
Tornino’s has been around for 40 years, since Chester “Chet” Torcaso and Pete Vagnino combined their last names to create the business.
Since they died, Torcaso’s son Michael Torcaso and Pete’s daughter Catherine “Kitty” Thompson have been running the business, making it a go-to spot for professional and social events.
Tornino’s owners are retiring and The Painted Table will honor all existing contracts for events with Tornino’s.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 1:02 PM.
