This Tower District street is getting a remake. ‘Dr. Green Thumbs,’ murals, more in works

A restoration of Fern Avenue in the Tower District is in the works, and proponents hope developments can make the strip between Wishon and Maroa avenues a brighter spot.

Plans include one of the first cannabis dispensaries in the city, murals, brighter lighting, more police presence, and outreach efforts to aid the area’s unhoused residents.

Fresno City Councilmember Esmeralda Soria is optimistic the dispensary, in the former Bank of America building at Wishon and Fern, will attract more businesses to the street, now anchored by Livingstone’s Restaurant & Pub and Strummers Bar & Grill.

ONCE A COUNTERCULTURE HUB

The strip was once ground zero for Fresno’s counterculture. Cafe Midi, on the corner of Fern and Maroa, was the 1960s spot where Fresnans went for their first espresso while listening to folk music, according to comments on the website lostfresno.com. An attempt to open a bar called the Tower District Dive there in 2001 failed, leaving the structure vacant for 50 years.

Sontaya Rose, spokeswoman for the City of Fresno, said a conditional use permit for the dispensary is expected to be approved by the end of May, and dispensary developer Kacey Auston sees it opening by the end of 2022.

The dispensary, now named Dr. Green Thumbs, was previously called Lemonade, but Auston revised the colors to green, black and gold, not suiting the previous moniker.

BRIGHT LIGHTS AND MURALS

Construction in the old bank involves changing “everything but the vault,” said Auston.

She envisions more art murals for the area, and would also like to see string lighting across Fern, similar to what’s on nearby Olive Avenue.

So does Soria, but the lighting issue has proved problematic due to less-than-modern wiring.

“We’re exploring alternatives,” Soria said.

WANTED: MORE COPS ON BIKES

Soria also wants more bicycle police in the area.

“I’m a big advocate of cops on bikes,” she said, adding that Tower District bike patrols were curtailed when officers were diverted to address a violent crime uptick. But up to four bicycle officers are expected in the Tower by May, and Soria wants them to patrol outside the Olive Avenue strip.

Finding drug treatment and housing for the area’s homeless must be part of the effort, too, she indicated.

“I know a number of them,” Soria said of the homeless.

“It’s a matter of balance. Businesses are frustrated. People in the neighborhood are frustrated.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.