A Message from the President
Dear Friends, Supporters and Members,
|
|
|
|
新年好 “Xīnnián hǎo” - Happy Lunar New Year! Most of us didn’t love the just-ended Year of the Ox and many hope the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival will bring healing and joy with the Year of the Tiger.
The Lunar New Year is an international holiday celebrated in many Asian countries. People may know the holiday as Chinese New Year, Vietnam's Tết Nguyên Đán or South Korea's Seollal. The United States is also home to some celebrations. Overall, over about 1.5 billion people across the world will take part in the festivities.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar – which has January 1st as the beginning of the new year – Lunar New Year doesn't always start on the same day. The reason for that is the calendar is based on the moon's 12 phases. Each phase lasts around 29 days, the full calendar is around 354 days long. Lunar New Year allows people to put the past behind and look forward to a fresh start. It is a time to send away all the bad things and evil spirits. As a new start, the holiday is welcomed with abundant energy. In China, the celebration lasts 15 days, with the Spring Lantern Festival on the final day. Tết Nguyên Đán is a week long, and Seollal in South Korea goes for three days.
|
|
Families continuously spent time with one another during each of the days as a remedy to working too hard throughout the year to visit relatives enough. This is when you pay respect to the elders which is crucially important.
Each Lunar year is represented by a cycle of 12 zodiac animals. This year is the Year of the Tiger, the first since 2010. So, what might be in store for The Year of the Tiger which begins today? Experts say the tiger is commonly associated with something like bravery, courage and strength and that the tiger can also be viewed as an uplifting animal that can give people hope, especially with COVID-19 still in the forefront of our lives. Let’s hope so!
|
|
Whether you are celebrating or see shops offering Lunar New Year merchandise, you may see a lot of red. That's because in Chinese tradition, red is considered good luck and wards off any bad spirits. Children from Chinese backgrounds traditionally are given red envelopes with money by family. One way to ward off the bad spirits is to leave lights on and, of course, the loud part I mentioned can only mean a ton of fireworks and firecrackers.
People who are born during the year of the Yang Water Tiger between February 1, 2022 and January 21, 2023, are prophesized to have agility and eloquence, according to the Chinese zodiac. The sign is also characterized as being brave, self-assured and competitive. Known for their fiery passion, daring, and fearlessness, Tigers are universally respected and revered for their courage by both friends and foes. Tigers seem to be the epitome of contradictions because their personality is so dynamic. They can go from being fiery and fearless to calm and emotional in a blink of an eye. Women born in the Year of the Tiger are thought to be independent, solicitous and born leaders. The female Tiger seeks a partner who equally matches her strong qualities, yet still respects her need for freedom and autonomy.
|
|
The auspicious symbolism of traditional Chinese New Year foods is based on their pronunciations or appearance. Not only do the dishes themselves matter, but also the preparation, and ways of serving and eating mean a lot. Here are a couple of the seven essential Chinese New Year dishes, and the symbolism behind them.
Fish — an Increase in Prosperity
In Chinese, "fish" (鱼 Yú /yoo/) sounds like “surplus.” Chinese people always like to have a surplus at the end of the year, because they think if they have managed to save something at the end of the year, then they can make more in the next year. Steamed fish is one of the most famous Chinese New Year recipes. What fish should be chosen for the New Year dinner is based on auspicious homophonics.
There are some rules related to the position of the fish.
- The head should be placed toward distinguished guests or elders, representing respect.
- Diners can enjoy the fish only after the one who faces the fish head eats first.
- The fish shouldn't be moved. The two people who face the head and tail of fish should drink together, as this is considered to have a lucky meaning.
- These customs are observed in a lively and light-hearted spirit, full of laughing and banter.
Chinese Dumplings — Wealth
With a history of more than 1,800 years, dumpling (饺子 Jiǎozi /jyaoww-dzrr/) is a classic lucky food, widely popular in China. Chinese dumplings can be made to look like Chinese silver ingots (which are not bars, but boat-shaped, oval, and turned up at the two ends). Legend has it that the more dumplings you eat during the New Year celebrations, the more money you can make in the New Year.
Dumplings generally consist of minced meat and finely chopped vegetables wrapped in a thin and elastic dough skin. Popular fillings are minced pork, diced shrimp, fish, ground chicken, beef, and vegetables. They can be cooked by boiling, steaming, frying or baking. Almost all Chinese people can make dumplings.
Lucky Saying for Eating Dumplings - Zhāo cái jìn bǎo (招财进宝/jaoww tseye jin baoww/): “Bringing in wealth and treasure” — a felicitous wish for making money and amassing a fortune.
|
|
Chinese New Year Superstitions: Things You Mustn't Do |
|
Chinese people traditionally believe that the year's start affects the whole year, so China’s Spring Festival is a season of superstitions. It's believed that what something looks like (color, shape), and what its name sounds like, gives it auspicious or ill-fated significance. There are many things you cannot do:
- Don't sweep up on New Year's Day, otherwise you’ll “sweep all your luck away.”
- Don't eat porridge for breakfast, otherwise you’ll “become poor in the upcoming year.”
- Don't wash your clothes and hair (on New Year’s Day), otherwise you’ll “wash fortune away.”
In case you were wondering, the Chinese Zodiac signs, in order, are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.
|
|
All this makes me think of our very own Fresno Chinatown. When Fresno’s original settlers located along a new railroad line in the 1860s, many of them were Chinese, expert brick makers who began building a city. Soon, however, they were relocated to the west side of the tracks.
Racially segregated residential enclaves were common in California in the 19th century. Chinatown was established here around 1872. West of the tracks became a lively, thriving and inclusive area that offered goods, services and entertainment day and night. Outcast immigrants from around the world lived in Chinatown. They were entrepreneurs who ran shops, hotels, theaters, restaurants and service businesses. They were farmers of figs, grapes, cotton and wheat. From the late 1800s to the mid-1950s, Chinatown was a vibrant live-work-play environment.
|
|
In the early days, the community was limited to China Alley and G Street between Kern and Mariposa Streets. Fresno’s Chinatown during the early twentieth-century was a vibrant and resilient community. Its few square blocks offered everything that a Chinese person could want: work, food, benevolent associations, entertainment, education and religious houses.
Although they were often described as centers of gambling, prostitution and opium by the American public, Chinatowns in San Francisco, New York and Fresno served as a comfortingly familiar place in an alien and often hostile land. Even though they lived in an ethnic enclave, the Chinese worked hard to learn to read and write English to better integrate into American society.
With urban renewal in the 1960s, Chinatown lost both businesses and residents and, sadly, has suffered decades of neglect. Several organizations have been formed to not only preserve what is left of the area, but also to bring back some of the glory and luster that made the “alphabet streets” so culturally relevant.
|
|
I would add to all this another way to bring good luck to yourself and others is to become a member of the Fresno County Historical Society – nice segue right? We have so many community events and intriguing activities coming up throughout the year – I believe you will find something that piques your interest. Our History Heroes help us to continue to Make History Every Day!
May good fortune be abundant this Chinese New Year.
|
|
Warmest wishes,
Elizabeth Laval
President, Fresno County Historical Society
|
|
Pop Says . . . Hope You Didn’t Forget
VALENTINE’S DAY is around the corner and whether the lady in your life is sixteen or sixty, don’t think for a instant that she isn’t going to look forward to the moment that the mailman steps up to the mail box to make his daily deliveries, for this is the ONE DAY each year when she has an opportunity for evaluating just how much space she occupies in your heart.
Speaking of the mailman, St. Valentine’s Day is one day when the man in grey doesn’t mind how heavy his mail bag is for he knows that the extra weight he is carrying is made up mostly of those wonderful valentines, and as he drops them in your mail box or hands them to you personally, he experiences a feeling in his heart that Valentine’s Day is one of those days that unfortunately comes only once a year.
|
|
|
It’s a day when he subconsciously feels that each time he draws one of those letters out of his bag, like cupid, he is placing it in the string of his bow and shooting it into your heart by way of the mail box.
There will be letters containing messages from friends and loved ones, messages that bring more love to you couched in words that they seldom ever say when meeting you face to face. Some will be headed To Mother, To Day, For Son and his Wife, Love to Sister and Her Husband, and, of course, to the one and only Sweetheart.
VALENTINE’S DAY: a day when each and every one of us should take time out and let our hearts and minds join together for a short while. Fill it to the brim with thoughts for those who are near and dear to you. Think of the wonderful friends you have made through the years.
This is not a day for just the young people, in fact it is a day in the lives of those of us who, as the saying goes, are over the hill and going down the other side; a day which can be made much cheerier. It may come from a daughter or son who are away from home, maybe from the grandchildren, an old friend – makes no difference who it is from, it will bring back wonderful memories.
If you happen to be among those individuals who forget, and you say to yourself, “Gee, it’s too late to get a Valentine in the mail to be delivered in time,” let me make this suggestion: Call up your florist, have him send out a potted plant with card attached saying “Happy Valentine’s Day, with Heaps of Love.”
This is even better than a fancy card, for it will live and grow, a pleasant reminder each day to the recipient of the loving thoughtfulness on your part – a Valentine that really lives.
|
Bye now, Happy Valentine’s Day to you all, I’ll be seeing you.
- Pop
|
|
|
TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR FIELDS OF FRESNO AG TOURS |
|
On Saturday, February 12th, the Society will host our first agricultural tour in the 2022 series.
Fields of Fresno Ag Tours provide engaging, educational and fun excursions to farms and agribusiness locations in and around Fresno County. The goal of the project is to help residents and visitors alike come to understand what farming entails in this region and, in some cases, simply how certain crops grow.
The upcoming tour this month will include a unique tour starting at the Kearney Mansion Museum & Gallery at 7:15 AM with a brief history of M. Theo Kearney and his legendary Kearney Ranch and Fruit Vale Estate.
Next, our comfortable and spacious coach bus will depart for a demonstration site operated by the African American Farmers of California on a parcel that was part of the original Fruit Vale Estate.
Our second stop will take us to Belmont Nursery which grows the largest selection of garden plants in the Central Valley. You will visit up to ten on-site greenhouses where garden décor, seasonal, tropical, house and edible plants are grown and enjoy a chance to hear from the expert staff at the Nursery.
The final stop of this trip will be at the Fresno State Winery for a guided tour and wine tasting before returning to Kearney Mansion by 1:15 PM.
Fields of Fresno Ag Tours are scheduled by the Fresno County Historical Society to be held eight times in 2022. Each adventure will feature a different route that focuses on what is in season at that time. Visit valleyhistory.org/ag-tour for updates and schedules. All proceeds will benefit educational programs at FCHS.
In light of current COVID conditions, we have reduced the capacity of this tour for the safety of our guests and staff. Space is limited so secure your tickets today!
|
|
ROOTS OF THE VALLEY: FRESNO COUNTY BUILDINGS
ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
|
|
As promised, we are continuing to make sense of the various historic designations available to buildings and sites and what each means in terms of preservation. Although we love to pine nostalgically for every place we frequented as children, there are strict guidelines that a nomination must meet to even be considered.
The National Register of Historic Places is the nation's official list of buildings, structures, objects, sites, and districts worthy of preservation because of their significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register recognizes resources of local, state and national significance which have been documented and evaluated according to uniform standards and criteria.
Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect historic and archeological resources. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U. S. Department of the Interior.
|
|
To be eligible for listing in the National Register, a resource must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history (Criterion A).
- Is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past (Criterion B).
- Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction (Criterion C).
- Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in history or prehistory (Criterion D).
In California, the effects of being chosen for a designation on the National Register of Historic Places include:
- Tax incentives, in some cases, for rehabilitation of depreciable structures.
- Tax deduction available for donation of preservation easement.
- Local building inspector must grant code alternatives provided under
- State Historical Building Code.
- Local assessor may enter into contract with property owner for property tax reduction (Mills Act).
- Consideration in federally funded or licensed undertakings.
- Limited Protection: Environmental review may be required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) if property is threatened by a project.
- Automatic listing in California Register of Historical Resources. Owner may place his or her own plaque or marker at the resource site.
- Listing in the National Register may result in restrictions, such as design review, imposed locally pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) or through local zoning and land use planning regulations.
Here is an important component of being nominated: Consent of property owner(s) is not required, but properties cannot be listed over the objection of a private owner(s). Property owner contact information must be submitted with a National Register nomination as part of the cover letter. Ok, enough gov-speak for one Grapevine. Let’s look at a few more building that have made it through the arduous process and when they were listed.
|
|
The Fresno State Normal School/Fresno State College/Fresno City College Old Administration Building
1101 University Avenue – Listed May 1, 1974
Now carefully preserved and a joy to attend events in, this local landmark was designed by George McDougal in a Spanish Renaissance style in 1916 and served as the first permanent (and only remaining original) structure on the Fresno Normal School campus. Faced with tapestry brick and resplendent with Moorish influences, this building is one of the few of its kind in the Central Valley.
The rehabilitation of the Old Administration Building (OAB) returned to life an important visual and cultural icon, one that many residents of the community remember from their school days. Just two years after designation on the Register, the building closed due to new seismic regulations. The renovation brought the facility back to its original glory, hiding virtually all structural work behind original or replicated interior finishes. The hand-crafted Roman brick was cleaned and original materials, such as the clay roof tiles, decorative wood eaves, and wood windows, were restored. The interiors were refurbished and kept the original layout in more than 90% of the structure. As a result of the renovation, Fresno City College has been able to expand academic courses, performing arts education, and student services, revitalizing the heart of the campus.
|
|
YWCA Residence Hall – 1660 M Street – Listed September 21, 1978
One the foremost woman architects of her time, Julia Morgan designed the Y.W.C.A. Residence Hall in 1922. Born in San Francisco in 1872, Julia Morgan became an architect when very few women entered that profession. Morgan was the official architect in the West for the YWCA, one of her best clients. She designed YWCA buildings in most major cities in California, Utah, Hawaii, and in Japan. Built in 1922, the Fresno YWCA Residence Hall is the last such building designed by Morgan that is still used for its original purpose–providing moderate-cost housing for young women. We look forward to sharing more about this phenomenal woman in future newsletters.
The YWCA Residence Hall is a mixture of Spanish and Italian Renaissance detailing. The general plan of the two-story residence with a usable attic is an "H" form with simple vertical units on the north and south and a court in between. The first-floor plan is quite symmetrical. The horizontal unit consists of a main lobby and library; there is a reception room on the south side and offices on the north side. The north and south units include bedrooms and related rooms such as bathrooms, storage and sewing rooms, dining rooms and kitchens.
The building is designed to fit the climatic needs of the hot San Joaquin Valley. All acceptable types of ventilation common in the 1920s were incorporated into the building. A good example is the sleeping porch located on the east end of the third-floor attic in the north unit. This originally was screened in but in later years, with the advent of modern cooling and heating systems, has been enclosed and is usable all year.
Alterations to the building have been very minor, and do not detract from the significance of the building. In the early 1940s, the third-floor dormitories (sleeping porches) were partitioned into several smaller areas. Other than this minor change, the building retains its original integrity.
|
|
Tower Theatre – 1201 N. Wishon Avenue – Listed September 24, 1992
The Tower has quite a history which very few people actually know. The theater is located in a part of Fresno that had been developing into a shopping area since about 1923.
Building permits were issued on May 11, 1939, by the city of Fresno for a Wishon/Fox theater. Codenamed "The Ritz," the design was significantly smaller than the original Wishon/Fox proposal. It was designed by S. Charles Lee and was estimated to cost $100,000. Construction began immediately following the issuing of permits under the direction of general contracting firm Trewhitt, Shields and Fisher. The original design for a finned tower was revised by Lee in August 1939. The new 80-foot design resembled the 130-foot "Star Pylon" at the 1939 New York World's Fair, designed by Francis Kelly and Leonard Dean to symbolize the "force of electricity."
On December 14, 1939, the theater, formally dedicated as the "Tower Theatre," opened to a private party for local dignitaries and people associated with Fox Theaters with a premiere of the film Balalaika. The public got access the next day to enjoy featured films, Dancing Co-Ed and Henry Goes Arizona. The theater was not certified as complete until January 29, 1940, but there was a push to occupy the building prior to Christmas 1939.
|
|
In the future, we will continue to discover the National Register buildings in Fresno County and also to uncover state, county and city treasures. As many of our structures have reached their original lifespan and need millions of dollars of restoration, the importance of understanding how and why certain properties can be protected and saved is more important than ever before. |
|
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: LORI HUNTER
Lori Hunter, our Office Administrator, is the newest edition to the FCHS family!
She will be taking lead in a variety of services for us and is looking forward to bringing her experience in Arts & Culture organizations to benefit the Fresno County Historical Society. She and her husband live in Sunnyside and love spending time with family, pursuing creative projects and traveling locally, exploring and discovering treasures and off-the-beaten-path hidden gems.
|
|
THE FRESNO COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
valleyhistory.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
