TWTYTW

That was the year that was, and since y’all clamored for a look back, here goes. 2024 began with Saskia Kennedy taking the reins of this publication, and she has endured last-minute additions to this page many times without complaint. Potential legal action over the closure of West Wilshire and a full year of back and forth has not resolved the issue, but we shall soon find out if there is one.

The “Fair rotation policy” for selecting mayor and mayor pro tem was challenged early on, and there are some words about the latest action on that policy on page 4 of the January 2025 issue.

Mike Ness and his wife accept the keys to the city from Mayor Dunlap

The bricks came tumbling down at 129 W Commonwealth, making way for the Ostrich Egg Distillery, and workers soon had to contend with torrential downpours. Mike Ness was given the keys to the City, and all Social Distortion fans were as amazed and grateful as Mike was that the honor was bestowed on this Fullerton musical icon after so many years of less-than-favorable treatment of our favorite guitar-wielding rebel.

McClains Coffeehouse at 817 N Harbor began a transformation into a Pho Restaurant, and work seems to have really picked up there recently, so we hope they will soon open their doors in that active part of our downtown.

The Fullerton College Chapman Newell building headed upwards as the second-floor structure was hoisted up via crane, and the third annual Pride Fest was celebrated with a parade down Wilshire from Raymond Avenue to where else? Downtown of course.

The Day of Music 2024 crew

Day of Music once again kicked off the summer, this time with well over a hundred performances and 40 venues, bringing the sound of music to Leo Fender’s town. Venues included a return to the Hillcrest Park Bowl, which is still under consideration for more frequent music events, the Fox Fullerton, and, of course, the Downtown Plaza, along with many mom-and-pop shops, parking lots, and even front porches. We celebrated Leo and gave a big nod to Phyllis, his wife, who was a friend to all, sadly, she has been gone for over four years now.
1500 plus citizens signed a petition to keep Walk on Wilshire, and the first Chalk on Wilshire took place, as did many Halloween events, which foreshadowed the upcoming election.

A number of local businesses celebrated anniversaries, from one year to 50 years and many in between, and a Joshua Tree took root at the Arboretum.

That wraps it up, and as we did this review, we discovered a lot more went on downtown than we remembered, so there you go, the rest of the story.

Bikes

Hopefully, it has been noted that this page is as light-hearted as possible, and we do our best to point out the many good things that are not news but information that we hope will be a bit on the fun side. This time, however, a quick note to see if something positive can come from a tragedy.

The photo is of a “Ghost Bike,” and when we see it, perhaps we will all be reminded that bicycle riders are exposed to dangers that we in our vehicles are not. Please be careful when you see riders on our streets, be kind, be safe.

Downtown Morning Life

Do we mean downtown nightlife? Not this time. KLOS brought the morning team of Mark & Brian downtown back in 2001 for the nighttime Halloween parade, and this year, Heidi & Frank showed up at 6am on December 20 to celebrate the holiday season in our berg. Past morning radio shows have taken place at the Slidebar.

The half-awake crowd was ready to cheer and beer, with contests to match the zany atmosphere of a morning Rock radio show. As you can see, a very mixed crowd showed up to kick off the weekend before Christmas, as we assume nobody went to work after the show. Instant three-day weekend warm-up for the upcoming three-day weekends.

This Is New

What is new, the year? Yes, or so it is said by those who invent these things. How strange that we spend months quivering in anticipation of “The Holiday Season,” and then, the day after Christmas, we quickly move on, clearing out the leftover bits of wrapping paper that made their way under and behind the couch, having one last nog and a plate of leftovers, giving the boot to the last relative who spent one day too many hanging around, desperately trying to find space for all the new stuff we have, and relaxing, knowing that soon the next big day is simply about blowing off steam, imbibing, wearing funny hats and making funny noises, all within the bounds of normalcy for the day.

Now that that too is over, we downtown goers can spend a week keeping our resolutions intact before we settle in and begin to think about what this year will bring.

Will the new businesses that just popped up be successful?

Will the new stuff we heard about come to fruition?

Whenever there is a “New In Town” paragraph here, that usually means someone moved on and someone moved in.  We poked around a bit to see how our merchants and restaurant folks fared in the last month of 2024, and as expected, it was mixed. Some had a year that was good or better than last year, and others are struggling to grow their businesses. It’s hard to imagine that 2024 is gone, and we are getting close to burning up a full one-fourth of this century already. Let’s hope we did something good with it and will continue to do so.

Photo Quiz

Send an answer to Mike at AllMedia@sbcglobal.net

Last time: It looks like we are the only ones who have had a tour of the Fullerton Police Department clock tower and saw the vintage striped jail uniforms in storage, the secluded room with direct contact to the cells below, and secrets we will not reveal.

This time: Where is this, and what is happening?