It's a treasured part of Fresno's past and present and one of the city's oldest and most successful shopping centers. The story of Fig Garden Village today on KVPR's Central Valley Roots.
Much of what we today call the Old Fig Garden neighborhood was developed before World War II. Here developers JC Forkner and Wylie M Giffen sold large lots south of Shaw along Van Ness to aspiring gentleman farmers, on what was then the northern fringe of Fresno. But Forkner also had massive commercial fig orchards north of Shaw Avenue stretching for miles. And in the post war years, developers started building homes in that area. And all of those residents needed a place to shop.
Enter farmers Ellen and Allen Funch. In 1956 they built one of Fresno's first suburban shopping centers just north of Old Fig Garden at Shaw and Palm Avenues. Designed in the rambling, rustic "town and county" style by architect John Fennacy, the development quickly became a success. Reclaimed timbers, cedar shingles and shaded walkways lent the center a romantic flair.
Fig Garden Village has been expanded multiple times over the years but remains popular to this day. While some of the center's original buildings have been torn down and replaced with new structures, much of the development still looks much like it did in 1956.
One final note, while nearly everything around it was once part of those fig orchards, figs actually never grew on the land that became Fig Garden Village.
