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HANOIANS GREW GROCERY BUSINESS TO LARGE CENTER
Paula Lloyd
Fresno Bee
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/22/2050193/hanoians-grew-grocery-business.html
Aug 23 2010
CA
Question: What is the history of Hanoian's Market and the founder?
-- Joe Ceballos, Clovis
Answer: Hanoian's Market was opened in 1912 at 2454 Railroad Ave. by
Peter Hanoian Sr., an Armenian immigrant who came to Fresno from
Boston for his health.
When the store opened, Railroad Avenue south of Church Avenue was a
dirt road.
Hanoian didn't make enough from the grocery store to support his
family, so he added a public weigh station, sold gas and sporting
goods and even supplied paper trays to raisin growers.
When business dwindled on Railroad Avenue, Hanoian's children -- Peter
Jr., George, Mary Mathews and Myrtle Asadoorian -- opened Hanoian's
Shopping Center at 1439 S. Cedar Ave. at Butler Avenue in 1956.
One of southeast Fresno's first major shopping centers, Hanoian's
had a pharmacy, laundromat, sporting goods store, barber shop, beauty
salon and health food store.
The siblings each had an area of expertise in the family market:
Peter Jr., general manager and butcher; George, sporting goods
and vegetables; Mary, grocery; and Myrtle, liquor and cosmetics
departments.
Bob Hanoian, grandson of Peter Sr., was the store's president when
Hanoian's closed in 2001. After 89 years in business, it was the
oldest family-operated market in Fresno.
Q: What happened to the CAFY ethnic dinner series? I found a
25-year-old program to one of these wonderful events.
-- Laura NeVille, Clovis
A: The ethnic dinners were one of the programs presented by CAFY --
originally called Cultural Arts for You -- which began in 1976 as a
series of classes in the arts and culture.
The fee-based program was part of the city of Fresno's Parks,
Recreation and Community Services Department.
By 1980 as the types of classes offered widened to include karate,
home repair and even "Understanding Wall Street," the program's name
was changed to Creative Arts For You.
About 300 eight-week classes for children and adults were held during
the day and evening at schools, parks and dance studios in Fresno,
according to Mabelle Selland, former cultural arts supervisor for CAFY.
Two of CAFY's more popular programs were the ethnic dinner series and
the bus tours to destinations that included San Francisco, the Gene
Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles and the Huntington
galleries and gardens in San Marino, near Pasadena.
The ethnic dinners were held four times a year at local restaurants
or churches. Members of local ethnic groups prepared food and also
shared their history, dance and art with diners. The dinner fees
went to the group that prepared the meal. CAFY also sponsored ethnic
festivals on the Fulton Mall that drew up to 45 different groups.
The craze for gymnastics and after-school soccer made the children's
classes hard to fill, Selland said. The CAFY program ended in 1993.
From: A. Papazian
Paula Lloyd
Fresno Bee
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/22/2050193/hanoians-grew-grocery-business.html
Aug 23 2010
CA
Question: What is the history of Hanoian's Market and the founder?
-- Joe Ceballos, Clovis
Answer: Hanoian's Market was opened in 1912 at 2454 Railroad Ave. by
Peter Hanoian Sr., an Armenian immigrant who came to Fresno from
Boston for his health.
When the store opened, Railroad Avenue south of Church Avenue was a
dirt road.
Hanoian didn't make enough from the grocery store to support his
family, so he added a public weigh station, sold gas and sporting
goods and even supplied paper trays to raisin growers.
When business dwindled on Railroad Avenue, Hanoian's children -- Peter
Jr., George, Mary Mathews and Myrtle Asadoorian -- opened Hanoian's
Shopping Center at 1439 S. Cedar Ave. at Butler Avenue in 1956.
One of southeast Fresno's first major shopping centers, Hanoian's
had a pharmacy, laundromat, sporting goods store, barber shop, beauty
salon and health food store.
The siblings each had an area of expertise in the family market:
Peter Jr., general manager and butcher; George, sporting goods
and vegetables; Mary, grocery; and Myrtle, liquor and cosmetics
departments.
Bob Hanoian, grandson of Peter Sr., was the store's president when
Hanoian's closed in 2001. After 89 years in business, it was the
oldest family-operated market in Fresno.
Q: What happened to the CAFY ethnic dinner series? I found a
25-year-old program to one of these wonderful events.
-- Laura NeVille, Clovis
A: The ethnic dinners were one of the programs presented by CAFY --
originally called Cultural Arts for You -- which began in 1976 as a
series of classes in the arts and culture.
The fee-based program was part of the city of Fresno's Parks,
Recreation and Community Services Department.
By 1980 as the types of classes offered widened to include karate,
home repair and even "Understanding Wall Street," the program's name
was changed to Creative Arts For You.
About 300 eight-week classes for children and adults were held during
the day and evening at schools, parks and dance studios in Fresno,
according to Mabelle Selland, former cultural arts supervisor for CAFY.
Two of CAFY's more popular programs were the ethnic dinner series and
the bus tours to destinations that included San Francisco, the Gene
Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles and the Huntington
galleries and gardens in San Marino, near Pasadena.
The ethnic dinners were held four times a year at local restaurants
or churches. Members of local ethnic groups prepared food and also
shared their history, dance and art with diners. The dinner fees
went to the group that prepared the meal. CAFY also sponsored ethnic
festivals on the Fulton Mall that drew up to 45 different groups.
The craze for gymnastics and after-school soccer made the children's
classes hard to fill, Selland said. The CAFY program ended in 1993.
From: A. Papazian