Twee owner Melanie Davis Unguez, center, in her shop near Warnors Theatre, with Kim Burly Schoelen, left, and Annemarie Bell, right. Photo: Twee
UPDATE: I heard from Twee owner Melanie and she told me a little more about why she’s closing.
“We’re not profitable,” she said, noting that the store was doing about the same at the Tuolumne Street location as it did in Tower. She’s also hasn’t recovered financially from a flood at the old location.
But we haven’t heard the last of Twee. She promises more big Twee news soon. Her Fresno-themed products will also soon be for sale at the All Things Fresno store and the Downtown Fresno Partnership offices at 845 Fulton Mall. And special events selling handmade goods are in the works, too.
She’s still loyal to downtown and will be joining the Downtown Fresno Partnership’s marketing committee.
ORIGINAL POST:Twee, Fresno’s favorite artsy, crafty downtown store, is closing at the end of March.
Owner Melanie Davis Unguez broke the news on the business’s Facebook page this morning. She says:
“We are moving on to new adventures. For the time being, Twee will be closing up shop at the end of March at the Tuolumne location. We will be moving to a more mobile business, with an online shop, as well as setting up at Farmers Markets.”
Twee will be selling its jewelry, T-shirts, cards and other goods at The Market on Kern on Wednesdays beginning in April.
1. GET YOUR HANDS ON SOME LOCAL GOODS
Since the Fresno Handmade Bazaar was such a success earlier this year, organizers The Soulflower Group have crafted a seasonal sequel — Saturday’s Fresno Handmade Holiday Bazaar. You can buy gifts — for you or your fam — handmade by Fresno’s indie artisans. This ain’t your grandma’s craft fair, though. It’s in a club with a DJ and drinks. Keep in mind that it’s only open to the 21+. [More]
Congratulations to Sally Caglia of Warnors Theatre fame, who is being honored tonight by the Theatre Historical Society of America in an awards presentation in Visalia.
Caglia is receiving the organization’s Honorary Member of the Year award for her dedication to the historic theatre. There’s a second-generation flair to the storyline: In 1975, her father, Frank Caglia, received his own THS Member of the Year award, which still hangs in the theater’s box office.
The presentation of the award will be witnessed by nearly one hundred THS members who will be attending the Theatre Historical Society of America’s Annual Conclave and Theatre tour. Members of THS have come from all over the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and Australia to tour historic theatres and participate in the organization’s annual meeting.
I love this photo by Bee photographer Craig Kohlruss of the boarded up main entrance to Hotel Fresno. The contrast between the beauty of the door and arched window work with the graffiti and scarred floor says wonders.
This is just one of many photos from Craig on the hotel, which was the subject of a front-page story in today’s Bee. Reporter George Hostetter explains the plans to renovate the hotel into a space featuring apartments and businesses. The estimated cost is $16.5 million and the financing uncertain. There’s a lot of uncertainty about the project, but Hostetter writes about its promise:
Looks like next weekend is taking shape as a big Christmas celebration in downtown Fresno. There’s the annual Christmas parade — which was resurrected after being canceled — at 10 a.m. Saturday. Afterward, the city has organized a variety of activities around downtown as part of something it’s calling WinterFest.
The cool thing about WinterFest is a “passport” game where attendees can win prizes while exploring downtown:
After you see Fresno State lose to Boise tonight. Yeah, I said it …
1. SWING WITH YOUR VOODOO DADDY Big Bad Voodoo Daddy headlines Warnors Theatre tonight. You remember them best as one of the big names from the swing movement of the late 90s. Just ’cause swing fizzled out, doesn’t mean they did. Check out my interview to learn more. Ticket info and whatnot here. Great chance to see the beautiful Warnors Theatre, if you haven’t been in a while.
The project is trying to bring new life to each venue, including a good list of shows that have been booked between now and November. Swing big-band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and popular Christian trio Point of Grace have been booked for November dates at Warnors, while Star Palace is starting a summer concert series that will have young rock bands and singer/songwriters playing on Friday nights Artists such as Seventh Day Slumber, JJ Heller and Lybecker are due for that.
Also exciting is that dynamo local promoters Love the Captive — who have brought Little Dragon and others to town — have signed on to book shows at Frank’s Place and Star Palace. In fact, I’m told that LTC is moving its June 26 date with Head Like a Kite from Starline to Frank’s Place.
In addition to Davidson, the show will be hosted by Kid, of Kid-N-Play fame. That’s intriguing. Hope he can grow back the super high-top fade in a month, though.
This has been a long time in the making — and I hope it’s worth it. Here is Vol. 4 of the “I Hate You, Mike Oz” series.
Backstory: This is actually more than a year old. I had written a column about the need for mid-size concert venue in town and said the Warnors Theatre, if you took out the seats on the first level, would be like the awesome Warfield in San Francisco. This gentleman was none too pleased with that idea. Notice that he called at 4:40 a.m.
This post brought to you by Ticketmaster China. When visiting Bejiing, spend your money on convenience fees.
Tesla, The Used and Lamb of God — the downtown theater circuit is bout to have a rockin’ week of concerts.
Tesla is playing tonight at Warnors Theatre — and, nope, tickets are not sold out. The band is best known for its work in the late 80s and early 90s, including the hit single “Signs.” Tickets cost $32.50.
Here’s a look back at my weekend. Did you do anything good? Spill it in the comments.
FRIDAY
- All I could muster after a long week that included Rogue Festival and Kids Day was a quick jaunt over to Livingstone’s. Quesadilla. Yum.
SATURDAY
- I caught Ryan Paulson’s “I’m Uncomfortable,” which had a crazy line for a 11:30 a.m. show. The show was hilarious and was a good way to end this year’s Rogue for me. I hope he comes back next year with another show. So far he’s 2-for-2 in my book.
- The Fresno Home & Garden show was PACKED. Like Christmas-at-the-mall packed. Like testing-your-patience-not-to-scream-at-someone packed. I was pretty ho-hum on the show for the first half of it, but I ended up finding some backyard/landscaping ideas that I dug.
- Caught psychic/clairvoyant Lisa Williams at the Warnors Theatre. I was intrigued for a few reasons: (1) I hadn’t been to the Warnors in a while. (2) This was a different type of show for Fresno and I wanted to see what it was like. (3) I’m not sure whether I believe in the whole “I talk to dead people” thing. The show didn’t really make up my mind on the last one. Some of the stuff she told people seemed pretty amazing, but then some of it seemed like logical guesses. I do know that I was awestruck by how beautiful that theater is. It was very nice to see it lit up while driving around downtown.
LISTEN: 
