It’s been a while since I have written a blog post. Actually life got busy and my normal job got life consuming. Yet this past week at the tail end of the school year I managed to enjoy a FresYes moment that has reintroduced me to this blog.
As an employee of the largest school district in Fresno, I have gone to the Cosmopolitan Tavern located in downtown Fresno many times during lunch breaks from meetings. For those of you that have never had the pleasure of visiting this downtown establishment, I guess the best way to describe it is like a Central Valley Regal Beagle (Oh my!) with an Italian twist.
It has two main rooms filled with booths and tables with chairs. One side has the counter where you can peruse the array of sandwiches, salads, pizza and soups that you should totally put down your computer right now and run and go try. The other room, also has chairs and tables, has the bar located along one side of the room. A large wooden structure with stools and a large assortment of bottles and glassware, it stands weathered and worn in all the right ways. A bar that is filled with the stories of those varied individuals that sit at the booths every single day.
As I would sit with my coworkers eating at one of the tables I always knew one day I wanted to sit at the bar. I would see people from all ages sitting on the stools having conversations in the middle of the afternoon. The old and young would gather for a moment to share their lives over a great sandwich and a beverage. I would envy their experience and always told myself one work free day I would join them.
When I heard that the Cosmopolitan would soon move due to the building of the high speed railroad this coming November, I knew that I had to sit at the bar and have that experience I always wanted sooner than later. So this past week I recruited my friend and decided to catch up at the Cosmopolitan Tavern.
We arrived a little after the lunch rush and sat at the end of the bar. We were promptly greeted by Nirva Cecilia our bartender for the day. She was great!! By the end of our meal she was part of the girl gossip war my friend and me had going on. It was amazing!! We decided to grab a beverage and ordered our sandwiches. I opted for a Turkey Pesto Panini. Oh boy!! That treadmill is going to hate me tomorrow morning but it was so worth it.
You could overhear the different groups talking and laughing. People came and went and Nirva knew them by name and by story. A group at the end of the bar took pictures and acknowledged that they would arrive at the same place and same time in about a month. There were business people sipping on lemonades and having salads, groups of farmers talking about the lack of rain and how they were glad that baseball was back, and people just chatting it up with Nirva as if they were old friends.
Since 1933 the Cosmopolitan Tavern has held this spot. As Nirva let us know they would be moving at the end of the year to a new spot which will be located in the Sellend Arena parking lot. Although I could tell they are sad to go she did say that they are excited about the new things that will come there way. But one thing will certainly be the same in the new location, that weathered, story filled bar will be moving with them. Amazing!
Soon the hours whizzed by and the sandwich magically disappeared in front of me and it was time to go. We bid our goodbyes and thanked them for the wonderful afternoon. It was a great way to end my spring break, catching up with an old friend, meeting new ones and checking off one more thing on my FresYes bucket list.
So if you have a moment in time before the end of the year, sit at the bar at the Cosmopolitan Tavern. You don’t even have to order a drink, many of those I saw that day did not. Just enjoy the FresYes moment that occurs everyday in this little corner place in Fresno, not to mention a pretty darn good sandwich.
Thanks Nirva!
The Cosmopolitan Tavern is located on 1546 Fresno Street. (Fresno and “G” Street)
- Cosmopolitan Tavern – The ‘COS’! - June 18, 2015
- Selling my Fresno home - August 31, 2014
- Back to School – a look from the other side - August 17, 2014
Thanks for the write up! Will definitely stop by. BTW – I don’t think anyone under the age of 40yrs old will know where Chrissy, Janet & Jack Tripper would hang out there lol
I miss Threes Company!