And one immigrant built something unlike anything else in California. Starting in 1906, a Sicilian named Baldassare Forestiere spent forty years — with shovels, picks, and his own imagination — hand-digging an underground world beneath the hardpan: more than ten acres of rooms, courtyards, and tunnels as deep as twenty-five feet, with citrus trees growing up toward skylights and a microclimate cooler than the brutal valley summer. The Forestiere Underground Gardens, now a registered historic landmark, are still there — Fresno's strangest and most wonderful secret.
Our Fresno logo carries California's grizzly bear above ‘California Republic — Est. 1850,’ the shared retro emblem of our California towns; the bear is the state's own icon, taken from the old Bear Flag Republic, and 1850 marks the year California joined the Union. Rendered in black-and-white, it ties Fresno to every other California town we make. What makes this one Fresno is the country behind the bear — the vineyards and crate labels of the Valley floor, and the Sierra rising on the eastern horizon.
Why People Visit Fresno
Visitors choose Fresno for its unique gardens, family-friendly parks, and gateway convenience. The Tower District and downtown highlight history and everyday culture, and the city's central location makes regional day trips simple — most of all into the High Sierra. Travelers find year-round appeal in its parks, paths, and public spaces, where vintage farm-town California and the wild mountains beyond sit side by side in a welcoming way.
