Empty Tower nightclub getting new tenant. What’s up with the old Club Fred in Fresno?

Tower District residents were keen to watch the progress of Dr. Greenthumb’s dispensary, in part, because of its location.

It opened in what had been one the most visibly vacant buildings in the neighborhood and a source of constant questioning. As in: “What’s going on with the old Bank of America Building?”

Similarly comes news that Summer Fox Brewing Company is expanding into the Tower District and will be reviving a longtime music and nightlife spot that’s been mostly empty since 2016.

“Being able to make this happen has just been amazing,” says brewery’s co-owner Kevin Lisitsin.

“We’re pretty excited about it.”

Currently the space — on Van Ness Avenue north of Olive Avenue — is branded in large yellow letters as Full Circle Olympic, the name it took on when that brewery opened a tap room there in 2019. It closed less than two years later, a victim of the pandemic.

The Artist Tree then had plans to open a dispensary and art gallery there, and had been awarded a retail cannabis license from the city, only to have it denied on appeal.

So, the building has remained empty.

But for decades, the spot operated as an institution in the music/club scene, first as the Oly, then Club Fred and later as Audie’s Olympic Tavern. It was a dive-bar kind of place, with a claw-foot bathtub/beer cooler behind the bar and a pool table that doubled as merch space for local and touring bands.

Forty years ago, it was a regular spot for Fresno blues singer John Clifton. He played there often with his first band, The Mockers, and recently used the spot as a backdrop in a video for his song “Every Waking Hour.” Cage the Elephant played the venue in 2009, before they were famous enough to play the Save Mart Center (that came a few years later).

Lisitsin remembers seeing the rap group Nappy Roots perform there.

He says the brewery will be working to bring in some of that history to the new space. The stage will remain and there could be some ticketed concert performances, Lisitsin says, though how often that would happen is yet to be determined.

“We really want to see what the community wants,” he says.

One major change will be the addition of a patio that opens up on to Van Ness Avenue.

Work on the location could begin this week, Lisitsin says, and be ready for opening in three months, depending on timelines from the city.

Summer Fox Brewing Company expansion

Originally opened as Amalgamation Brewing in a warehouse near Herndon and Milburn avenues, Summer Fox was one of the first craft breweries to move into north Fresno. It changed its name in 2022 and opened a second location in a shopping center on Clovis Avenue, north of Gettysburg.

This third location will have a different vibe by virtue of it being in the Tower District, Lisitsin says. For one, the brewery will be within walking distance for a lot of guests, he says, and also some employees.

The beer menu will be much the same, with a tap list similar to its other locations, though it might get a little more crafty with some specialty and guest brews, including from their friends at Grayview Brewing Company. Hop water and other non-beer choices will also available.

As a special incentive to its longtime customers (and to raise some money to put into the new space) the brewery will be offering a limited number of $5,000 lifetime memberships, which will be good at all three brewery locations.

“It’s for the people that have really brought us into their lives,” Lisitsin says.

A fourth Summer Fox location is already in the idea stage and could be coming within the next two years.