Memories about growing up in:

During WWII, Fresno's downtown streets swarmed with servicemen, mostly soldiers. There were three U.S Army bases in Fresno. Camp Pinedale, a sprawling Signal Corps base, bordered Herndon Ave. Hammer Field to the east was an Advanced Army Air Corps base. At the beginning of the war temporary barracks were built to house Japanese on their way to internment camps. Later these barracks were used to house soldiers at a camp we simply called The Fairgrounds.

From 1943 through 1945, I was a U.S.O. hostess, as were many of Fresno's young women at that time. Two or three times a week, special buses would take us to any one of the three bases. The men far outnumbered us, so every girl was popular. I did a lot of jitterbugging and, as I recall, never sat down. No alcohol allowed. We drank a lot of cokes. Drugs were unheard of.

On a personal note, one night my girlfriend and I, both 16, took a bus downtown to see a movie at the Warner Brothers theater. Afterwards, we had a choice of taking either the Wishon Bus or the Camp Pinedale bus home. Guess which one we chose. The bus was packed with soldiers, and I ended up sitting on a young staff sergeant's lap.That's how I met my first husband!

Yes, the location is the same. The Big Fresno Fair was canceled in 1942 when the Fairgrounds was used for a WWII internment camp and later as an Army facility. The fair reopened in 1948.

i graduated from Fresno State in 1967. A friend of mine during those years told me he recalled being a very young child in the Fairgrounds internment camp. Yours is only the second mention of this historic use of the grounds I have encountered. Thank you for this and many other postings. In a previous post (topic being old Fresno movie theatres) I mentioned the old Mayfair/Fine Art theatre was built in connection to Army placements near the fairgrounds. Your posting confirms and enlarges on this memory. Again, thanks!