By Wally Sarkeesian, Fresno, California.
The Renaissance Cultural and Intellectual team have put up an impressive show from the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2729 W. Griffith Way on Friday afternoon to over 500 guests attended the celebration at Fresno State Satellite Student Union University.
On August 31 Friday something incredible happened in Fresno look like just another house on the block, but the Fresno home where Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright William Saroyan lived out his final years is now open to the public as an interactive museum.
The museum features a hologram of Saroyan and a setup of his desk and part of his home as it was when he lived there. The rest of the house is filled with photos, videos and interviews taken of Saroyan throughout the years, posters of his work and his drawings.
Mayor Lee Brand, Councilwoman Esmeralda Soria and Mr. Artur Janibekyan Founder of the renaissance cultural and intellectual foundation were in attendance for the grand opening. The museum is in Soria’s district.
Saroyan’s home of 16 years has been converted into a high-tech interactive museum in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Central Fresno.
“Hologram is usually something that is fun for kids to see an actual character in actual space so that’s why we came up with the hologram thing,” said Meroujan Minssian.
Saroyan was born in Fresno in 1908 and died at the Veterans Hospital in 1981 of cancer. He purchased the home on Griffith Way 17 years before his death and split his time there and abroad, according to his biography.
The Renaissance Cultural and Intellectual Foundation, based in Armenia, purchased the house in 2015 and set out to renovate it to honor Saroyan and the Armenian community.
The Mayor Interview by Wally Sarkeesian
Plaque Unveiling, Official Ribbon Cutting at William Saroyan Museum Grand opening