Sonries the Jaguar Has Moved Into Happy Hollow, San Jose Gets Its Big Cat Back

Happy Hollow Park & Zoo has a new jaguar. His name is Sonries, he arrived from the Los Angeles Zoo through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Jaguar Species Survival Plan, and he is still settling in behind the scenes. Guests walking the bamboo path through Zoo in the Hollow will not find him on exhibit yet. Keepers have given him time to learn new sights, new sounds, and a new daily rhythm before he steps into the outdoor habitat that once belonged to San Jose’s last resident cats.

That gap lasted more than a year. Sophia, the jaguar many local kids grew up watching from the viewing rail, died in June 2025 at age 21 after kidney disease. She had lived at Happy Hollow for about two decades and became one of the oldest jaguars in an AZA-accredited zoo. Kianto, the park’s other senior male, was already gone. The empty habitat left a hole in a 16-acre park that has mixed rides and conservation since 1961. Sonries’ transfer is the Species Survival Plan doing what it was built to do: move animals between accredited zoos so the North American population stays genetically healthy.

The animal care team has refused a fixed debut date. Positive reinforcement training is underway, the same slow, treat-and-trust work that lets a big cat choose when a new step feels safe. Happy Hollow published Chapter 1 of a “Meet Sonries” series on August 16 and promised milestones, enrichment clips, and keeper notes in the weeks ahead. When he is ready for public viewing, the park said it will say so first.

A trip to Kelley Park still pays off while the wait continues. Twix the red panda, capybaras, lemurs, meerkats, and the petting barn remain on view. Danny the Dragon, the carousel, and the Pacific Fruit Express keep running. Every ticket still feeds Quarters for Conservation, the program that sends a slice of admission to field projects abroad. General admission currently runs $22 for ages 2 to 59, $19 for seniors and military, and free for children under 2. Parking is $10. Note the current detour: Story Road at the main entrance has been closed, so drivers should use the lot at 1300 Senter Road until the park says otherwise.

Follow the zoo’s updates, then take the kids anyway. The hollow already has a jaguar again. The rest of us just have to wait until Sonries decides the yard is his.

Tickets and hours: https://happyhollow.org/visit/
Meet Sonries, Chapter 1: https://happyhollow.org/happy-hollow-blog/meet-sonries/

A Parking Lot Beside Hammer Theatre Moves Toward 168 Affordable Homes

Planning Director Christopher Burton is scheduled to hear a seven-story affordable project on September 3 that would replace a 1.3-acre surface lot between South Second and South Third streets, just south of East San Fernando. The Sobrato Organization owns the asphalt. Pacific West Communities would build. AO drew the plans. The site sits next to San Jose State’s Hammer Theatre Center and across from the San Antonio light-rail stop, which is the whole point of putting housing here instead of another decade of empty spaces after the last show lets out.

Staff have recommended approval. Under the state’s Density Bonus Law the current count is 168 apartments: 33 reserved for very-low-income households, 133 for low-income households, and two market-rate manager units. Earlier filings this spring described 173 homes with a slightly different mix, including extremely-low-income apartments. Numbers often shift as drawings harden. What has not shifted is the claim that nearly every door would be deed-restricted. Sobrato held this lot since about 2010 and once floated a 24-story, 393-unit market tower that never left the page. The new version is shorter, cheaper to finance, and aimed at people who already work or study within walking distance of Paseo de San Antonio.

San Jose’s state housing assignment for 2023 through 2031 is 62,200 units. Council spent recent weeks arguing about whether denser housing should spread into more neighborhoods. This parcel does not need that debate. It already sits in the core, next to a campus, a theater, restaurants, and a train. Residents would not need a car to reach a job on Santa Clara Street or a class on campus. They would need the project to survive financing after the director’s stamp.

Pacific West has become a regular partner on below-market work around Northern California. Sobrato, long an office landlord, has been steering more of its land toward housing. Neither fact guarantees a groundbreaking. An approval on September 3 would still leave tax credits, construction costs, and a construction schedule. The useful test for Downtown San Jose is whether a parking lot that has sat idle beside a university theater finally turns into addresses instead of another rendering.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal\

Neighborhood Favorites Across San Jose Just Received a Welcome Boost

Family-run kitchens from The Alameda to Vietnam Town and South San Jose recently secured $5,000 resilience grants. The California Restaurant Foundation and The PG&E Corporation Foundation directed the money to more than 150 Bay Area restaurants, with a solid share landing in Santa Clara County.

Independent owners with fewer than five locations and under $3 million in annual revenue qualified. The funds will cover kitchen equipment, technology upgrades, staff training, retention bonuses or unexpected costs. This year’s cycle set records: 239 restaurants across 30 counties received $1.4 million total. Since 2021 the partnership has delivered $5.7 million to more than 1,100 restaurants.

San Jose winners include Via Mia Pizza, T-T Deli at 1520 The Alameda, Pho This Way on Story Road, Angelo’s Italian Restaurant on Blossom Hill Road, Hop & Vine at 1435 The Alameda, Anh Hong, Birria Patro Jaramillo, Golden Harvest, Huynh Dining, Mimi’s Kitchen, MOC DELIGHTS and Bun Mam Ha Tien & Simply Boba. Several sit close to Downtown San Jose or along The Alameda corridor where regulars already know the owners by name.

These spots employ local crews and give each neighborhood its own flavor. Better equipment and extra training let owners keep the same recipes while running smoother operations. Readers who already count these places as weeknight standbys can expect the same welcome plus a few operational upgrades behind the scenes.

The next time a craving hits, drop by one of the grant recipients. A bowl of pho, a banh mi, a pizza or a plate of pasta from a family kitchen keeps money circulating close to home and helps San Jose’s restaurant map stay varied and independently owned. Additional information on the Restaurants Care Resilience Fund lives at restaurantscare.org.

GalaxyCon Holds Downtown Through Sunday. Saturday Doors Open at 10.

GalaxyCon’s third year at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center is already underway. Friday’s late start is over. Saturday runs 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the exhibit hall closing an hour earlier on Saturday. The address is 150 West San Carlos Street, which puts the whole circus inside walking distance of light rail, hotels, and whatever else Downtown San Jose is doing this weekend, including Silicon Valley Pride a few blocks away.

The guest list is the reason people bought badges months ago. Hayden Christensen is listed for Saturday only. George Takei, Brent Spiner, Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Ian Somerhalder, Temuera Morrison, Wayne Knight, Joseph Mazzello, and Ariana Richards stretch across Saturday and Sunday or all three days. Cassandra Peterson, Tyler Hoechlin, Sean Gunn, and Scott Patterson were Friday-Saturday. Muppet veterans Steve Whitmire and Dave Goelz are on the board. Voice work includes Colleen O’Shaughnessey. Comics side has Marv Wolfman and a long artist alley. A handful of announced names already dropped out, including Don Bluth and Jaime Pressly, so check the official guest page before lining up for a signature that is no longer there.

Cosplay contests are offering more than $4,000 in cash plus medals and trophies. Photo ops and autographs are separate tickets on top of a badge. Official passes still sell through Eventeny; weekend VIP packages climb into four figures, while single-day general admission on the secondary market was running well over $100 by Friday night. Lockers, accessibility notes, and a prop policy live on the GalaxyCon San Jose pages. Parking details were still labeled coming soon on the site, which in this building usually means pay lots and garages around San Carlos and Almaden, plus a walk.

People-watching may be the cheapest programming. A convention that books Star Trek, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Elvira, and Cheech & Chong in the same hall will fill the sidewalks with armor, robes, and at least one person in a full foam suit who should have taken the light rail. If Saturday feels packed, Sunday is shorter and often easier. If the goal is one specific guest, confirm that name’s remaining days before buying a last-minute pass.

Official tickets and guest list: https://galaxycon.com/pages/galaxycon-san-jose

Ticket desk: https://www.eventeny.com/events/ticket/?id=22673

Campbell’s Restaurant Shuffle Adds New Cocktails, Sushi, and Dumplings

Campbell’s downtown has spent the past year swapping nameplates faster than a Friday night reservation list. Lira, the contemporary dining room that opened in January 2025 at 368 East Campbell Avenue with San Jose native and “Next Level Chef” winner Tucker Ricchio in the kitchen, shut after New Year’s Eve. Ricchio had already left in June 2025. The owners later said the fine-dining math no longer worked. Into that 110-seat room, including the patio, Jason Seele of Los Gatos Soda Works is building Trial | Error, a modern cocktail bar with small plates, aiming for an October opening and evening hours around 4 to 11 p.m.

A few blocks over, A Bellagio closed after more than two decades of Italian dinners at 33 South Central Avenue. Honō Izakaya & Sushi has already taken the address, with a bar in the middle of the room and a Japanese fusion menu that started drawing first-time reviews in July. Opa! left 276 East Campbell Avenue after a chain-wide collapse and Chapter 7 filing. Elia, the Pleasanton-born Greek and Mediterranean group, moved in with mezethes, weekend brunch, and late hours that stretch toward midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Mexican spot Distrito Federal at 379 East Campbell Avenue has been reported as temporarily closed under a court-appointed receivership, another reminder that even busy storefronts can stall.

The Pruneyard told a cleaner story. Bellevue-based Dough Zone Dumpling House opened June 5 at 1875 South Bascom Avenue, Suite 405, in the old Patxi’s Pizza space between Trader Joe’s and Humphry Slocombe. The 3,167-square-foot shop is the chain’s sixth Bay Area location and sits alongside existing Dough Zone rooms on Lundy in North San Jose and on Cherry in South San Jose. Xiao long bao, Q-Bao, and dan dan noodles now have a Campbell address for anyone who already makes that Bascom drive.

Hamilton Avenue is lining up the next wave. Dutch Bros and Chipotle have floated drive-thru plans. Earlier reporting also pointed to an Apni Mandi Indian supermarket and a Da Vien Vietnamese coffee shop along the same corridor. Downtown still waits on Ainsley’s Spout House, the Scottish-Californian beer garden Alan Hicks has been building into the old Ainsley Corporation offices on Harrison Avenue. City staff have framed the turnover as concept replacement rather than a hollowed-out district, which is the generous reading. The honest one is simpler: some rooms could not carry white-tablecloth rent, and operators with cocktails, sushi, dumplings, and mezze moved faster than the vacancies.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal

Plaza de San José Leads Community Survey for Downtown Park Name

A ranked-choice survey of more than 10,000 participants has put Plaza de San José well ahead of four other finalists for the downtown park at Market Street. Parks spokesman Ed Bautista called the margin about two to one over the next-highest choice.

The list of names grew out of more than 600 public suggestions. After Plaza de San José came Farmworkers Plaza, Plaza del Pueblo, Plaza Park, and Plaza de Quetzalcoatl. Before 1993 the square was known simply as Plaza Park.

Staff will take the results to the Parks and Recreation Commission on September 2. The commission will then send a recommendation to the City Council, which makes the final decision later this fall. Council members may accept the survey winner or pick another name.

The 2.3-acre plaza is Northern California’s oldest public square and already hosts Christmas in the Park, Music in the Park, San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, Fountain Blues and Brews, and Silicon Valley Pride. A name that points straight back to the city itself would match the role the space has played for generations.

Downtown San Jose residents and visitors who already treat the park as a shared living room now have a clear sense of where the public conversation landed.

Source: San Jose Inside

Chico De Mayos Brings Street Tacos to a Permanent Spot Inside Myth in Downtown San Jose

A familiar name in local catering has taken a permanent step into Downtown San Jose. Chico De Mayos Cantina, which began as a street taco and event catering operation in 2019, opened its brick-and-mortar location inside Myth nightclub at 152 Post Street on June 13.

The menu sticks to the classics that built the brand: chicken, carne asada, al pastor, shrimp, and soyrizo tacos. The new setup sits across from The Domes outdoor venue, placing it in a stretch of Post Street that already draws evening crowds. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Matt Mahan and city council members took place on August 14 to mark the official launch.

While one new kitchen opens, another nearby space sits empty. K&J Sweets and Bakery closed earlier this year after nearly three years at 115 East San Carlos Street near San Jose State. The storefront, previously home to a cinnamon roll shop, is now vacant inside The Colonnade apartments.

Downtown San Jose’s overall vacancy rate stood at 30.8% in the first quarter according to recent market data. New openings like Chico De Mayos show that operators continue testing the market and finding ways to serve the people already coming downtown for nightlife and events.

Anyone craving authentic street-style tacos now has a fixed address to find them after dark.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal

Tonight at SJMA: Content Magazine Drops Issue 18.4 and Sends Off The Cultivator

Content Magazine will hand out its 76th issue this evening inside the San José Museum of Art, and the night doubles as a public goodbye to founder Daniel Garcia, the editor long known as The Cultivator. Issue 18.4, titled “Profiles,” lands Thursday, August 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. at 110 South Market Street in Downtown San Jose. Poet Mighty Mike McGee will host the opening remarks, speakers will tell Garcia’s story, and Garcia himself will close that first stretch before the party opens up.

The printed issue, published by SVCREATES, gathers a South Bay roster that already lives in the city’s studios, stages, and record bins: vocalist Carina Valdes of acari, mixed-media artists Allegra J. Bick-Maurischat and Armando Delgado-Franco, AWỌ Center founder Folake Phillips, painters George Rivera, Pragati Sharma Mohanty, Roan Victor, and Yuting Wang, SJMA executive director Jeremiah Davis, poets Mayra Flores and McGee, Asian Man Records founder Mike Park, and DJ Yareli Rivera, better known as DJ Toonin. Victor also made the cover. If the magazine has spent more than a decade arguing that Silicon Valley’s real product is its people, this issue puts names and faces on that claim.

The program after the tribute should keep the galleries moving. DJ Toonin will spin, Abhinaya Dance Company of San José and Folclórico Colibrí will perform, and Content will install a pop-up exhibition of work tied to the new pages. Mezcal Restaurant will handle food and drink. Museum admission for the party is free, though Content asks guests to RSVP so check-in at the front desk stays short. Subscribers who have shown up at past pickup nights have often found a complimentary bite waiting; even without a membership, the door stays open.

RSVP for fast check-in: https://bit.ly/184_PUP
Order Issue 18.4 “Profiles”: https://bit.ly/Profiles184

City Council Rezones IBM Almaden Site to Balance Open Space and Future Use

San Jose City Council voted 9-2 on Tuesday to rezone the former IBM Almaden Research Center property at 650 Harry Road. The decision splits the site into two distinct categories: 35.1 acres containing the research buildings become an industrial park zoning district, while the remaining 565.1 acres of surrounding vacant land receive open space zoning.

IBM is closing the Almaden campus and consolidating operations at its Silicon Valley Lab on Bailey Road. The property is now on the market. City planning staff reported that several real estate groups have already inquired about possible future uses for the developed portion, ranging from research and development to advanced manufacturing or general office space.

The rezoning does not approve any specific project. Land-use consultant Erik Schoennauer, representing a potential buyer, told the council the change simply aligns the site with the city’s general plan. It keeps the large open-space area in its current natural state while allowing the existing industrial buildings to return to productive use more efficiently.

More than 30 residents spoke during the public hearing, many urging the council to slow the process and raise concerns about possible data centers or other intensive industrial activity. Councilmember George Casey, whose district includes the property, argued that delaying the vote would not change the underlying need to update the zoning. Mayor Matt Mahan emphasized the shared goal of protecting the open space that IBM had long maintained.

The dual zoning aims to keep the hillsides and undeveloped land intact while giving the built campus a clearer path toward new economic activity once a buyer steps forward.

Source: SiliconValley.com

CityDance Brings Country Line Dancing to Plaza Park This Thursday

Plaza Park in front of the San José Museum of Art will host the next CityDance San José evening on Thursday, August 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. The free monthly series offers open-air dancing, live music, instruction, and a cash bar under the lights of Downtown San Jose.

This installment focuses on country line dancing. The Country Cougars will play live while Adam the Dancing Cowboy leads the lessons. Community groups will staff tables nearby, including History San José, the Japanese American Museum of San José, New Ballet, Teatro Visión, and the museum’s own Let’s Look at Art program.

Museum galleries stay open and free during the same hours for anyone who wants a break from the dance floor. A Content magazine pick-up party celebrating founder Daniel Garcia also takes place inside. VTA remains a convenient way to arrive, and participating ParkSJ garages offer 90 minutes of free parking.

The series continues September 24 with an Afrobeats night. CityDance is organized by the Office of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the museum, El Cafecito by Mezcal Restaurant, VTA, and the Downtown Association.

Source: San Jose Museum of Art