Thursdays are Free Play days at Miniboss

Did you love playing arcades but hated spending buckets of quarters? Now you can play all the way through 6-player X-men or challenge a team to Killer Queen for free. Thursdays are arcade free play days at Miniboss in Downtown San Jose (corner of Santa Clara Street and 2nd Street).

Next week I'll also have a full post on the latest project from the same team that brough you Miniboss, Paper Plane, Still OG, and Alter Ego. It's called Eos & Nyx and it truly sets a new benchmark for Downtown San Jose.

Source: Instagram

CEO Noodles Grand Opening

Today is the Grand Opening of CEO (Chief Eating Officer) Noodles in Downtown San Jose. The restaurant specializes in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine, especially noodles. Today there are some festivities from 4pm to 7pm.

The restaurant has been in soft launch mode for some time and is getting great review on Yelp (4.5 stars). It also has one of the best facades for a Downtown San Jose restaurant with a giant mural you can't miss. 

CEO Noodles is located at 130 E. Santa Clara Street and they are open from 10am to 9pm every day except for Sunday.

Downtown San Jose Falcon

Today I just have a great photo of a peregrine falcon sitting on top of San Jose's City Hall. It's a unique angle of Downtown San Jose that I have never seen before. In fact, I had to check Google maps to even see if this shot was technically possible or fabricated. Good news, it's legit!

Source: Chris Roth on X

Downtown San Jose office building may convert to housing

We're in a precarious situation right now with office space. Many employees simply do not want to return to the office and companies are looking to downsize their footprint because of it. At the same time, population is not growing quickly and we do not have a rush of companies across the world looking to relocate staff to the most expensive region of the United States. What are we to do with all the empty space?

A nine-story office tower at 152 North Third Street is considering a conversion to 133 residential units. This is a very smart move that would reduce the amount of empty office space and replace it with much needed housing.

As a bonus, the building was constructed in 1985 and a conversion would bring it up to modern standards. It would also keep the "Eagles Hall" facade that was built in 1909 in the photo below.

If it goes through, the project would also include a lounge, game room, two music studios, a gym, yoga studio, cinema room, coworking space, two meeting rooms, a cafe, kitchen, club room, and amenity terrace.

Hopefully they keep Freshly Baked Eatery on the ground floor, which is the best sandwich shop in Downtown San Jose.

Source: The Mercury News

FC2025 discounts in Downtown San Jose

If you have seen people walking around Downtown San Jose looking like Disney characters, that's because Furcon is in town this weekend and runs until January 20th. Downtown Ice might be extra entertaining to watch on these last couple days as fursuits are welcome on the ice. 

For anyone attending the convention, below are a list of discounts for things to do in Downtown San Jose. I have never seen a discount for Haberdasher before (one of the best bars in all of Silicon Valley). The Foxtail Fermentation promo is on-brand, well done!

Almaden Plaza in San Jose is getting a couple new stores

Tomorrow will be Barnes & Noble's last day at Almaden Plaza in South San Jose. That space along with the former spaces for Buy Buy Baby, Compass Real Estate, and Tuesday Morning will be merged into a single 81,000 SQFT anchor space. Sports Basement is planning to take that anchor spot later this year.

Tillys is also leaving its 10,500 SQFT store at the end of the month. That was actually the first Northern Californian location of that brand. However, the space is already destined to be replaced by Sephora sometime this summer.

Source: SVBJ

Soccer in San Jose

Visit San Jose has just released a video promoting soccer in San Jose. It's only 90 seconds long, and highlights tailgating, PayPal Park, and our awesome Earthquakes fanbase. Enjoy it embedded below.

Goodwill buys San Jose office building for $17 million

Goodwill of Silicon Valley has just purchased an empty building at 1600 Technology Drive in North San Jose near the airport. The shiny eight-story building is destined to become Goodwill's new headquarters.

They will also use the facilities for job training and employment opportunity services, including no-cost skills training to benefit the local community.

Goodwill got the deal of the century on the building. It was previously valued at $92.4 million in January of 2024. So they paid 81.6% less than the assessed value for the 198,000 SQFT building.

The purchase was made possible by a $10 million donation from MacKenzie Scott (Jeff Bezos' ex-wife). 

Goodwill plans to immediately start relocating administrative and operations staff to the new building. Any unutilized space will be shared with other local nonprofits.

Source: The Mercury News

Massive Asia Live food complex coming to Valley Fair

I was quite bummed when iChina closed down at Valley Fair. I thought the opulent restaurant was San Jose's best chance at getting another Michelin star. However, the good news is that the space will not be vacant for long.

Asia Live will take that flagship two-story space and expand it to over 12,000 SQFT, including adding a new rooftop terrace and outdoor patio. It will be far more than just a restaurant. It sounds similar to Eataly, but for Asian cuisine. The complex will have a retail marketplace, cafe, lounge, interactive experiences, and entertainment. Diners will be able to watch chefs prep food like dumplings, sushi, and curries.

It has the same owners as China Live in SF and will feature the most popular dishes from that menu including pan-fried pork buns and Peking duck. It will also have sushi, robata (Japanese BBQ), tandoori ovens, and Indonesian rice. The icing on the cake is a bar that will rival the top craft cocktails spots in the Bay Area.

Asia Live is scheduled to open this fall. The sooner the better!

Sources: Eater, SFGATE

Shopping in San Jose

Visit San Jose has just released a video promoting shopping in San Jose  It's less than 90 seconds long, and highlights Santana Row, Valley Fair, Downtown San Jose, and Japantown. 

Santana Row and Valley Fair have become shopping ground zero for the entire Bay Area. While many malls around the country are closing, "Uptown" continues to reel in exclusive brands and experiences. Anyway, check out the short video embedded below.

Dual high-rise project Icon/Echo requests an extension

One of the most anticipated development projects in San Jose is Icon/Echo at 147 East Santa Clara street. It's being developed by the San Jose superfans at Urban Catalyst. This firm has just completed it's Paseo project at the former Camera 12, now featuring Urban Putt and Eos & Nyx. They are also wrapping up a new Marriott Hotel with 176 rooms near the SAP Center.

Icon/Echo is one of Urban Catalyst's most ambitious projects. It'll have two towers, one 265 feet tall and the other 263 feet. Combined they will have 1,039 apartments.

Urban Catalyst has just requested an extension request to extend entitlement approvals by another two years. The financing market is challenging right now, and they need to shore up enough capital before starting construction. They have been successful with other projects in the past, and Downtown San Jose is only expected to get hotter when it comes to residential development in the future. I'm very optimistic we'll get to see this project move forward.

Source: SF YIMBY

San Jose Museums

Our friends at SJ Today have a list of San Jose museums. However, it misses a few interesting ones. After you click through to the link, come back here to see what was excluded.

There is a new Adobe museum on the ground floor of the Adobe Tower 4 headquarters in Downtown San Jose. It's free, has a history of Adobe's software, and has a slick virtual reality room.

Also in Downtown San Jose is a new Italian Heritage museum in Little Italy San Jose. An added bonus is a speakeasy underneath the building.

In Almaden, there is a Quicksilver Mining Museum, which chronicles San Jose's mining industry last century.

Lastly, History Park is not one museum but multiple. Here you will find the Portuguese Historical Museum, the Viet Museum, and Chinese American Historical Museum. They also have a replica light tower and several restored historical buildings. It's a great place to visit, especially during major events, and you can easily combine it with a trip to the neighboring Japanese Friendship Gardens or Happy Hollow Park & Zoo.

Source: SJ Today

What local artists and writers have to say about Silicon Valley

Opportunity Now has a four-part series on what Silicon Valley means to local artists and writers. There are a lot of interesting perspectives in there, many of which highlight things that we take for granted every day. I shared some of my thoughts in Part 4 below.

What makes Silicon Valley so distinctive? Reflect with local artists, writers, and performers (1/4)

“There’s a way past any obstacle”: Artists praise the steadfast Silicon Valley spirit (2/4)

A window into so many different worlds”: Why Silicon Valley resonates so strongly with local artists (3/4)
Local artists and writers celebrate Silicon Valley’s unique, tenacious, “daring” culture (4/4)

Source: Opportunity Now

Dining and Nightlife in San Jose

Visit San Jose has just released a new video promoting dining and nightlife in San Jose. It's only 90 seconds long, yet highlights a multitude of areas: Valley Fair (Eataly in the opening shot), Santana Row, Downtown San Jose, Willow Glen, The Alameda, San Pedro Square, the Historic District, Qmunity, Little Italy San Jose, Japantown, and SoFA.

The video is a great reminder of all the great options we have in San Jose. Also, it's Friday! The perfect day to go out and try someplace new.

New San Jose International Airport routes - Baltimore/Washington and Detroit

It looks like a pair of routes will be returning soon to SJC in 2025. Southwest will have nonstop service to Baltimore/Washington. Delta is bringing back direct flights to Detroit.

For Delta, the Detroit flight will begin on July 7th. Departing flights from SJC will be red-eyes, leaving at 11pm and arriving in Detroit at 6:30am. The return flight leaves Detroit at 7:55pm and arrives in San Jose at 9:51pm.

Hopefully this is the sign of more flights being added to SJC's roster this year!

Source: Dirk_Birkin at Skyscraper City

Big events coming to San Jose in 2025

SJ Today has a list of major events coming to San Jose this year. These include the Lunar New Year Tet Festival, Friend Fest, Cinequest Film Festival, SubZERO, FoodieLand, Summer Jazz Fest, and many other. Most of the big ones start in February. Check it out at the link below.

Source: SJ Today

Astera Labs relocating HQ to San Jose

The San Jose office market is still facing many challenges (Downtown San Jose just recently hit a 20 year vacancy high), so any news is good news. Astera Labs has just announced that they are moving to San Jose.

Astera focuses on providing purpose-built connectivity solutions for intelligent systems, primarily targeting AI and cloud infrastructure. They currently have around 400 employees around the world.

Their current headquarters is in Santa Clara at 2901 Tasman Drive. Their new headquarters will be at 2345, 2315, and 2343 North First Street in North San Jose. The new space will total 154,231 SQFT of office space, with an option to expand if needed.

The planned move is scheduled for the second quarter of this year.

Source: SVBJ

New coworking space opening in Downtown San Jose

Pacific Workplaces is a flexible workspace solution for individuals and teams. It's a modern take on coworking. They are doing a grand opening for their newest space in Downtown San Jose on February 19th from 3-5pm.

The party will have food, music, and a raffle for a $1,000 Vari.com shopping spree. The new digs are at 84 W. Santa Clara Street, 7th Floor. It's a great central location in Downtown San Jose, walking distance to everything.

Source: Pacific Workplaces

New Sushi Confidential sign gives a nod to the San Jose Sharks

Sushi Confidential is a popular Japanese restaurant in San Pedro Square. They have a new sign with an arrow saying "Sushi" pointing to the restaurant and another arrow saying "Sharks" pointing at the SAP Center a few blocks away.

Many people park in the San Pedro Square parking garage before walking to games and hang out in the area both before and after games. It's a subtle but thoughtful addition to the street honoring San Jose's most famous sports team.

Source: SharksJosh95

Symphony San Jose presents THE FIREBIRD SUITE January 25 and 26, 2025

With music as enchanting and lavishly colorful as the title character, The Firebird is the perfect way to celebrate the new year. This suite comes from the 1910 ballet that launched Stravinsky’s international career. Opening the program is Sibelius’ most-famous composition, Finlandia, evoking the struggles of his native homeland with equal parts ominousness, pride, and festivity. Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn is one of the famed Romantic composer’s most popular works. Argentinian conductor Carlos Vieu brings Sonia Possetti’s spirited Bullanguera from his homeland to complete this program.

 

Who: Symphony San Jose presents

 

What: The Firebird

When: Saturday, January 25, 2025 at 7:30pm and Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 2:30pm

Where: The California Theatre, 345 South First Street, downtown San Jose, 95113. Convenient, inexpensive parking is available at a city-owned garage one-and-a-half blocks from the theater at San Carlos Street with entrances on Second and Third streets.

SINGLE TICKET PRICES: $24 to $121.50 (Ticket prices include $2.50 City Fee and Order Fee of $4.00.)

Special Youth Ticket price: A ticket for concert goers, age 17 and under, can be discounted up to 50% when purchased along with a full-price ticket.

TICKETS: Phone: 408.286.2600 

Website: www.symphonysanjose.org 

Email: jmeyers@symphonysanjose.org

Walk-Up Box Office: 325 South First Street, San Jose, 95113. Located between San Carlos and San Salvador Street next to the California Theatre. Ticket Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm.
THE PROGRAM:

Jean Sibelius: Finlandia

Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn

Sonia Possetti: Bullanguera

Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite

 

ARTISTS

Conductor: Carlos Vieu

Biography: http://www.lombardoassociates.org/carlos-vieu

 

Symphony San Jose

www.symphonysanjose.org/

 

ArtWork: Courtesy of Symphony San Jose.

Photos of the artist courtesy of Symphony San Jose.

Books written by San Jose authors

SJ Today has a new post listing dozens and dozens of books with ties to San Jose. They are broken into categories of fiction, worldview, local interest, personal stories, family, and poetry. I'll have to check out Haunted San Jose, Silicon Valleys, and Secret San Jose from the local interest section! See the full list of books over here.

Source: SJ Today

Bay Area Michelin Star Restaurants - 2024 Edition (Part 2) + 2025 preview

It has been a long while since doing a post about Michelin recommended/starred restaurants--2019 in fact.

The Michelin guide is the most renowned rubric in the world for measuring culinary success. Unfortunately, we have some bad news this year. San Jose's first and only Michelin Star restaurant ever, Adega in Little Portugal, is now permanently closed. The silver lining is that it will be replaced with a second Petiscos restaurant. The original Petiscos is in Downtown San Jose's SoFA District and is not only featured in the guide but is one of San Jose's first two Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants (a step below a Star and signifying a restaurant is of outstanding value for the quality).

Michelin has three different star categories:

• One Star - A very good restaurant in its category with cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard. A good place to stop on your journey.
• Two Stars - Excellent cuisine, skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality. Worth a detour.
• Three Stars - Exceptional cuisine with distinctive dishes and superlative ingredients. Worth a special journey.

New last year were "Green Stars" for restaurants that are at the forefront of sustainable, environmental, and ethical standards.

There are also restaurants in the Michelin guide that do not get a star, but are considered "Michelin Recommended." This is already a significant honor that a very small percentage of restaurants achieve. This distinction has gotten more rare since the guide now covers all of California instead of just the Bay Area. San Jose has a total of 4 Michelin Recommended restaurants (they already added Adega back).  It's the same list as a year ago.


San Jose Michelin Recommended Restaurants:

• Downtown
• Petiscos $$ (Bib Gourmand)
• East San Jose
• Adega $$$$ 
• Midtown
• Luna Mexican Kitchen $$ (Bib Gourmand)
• North San Jose
• LeYou $$

I also created a Google doc listing all of the star recipients for 2024, along with tabs for all previous years and some general statistics. 2020-2022 have finally been updated. There is no longer a physical book for California, but Michelin will update their site after new stars are awarded.

Below is an image capture from the doc. This year there were a total of 44 Bay Area restaurants that were awarded Michelin stars. 66% of the restaurants are locating in SF, 14% in Silicon Valley (9% in the South Bay, 5% in the Peninsula), 16% in Wine Country, 2% in the East Bay, and 2% in Marin. There are three new restaurants on the list for 2024 and four that no longer made the cut or were closed down. There were no new Silicon Valley restaurants on the list from last year, but I'm feeling optimistic about 2025.

Michelin will announce updates to the guide for Bay Area restaurants this summer and I'll make the 2025 updates faster than I did in 2024. It will be interesting if San Jose can earn back its star with Adega. There are also some new hopefuls that might be able to get a star in 2025. I have my eye on Alter Ego, Eos & Nyx, and Augustine. I also think Le Papillion and Rollati certainly deserve a shot and should at least be "Michelin Recommended."

Welcome to 2025!

We're officially in the future! 2025 sounds like a year where we should be driving flying cars and vacationing on Mars. It seems like we are well on our way to that kind of future, even if it's later than we expected decades ago.

We hope you all have a great start to the New Year with your family and friends!

Now let's have a quick look to see what AI think San Jose will look like in 2050.