New Website for Live Music Downtown

It's amazing how much our live music scene has been growing lately Downtown. Pagoda, The San Pedro Square Market (3 venues here), and even Good Karma are getting into the action. Fortunately, a new website is making it really easy to see what is going down each night and where. Bookmark www.LiveAndLocalSJ.com to find great music 7 nights a week.

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Downtown ...  Live ...  365

Spread the word

Build the scene

Band info, previews, reviews

Ticketing and future shows

7 Days Out

$ = paid show

All ages unless you see 21+

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23

Laila Smith & The Usual Suspects (jazz) -Fairmont Lobby Lounge 8 p.m. 

Kavanaugh Brothers Celtic Experience (Irish Rock/Soul) - Naglee Park Garage  7 p.m. 

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THURSDAY, MAY 24

The Night Cat Trio (roots blues) - Poor House Bistro 6 p.m.

100% (indie rock/punk) with The Dinners (Indie) - Caravan Lounge 9 p.m.

Chris Landon (multi-genre crooner) – Good Karma Vegan Café 8 p.m.

So Timeless (R&B/soul/funk/jazz) - Blush Raw Bar & Lounge 7 p.m. 21+ after 10 p.m. 

Russo Alberts Trio (classic jazz) - Hedley Club Lounge 8 p.m. 

Band TBD - Rock at O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub 9 p.m. 21+

Live Jazz at Loft Bar & Bistro 7:30 p.m.

SDK (Rock Espanol, Latin Fusions, Bachata, Merengue, Cumbia, Salsa +Top 40) - Azucar Latin Bistro Mojito Bar & Lounge 9 p.m.  21+

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FRIDAY, MAY 25

Mark Hummel and the Blues Survivors (blues harmonica) - Poor House Bistro 6 p.m.

Rick Vandivier (guitar extraordinaire/R&B and jazz) -  Hedley Club Lounge  8:30 p.m.

Sluxy BoBoo (Devo-influenced electronica) -Caravan Lounge 9 p.m.

San Jose Jazz High School All-Stars - San Pedro Square Market 7 p.m.

The Rubber Duckies (alternative electronic/dance) with Stock Foto – The Blank Club  9 p.m. $ 21+

Steven Gary (rock, reggae, country, pop) - A Perfect Finish Wine Bar 9 p.m. 21+

Live Mariachi – Chacho’s Restaurant 6 p.m. 

SDK (Rock Espanol, Latin Fusions, Bachata, Merengue, Cumbia, Salsa +Top 40) -  Azucar Latin Bistro Mojito Bar & Lounge  9 p.m. 21+

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SATURDAY, MAY 26

The Big Rock Show featuring Porch, Industry of Sustainable Destruction, Tinkle Potty, and 8:19 (indie rock) - SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery 7 p.m. $

Melted Horses (70’s inspired bluesy rock) - Caravan Lounge  10 p.m. 21+

John Garcia Band (blues/jazz) - Poor House Bistro 6 p.m.

Kavanaugh Brothers Celtic Experience (Irish Rock/Soul) -  Caffe Frascati  (315 S. First St.) 8 p.m.

Kristen Strom (Jazz saxophonist) at  Hedley Club Lounge  8:30 p.m.

Zombie Pool Party (metal) with String Theory at Johnny V’s. 9 p.m. 21+

The Kirk Tamura Trio (traditional jazz) -  A Perfect Finish Wine Bar  9 p.m. 21+

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SUNDAY, MAY 27 :

Zydeco Voodoo Revival - Poor House Bistro 2 p.m.

Danny Owens (Jazz) –  Good Karma Vegan Café  5 p.m.

Traditional Irish Music - O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub 6 p.m. 21+

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MONDAY, MAY 28

Acoustic open mic – Philz coffee (118 Paseo de San Antonio) 7 p.m.

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TUESDAY, MAY 29

Traditional Irish Music - O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub 6 p.m. 21+

Open mic night –  Caffe Frascati  7 p.m.

Acoustic open mic night –  Poor House Bistro  6 p.m.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 30

Tip of the Top (blues/American roots) -Affinity Restaurant and Bar -San Jose Hilton 8 p.m. 

Bug Horn Rex – (New Orleans Jazz, Funk/Soul) - The Naglee Park Garage 7 p.m.

Ron Thompson (Blues) -  Poor House Bistro 6 p.m.

Beerijuana (metal/hardcore) with Smooth Sailing and Granted Earth –The Blank Club 9 p.m. $ 21+

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SubZERO Art & Music Festival
Friday, June 1 – music starts at 6 p.m.
SoFA District (South First St. between San Carlos and Reed streets)

Metro Presents Fountain Blues FestivalJuly 14 – music starts at Noon.
St. James Park (entrance at St. John and First St.).

KraftBrew SummerFest (with live music stages)
Saturday, July 21 - starts at Noon.
Post Street, between Market and First St

Symphony Silicon Valley Target Summer Pops
Saturday July 28 – Sunday July 29 and
Friday Aug. 3 – Sunday 5; Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00p.m. and Sundays at 5:30pm.
Click here to download the schedule.
San Jose State University Campus (San Carlos St. at 4th Street) 

San Jose Jazz Summer Festival
Friday, August 10 – Sunday, August 12 (times vary).
Main stage in Plaza de Cesar Chavez; multiple stages throughout downtown 

San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival
Monday, September 10 - 21
Multiple stages throughout downtown

Left Coast Live (3+ stages of live bands all night)
Saturday, September 22 – starts at 4 p.m.
Post Street, between Market and First St.

The Koonzy Paddle Premiers Tonight @ SJSU

06/01 Friday - 06/10 Sunday

Thurs, Fri: 8pm
Sat: 7pm
Sun: 3pm

The Koonzy Paddle

The Koonzy Paddle is a bare-knuckled story about two salty, conflicted brothers, Lyle and Darryl Driggers. Darryl -- long after his divorce and in the grip of resurgent alcoholism -- marries a young woman he has met through an internet mail order bride service. When his new wife betrays him, trouble ensues, and Darryl escapes to the home of his brother and sister-in-law. With the arrival of his vindictive daughter, their lives become a turmoil of comic conflict that awakens memories of sibling grudges and a poignant past, causing the brothers to engage in their ludicrous childhood ritual of "gettin' even."

This humorous play is being co-produced by Spotlite Stage Company and Chamber Productions in association with the SJSU Alumni Association's Alumni Outreach Campaign.

The entire cast and crew are comprised of current students and alumni from SJSU's Theatre Department and is a "Tribute" to the late Theatre Department Chairman, Dr. Hal J Todd.

It was co-directed by Erica Schwehr and it features Steve Trinwith, Wendy Howard-Benham, Stephanie Marsh Ballard and Wes Finlay.

Organization: Chamber Productions & Spotlite Stage Company

Location:

Hal Todd Theatre - San Jose State University

5th Street & San Fernando Street

San Jose 95192

See map: Google Maps

408-400-3818

koonzy.tix@comcast.net

Website:

Event Website

Ticket Information: Opening Night $25 Friday and Saturday evenings $25 (Student/Senior $15) Thursday Evening $20 (Student/Senior $15) Sunday Matinees $15 (Student/Senior $10)

Free Pass to the San Jose Greek Festival!

The Greek Festival is taking place this weekend near St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. There will be tons of food, music, and entertainment. Just print out the flyer below and you'll get in for free!

For a full list of events, click here.

From Blight to Bright - A Cycle Centered Community Cleanup morning in Willow Glen

by Carlos from One Square Mile

Willow Glen Neighborhood Association to launch “from Blight to Bright”; a series of community led beautification projects

Community Cleanup to encourage local residents to walk to “The Avenue”

Photo:BikePortland.org

The Willow Glen Neighborhood Association is hosting the first in a series of community cleanup days this summer on June 9, at 9:30 am until 12:30 pm. This event seeks to highlight the importance of the growing residential communities to the north, along with the increased need for safe and clean areas to walk and bike. From Blight to Bright will include residents from the Elements Apartment Community along with participants in San Jose’s monthly Bike Party rides; helping to move tools and debris by bike.

“With budget cuts severely limiting city services, we felt the Willow Glen community should help out” said Richard Zappelli, Vice President of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association and tireless community advocate. “We have received tremendous support from our members, the Elements Apartment Community, and our District 6 City Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio.

The bicycling community has also responded by offering some of their ‘work” bikes to help move food, tools, and debris. As many residents and visitors of Willow Glen are aware, “The Avenue” is clean and well landscaped due to the efforts of the Willow Glen Business Association and financial support from the Willow Glen Community Benefit Improvement District.

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When: Saturday, June 9th, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
Where: A 1,900 foot section of Lincoln Ave. from Coe Ave. north to Parkmoor Ave. (see map)
Meet at: The Elements, 1201 Parkmoor Avenue, San Jose, CA, for breakfast, tools and assignments. (see map)
Transit available: Light Rail line 902 at Race Street Station, VTA Bus 65 on Parkmoor. With a 12 minute walk from Stevens Creek Blvd. to the north, routes 81 and 23, and with a 24 minute
walk from Coe Ave. to the south via VTA route 64 (see map)
Tools: We will have some tools but feel free to bring your own brooms, hoes, and gloves. See registration via link below. Also if you have a bike trailer that would be great.
To register (to get a count for food and tools): Click here

For the full press release, click here.

Wednesday Wishlist: Bike Sharing Program

Oh wait a minute... this one is actually coming true. Check out this post from our friends at One Square Mile:

San Jose Bikeshare announces 20 proposed stations
by noreply@blogger.com (Carlos)

Last Tuesday, May 22, San Jose Bikeshare announced 20 proposed locations to place Bikeshare pods within the downtown and Japantown areas (see Google Map below). Obvious key locations such as City Hall, SJSU, Diridon Station, and the HP Pavillion were included but other lower key areas of downtown were included as well.

The stations extend from Japantown in the north, Gore Park in the south, Diridon Station in the west, and 9th and San Salvador on the eastern edge of downtown. For those of you who missed the news this summer the city is planning to begin work to close the eastern streetside of Gore Park, South 1st St. to through traffic creating (after Paseo de San Antonio) one of San Jose's few permanent street closures or Paseos.

What do you think of the locations? Could you do any better? Let us know what you think.

For the latest in San Jose Bikeshare news follow them on Twitter.

Popout
View San Jose Bike Share - Proposed Locations in a larger map

5th Annual SubZERO Festival This Friday @ SoFA!!!

The ultimate South First Friday is happening this week on June 1st from 6pm to midnight... SubZERO! In addition to all of the art venues in SoFA being open late, there is live music on 3 different stages, an epic number of street artists and vendors, 10 food trucks, a craft beer tasting garden, and tons of surprises at every corner. If you only come out to a single South First Friday a year, this is the one.

ANNO DOMINI's STAGE with Emcee "Mighty" Mike McGee
(South First St. btwn San Carlos & San Salvador Streets)

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• 6:30-7:10pm FIERCE CREATURES
• 7:30-8:15pm SAN FRANCESCA
• 8:45-9:30pm MONSTERS CALLING HOME
• 10:00-10:45pm FORREST DAY
• 11:15-11:45 STREET DRUM CORPS

WILLIAM STREET STAGE hosted by Grand Fanali
(South First St. btwn Williams & Reed Streets)

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Justin Morales (aka Seabright) is a deejay from KSCU. He will be filling in the gaps with good sounds all night.

• 6:00-6:45pm COMFORT SLACKS
• 7:10-8:10pm MINIBOSSES
• 8:30-9:15pm CURIOUS QUAIL
• 9:45-10:20 FLESH WEAPON
• 10:50-11:30 DRU

SECRET GARDEN STAGE 
(San Salvador St. btwn South First & Market Streets)

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• 7:00-7:45pm TBA
• 8:00-8:45pm DREAM HOUSE
• 9:00-9:45pm VIDA KILLZ
• 10:00-10:45pm DIRTY PILLOWS

FOOD TRUCKS + MORE

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• Barefoot Coffee
• Bill's Hot Dogs
• Mini Yums
• MoBowl
• MoGo BBQ
• Soulnese
• Treatbot
• O Mi Ninja
• Quick Dog
• The WOW Truck

Better Brew Tasting Garden

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Lagunitas presents Better Brew Tasting hosted by BetterBeerBlog

Participating Breweries:

• Bay Brewers Guild
• Lagunitas Brewing Company
• Rock Bottom Brewing
• Strike Brewing Co.
• Tied House Brewery & Café / Hermitage Brewing
• Uncommon Brewers
• Peter B's Brewpub
• Seabright Brewery*
• Stone Brewing Company
• Campbell Brewing Company*
• Santa Cruz Ale Works*
• Rabbit's Foot Meadery*
• Gordon Biersch Brewing Company*
• Cedar Street Brewing*
• Bay Brewers Guild
• more to be announced ...

Improvements to The Alameda Kicking off Soon

The Alameda near Downtown San Jose is about to get $3.9M worth of renovations. There will be new median strips, LED lighting, and safer crosswalks. Most of this will be paid for by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission with about 20% coming from the city of San Jose. The renovations kick off in September and will be capped off with a repaving of the entire street from the HP Pavilion to 880.

If the business owners along the strip are willing to pay for maintenance in the future, they may at some point also add flowing plants, new benches, and extensive landscaping across the sidewalks. After all this is completed, the Alameda could become a very nice walkable district. It's already home to many great retails spots, including The Usuals, Crema, La Dolce Velo, Wine Affairs, and The Arsenal.

Source: The Merc

"A Day in the Park" Event Today @ St. James Park

There is a new grassroots organizations in town called IAMSANJOSE whose mission is to bring people together and revitalize San Jose. Their first focus area is St. James park, which has been a homeless refuge for years. They are planning on several events that will not only improve perception of the area, but raise money to clean up the park. All the proceeds from today's event are going to the Salvation Army in order to get the homeless around St. James park the help they need.

Today's event entitled "A Day in the Park" will feature 8 food trucks, live music, and raffles. For all the info keep on reading or have a peek at the IAMSANJOSE website over here.

DATE: May 27th, 2012
TIME: 12pm-5pm PT – 5 hours
LOCATION: St James Park, San Jose (2nd St and St James St, San Jose, CA 95113)

SAN JOSE, CA – New charitable organization, IAMSANJOSE, will launch
on Sunday, May 27th with a benefit event “A Day in the Park” at St. James Park.
IAMSANJOSE’s goal is to revitalize the City of San Jose, focusing first on the
city’s oldest park, St. James Park.

Sunday’s event will bring eight gourmet food trucks and live music to the park
and proceeds will benefit Salvation Army’s homeless services.

Our intent is to revitalize and reactivate the downtown area with initial
emphasis on St James Park. We plan to coordinate a series of events year round
that will bring not only an economic boost but a social rejuvenation to an area of
the city that has long needed it, said IAMSANJOSE co-founder Tin Le.

The estimated 2,000 attendees can expect a variety of food trucks to choose
from, live entertainment, vendors and raffles.

In recent months, we’ve worked with the community to see how we can revive
the park by suppressing criminality, addressing homelessness, and injecting
more family-friendly activity into the park. I’m thrilled that IAMSANJOSE co-
founders Tin Le, Sam Pak and Cary Inayoshi have brought their enthusiasm and
creativity to St. James Park, said Councilmember Sam Liccardo.

About IAMSANJOSE
IAMSANJOSE Mission Statement. IAMSANJOSE’s mission is a
community development movement that focuses in bringing people together
to benefit the city. Working together with various local business owners and
entrepreneurs, our goal is to revitalize the city of San Jose through large, fun,
social and creative fundraising events for local entities and charities.

About St. James Park
The City of San Jose’s St. James Park has a unique place in history as the city’s
oldest park. The park is surrounded by unique structures the Scottish Rite
Temple, the post office, state courthouse, and the St. Claire Club, all adjacent
to the oldest urban park in California’s oldest civil settlement. The park was
designed by America’s foremost landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmstead.
St. James Park is also home to many extraordinary events including marches and
rallies, Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 speech, the grisly lynchings, and performances
by presidents, poets and musicians.

Saturday Stats: Start-up Funding

Start-ups are the lifeblood of Silicon Valley, but historically start-up companies have not really flocked to San Jose. Usually they "graduate" to San Jose when they start needing substantial amounts of office space and resources. However, it looks like that is starting to change based on where the VC money is going.

In terms of Venture Capital invested in start-up companies regionally, San Jose did miserably in 2009. In the bay area they ranked 11th, behind Palo Alto and even San Carlos (!).

In 2011, San Jose clawed its way to 4th place with three quarters of a billion dollars invested between 43 companies:

1.) San Francisco - $2.87 billion
2.) Palo Alto - $1.3 billion
3.) Mountain View - $1.03 billion
4.) San Jose - $784.2 million

This is a trend that I think will continue for multiple reasons, but I think the top one is start-ups looking more for urbanized locations. That's why they are flocking to downtown Palo Alto, Mountain View, Campbell, SF, etc. Start-ups require a high-energy environment and employees working 80+ hour weeks expect instant access to the conveniences urban areas offer.

The good news is San Jose is urbanizing faster than any other city in Silicon Valley right now, and has ambitions plans to build future urban villages pretty much everywhere. Downtown is becoming a legitimate destination for incubators and startups, North First is going to explode over the next 2 decades, midtown is being built up, the area around the HP Pavilion is slated to become an "innovation district," and Santana Row is building mass amounts of office space. All of these areas have the potential to attract hot start-ups, especially as the perception of San Jose only being suburban dies off. To boot, we have the lowest housing costs (besides Gilroy) and best transportation infrastructure in the South Bay. I think we have a winning recipe and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the 2012 funding number stack up.

Source: SiliconBeat

San Jose Expands Smoking Ban

Today new smoking laws go into effect that will make it even more difficult to light up in San Jose. Already there is a ban on smoking inside restaurants, bars, public buildings, city parks, within 25 feet to the entrance of a city library or community center, and in outdoor seating areas of sports centers.

Today's expansion also bans smoking in outdoor areas of restaurants and bars (pretty much most of Santana Row), in outdoor areas where people wait for services (Bus stops, ticket lines, ATMs, Food Trucks, etc.), and in outdoor common areas of condos, apartments, and mobile home parks.

Usually, I am against the government over-reaching on people's right to choose how they live their lives, but the exception is when those choices hurt others. Every time someone lights up a cigarette around other people, they are taking away their right to breath in clear air and are instead forcing cancer-causing pollutants into their lungs whether they like it or not. I see nothing wrong with smoking at home or with your friends, but I never got smoking in public. When I went to London and Paris last year, I have to say the the crazy amount of cigarette smoke everywhere really killed the ambiance on some of the most beautiful streets and cafes I have seen.

I think it's a smart move for San Jose and will hopefully make Downtown more attractive to families by removing smoking from a huge chunk of the streets.

Sake San Jose Today!

A great event is happening tonight in Japantown for all the Sake lovers out there. The best part is that it's for a great cause! All the details are below:

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Sake San Jose combines sake tasting with a walk through Historic Japantown San Jose.

WHEN:	May 24, 2012 Registration – 4:30PM Opening Ceremony – 5:00PM Sake Tasting - 5:30PM-8:30PM
WHERE:	Japantown San Jose On Jackson Street Between 3rd and 7th Streets
TICKETS:	Early Bird – $40 General Admission (Day of Event) – $50

Join us for the 7th Annual Sake San Jose event on Thursday, May 24, 2012 from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Meet up with friends and family as you leisurely walk through historic Japantown San Jose (on Jackson Street, between 3rd and 7th Streets) alive with music to visit the many shops and businesses for a tasting of an assortment of both domestic and international sakes, all for a great cause. Kampai!

Registration opens at 4:30 PM with Opening Ceremony beginning at 5:00 PM.

Proceeds from Sake San Jose benefit Yu-Ai Kai Senior Service, a nonprofit senior center, in Japantown.

Wednesday Wishlist: Guadalupe River Lit With LEDs

In central Tokyo, Panasonic kicked off the inaugural Tokyo Hataru (firefly) festival by sending 100,000 solar powered LED light spheres down the Sumida River. This is also pays homage to the tradition in Japan of floating candles on the water. After seeing this, I couldn't help to think of how cool it would be to see something like this in San Jose--perhaps along the Guadalupe river or one of the lakes in San Jose. After all, we are sister cities with Okayama and have one of the three remaining Japantowns in the US.

Source: Engadget

Sama Zama is Coming to the San Pedro Square Market!

Yet another innovative concept is coming to the San Pedro Square Market. Shawn Mckenna--who has worked at 5 different Michelin Star rated restaurants--is opening up an eatery focused on healthy salads, soups, and sandwiches on freshly baked bread. His real specialty is going to be the soups, which sound phenomenal in the video below. All of the vegetables and proteins in the soups will be cooked to order and any pasta used in the soup will be made from scratch daily.

For dinner, he's going to put those 12 years of michelin-rated experience to use with innovative tapas-style small plates that will change regularly.

Sama Zama will be located across from Pizza Bocca Lupo in the El Dorado building.  Along with Loteria Taco Bar, they will bring this building to full occupancy. The Lusardi building behind the Peralta Adobe has a lot of things coming as well, and i'll provide some more details about that in a separate post later on.

1 Million Square Foot Office Campus Coming to North First

Ellis Partners is planning to build a massive Class A office campus on Orchard Parkway called 101 Tech. Currently Atmel is headquartered here in a two story building, which they are vacating in June. The plan is the renovate that building and then build 3 new 6 story buildings and a 1500 space parking garage. The total size of usable space is 956,000 sqft, making it one of the largest office developments in the Bay Area.

This location has immediate access to Light-rail, SJC, 101, and 87 and is surrounded by flagship offices for some of the largest tech companies in the world.

Source: SJBJ

Tyson Johnston at Empire Seven

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Back in 2009, Tyson Johnston was part of the group show at E7S called "Eaten by Wolves". His new body of work is intense and his bold illustrations layered on top of Jackson Pollock's type backgrounds are just a preview of what's to come. Tyson's current body of work incorporates alot more animals and symbolic weapons from different regions of the world. He refers to his passion for old films like Clash of the Titans. This is just one of the classics he enjoys 'til this day since it's something he watched as a kid. "The title of the show really doesn't have anything to do with the actual paintings " Tyson says. "It's just a catchy title because of the movie. However there will be some Greek mythical influences through some just to make it more fun".

Wrath of Andromeda by Tyson Johnston is on view Wednesday & Fridays noon-6pm and by appointment, May 11–25.

Empire Seven Studio
525 No. 7th Street
San Jose, CA
www.empiresevenstudios.blogspot.com/

Asian American Heritage Month at History Park Sunday, May 20 from 11 AM to 4 PM

San Jose Taiko’s Junior Taiko Performing Ensemble

to Perform at 2 PM

San José, CA – April 30, 2012 – May is Asian American Heritage Month and History San José will host a spectrum of activities at History Park on Sunday, May 20, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

To celebrate May as Asian American Heritage, and in partnership with HSJ, San Jose Taiko’s youth program, the Junior Taiko Performing Ensemble, will perform at 2 PM. There also will be Samarai hat-making, Vietnamese lanterns, Chinese drums and more.

Also Dig Into  San José’s Past with Stanford Archaeology Center students at History Park. The students will assist visitors by conducting a mock excavation, screening,  artifact identification and artifact reconstruction.

This family educational program will allow individuals to collect stickers for each activity to place in Archaeology Passports and become ‘certified’ as a Junior Archaeologist. The trolley will be available for a ride around the park, as well as handcar rides. Other activities will include visits to the Print Shop and live music by Fiddle Road throughout the afternoon.

Making fish kites will help celebrate Japanese Children’s Day, and Chinese dragon hats will coincide with the reading of Chinese folk tales, such as Tales of a Chinese Grandmother.

Coincidentally, this year on May 4^th marks the 125^th anniversary of the fire that destroyed downtown San José’s Chinatown, where today’s Fairmont Hotel stands on Market Street. John Heinlen, a local businessman, braved death threats to lease property to the displaced Chinese people at Taylor and Sixth Streets. It then became known as Heinlenville, in what is today’s Japantown in San Jose.

As  affiliates of History San José, the Ng Ching Gung of the Chinese Heritage Cultural Project (CHCP) and the Immigrant Resettlement & Cultural Center (IRCC), the Museum of the Boat People & Republic of Vietnam , located inside History Park, will be open.

For more information call 408 918-1047 or visit www.historysanjose.org

   # # # 

About History San José: 

History San José is a non-profit organization that collects, preserves and celebrates the stories of diversity and innovation in San José and the Santa Clara Valley. HSJ manages one of the largest and most comprehensive regional history collections in the State of California, from 1784 Spanish governmental records to twenty-first century Silicon Valley technology. 

History San José     1650 Senter Road     San José, CA  95112       408.287.2290

www.historysanjose.org

Downtown San Jose Event: Arts and Crafts Fair!

from feed/http://www.sanpedrosquaremarket.com/CMS/UI/Modules/BizBlogger/rss.aspx?tabid=211291&moduleid=341923&maxcount=25

The forecast is Sunny and just in time too because we are happy to announce that from 10 am- 4pm on May 20^th, at San Pedro Square Market you can come and enjoy the arts and crafts fair put on by TFM Endeavors. It is a way for local artists to show off their talent! Come enjoy original handmade arts and crafts and even get a chance to purchase these unique items for yourselves or give them as gifts! It is for all ages so bring the family and there is no cost at all!  We look forward to seeing you here rain or shine!

May 2012 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded the Downtown Doors program a $25,000 grant. Zero1 and MACLA also received funding.
• Lots of great events are happening downtown this summer:
• Starlight Cinemas
• Dine Downtown
• Family Day at the San Jose Museum of Art
• Starting May 15th, the Downtwown PBID is bringing 2 off-duty police officers to patrol down time 4 hours a days, 4-5 times per week. The main goal is to reduce "quality-of-life" crimes, respond to calls from business/property owners, and work with Growndwerx to assist Downtown patrons.
• 1stACT has developed a Small Wonders Innovation Fund for projects to activate Downtown streets such as new events, exhibits, interactive projectsions, art projects, and live performances.
• The SJDA and San Jose Jazz are joining forces to expand the 32nd annual Blues Festival on July 14th at St. James Park.
• The Friday Farmer's Market is back for it's 20th Season!  It is located along San Pedro Square. (There is also a new Saturday Market, you have 2 to choose from!)
• Back A Yard Caribbean American Grill is now open and features authentic Jerk Chicken.

To read the full newsletter, click here!