TWO BUCK Tuesday Today

from Phantom Galleries by PG

Join us at KALEID Gallery for this upcoming TWO BUCK Tuesday, March 19th, 7pm-10pm!

Come enjoy an inspired evening of performances, live painting, $2 art, drop-in sketching table & quirky people get together! It’s open to all ages and free!

Participating Artists include:
Shannon Amidon will be demonstrating how to create packing tape transfers. Learn how to make your photographs or clip art into transparent transfers that can be used for artwork, collage, crafts and more.

Sculptor David Canavese will give a free workshop teaching you some of his papercraft skills! All materials are provided.

connections . relationships . attachments . hold us together, what are your connections? be part an installation of labels defining connections that will be attached together and presented in an art show by Valerie Runningwolf in May at gallery 25, Fresno, CA. make a label telling of your connections to what, who, where.

Lara Sophia will host another lovely costumed life drawing session. Bring your sketch pads and pencils!

LIVE ART BY:
Julie Bilyeu
Nic Caesar
John Hageman
Jean Davis
Leonista
Cecile F. Zapanta
Maricruz Mendoza
Jeff Bramschreiber
Jehoiakim Santos
David Mejia
Al Preciado and Friends
Felipe Jimenez

Jessica Neideffer will play sound healing bowls for your listening pleasure!

TWO BUCK Tuesday is March 19th, 7pm-10pm!

Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaleidgallery

KALEID Gallery
88 South Fourth Street (@ San Fernando)
San Jose, CA 95112
info@KALEIDGallery.com
408-947-1785

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, noon -7pm
Free admission

North San Pedro Housing Project Takes a Step Forward

It looks like there is going to be a community meeting at City Hall (Wing Room 120) at 7pm on Monday March 25th to go over the planned development of North San Pedro. The project is going to be right behind City Heights, have 408 residential units (coincidental number?), and weight in at 460,106 square feet. I believe these units would be placed across three different high-rise buildings. If you happen to attend, be sure to email us or post in the comments and let us know if any new details are released at the meeting.

Hat tip to Brent Pearse for sending this in.

Cafe Stritch Now Open in SoFA!

2013 is going to be the best year for new restaurants that Downtown San Jose has ever seen. I'm going to go out on a limb (as usual) and say that by the end of the year the type of scene and energy that you can now find at the San Pedro Square Market will also be available in other parts of Downtown.

SoFA's new restaurant anchor--Cafe Stritch--officially opened over the weekend. It's operated by the next generation of the Borkenhagen family, which ran Eulipia for decades.

The ambiance is hip, modern, and artsy, with a jazz-club vibe (somewhat ironic since Eulipia was a jazz club at one point). The food and staff are excellent, there's a great bar, the outdoor seating setup is one of the most impressive I've seen Downtown, oh yeah... and everything on the menu is under $10.

The fare is essentially modern American comfort food served tapas-style. Over the weekend I tried the chicken & waffles, mac & cheese, fries, tomato bisque with a grilled cheese sandwich, and the vegan french dip which was my favorite. That last one was surprisingly excellent for a vegan entree and you have to try it even if you're not vegan! Picture vegetable tempura inside of a crisp baguette with a great dipping sauce. The total bill for food that would easily have fed 3-4 people... $30.

Some other big huge pluses about this establishment:

• Elevated stage for live musicians, which they will likely feature several times week (more live music in SoFA!)
• Second floor where they will eventually build some sort of lounge area with couches. 
• Open Sundays (many Downtown restaurants are not)
• Open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays

I can see this place improving the vibe of the entire SoFA district. This is another epic addition to Downtown San Jose and I'm thrilled with how this turned out!

2nd Annual Fashion Show for the South Bay Art Institute

The Art Institute of California - Silicon Valley is preparing "Up in the Air" for this Thursday, March 21st at the Computer History Museum. It is being produced by the Bachelor or Science students in the Fashion Marketing & Management program and will feature original designs created and styled by the students and instructors.

Frankly, I had no idea there was even a Fashion program in the South Bay. It's great to see the region start to build out proficiencies outside of tech. It will add to work and cultural diversity and make help make Silicon Valley an even more interesting place! For more information on the fashion program, click here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here are my top recommendations for places to go in San Jose this St. Patty's Day:

• San Pedro Square Market
• O'Flaherty's Irish Pub
• Trials Pub
• Rosie McCann's Restaurant 
• Britannia Arms
• Firehouse No. 1 Gastro Pub
• Cafe Stritch

New ArtBox in Japantown

from Phantom Galleries by PG

Takahiro Kitamura along with fellow artists Chris Brand & Drew Flores have just completed a new ArtBox in Japantown at 3rd & Jackson.

If you'd like to be involved in the ArtBox Project, please send samples of your art work and artist's statement to info[at]PhantomGalleries[dot]com. The weather's getting nicer and we have a lot of new locations in the works!

Riverpark II Finally Getting Tenants!

The single largest vacant office space in Downtown San Jose is Legacy Partner's massive tower at 300 Park Avenue, which is 320,000 SQFT. Much like the Sobrato Tower, Legacy has been holding out for a single tenant for the whole building. It is much easier to manage one tenant as opposed to several smaller tenants, and the location of this tower would make a great corporate headquarters for a large company like Adobe.

However, it looks like the strategy of looking for a single tenant has not panned out so well. Legacy is now leasing the building floor by floor. The results? They now have three letters of intent to move into the building.

Source: SVBJ, Thanks Jonathan Bush for the tip!

History San José’s Family Days Series Celebrates International World Water Day Saturday, March 23 at History Park in Kelley Park

San José, CA – March 7, 2013 ---March 22 marks the 20^th anniversary of International World Water Day. By decree from the United Nations General Assembly, this year’s theme of “International Year of Water Co-Operation---Make Every Drop Count,” is a day that focuses on the importance of freshwater and the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Just in time, History San Jose is hosting a Coyote Creek Cleanup, as well as its exhibit, Shaped by Water: Past, Present and Future.

 

History San José will celebrate World Water Day on Saturday, March 23 by inviting the public to a cleanup of the banks of Coyote Creek, that runs between History Park and Happy Hollow Park and Zoo. Partnering with Bright Green San Jose, Santa Clara Water District and Watershed Watch, History Park will raise awareness of the significance of water.

 

"The importance of water is life itself, and don't we all take it for granted?" asks Alida Bray, President and CEO of History San Jose. "With World Water Day and the exhibit Shaped by Water: Past Present & Future we are reminded that when history meets the present day, it is important to plan for the future."

 

Coyote Creek is one of the largest watersheds in the Santa Clara Valley. Sixteen major creeks drain the 350 square miles that comprise the watershed, which eventually meets tidewater and becomes part of the salt marsh at the foot of the San Francisco Bay. It is home to over one-half million people, and provides a habitat for a wide variety of plants, fish and animals and runs from Milpitas to Morgan Hill.

 

In keeping with the theme, a Spring Egg Hunt will take place for children ages 2 to 9 on the Firehouse Lawn.  Registration for the egg hunt is from noon to 12:45 PM on the porch at the Pacific Hotel, with the hunt beginning at 1 PM. Donation is $2 per child.

 

Inside the Gallery of the Pacific Hotel is  Shaped by Water: Past, Present and Future, an exhibit depicting how water has literally shaped the history of Santa Clara Valley, and highlights what challenges our community will face in the future. The exhibition demonstrates through photographs, artistic interpretations, stories and interactive activities for kids of all ages, the unique connection between humans and this precious and finite resource.

 

There will also be a Water Fair including participants from local agencies dealing with water and conservation. In conjunction with Watershed Watch, and “Bright Green San José,” the environmental branch of the City of San José, the ‘spring cleaning’ will take place from  9 AM to Noon. The clean-up is for children ages 10 and up, as well as adults.  Park clean-up registration begins at 9 am at the Phelan Avenue entrance to History Park. There is no charge for the creek clean-up, and everyone is invited to learn about the freshwater.

 

Then at 2 PM on the Plaza at History Park, watch the “Water Wizard” Kathy Machado, with the Santa Clara Valley Water District, perform seemingly impossible feats with water.

 

Refreshments will be available for purchase from Larry’s Hot Dogs, Mona’s Fruit, Treat Ice Cream in O’Brien’s Ice Cream Parlor and Tony’s Popcorn Cart.

 

Admission is free, city parking lots $6. History Park is located at 1650 Senter Road (for GPS puposes, use 635 Phelan Avenue, San Jose, CA).

 

   # # # 

 

Upcoming History San José Family Days will include:

 

Saturday, April 20: Earth Day / Arbor Day:  There will be a concert by Linda Tringali, and Archaeology Dig with the Stanford Archaeology Students, and Litter Pick Up of Kelley Park.

Sunday, May 19: Celebrate Sempre Virens 150th Anniversary, visit Andrew Hill and John Muir, and Dig San José: Public Archaeology Day for children at History Park. Admission charged.

Sunday, June 19: Celebrate Father’s Day at History Park as we celebrate Historic Transportation Day with toy trains, hand car and trolley rides, sit in the Wells Fargo Stage Coach and listen to stories about early travel.

Admission charged.

Sunday, July 7:  Gold Rush Family Day:  this family-friendly event at History Park will highlight gold panning actiities for the children, which is also a great opportunity to play in water. Lion dancers will celebrate the contribution of the Chinese people to the Gold Rush. Admission charged.

Sunday, August 25 is the Fandango at the Peralta Adobe Historic Site

Sunday, October 27 is Haunt History Park, celebrating Halloween

Sunday, November 24 is the 236^th Happy Birthday San José! Celebration at the Peralta – Fallon Historic Site

Saturday, December 14 is the Children’s Heritage Festival at History Park.

 

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

 

Website:  historysanjose.org

Blog: historysanjose.org/blog

Facebook: /historysanjose

Twitter: @historysanjose

SJMADE Mini Mart on March 21st and 22nd

It looks like another SJMADE pop-up event featuring local entrepreneurs and artisans is coming next week to San Jose. I wish these events would be more than two days. This is a great way to fill up our vacant retail space until permanent leases come in. If you want to participate as a vendor, all of the information is below. As for everyone else, I'll post the location when I have more info!

Be a Vendor at SJMADE Mini Mart at Start Up Shop

Downtown San Jose
75 East Santa Clara Street
San Jose, CA 95112
March 21st, 5p to 8p
March 22nd, 5p to 10p

SJMADE Mini Mart is a smaller version of our typical SJMADE events. This format allows for us to partner with other organizations who also seek to activate vacant spaces throughout San Jose. Smaller-scale vendor shows in inactive San Jose spaces brings life to these places and encourages local business at the same time.

For this mini mart, we partner with the office of District 3 in San Jose to present Start Up Shop--a two-day pop-up installation in a vacant office space in Downtown San Jose. By involving downtown building owners, local independent retail businesses, event-based organizations, and collaborative co-working studios, the office of San Jose's District 3 and SJMADE seeks to encourage creative start-ups, studios, and retailers to start up shop in Downtown San Jose.

Are you a local maker, designer, artist, or independent retail business owner looking to get involved? If so, sign-up to be a vendor!

Interested in being a Mini Mart Vendor?

 Complete your vendor application here >

Along with your completed online application, you must submit your payment information for your booth fee. All applications and booth fees must be submitted by midnight on March 5th.

If you have a questions regarding this application process, contact us at sanjosemade@gmail.com.

Any questions? Email us: sanjosemade@gmail.com.

    

San Jose Made (SJMADE) | 1020 The Alameda  | San Jose, CA 95126 | www.sanjosemade.com 

New Marshalls Coming to Village Oaks

Village Oaks is a large retail destination planned for South San Jose, off of Cottle Road and Great Oaks Parkway. They have just announced that Marshalls will be a 23,000 sqft anchor tenant in the complex, which will have over 300,000 sqft of retail. There will also be a massive 140,000 sqft Target, a Safeway, Ulta Beauty, Chase Bank, Total Woman Gym & Spa, Five Guys, and Panera Bread, and several other tenants.

The smaller tenants will be arranged along a narrow street, making the project more walkable and Downtownish (think Rivermark in Santa Clara). I can't say that I'm terribly excited about the tenant list so far, but at least the configuration should be good and the new neighborhood--which also includes 2,900 housing units--will be accessible by transit.

Source: SVBJ

Little Italy San Jose is Getting an Italian Coffee Shop!

The good news train for Downtown San Jose continues to get longer and longer. Last week Little Italy San Jose announced a new tenant to join Paesano Ristorante Italiano in Downtown's newest district. Bel Bacio Imported Italian Coffee is going to be serving up premium coffee roasted all the way in Messina Sicily. I'm expecting this coffee to be phenomenal and set a new bar for coffee Downtown.

Soon we should also have news on the Little Italy San Jose sign that will be put up on Julian and an exciting project involving more than just retail in the neighborhood (hint: it will be a mixed-use development). There's a lot to look forward to, can't wait to see what Little Italy will look like within a year or two and I'm already itching to try out Bel Bacio!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huge News for Little Italy San Jose!!

We are thrilled to announce the signing of Bel Bacio Imported Italian Coffee to
Little Italy San Jose. Little Italy's own Debbie Caminiti and her brother Dan
Buttitta will be serving authentic Premium Italian coffee roasted in Messina
Sicily.

Bel Bacio will be a welcome addition to Paesano Ristorante and The Sabatino
Memorial family resource center. We are very happy for Debbie and Dan and know
that their business will be a social gathering place for the Italian community.

Buona Fortuna!!!

Joshua DeVincenzi Melander
Executive Director Little Italy San Jose

Cookbook for Special Diets Featured in San Jose

The "Finally... Food I Can Eat!" cookbook is going to be featured as part of the I Can Do It Conference in San Jose, March 16-18th. It seems like most of my friends have at least one food allergy (I have one myself) and I know quite a few people that have Celiac Disease, are diabetic, or are lactose intolerant. This is a cookbook that specifically caters to those with food allergies. You can find more information below and the book is available through all of the standard channels such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble.




About the Book

Are you frustrated and overwhelmed with trying to prepare meals that are free of
wheat, yeast, eggs, dairy, gluten, soy, corn, and sugar?

Are you tired of being on a “special diet”? Why don’t the recipes you make taste
yummy?

Well, here is the cookbook for you! It contains:

• Easy, delicious recipes that will appeal to everyone in the family—and your guests
will never know they are eating allergen-free food.
• A useful introduction and guide to food allergies and intolerances
• A quick guide to natural food chemicals, food additives, food families, and
rotation diets.
• Substitutions and alternatives to common foods that you need to avoid.
• Recipes that are low in sugar and cholesterol and are great for those following
diabetic, candida, allergy-free, or heart-smart diets.

“This cookbook is so well thought out that it likely will inspire the reader to make
these tempting recipes. Shirley has found many creative ways of bringing all kinds
of healthy food into the daily diet, with lots of good ideas on how to combine
them.”
—Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, MD, associate of American Academy of Environmental
Medicine

“Shirley’s gluten-free, blueberry muffins are my favourite, they’re the best.”
—Sophia age 7

About the Author

Shirley Plant has studied in the field of nutrition for many years. Diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and multiple food and environmental allergies, Shirley understands firsthand the difficulties of trying to plan creative, nutritious, and affordable menus while having to avoid such common foods as wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, gluten, and sugar, just to name a few. But through understanding, education, and a keen interest to help people find
food alternatives to fit into their life schedules, Shirley has developed an expertise and reputation in dietary design, customized recipes, and menu-planning.
For more information, please visit www.deliciousalternatives.com.

Saturday Stats: San Jose Ranks in 2013 Small-Business Vitality List

In a ranking of small-business vitality among America's 102 major markets, San Jose came out in 10th place. We ranked just behind NYC and ahead of SF at 13th place. Our 3.56% private sector job growth and rate of 23.83 small businesses per 1,000 residents were the main contributors to the high ranking.

1. Austin
2. Oklahoma City
3. Denver
4. Raleigh
5. Salt Lake City
6. Durham, N.C.
7. Seattle
8. Houston
9. New York City
10. San Jose
11. Charlotte
12. Omaha
13. San Francisco-Oakland
14. Boston
15. Boise, Idaho
16. Des Moines, Iowa
17. Dallas-Fort Worth
18. Portland, Maine
19. Portland, Ore.
20. Louisville
21. Provo, Utah
22. Miami-Fort Lauderdale
23. Wichita, Kans.
24. Tulsa
25. Lancaster, Pa.
26. Minneapolis-St. Paul
27. Bradenton-Sarasota, Fla.
28. Orlando
29. New Orleans
30. Tampa-St. Petersburg
31. Nashville
32. Washington
33. San Antonio
34. Ogden, Utah
35. Pittsburgh
36. Albany, N.Y.
37. Atlanta
38. Los Angeles
39. Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn.
40. McAllen-Edinburg, Texas
41. St. Louis
42. Harrisburg, Pa.
43. Columbus
44. Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
45. San Diego
46. Palm Bay-Melbourne, Fla.
47. Chicago
48. Madison, Wis.
49. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
50. Knoxville, Tenn.
51. Charleston, S.C.
52. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, Calif.
53. Jacksonville
54. Baltimore
55. Hartford
56. Providence
57. Philadelphia
58. Indianapolis
59. Allentown-Bethlehem, Pa.
60. Cleveland
61. Cincinnati
62. Kansas City
63. Baton Rouge, La.
64. Honolulu
65. El Paso, Texas
66. Columbia, S.C.
67. Little Rock, Ark.
68. Phoenix
69. Colorado Springs
70. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.
71. Grand Rapids, Mich.
72. Virginia Beach-Norfolk
73. Rochester, N.Y.
74. Las Vegas
75. Buffalo
76. Greensboro, N.C.
77. Greenville, S.C.
78. Syracuse, N.Y.
79. Jackson, Miss.
80. Akron, Ohio
81. Richmond
82. Youngstown, Ohio
83. Tucson
84. New Haven, Conn.
85. Milwaukee
86. Detroit
87. Worcester, Mass.
88. Chattanooga, Tenn.
89. Birmingham
90. Toledo, Ohio
91. Fresno, Calif.
92. Stockton, Calif.
93. Lakeland, Fla.
94. Sacramento
95. Springfield, Mass.
96. Dayton, Ohio
97. Memphis
98. Bakersfield, Calif.
99. Albuquerque
100. Augusta, Ga.
101. Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.
102. Modesto, Calif.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose Smokes the Nation in Patent Creation

This was going to be a Saturday Stat, but this one is so good I had to set it for today.

The San Jose metro proves again that it is the innovation capital of the world by bringing in a staggering number of patents. The average patent grants per year between 2007 and 2011 were 9,237. SF followed with 7,003 patents, and NY took 3rd place with 6,907 patents. We handily won in raw numbers, but when you look at patents per million residents (patents per capita)... well we pretty much smoked the entire country. The San Jose Area rakes in 5,066 patents per million residents. This is not only triple San Francisco, but it is equal to the per capita patent generation of San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington DC, and Boston COMBINED. Yes, that's correct, it take 10 major metropolitan areas in the US to reach the same level of patent generation per capita as San Jose. Another way to look at it, our patent generation is 17 times the national average for US metros.

This is why the brand message San Jose needs to continue to push is Innovation. We shouldn't let San Francisco or any other Silicon Valley wannabe take that word away from us, because that is the single word that I think best describes who we are... and we have the numbers to prove it.

Side-note, we are also getting a patent office of our very own somewhere either in San Jose or near San Jose in the not to distant future which will likely further accelerate patent generation in the area.

Source: SVBJ

March 2013 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• The VTA wants to "park" some Light Rail trains in St. James Park in order to speed up train service and create new lines in anticipation of BART coming to the South Bay. Concerns of this configuration are blocked views, safety, and congestion in this area.
• Over Groundwex's next 10 year term, they plan to help fill retail vacancies, put a greater emphasis on safety, increase efficiency with new equipment, beautify key Downtown gateways, and enhance maintenance projects.
• Vyne Bistro is now open at 110 Paseo de San Antonio [Josh: have tried it, great new addition Downtown!]
• K.zzang is a new Korean restaurants at 78 S. First.
• Nemea Greek Taverna is a new flagship Greek restaurant at 96 S. First St. (where E&O used to be). [Josh: looks phenomenal on the inside, even better than E&O with the aesthetics and it will have outdoor seating]
• EcoMonster is a new retail store bringing handcrafted and eco-conscious products to consumers at 30 N. Third St. 
• The city is extending high-rise residential incentives to 2016.
• The next HER city event will be on April 25 and features a fashion show hosted by The Usuals, Lotus Jeans, Brixton Hue, and several others. There will be food, drinks, and a few surprises.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

High Speed Rails Wins Alignment Lawsuit

A few years ago the cities of Atherton, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto filed a lawsuit to prevent California High Speed Rail trains from passing through their cities. Basically a few extremely wealthy communities are trying to block a project that will benefit millions of people. Thankfully, last week a judge dismissed the case. The high speed trains will indeed take the most efficient route in the Bay Area, which is from San Jose to San Francisco via the Penninsula (as opposed to San Jose >> Oakland >> San Francisco). Now the next step is actually funding this $40+ billion project.

Source: SJBJ

408 Race to the Row

Get fired up for the second annual 408k Race to the Row, which blasts off on March 10th. The race starts in Downtown San Jose, goes down The Alameda, and then winds its way to Santana Row. At the finish line you can earn back all of those calories by partying at the Row, hop on a free luxury bus back to Downtown, and continue partying and saving up calories for the next run!

For more information, click here. Hat tip to Joie for sending this in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



RACE INFO
Downloadable Race Instructions (just some light reading):
2013 Race Instructions (pdf)

UPS SWEAT CHECK: The fine folks in brown will again be at the starting line to accept your sweats, gear, and unmentionables. Ensure you have time to check your goods, so show up early and look for the beautiful line of UPS trucks adjacent to the starting line.

START: The race starts at HP Pavilion in Downtown San Jose. If you don’t know where this is then just google it. You’re likely from the great Silicon Valley area and you should know all about the google.

COURSE TIME LIMIT: You will need to maintain an 18 minute/mile pace to make the course time cut-off.  All participants remaining on the course beyond this time limit will be asked to use the sidewalk, abide by traffic laws, and continue to the finish line.

FINISH: The finish line is at Santana Row (We’ve mentioned that multiple times because we view as a bit of a selling point. It’s near Stevens Creek Blvd…again try the google)

BUSING: You’re probably wondering, “if it starts downtown and ends at Santana Row then how do I get home?” First off, nice work detective. Now, three options:

(1) Get dropped off at the start and tell your mom to meet you at the Row.
(2) Cool down and run back
(3) Party at Santana Row and take the free shuttles buses back to the pavilion. Our Official Transportation Provider, Royal Coach Tours, will be ready to roll after the race.

Santana Row Adding 690,000 SQFT of Office Space

The market for office space is really heating up in Silicon Valley, and Federal Realty (owners of Santana Row) are about to make a substantial speculative investment involving three new office buildings. The first was already announced--a 220,000 sqft six-story building that would face the Winchester Mystery House. The second would be a 250,000 sqft building sitting on top of new retail that would cap the very end of Santana Row and also feature a "town square" area. The last would be a 220,000 sqft building on a brand new site that they are trying to acquire fronting Tisch Way and Dudley Avenue.

The entire project makes perfect sense. Modern companies want to be located near amenities like quality restaurants and housing. Add in retail, a hotel, movie theater, luxury gym, and various parks... well you have the ultimate destination for a corporate headquarters. The only thing missing is mass transit, and that should come very soon when a bus rapid transit (BRT) line is built from Downtown San Jose to Stevens Creek.

To add the the good news, the ginormous parking lot around Century Theaters across the street may one day be developed into a project at the same level of density as Santana Row.

Source: The Registry

San Jose Sizzles Videos

2 Minute Version

7 Minute Extended Cut

Saturday Stats: San Jose Ranks Among the 15 Happiest Cities

A team of mathematicians at the University of Vermont collect over 10 million tweets from 373 different urban areas across the US and scored both "happy" and "sad" words. Sad words included things like "hate" or "wrong" while happy words included "lol" and "funny." After aggregating all of the data they came up with the list of happiest and and saddest cities in the US based on tweets. The results are below (hat tip to Barclay).


The 15 Happiest Cities in the United States:

Napa, Calif.
Longmont, Colo.
San Clemente, Calif.
Santa Fe, N.M.
Santa Cruz, Calif.
Green Bay, Wis.
Santa Rosa, Calif.
Simi Valley, Calif.
Lafayette, Colo.
Asheville, N.C.
Spokane, Wash.
Boulder, Colo.
Fort Collins, Colo.
Santa Barbara, Calif.
San Jose, Calif.

The 15 Saddest Cities in the United States:

Beaumont, Texas
Albany, Ga.
Texas City, Texas
Shreveport, La.
Monroe, La.
Memphis, Tenn.
Battle Creek, Mich.
Flint, Mich.
Lima, Ohio
Houma, La.
Waterbury, Conn.
Alexandria, La.
Port Arthur, Texas
Montgomery, Ala.
Dothan, Ala.

Source: Live Science

South First Friday Tonight!

Busy Day Downtown Tomorrow

If you happen to be Downtown tomorrow, brace yourself for tons of activity. Rick Jensen posted the following list of events on the Downtowner Online (subscribe by emailing Rick):

• Cinequest Film Festival 23 at the California Theatre, San Jose Rep and Camera Cinemas.  Park at Second-San Carlos Garage.
• Sharks vs. Predators at the HP Pavilion.  Game starts at 7:30 pm.  Estimated attendance 16,200. Park at Market-San Pedro Garage, or at the arena.
• La Cumbre Public Dance at the Convention Center.  Event starts at 7pm.  Estimated attendance 18,000.  Park in SoFA-I-280 lot, Convention Center and lots on Almaden Boulevard and across from Children's Discovery Museum.
• Nederlander presents Aaron Lewis at the Civic Auditorium.  Event starts at 7:30 pm. Capacity 3,000. AndChildren's Musical Theatre's performance of “Godspell” next door at the Montgomery Theatre.  Three performances with the last scheduled to start at 8pm.  Civic /Montgomery attendees may want to park at the city's Third (and St. John) and Fourth Street (and San Fernando) garages and stroll downtown.
• "Red" at San Jose Stage, 8pm Park at Second and San Carlos or Under I-280 at South First.
• Carlos Mencia at The Improv at 7pm and 9 pm – best parking bet would be Fourth Street Garage or Third Street Garage.
•  Plus Live&Local music venues and Cinequest Afterparties

February 2013 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• The San Jose/Evergreen Community College District bought and will populate the seven story, 41,500 sqft former American Bank and Trust building at 40 S. Market.
• A new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is going to run down Santa Clara Street and will ultimately connect to Eastridge Mall, Palo Alto, and DeAnza College. They will provide a similar level of service to light rail and have better seating, stations, and travel times than normal buses.
• Umpqua Bank has started building out its ground-floor space at 225 W Santa Clara (next to Amici's), which will include a computer cafe and free WiFi.
• Vyne Bistro is now open and has specials like mushroom risotto and caviar. Visit the new wine bar and restaurant at 110 Paseo De San Antonio.
• Hibiscus Stodio is open where City Salon & Spa used to be at 136 E. Santa Clara.
• Curb cafes are coming to five locations in San Jose this year, including Chacho's.
• A 10ft-tall working model replica of "Organograph" is available for viewing at the City Hall lobby. Eventually this will be a 75ft-tall interactive work of art near Diridon.
• Zipcar is now available Downtown and in Midtown. 17 public spaces have been re-purposed for Zipcar.

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DOSE OF REALITY Premiering at Cinequest

Cinequest is well underway in San Jose with an insane array of movies to chose from. I tend to prioritize the premieres since you get the very rare opportunity of watching a film before anyone else. DOSE OF REALITY is one the films kicking off their world premiere at Cinequest, and the very first showing is tomorrow. More info below!

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Can you solve the mystery at  CINEQUEST film festival?

Get your tickets for DOSE OF REALITY the movie and give it a shot.

We're proud to World Premiere at Cinequest.

DOSE OF REALITY movie

Intriguing keeps you guessing mystery thriller with dramatic performances at:

CINEQUEST Film Festival

San Jose, CA

Camera 12  theaters
201 S 2nd St, San Jose, CA 95113

2-28-13 at 7:00 p.m
3-2-13 at 9:30 p.m.

3-5-13 at 4:00 p.m.

Read more about it

When the bar doors closed one evening, the night was far from over. After Matt, a handsome, young bartender, discovers an attractive, bloodied woman passed out on the bathroom floor, the descent into utter chaos begins. He and his arrogant manager, Tony, frantically argue about what to do when she wakes up and hysterically accuses them of attacking her. Taking matters into her own hands with irresistible charm and manipulative mind games, she discovers their deepest, innermost weaknesses. What started out as a quest to uncover the identity of her attacker quickly evolves into a scheme to reveal the secrets of everyone involved. But some secrets will remain hidden, others will identify a new victim, but one will turn everything you thought you knew upside down – Sharon Gonzales  - CINEQUEST

Film stars: Fairuza Balk award winning actress (Gas Food and lodging and The Craft), Rick Ravanello (The Cave), Ryan Merriman (Final Destination and soon to be released "42" starring Harrison Ford).

Order Tickets here:

http://payments.cinequest.org/WebSales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=6913~78899376-35a9-4153-8303-e1557be2dc32&epguid=70d8e056-fa45-4221-9cc7-b6dc88f62c98&

Girl Shaped Drug - US Premiere @ Cinequest

Today the floodgates are opening for hundreds of world-class screenings of independent and foreign movies in San Jose! Girl Shaped Love Drug is not only a film featured in Cinequest, it's having its US premiere right here. If you haven't been to a premiere screening yet, you definitely have to check it out. Immediately following the movie, you can participate in Q&A with the writer/director and several of the actors. Where else do you get an opportunity like that?

The trailer is below and for more information, just head on over here.

Cinequest Starts Today!

Get all of your Cinequest info and tickets right over here!

Japantown "Corp Yard" Project Moves Forward!

An epic $180 million project is moving forward in Japantown. The quick details: 600 residential apartments in six-story buildings with underground parking, ground floor retail and live/work units, a park with cherry orchards, a public stage/pavilion, and a creative center for the arts. You can check out the design for the creative center in the very last image... I hope that becomes the final design because it looks incredible! That building will house San Jose Taiko, CreaTV, Arts Council of Silicon Valley, and other San Jose nonprofits. I'm not sure what more you could possibly ask for in a Japantown project.

You have to click the images below to really see the detail from the scans. The architecture is "modern Japan" with elegant simplicity, wood elements, shifted forms, and framed views. Needless to say, this will be one of the most unique and visually striking developments in the Bay Area. I really hope this comes to fruition and encourages even more projects of this caliber in San Jose.

Sources: Jonathan Bush (thanks for the scans!), SVBJ