World's Largest Haunted House

Well, I was fairly confident that there were no Halloween Haunts in San Jose proper this year thanks to Gyro's "hiatus," but it looks like there is one at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds billed as the World's Largest. Click here for more information and click here for a $2 per person coupon. I'll try to check this out soon and let you know if it's worthwhile!



UPDATE: Made it there yesterday, and it's worthwhile. It's the scariest one that I've been to in the Bay Area this year and is 2-3 times longer than your typical maze.

Zillow Crowns the Winchester Mystery House as the #1 Haunted Home in the US

From "Top 10 Haunted Homes in the U.S.":

(Flickr photo: harshlight)

1. Winchester House (above)
Location: San Jose, CA
Notable ghost: Sarah Winchester

As one of two homes in California sanctioned by the U.S. Commerce Department as being haunted (the other is the Whaley House, below), the magnificent Winchester Housestands alone as perhaps the most bizarre haunted home in the U.S. It was inspired and designed by Sarah Winchester (photo), widow of William Winchester, founder of Winchester rifles. Legend goes that Sarah was deeply affected by the deaths of her daughter, Annie, in 1866 and then her husband, William, in 1881. Sarah consulted a medium who instructed her to build a house to ward off evil spirits. Construction on the Winchester House started in 1884 and continued for 38 years — until Sarah’s death in 1922.

Sarah reportedly held nightly seances to gain guidance from spirits and her dead husband for the home’s design. What resulted was a maze-like residence full of twisting and turning hallways, dead-ends, secret panels, a window built into a floor, staircases leading to nowhere, doors that open to walls, upside-down columns, and rooms built, then intentionally closed off  — all to ward off and confuse evil spirits. Read more about Sarah and the fascinating Winchester House. (Photo of Sarah Winchester: freewebs.com)
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Art Show @ The Usuals Tonight!

Time	Friday, October 29 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location	The Usuals 1020 The Alameda
Created By	The Usuals
More Info	A group art show celebrating life & death. Featuring Local Artists: Force 129 Christine Benjamin Patricia Black Lacey Bryant Michael Buscemi Michael Foley Joel Ruiz Garcia Josh Marcotte (Lost San Jose) Frances Marin David Nelson Anabella Pinon Tea Shack Project Kate Stewart Sara Tomasello Kristine Taormino Kori Thomson Wadl Wadl Jessie Jane Walden Jesus Villegas ....and more Deathly Beats By: Nate LeBlanc Squareweezy (Bangerz) Vida Treats by: La Senora Nava STREETBOT!! If you attend this opening night in costume or with a Dia De Los Muertos painted face, you'll get 10% off of your purchase (artwork excluded). "Dia De La Vida" will be on view through Nov. 18th. During store hours: Sunday - Thursday 11am - 7pm Friday - Saturday 11am - 8pm

Ballet San Jose - Beginnings (Part 1 of 5)

Ballet San Jose is just kicking off their 2010-2011 Season, so what better way to start things off than a really interesting documentary about their history! Click the link below for part one of their five part documentary series... and if you didn't think a ballet documentary could end with a cliffhanger, guess again =)

Part 1: http://blip.tv/file/4262451

October 2010 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• Vote yes on V & W to help put San Jose's finances back on track (neither affects current employees, only future hires)
• More retail is coming in than going out, empty spaces are filling up throughout Downtown
• Camera 3's Lease has been renewed for 10 years
• Clubhouse Restaurant and Lounge is now open in the former Hawg's space
• Broadway San Jose is brining 7 productions for the 2010-11 season, up from 5 the previous season
• The former auto repair garage at 27 E. William St. is being converted into Orchestra Palm Court Cafe, opening in 2011
• The Civic Auditorium upgrades are about to kick into high gear, including new seating and expanded concessions
• The City, RDA, and 1stACT are continuing to develop 10 projects to accelerate Downtown becoming "Silicon Valley's City Center." Music in the Park and the Jazz Festival experienced double-digit growth in attendance and work will continue to improve the live music scene and art scene Downtown. Some active initiatives:
• Creating a plaza along First St. between Reed and William
• Providing a joint-use building for arts organizations to share
• Turn Guadalupe River Park into San Jose's Central Park
• Redesign the plaza in front of the Rep as a gathering and performance space
• The city has installed 80 new bike racks Downtown (now how about starting the bike sharing program!)
• Groundwerx has added high quality LED lighting to 31 trees in San Pedro Square (saw these last weekend and they look amazing)

To read the full newsletter, click here!

SJDA October Board Meeting

I had a chance to attend the October SJDA Meeting and just wanted to share the list of new/re-elected directors as well as a few photos. Here's the list:

• Nancy Avila - Owner of Maceio Brazillian Steakhouse and SJSU alum
• Steve Borkenhagen - Market Manager of San Pedro Square Market, 35 year downtown resident
• Kymberli Brady - Photographer, owner of sanjosestock.com
• Chris Cabrera - CEO of Xactly Corporation, SCU alum
• Jay Essadki - Owner and Chef of Morocco's
• Paul Higgens - President of the SJDRA and SJSU alum
• Randy Knox - Senior Director at Adobe
• Pete Kolstad - Downtown Resident
• Kent Mather - Former Executive Director of the American Institute of Architects Santa Clara Valley
• Chris Neale - VP of Core Homes LLC
• Win Roney - President of ReelGrobman architecture and interior design
• Tore Saso - VP at Merrill Lynch, 4th generation SJ resident and SJSU alum
• Janis Schneider - Owner of R&J Jewelry and Loan
• Roger Springall - Owner of Caffe Trieste

TWO BUCK Tuesday ($2 Art @ Kaleid)

TWO BUCK Tuesday October 19th

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

The awesome $2 art sale and quirky speaker series is this Tuesday, October 19th, curated by artist Keith Bunnell!


Jodi Mascarenas will be doing a sugar skull workshop. There will be small medium and large blank sugar skulls. She will provide colored icing to decorate your skull as well as diamonds and other decorations to personalize it. Join in, get creative and make something beautiful!


Clayton Lawrence
Scenic and Theme Designer - California's Great America Halloween Haunt

From decorating his front yard starting at age 5, to designing multiple Haunted Attractions at California's Great America Halloween Haunt at age 22, Clayton has been able to take a passion and hobby and turn it into a career.
Clayton has learned a lot over the years and has consulted with many industry leaders including Knott's Scary Farm, to learn techniques and philosophies that go into pulling off a successful Haunted House. Come join him as he shares many tips and insight to scaring unsuspecting victims!


Artist Mariya Milovidova will be doing face painting and temporary tattoos as well as painting live on canvas.


Kyle Ames is a professional caricature artist at Great America and will be on hand to draw a fun caricature of YOU for only $5/ea.!

TWO BUCK Tuesday October 19th, 7-10pm FREE and open to the public.
KALEID Gallery
88 South 4th Street
San Jose, CA 95112
http://www.KALEIDgallery.com
(408) 947-1785

History of San Jose's Treatbot

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To...



For more info (and to locate where the truck is stationed today), check out the Treatbot website right over here.