September 2010 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• The holidays are coming up soon and the new official name of the downtown ice rink will be Hawaiian Airlines / Kristi Yamaguchi Downtown Ice.
• The San Pedro Square Urban Market will now launch in Q1 2011 [I should have names of some tenants in 1-2 weeks, construction should be done in December]
• Henry's World Famous Hi-Life celebrates its 50th anniversary (for 2 days in August the owner rolled back prices to 1960).
• Andy's Pet Shop is coming back! Formerly in a 4,000sqft store on the Alameda, they will open up in a new 9,000sqft location at 51 Notre Dame (near San Pedro Square and Little Italy). The famous neon sign is returning as well.
• As previously reported, Second Street Tavern + Bowl is coming to the ground floor of the Globe. Games will cost about $3 and hourly lane rental will range from $25-45.
• Satori Tea (phenomenal teas here) is open at 37 N. San Pedro.
• Pho 69 adds Vietnamese noodles to SoFA @ 321 S. First St.
• Polar Ice is now offering yogurt, gelato, smoothies, and boba at 96 E. San Salvador St.
• Whipp's Frozen Fruits & Deserts has frozen cups made entirely of fruit over at 110 E. San Fernando.
• Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt is open at 567 Coleman across from Chili's.
• Higher Fire Clayspace & Gallery opened its doors at 499 S. Market St. in SoFA [very cool place, they are a new addition to the South First Fridays art crawl]
• 01SJ is coming Sep. 16-19, showcasing 100+ artists from 21 countries. Many of the technology-oriented outdoor pieces will be up until at least November.
• The San Jose Mariachi Festival will take place from Sep. 15-26.
• The Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon will attract thousands of participants during its stretch from Oct. 1-3
• Property owners are following in Groundwerx's footsteps and beautifying the space around their businesses. The areas near the Comerica building, Market Street Tower Venture, and Original Joe's have all been improved by business owners. The SJDA is more than happy to help any downtown businesses that would like to improve their sidewalk space (Contact Eric at 408-590-0241)
• SJSU ranked 14th among the West's top public universities and the College of Engineering ranked 7th in the nation among public engineering programs.

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