Playful People Productions Presents: Beauty and the Beast JR

Be our guest at Playful People Productions performance of Disney Beauty and the Beast Jr.  You and your family will be transported to the heart of a quaint French town, where the smart and beautiful Belle yearns for something more than her provincial life. When her father gets lost in the woods, he seeks shelter in an old castle, but is soon taken captive by the master of the house—a horrible Beast, who is actually a young prince trapped under a spell. Belle surrenders her freedom to the Beast in order to save her father’s life.  If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the spell will be broken and he will be transformed to his former princely self. If not, he and his household will be doomed for all time. This classical musical love story is a magical tale that comes to life with unforgettable characters, astonishing sets and costumes, and a stunning score including, "Be Our Guest," "Gaston," "Human Again," and the Tony-winning title song, "Beauty and the Beast.”

Our shows often sell out prior to the show weekend. Be sure to buy your tickets early, you won’t want to miss out on this fantastic production.

All Shows at the Historic Hoover Theater, 1635 Park Ave  San Jose, CA 95126

Show Times: (show will run approx 2 hrs with an intermission)
Friday, May 5th - 7:00pm
Saturday, May 6th -  1:00pm
Sunday, May 7th - 1:00pm

Friday, May 12th - 7:00pm
Saturday, May 13th -  11:00am, 3:00pm and 7:00pm
Sunday, May 14th - 11:00am and 3:00pm


Tickets available at www.playfulpeople.net
$12 attendees 12 and up, $8 children 11 and under,  and $6 Children’s floor seating

Tickets at the door (30 minutes prior to curtain)
$15 attendees 12 and up, $10 children 11 and under, and $6 Children’s floor seating


For questions: barb@galiotto.com

Founded in 2010, Playful People Production’s mission is to provide a quality, caring environment where children, teens and their families can have positive theater experiences. We strive to involve all family members in the many aspects of on stage and backstage theater in a safe and fun environment and offer participation in theatrical productions, classes, summer stock and camps for ages 3-103

Downtown Farmers’ Market’s 25th season begins May 5th

Fresh produce, hot food, unique gifts available 
each Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at San Pedro Square

SAN JOSE – The Downtown San Jose Farmers’ Market, presented by Kaiser Permanente, opens for its 25th season on May 5 along San Pedro Street between Santa Clara and St. John streets.

The market offers more than fresh-picked fruits and vegetables direct from more than certified organic growers. The market campaign, which continues into November, opens with avocados, citrus fruits, rhubarb and strawberries in late season, the early tree-ripened fruits and berries, plus artichokes, asparagus, peas, green garlic and dozens of other vegetable varieties.

Opening day features live music by Amigos Music and samples of locally made hummus, cheeses, Indian foods and dips, baked goods, jams and more.

The Downtown Farmers’ Market also offers artisan booths for unique gifts, cut flowers, and gourmet foods.

In the height of the season, the market may include up to 40 vendors.  On average, 2,500 residents, office workers and visitors head to the Farmers’ Market and San Pedro Square for lunch, activities, people-watching and shopping. Customers are encouraged to bring their own reusable and washed bags.

Market partner Kaiser Permanente has teamed with the Downtown Association and PCFMA for seven years to focus attendees on healthful and “green” living. Kaiser Permanente will schedule its Blender Bike for Smoothies on occasion, allowing shoppers to hop on the stationary bike and whip up a smoothie made from fresh Farmers’ Market fruit.

Parking validations for Farmers’ Market shoppers are available for the Market-San Pedro Garage at the SJDA information table. Visit sjdowntownparking.com.

Follow the Downtown Farmers’ Market on Twitter @SJ_Downtown and Facebook.com/sjdowntown. Check http://sjdowntown.com/farmers-market-presented-by-kaiser-permanente/. Call (408) 279-1775 for information.

About the San Jose Downtown Association:  The San Jose Downtown Association is a non-profit group of business and property owners working to improve the vitality and livability of downtown San Jose. Established in 1986, SJDA programs more than 100 days of events each year.

Facebook is bringing citywide wireless internet to San Jose

San Jose is a pilot city for one of Facebook's moonshot projects called Terragraph. The goal is to blanket an urban area with gigabit internet using ultra high frequency WiFi. While most WiFi networks run at 2.4 or 5 GHz, Facebook is creating a wireless backbone at 60 GHz. This means very high speeds, but the signal cannot go through walls. The plan is to hang high-speed routers on streetlights and the sides of buildings pretty much everywhere, and then connect them to standard networking gear to get the bandwidth inside of each building. The routers would also broadcast traditional WiFi signals, which might even eliminate the need to use a cellular network in an urban area like Downtown.

There is no formal ETA on when the network will be complete, but the routers should start going up very soon.

Source: SVBJ

Valley Palms Neighborhood Association's "La Caminata" walking event

Tomorrow the Valley Palms Neighborhood Association in collaboration with Project Access (local nonprofit) are hosting a walking school bus event to raise awareness of pedestrian safety issues in East San Jose. As we slowly move to a future when cars are not the only way to get around San Jose, pedestrian access will only become more critical. All of the details from the press release are below.

MEDIA ALERT
                                                                                                                               
Valley Palms Neighborhood Association’s “La Caminata” Walking School Bus Event Sheds Light on Pedestrian Safety in East San Jose

Beginning Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 7:00 AM
Ends Wednesday April 26, 2017 at 7:30 AM

WHAT:              The Valley Palms Neighborhood Association is hosting a walking school bus event from Valley Palms Apartments to Katherine Smith Elementary School in order to demonstrate the need for improved pedestrian safety in the King/Tully neighborhood of San Jose.

                        An anticipated 150 community residents and their children will form a walking school bus and walk from Valley Palms Apartments to Katherine Smith Elementary School, where council member Tam Nguyen and community leaders will speak on the important issue of pedestrian safety.

WHO:               The Valley Palms Neighborhood Association, the County of Santa Clara Probation Department’s Neighborhood Services Unit, Project Access, Katherine Smith Elementary School, and Overfelt High School have partnered to rally the community and host the “La Caminata” Walking School Bus event. Interview opportunities with Project Access CEO Kathy McCarrell and Santa Clara County Probation Department officials.

WHEN:             Beginning Wednesday, April 26th at 7:00 AM

WHY:                To demonstrate the need for improved pedestrian safety in the King/Tully neighborhood of San Jose.

WHERE:           Begin walk in front of Valley Palms Apartments at 7:00 AM
                        2155 Lanai Avenue, San Jose, Calif., 95122
Meet in front of main gate

End walking school bus at Katherine Smith Elementary School, where presentations will take place at 7:30 AM.
2025 Clarice Drive, San Jose, Calif., 95122

HOW:               Meet in front of main gate of Valley Palms Apartments to participate in the walking school bus.

First Amazon Books in Northern California is coming to San Jose

In the ultimate irony, Amazon is now opening up physical bookstores. Yes, the same Amazon that took down pretty much all brick-and-mortar bookstores in the US.

The first Amazon Books anywhere in Northern California is coming to Santana Row, one block away from where a two-story flagship Borders once existed. The Amazon store will be about 5,500 SQFT and prices will be exactly the same as the website if you are a Prime member. Amazon is even planning to somehow incorporate user reviews in the physical store.

Amazon Books will be located at 333 Santana Row, Suite 2. It will also be joined by a second Silicon Valley Northern Californian location in Walnut Creek later this year.

Source: SVBJ, hat tip to Corin for sending this in!

Update: As pointed out in the comments, Walnut Creek is not in Silicon Valley

The SoFA Street Fair kicks off this Sunday

A great free music festival is happening this weekend in Downtown's SoFA district. Local, regional, and national live music acts will be taking to the stage in the middle of South First Street. This is also a great opportunity to check out SoFA's hotspots like Cafe Stritch, Forager, and the now full SoFA Market. The event starts at 2pm and goes into the night.

For more details, check out the SoFA Street Fair Facebook page.

Content Magazine 9.2 "Sight & Sound" Pick-Up Party

The latest edition of Content is available today. The focus of this issue is on creative people who make the images and sounds of our region.

In typical fashion, they are celebrating the new issue with a party. Enjoy live music by Mitch Lujan, Cola, and Mark Arroyo Trio. If you are a subscriber, you even get a free drink. It all goes down at Studio by Terra Amico at 460 Lincoln Street from 7pm-9:30pm. To learn more, head over to the Content website.

SJC's International Arrivals lounge opens Thursday

San Jose International is getting quite a bit of recognition lately. Not only is it the fastest growing major airport in the country, it was just recognized as the "best-run" international airport in the US. This Thursday SJC will get their latest improvement, a respectable area for international arrivals.

I have gone through customs at SJC twice now, and both times it has taken less than 20 minutes to get from the plane, through customs, through baggage claim, and grab a ride outside. Try doing that in any other airport in the country. The only problem is that the area looked a bit, well, janky. When leaving, you are basically dumped outside in a miscellaneous spot between Terminals A and B. Also, there is no indoor place for family and friends to wait for you.

That is going to change this week when a $8.2 million International Arrivals lounge opens up. The 5,600 SQFT space will provide a more pleasant experience for international visitors as well as those waiting to welcome them. Designed by Gensler, the area has seating, restrooms, vending machines, and a second baggage carousel for international flights. It may not sound like much, but it will be a huge improvement. Combined with the insanely fast processing time, SJC is continuing to up their game and I hope it results in more passengers and flights.

Source: SVBJ

Easter Extravaganza

We hope you all have a great weekend. If you are looking for a fun Easter event for the kids, the San Pedro Square Market is hosting an Easter egg hunt and craft activities this Sunday from noon to 3pm. For the adults you have live music and three bars =).

April 2017 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• Live & Local is back! Visit the site promoting the 30 live music venues Downtown at liveandlocalsj.com
• The City Council established the St. James Park Management District to help fund park maintenance, activation, and eventually the complete overhaul of the park. The top priority for the redesign will be the Levitt Pavilion outdoor music venue, with other projects coming afterwards.
• SJDA suggested 20 mitigation improvements to the VTA in order to minimize Downtown disruptions during the BART subway construction.
• The Downtown San Jose Farmer's Market will return on May 5th and run through November 17th.
• The SoFA Street Fair on April 23rd will feature 100 bands on more than 15 stages.
• Klimpton Hotels & Restaurants announced that a new 173-room hotel will be part of the future Museum Place highrise located behind the Tech museum.
• Fuz Bar & Grill is now open at 58 S 1st Street.

To read the newsletter, click here!

San Jose is getting a 24-story Tribute Hotel!

Finally, some significant vertical development news for Downtown. It looks like San Jose's first cantilevered tower will be moving forward. The proprietors behind San Jose's Downtown Four Points (which is probably the nicest Four Points in the US) want to build a 24-story hotel tower in a narrow lot to the right of the hotel. The lot is so narrow that the tower would have to cantilever over the Four Points as you can see in the photos below. It creates a very interesting architectural juxtaposition of a building from the 1910s merged with a modern high-rise.

Now for the even-better news. The 279-room tower will be branded as The Tribute Hotel San Jose as opposed to being an expansion of the Four Points-branded hotel. The Tribute is a new Marriott brand (which now owns Starwood Hotels) and it is far more upscale and prestigious.

The tower will have amenities that don't even exist in San Francisco or Los Angeles. I'm talking about a rooftop pool on the 24-floor. That is officially one of the coolest hotel amenities possible and I will be booking a room at some point just to take advantage of it. The Grand Hyatt in Toyko (hotel from the movie "Lost in Translation") is the only other property I have been to with something like that and it was awesome. The Tribute Hotel will also have their gym and meeting rooms on the penthouse floor featuring amazing views of Silicon Valley. This is going to be a very unique destination and a huge win for San Jose enthusiasts.

Source: The Merc

First Friday @ SPACES by Santana Row

You now have two First Friday events to chooser from in San Jose! SPACES, a new coworking space in Santana Row, is hosting a monthly event with art, cocktails, and networking. Their first event happens today from 5pm-8pm. SPACES is located at 3031 Tische Way.

South First Fridays tonight in SoFA

It is a little wet outside, but that should not stop you from enjoying great art in some of Downtown San Jose's most interesting venues. 20 destinations will be open late tonight and proudly display local artwork. South First Fridays is completely free and you can find a preview of what will be on display over here.

For an interactive walking map (sorry the one below is just a boring image), bookmark this link.

Zoom and Wrike are growing in San Jose

Two hot tech companies are choosing to grow their presence in Downtown San Jose. Zoom is a video and web conferencing solution founded in 2011. It currently has 180 employees with plans to add 20 more.

Wrike is a work management solution with 10,000 paid accounts. Their first office was in Downtown San Jose, but they moved to Mountain View in 2014 after getting their series A funding. Late last year they moved back to Downtown San Jose and now have 70 employees with plans to grow.

Both Zoom and Wrike are headquartered on Almaden Avenue--Zoom is on the 6th Floor of 55 Almaden and Wrike is on the 10th floor of 10 Almaden.

Source: SJ Economy News

The Pierce is honoring World Autism Awareness Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and one of the coolest art projects in Downtown San Jose is doing something special for the occasion. Voxel Cloud--the LED light system on top of The Pierce--will be illuminated in blue from 7:30pm to midnight. To learn more about the "Light It Up Blue" campaign in support of people living with autism, please head over here.