New mural by the Children's Discovery Museum in Downtown San Jose painted by acclaimed local tattoo artist

A beautiful new mural has been completed along Discovery Meadow, part of the Guadalupe River Park. As a frame of reference this is right outside the Children's Discovery Museum Downtown. The artist is Taki "Ryudaibori" Kitamura, a Japanese-American tattoo artist that founded State of Grace Tattoo in San Jose's Japantown.

The mural is entitled "Serpentine Fire" and is the twelfth mural added to the Guadalupe River Art Walk, enhancing what has become the Bay Area's longest public art corridor. The mural celebrates the year of the dragon and the multiculturalism of San Jose.

Below are several photos of the mural (credit to Lan Nguyen Photography) along with the full press release.

June 21, 2024: San José, CA – New mural painted by local artist and longtime tattoo shop owner celebrates the unifying significance of dragons and serpents across cultures. San Jose Walls (SJ Walls) and Guadalupe River Park Conservancy (GRPC) unveil the new mural along the Guadalupe River Park at Discovery Meadow, adjacent to the Children’s Discovery Museum in downtown San José. Entitled “Serpentine Fire,” the new installation is the twelfth mural artwork added to the Guadalupe River Art Walk, enhancing the Bay Area’s longest public art corridor.

This year’s Artist-in-Residence is Taki "Ryudaibori" Kitamura, an acclaimed Japanese-American Tattoo artist, who in 2002 founded the shop, State of Grace Tattoo, currently located in Japantown. Kitamura’s shop serves as a regional home for traditional Japanese tattooing, connecting resident artists trained in Japan and those from the Bay Area to deepen the art of tattooing through exchange, apprenticeship, and collaboration.

“To celebrate this lunar year of the dragon and the multiculturalism of San José, Serpentine Fire represents dragon mythology around the world,” says Kitamura. “With this mural, I am expressing the diversity of serpent divinity and sacred spaces - the dragon and serpent have been symbolic in cultures all over the world and in this, I see our common humanity.” The mural depicts various scenes where the public may interact with the artwork.

The new artwork and public engagement is supported by the City of San José to increase park visitation and usage in the Guadalupe River Park. The mural was curated in response to feedback from the Guadalupe Washington and Gardner neighborhoods just south of San José’s downtown core, favoring themes around community and diversity.

“Art has the ability to welcome people to a space. Growing up in San José, I believed there was a missed opportunity for public art to highlight our rich diversity,” says Natasha Lamperti, GRPC’s Project Manager. “I am so excited to see how future visitors will react to the mural.”

“The goal of the Guadalupe River Art Walk is to envision the Guadalupe River Park as a natural public art gallery and community gathering space” says Stacey Kellogg, San Jose Walls Director. “It has been five years and over a dozen installations since we started and the changes to the trail and park are really rewarding to see.” 

Mural painting will continue through Friday, June 21st and is accessible now to the public. 

Additional support for this year’s artist residency is provided by Applied Materials Foundation and World Wide Walls. For more information and ways to support, please visit https://sjwalls.com/donate.

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About Artist-in-Residence Taki "Ryudaibori" Kitamura:

Taki “Ryudaibori”Kitamura is an acclaimed Japanese-American tattoo artist local to San Jose.

State of Grace Tattoo was founded by Taki “Ryudaibori” Kitamura in September of 2002. Originally located on Berryessa Road, Taki moved the shop to the San José Japantown neighborhood in 2009. With the support of the Dobashi Family, State of Grace reopened the second floor of the historic Shanghai Building. While definitely seen as a home of traditional Japanese tattooing, including two resident artists straight from Japan, the diverse staff strives to offer an authentic experience for the discerning collector. In addition to a full time tattoo schedule, the shop has been involved in publishing, museum exhibitions, lectures, art shows, murals and Horitomo’s lifestyle brand: Monmon Cats. 

For more information about State of Grace Tattoo visit stateofgracetattoo.com. You can find Taki on instagram at @stateofgracetaki.

About San Jose Walls:

San Jose Walls (formally POW! WOW! San Jose), established in 2017, is Northern California’s regional branch of the Worldwide Walls network of festivals happening in over 20 cities  around the world. Led locally by Empire Seven Studios —a contemporary urban art gallery and cultural institution in Japantown, San José, California.

Over the past six years, San Jose Walls has grown into the Bay Area’s premiere art festival with a line up and experience that provides some of the best in the world. Much more than a multi-day festival, San Jose Walls is an amenity with substantial economic and community impact. It is also a vehicle to celebrate our city’s  past, present, and future creative culture.

To date, San Jose Walls has produced over 80 murals and art installations throughout the City with a focus on underserved neighborhoods and most recently, the Guadalupe River Park and Trails. The goal is to strengthen community ties by bringing local and worldwide contemporary art to our City as a way  to highlight its rich diversity.

 

For more information on SJ Walls contact info@sjwalls.com or visit www.sjwalls.com.

About GRPC:

The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy (GRPC) provides community leadership for the development and active use of the Guadalupe River Park & Gardens through education, advocacy, and stewardship.

Founded in 1996, GRPC is the City of San José’s nonprofit partner leading park programming and management. They envision the Guadalupe River Park & Gardens as a civic greenway that connects people to nature and each other, and uplifts neighborhoods through San José’s front yard.

This two-and-a-half mile ribbon of parkland runs along the banks of the Guadalupe River in the heart of downtown San José. The River Park & Gardens serve as a north/south connector and contain beloved features such as the Guadalupe River Trail, the Rotary PlayGarden, the San José Heritage Rose Garden, and various public art including the Guadalupe River Art Walk.

Programming within the park includes educational opportunities, volunteerism, and a variety of year-round events for the public to enjoy. For more information visit www.grpg.org.

San Jose looking for options to prevent encampments on the Guadalupe River Trail

The Guadalupe River Trail and Guadalupe River Park is essentially San Jose's "Central Park." The core of the trail and park network stretches from San Jose International Airport, through Downtown San Jose, all the way to the Children's Discovery Museum. Last year, San Jose received $ 2 million to relocate the homeless living in encampments along the trail and reclaim the trail for public use. Unfortunately, the encampments have come back.

Mayor Matt Mahan is proposing to redirect existing city funds to address this issue as soon as possible. He is also hoping that a similar policy could be used to address re-encampment in other public spaces in San Jose.

The Guadalupe River Trail and Park system has the potential to be one of the best urban parks in the Bay Area. It should be safe and accessible to everyone, and clearing or relocating the encampments is critical to that goal.

Source: KRON4

Swenson reveals spectacular proposal for the Guadalupe River Area

Swenson Builders just blew my mind with their proposal to turn the Downtown stretch of the Guadalupe River into a 6.81 million SQFT mixed-use development. Apparently, Swensen has been contemplating this for decades.

The 30-acre project would incorporate and expand existing parks on both sides of the Guadalupe River and even create a second river (!)... more on that in just a moment. Perhaps take a quick break to scroll down and look at the photos and then head back up here.

The square footage breakdown would be 3.8 million SQFT for office space, 2 million SQFT of residential space (~2,400 units), 420,000 SQFT of retail in a 5-story terraced shopping center, and 590,000 SQFT of hotel space (~1,100 rooms). Bridges would zig-zag over the river(s) to easily get from one side to the other. If there was ever a proposal to rival the San Jose Google HQ, this would be it.

One of the most interesting aspects of the proposal is to create a man-made river parallel to the original Guadalupe River. The purpose of this would be to allow for recreational water activities in Downtown San Jose such as kayaking, surfing, and stand-up boarding. Above the river would also be zip-lines, allowing for a fun adventure combining both a natural and urban backdrop.

Right now this is more vision than a formal proposal, but can you imagine is this is what the Downtown Guadalupe River area looked like 20 years from now? This would be a tremendous amenity and entertainment draw while highlighting one of Downtown's best kept secrets--the river.

Source: SVBJ (Subscription Required)

The Guadalupe River Trail Has a New Work of Public Art

Check out this amazing metal mammoth that is roaming the Guadalupe River Trail in Downtown San Jose! The project commemorates the mammoth fossils that were discovered in the Guadalupe River bed several years ago. These are exactly the types of projects that we need to interest more people in exploring and discovering San Jose's parks.

Source: Cardinal2007 from the San Jose Development Forum

The Italian Family Festa is This Weekend!

The 35th annual Italian Family Festa is coming to Little Italy San Jose this Saturday and Sunday. There will be free entertainment, a grape stomp, bocce ball, wine tasting, arts & crafts, and of course tons a great Italian food. Last year I remember the fried zuchinni, meatball sandwiches, and eggplant pesto sandwiches being fantastic.

The event runs from 11am to 8pm on Saturday (August 29th) and 11am to 6pm on Sunday (August 30th). 35,000 people are expected to attend and seating is limited, so bring a lawn chair if you plan on staying for a while. You can see the full schedule below. Head over to the Italian Family Festa website for more info and details.

New All-Access Play Garden Near Guadalupe River Park

The Downtown San Jose Rotary Club is planning to build an all-access play garden where children with and without special needs can play together. This would be the first of its kind in San Jose about would be located on 4.1 acres near the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens Visitor Center (Coleman and Autumn St.). Special equipment will allow wheelchair accessibility to slides, swings, merry-go-rounds, and other park attractions.

The total cost is going to be $6.35M. Groundbreaking is targeted for the end of 2013 and the opening should happen in 2014.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose Trail Count 2012

In mid September the San Jose Trail Program took an annual count of trail usage during peak travel periods. The results are looking pretty good for 2012.

At the Guadalupe River/Coleman, there was a 3.4% increase in usage over last year despite a partial closure for paving. Guadalupe River and San Fernando showed a huge 34.5% increase in usage. Los Gatos Creek at Hamilton was up 13.9%. Los Gatos Creek at Auzerais stayed the same while Los Alamitos Creek at Camden was up 6.4%. They also counted 82 people in what will become a new future trail in the Five Wounds neighborhood.

Here is the trend for the total number of trail users:

• 2007 - 243 users
• 2008 - 420 users
• 2009 - 531 users
• 2010 - 561 users
• 2011 - 593 users
• 2012 - 613 users

For more information click here, or expand the image below. A big thank you to Yves Zsutty for submitting this information.

San Jose Trails update from City Trail Manager Yves Zuetty

from One Square Mile by noreply@blogger.com (Carlos)

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San Jose Trails Update - May 2012

Highway 237 Bikeway Construction

Construction of the bikeway project between Zanker Road and Coyote Creek (north side) continues. Asphalt paving, striping and fencing are in place. Opening of the trail is delayed until early June as final work items are completed – installation of bollards, new wheelchair ramps and restoration of a vehicle detection loop at the nearby freeway off-ramp traffic signal. Follow “SanJoseTrails” on Twitter for notification of the trail’s reopening and get more detailed updates and photos by following the Construction Updates.

Lower Guadalupe River Trail Construction

A construction contract has been awarded and the pre-construction meeting occurred on May 23. The City will provide a project schedule and details about phasing during the week of June 4. Weekly project updates are posted on the Construction Updates link found on the Trail Program homepage: www.sjparks.org/trails.

Lower Guadalupe River Trail – Tasman Under-Crossing

A grant has been secured to elevate the under-crossing at Tasman Drive so that it is flooded less frequently from seasonal rains and tidal flows from the Bay. The project is within the limits of the larger Lower Guadalupe River Trail project, however, the City has postponed construction until after the larger trail project is completed. In this way, the 6.4 mile trail project is not subject to a possible seasonal closure that would only occur due to flooding at the under-crossing. The California Transportation Commission approved a grant extension on May 23, 2012. Work on the under-crossing is to get underway immediately after completion of the Lower Guadalupe River Trail project.

Thompson Creek Trail (Tully-Quimby)

Preparation of construction documents is on-going. PG&E has issued a permit and the City has positively identified all utilities along the trail alignment. Funding is in place to construct the 0.65 mile trail (improving the existing interim gravel surface). A schedule for construction will be provided once construction documents are completed.

Doerr Parkway

Two community meetings have occurred for Doerr Parkway project. The west San Jose project will develop a landscaped trail along a short 500' parcel currently used as a utility corridor. Design work is now underway – you’ll find conceptual drawings of the future trail posted at: http://www.sjparks.org/Trails/TrailsMeetings.asp

Los Gatos Creek Trail Under-Crossing (San Carlos Street)

The City has secured $1.6M in grant funding to prepare environmental and construction documents for the under-crossing that will span beneath the West San Carlos Street bridge, active Caltrain/Amtrak railway bridge and future High Speed Rail alignment. A Request for Qualifications was issued on May 24 to hire a design consultant for the project. A schedule will provided at a later date when the project team is hired. A conceptual image of the under-crossing is available.

San Jose is Developing a 100-Mile Trail Network

San Jose's Annual Trail Program was released a few weeks ago, and it reveals quite an ambitious plan to link up and develop a network of trails that would exceed 100 miles. To give you an idea of the scope of this, we currently have 36 miles of paved trails. The Annual Trail Program is a great read and provides the status of over a dozen different projects that are currently in process. Some of these are pretty impressive, such as a 9 mile trail extension from Montague Expressway to Story Road consisting of at least 5 pedestrian bridges and 11 under-crossings. Read all about it right over here.

Guadalupe River Park Expansion!

Great news today. Yves from the Department of Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services wants to share information regarding an expansion to the Guadalupe River Trail. I'm hoping that one day this will become our Central Park, and it's already off to a great start. If you haven't walked it lately, now is a great time to check it out. Full info on the improvements below.

Hi Josh,

I wanted to share some good downtown news with you and your readers.

The City of San Jose has been developing an extension to the Guadalupe River Trail over the past year.  The project starts at the Woz Way, near the Children’s Discovery Museum and follows the west bank of the river along the parking lot, beneath the freeway interchange and leads to Virginia Street.  The 0.4 mile extension provides views of the river and busy urban scene.  Along the way, trail users can stop to enjoy two interpretive signs; one discusses “Goosetown” (Italian immigrant neighborhood) and the other shares information about the Ohlone tribes that lived along the river.  Decorative pavement at both Woz Way and Virginia Street greet visitors and helps to draw attention to this new recreational and bike commuting resource.  This project came together because of collaboration between the City of San Jose, Caltrans, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Army Corps of Engineers and the State Resources Agency. 

Information about the Guadalupe River Trail including maps and photos can be found at:

http://www.sjparks.org/Trails/GRiver/index.asp

Information about San Jose’s trails can be found at:

http://www.sjparks.org/Trails/

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the project or trail development throughout the City.  I enjoy reading your blog every morning and am happy to finally be able to share a contribution.

Thanks

- Yves Zsutty, Trail Manager