San Jose's Tech CU Area will host a new MMA event series

Tech CU Arena is owned by the San Jose Sharks and home of the San Jose Barracuda. However, the newly expanded center is able to host a variety of events. A pair Bay Area combat sports veterans have chosen the location for a new series called FIGHT NIGHT AT THE TECH.

The first event takes place on Saturday, May 18th at 4pm. Tech CU Arena has a capacity of 4,200 and tickets start at $65. For more info head here.

Source: SVBJ

Viva CalleSJ 2022 on Sunday, September 18th

Viva Calle SJ is one of San Jose's largest and most unique annual events. Miles of city streets will be completely shut down to let people walk, run, bike, or skateboard down the streets of San Jose. 

Viva Calle features multiple activity hubs which are basically festivals-within-a-festival that highlight the local area. This year the activity hubs will be at Parque de los Pobladores (Downtown), Kelley Park & History Park, the Arena Green, and Japantown. You can expect live music, vendors, food, activities, bike parking, and good times at all four hubs. In between the activity hubs you will still find all sorts of interesting stops, hydration stations, and stores. Up to 100,000 people attend this event, but it never feels crowded given how spread out it is.

This year the route is essentially a hub Downtown with 3 spokes extending to the activity hubs. It's wild to think that you can walk from Kelly Park to Japantown in the middle of city streets.

Viva CalleSJ 2022 takes place on Sunday, September 18th from 10am to 3pm (streets are closed until 4pm). It is completely free and has no designated beginning or end as it's not a race. It also overlaps with a PokemonGO community event, so you may see a lot of people on their phones. You can use the handy map below to locate the routes and festivities. For more info, head over here. Hope to see you there!

Inspirational video for a new San Jose Landmark

Why should the capital of innovation continue to be deprived of a world-class landmark? Urban Confluence is working to fix this problem with a global competition to design a modern version of the San Jose Light Tower next to the SAP Center. The submission deadline has been extended to January 15th, 2020 and you can learn more over here.

In the meantime, Urban Confluence has provide an inspirational video (below). I can't wait to see the winning designs!

Viva Calle 2019 Part 2 - "Parks to Roses" on Sep 22nd

Rain and hail may have put a damper on the first Viva Calle this year, but that is not going to happen again in late September. Thankfully we have not one but two Viva Calle's this year.

During Viva Calle SJ, miles of city streets will be completely shut down to let people walk, run, bike, or skateboard down the streets of San Jose. Viva Calle features multiple activity hubs which are basically festivals-within-a-festival that highlight the local area. For part 2, the activity hubs will be at Backesto Park, Arena Green, and the Municipal Rose Garden. You can expect live music, vendors, food, activities, bike parking, and good times at all three hubs. In between the activity hubs you will still find all sorts of interesting stops, hydration stations, and stores. Last year over 100,000 people attended the event.

Viva Calle 2019 "Downtown and Eastbound" takes place on Sunday, September 22nd from 10am to 3pm (streets are closed until 4pm). It is completely free and has no designated beginning or end as it's not a race. However, it appears that for the first time ever there is also a new 5K at 8am.

You can use the handy map below to locate the routes and festivities. For more info, head over here. Hope to see you there!

"San Jose" - a beautiful new anthem for our city!

Grace Kelly is a 16-year-old singer-songwriter from Auckland that has been visiting San Jose since she was eight years old. Her father used to work in San Jose and live in Santana Row and she would visit him during her time off of school. She even bought her first electric guitar in San Jose.

Many of us that have been here for decades are jaded. Honestly, we have probably seen more downs than ups and more broken promises than success stories. However, the last decade has been quite good for San Jose and the song tells a story of a new generation of people that see San Jose for what it is today without the decades of bias.

Grace Kelly's "San Jose" is, without a doubt, the best song about San Jose since Dionne Warwick's "Do you Know the Way to San Jose" in 1968. Yes... that was 51 years ago. A lot has changed since then and I'm not sure the lyrics are entirely accurate anymore (read them here for your entertainment).

The new song is pop with a hint of Nashville. It's a little eclectic, kind of like San Jose. It's upbeat, catchy, and I seriously hope it makes it's way into mainstream music channels.

For the San Jose nerds out there, you'll find all sorts of scenes from San Jose in the official music video below, including:

• Downtown San Jose
• The Improv
• St. Joseph's Cathedral
• Transit Corridor
• SJSU
• Paseo de San Antonio
• SAP Center
• the Tech Interactive
• SoFA
• Santana Row
• The San Jose Flea Market
• Willow Glen
• Japantown
• East San Jose foothills

Please give it a watch and share with your friends.

San Jose Light Tower v2.0 has a location!

There is finally has an official location for the resurrection of our most famous landmark. The City Council voted unanimously to approve the Arena Green near SAP and Diridon as the future home of a new San Jose Light Tower.

The next step is an international idea competition for the design of the tower called "Urban Confluence Silicon Valley." Individual teams will submit creative designs for the project and there will be an award for the top three.

The icing on the cake is that there will be a little extra height available for the new tower (see yesterday's post). By raising building height limits to FAA regulations, will gave the tower an extra 100 feet of potential. I'm sure the height will be full maxed and hope there are some options for virtual increasing that height as well (lighting, drones, etc.).

The official announcement from The San Jose Light Tower Corporation is below.