San Jose City Hall Block Party on Thursday, Oct 17th

Dozens of businesses around City Hall will be participating in the last Downtown San Jose block party for 2024. This is an up and coming area that is starting to get a lot of traction. Rollati, one of my favorite Downtown restaurants, is located in this district as well as the new and unique Paleta Planeta.

The event will feature live music, tons of food, over 100 local makers & artists, tours of new businesses, and activities for the whole family. Ground zero will be right in front of San Jose City Hall.

The event runs from 5pm to 9pm and there is free parking for 90min in city-owned garages or free parking all night on metered spaces after 6pm.You can also easily take Light Rail to the Santa Clara Station and walk two blocks.

San Pedro Square Block Party on Thursday, July 18th

Over 60 businesses around San Pedro Square will be participating in the latest Downtown San Jose block party. The even will feature live music, tons of food, local makers & artists, and activities for the whole family. Ground zero will be along North San Pedro Street (you can't miss it now with the new mural). 

The event runs from 5pm to 9pm and there is free parking for 90min in the Market & San Pedro Square Parking Garage or free all night on metered spaces after 6pm.You can also easily take Light Rail to Saint James Park and walk two blocks.

The first Block Party of 2024 is at the Historic District, May 16th

Downtown San Jose advocates are hosting a series of six different block parties in Downtown San Jose, and the first kicks off this week in the Historic District at the heart of the downtown area. I didn't realize just how many businesses were located in this region until I saw the list below. Over 60 businesses are participating in the event!

The block party is expected to bring thousands of people and there will likely be live music and other special activities. It goes down on Thursday, May 16th from 5-9pm starting in Fountain Alley.

Upcoming block parties will take us to SoFA, San Pedro, Paseo De San Antonio, Little Italy, and City Hall. Every location has had new businesses arrive over the past year.

Urban Vibrancy Institute partners will be hosting more Downtown San Jose block parties in 2024

The 2023 block parties in Downtown San Jose were a lot of fun and highlighted underutilized neighborhoods. Some like Fountain Alley have a number of new restaurants worth checking out.

Now the Urban Vibrancy Institute is partnering with San Jose Live and Tailored By Design to expand its block party series in 2024. There will be a total of six events featuring all of the neighborhoods highlighted in 2023 and two new ones. The original events were in Fountain Alley, SoFA, San Pedro Square, and Little Italy. The new locations are Paseo de San Antonio and City Hall.

The Urban Vibrancy Institute's goal is to make San Jose the safest, cleanest, and most vibrant Downtown. Amen to that.

Specific objectives include increasing: pedestrian traffic to the Downtown core by 20%, awareness of amenities to residents, sales by 25-50% for local retailers and restaurants, and visitors' perception of safety.

Each event last year drew around 1,500 people and sales of highlighted businesses improved 20-35% from the previous week.

The first event of 2024 is tentatively scheduled for April 18th near City Hall.

Source: SVBJ

SoFA Street Fair this Sunday!

The SoFA Street Fair is a free, all-ages music and art festival on September 14th. Three outdoor stages and multiple indoor stages will be setup throughout SoFA with dozens of performances from noon to night. You can see the musical schedule below. For more information click here or here.

Today's SubZERO Schedule (Part of First Friday in SoFA)!

Schedule

ON THE STAGE (South First Street btwn San Carlos & San Salvador Streets)

• 6:30-7:00pm TSIGOTI
• 7:10-7:25pm BRAVE NEW WORLD (fashion show)
• 7:45-8:25pm FEROCIOUS FEW
• 8:50-9:30pm CORPUS CALLOSUM
• 9:50-10:40pm BEN HENDERSON
• 11-Midnight BANGERZ + SAN JOSE TAIKO

ON THE STREET
Moped Beauty Pageant with Mopedhead

SJ Bike Party's Friday Night Lights SPIRAL RIDE

• Start: 7pm
• Wheels on Street: 7:20-7:30pm

Museum Proper

• 7:00-7:30pm Museum Proper performance
• 8:00-8:30pm Museum Proper performance [leads into a 8.30-9.10 corpus callosum stage set]
• 10:00-10:30pm Museum Proper performance
• 11:00-11:30pm Museum Proper performance

Dr. Sketchy Anti-Art School

• Session 1: 7pm
• Session 2: 7:30pm
• Session 3: Brave New World models 8pm
• Session 4: Museum Proper Puppeteer - 8:30pm
• Session 5 & 6: Persephone Belly Dance- 9pm/9:30pm
• Session 7: 10pm

UBER First Friday Tomorrow ! ! !

What happens when South First Fridays meets the 3rd annual SubZERO? A true San Jose enthusiast's playground! I liken it to walking into the flagship Chuck E. Cheese off Tully when you're 8 years old. If you have never been to a SubZERO-supercharged First Friday, tomorrow is your lucky day. From 6pm to midnight+ you'll have the everything that makes First Fridays awesome PLUS live performances by 6 artists, a SJ Bike Party, Dr. Sketchy Anti-Art School, Museum Proper (a 12-foot-tall monster puppet), SJ FAM, SJ Yarn Bombers, The Summer Film Initiative, The Usuals, Veggielution, Barefoot Coffee, Treatbot, etc., etc., etc. There are literally a hundred reasons to swing by SoFA tomorrow. A shocking majority of the uniquely-San Jose cultural events, artists, and vendors we've been promoting for the past year will all culminate on South First Street... Tomorrow... 6pm! More SubZERO details below:

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3rd Annual SubZERO Festival June 4, 2010

South FIRST FRIDAYS presents the 3rd Annual SubZERO Festival

Kick off summer with SubZERO, a diy, artistically bent, hi/lo-techno mashup where street meets geek. Come downtown on June 4th to San Jose’s SoFA District from 6pm ‘til midnight for an inspired evening of arts & culture. In addition to the South FIRST FRIDAYS monthly art walk you’ll find an outdor stage of entertainment plus artists, performers & musicians celebrating the indie creative spirit!

FRIDAY JUNE 4, 2010 from 6pm-midnight
SoFA district in downtown San Jose
(on South First Street between San Carlos & Reed Streets)

Be sure to follow @subzerofestival on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook to keep up with the latest news as the festival approaches.

Here are some images from the 2nd Annual SubZERO Festival in 2009.

The mosaic above includes photos from: Brian Eder, Fenchurch, Cherri Lakey, and Paul Robinson. See more in the SubZERO Festival Flickr Pool. Come out this year and add a few of your own!