Centerra is Breaking Ground Soon!

We are getting so close to seeing some shovels in the ground Downtown for two high-rise projects. I'm not sure which one to be more excited about. One South Market have a more central location Downtown, but Centerra is going to be located right across the street from the San Pedro Square Market and will very likely make a substantial contribution to the restaurant, retail, and culture scene that is emerging there. Not only will it be supplying more customers, but the project will be adding retail of its own facing the Market. This is unlikely, but I think it would be pretty amazing if they are able to keep the same small-vendor configuration as the SPSM for their retail to create more synergy in the area.

Anyway, here are some quick facts about Centerra:

• 347 units
• 21 stories
• 80% of the units will be one or two bedroom
• Average unit size is 935 SQFT
• Most units will have private balconies
• 7,000 SQFT of retail facing the San Pedro Square Market
• The parking structure is in the center of the building and is completely wrapped in apartment units, hiding it entirely (sweet!)
• There will be a special area for dogs (also, Andy's Pet Shop is across the street)
• A bike shop/storage area is going to be located on the ground floor
• Other amenities include a pool, hot tub, kitchen area, and gym

They are targeting the ground breaking for summer and it will take about two years to build out. Can't wait!

Source: SVBJ

DJ Fresh One Heads to San Jose's Myth Taverna

SAN DIEGO, CA -- May 1, 2013 -- On Wednesday, May 11, 2013, DJ Fresh One  from Sleeping Giant Music (SGM), will be making a stop in San Jose as part of his summer tour.

Taking place at Myth Taverna & Lounge, the party rockin' DJ, currently sponsored by LRG, will be bringing his San Diego roots up to northern California for the night.

In addition to his summer tour, Fresh One will be celebrating the nine year anniversary of his booking agency, Sleeping Giant Music, while simultaneously opening San Diego's premiere recording studio.

"I created SGM to have a career aside from DJing that still incorporated what I was doing in studio and at nightclubs, and also included my passion for music," said Fresh One. "It's been a long standing dream."

As a result of his consistent crowd pleasing performances and dedication to his craft, Fresh One has gained residencies nationwide in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Jose, San Diego, Phoenix and Miami.

Myth Taverna & Lounge is located at 152 Post Street, San Jose, CA. Myth is in the heart of downtown San Jose, featuring an elegant indoor setting as well as a chic and comfortable patio. Live music and DJs spin house, techno, and old school seven nights a week.

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Cinco de Mayo at the Market!

If you missed the festivities yesterday, the Cinco de Mayo party is continuing today at the San Pedro Square Market. Info below:

San Pedro Square Market Special Events:Cinco De Mayo festivities on both SATURDAY and SUNDAY at the market!  Join us on Saturday, May 4th, 2013 and Sunday, May 5th, 2013 for a series of drink and food specials with the market vendors.  Enjoy a day in the plaza with margaritas from the Market Bar, and Tacos galore from Loteria Taco Bar, and special activities with Ay Dios Mio.

Special Family Fun Day with Ay Dios Mio: Arts & Crafts, a Salsa Dancing Demo, and historic walking tours of downtown. See you there!

Silicon Valley is #2 For Wealth Concentration

Based on census data, a staggering 15.9% of Silicon Valley residents rank in the richest 5% of the US. That means that those 15.9% are making at least $191,469 a year. Surprisingly, this is still not enough for the top spot. A Connecticut suburb outside of NYC won the gold medal with 17.9% of households belonging to the top 5% club. In 3rd place behind San Jose was Washington DC. San Francisco and NYC were tied for 4th place with 10% of earners in the top 5%.

Source: SVBJ

South FIRST Fridays Tonight!

The weather is going to be amazing tonight, so what better day to come out and enjoy Downtown's SoFA district? At least 22 venues will be participating in the art crawl today, including newcomer Umpqua Bank on Santa Clara Street. I have a feeling it will be a great event tonight! To see a preview of the art that will be featured, just head over here.

New Downtown San Jose Wikedly Fast WiFi

Downtown now has one of the fastest free WiFi hotspots in the US! The city partnered with SmartWAVE Technologies and Ruckus Wireless to launch the "Wickedly Fast Wi-FI Network" which is available in the area bound by East St. John, Balbach Street and Viola, North 6th, and Almaden Boulevard.

The network will only cost the city a $94,000 one-time fee and $22,000 annually, the same as the previous network.

There are a few gaps in coverage right now, but those should be addressed by the end of the summer. You can click the image below to see where all of the current and planned access point locations are. Also, the Wickedly Fast WiFi webpage is over here.

Source: SVBJ

Instagrammers Silicon Valley Meet-up & Night Walk: Friday May 3rd

Are you on Instagram? Do the words amaro, valencia, earlybird, or hefe mean anything to you? Do you find yourself stopping every few feet while walking around Downtown (or another part of the city) snapping photos and telling people to "Hold on, I gotta share this!"

Well good news, you're among friends!

This Friday, at the South FIRST FRIDAY event, Instagrammers Silicon Valley is holding a meet-up and night walk.

Just make sure your cell phone is charged and ready to snap photos. The group meets at 6pm at McCormick & Schmick's for Happy Hour and then will start the walk at 7pm.

Meet up with fellow Instagram enthusiasts and photographers while enjoying the evening's FIRST FRIDAY event.

Instagram Accounts to follow:

Instagrammers Silicon Valley
@igerssv

The San Jose Blog
@thesanjoseblog


See you there!

New Mural on Empire Street in Japantown

A killer new mural was just added to Japantown at Empire & 7th Street. More info and photos below:

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EMPIRE SEVEN STUDIOS ANNOUNCES NEW MURAL ON 7TH AND EMPIRE STREETS
San Jose Artist Sam Rodriguez Partners with Gallery to Paint Mural in Japantown

Empire Seven Studios owner, Juan Carlos Araujo, partnered up with local artist Sam Rodriguez to have a mural painted at the intersection of 7th and Empire Streets, located in San Jose’s Japantown. Araujo wanted to bring some positive attention to his neighborhood by having a large mural painted on the side of a building. Rodriguez, who works as a graphic designer for Cukui Clothing, was eager to be a part of the project.

The mural, which took a week from conception to completion, shows a man’s expressive eyes looking outwards. Rodriguez used spray paint for his artwork, which was painted on corrugated aluminum. Also known for his work as a graffiti artist, Rodriguez says he had to gain confidence at first with his more recent artistic style before doing such a large project. As for the subject of his mural, the artist would not specify. “It’s open to interpretation,” Rodriguez says.

Response for the mural has been overwhelmingly positive so far. Araujo says a surprising benefit to the mural is the slowing down of passing cars. “There is a big speeding problem here,” Araujo says. “People slow down to look at the mural now.”

Araujo hopes to bring more murals to San Jose in the near future, partnering with local businesses and residential owners. He hopes to use the series of murals as attractions in otherwise overlooked neighborhoods. “There’s such easy access to murals,” Araujo says. “The goal is to bring the community together.”

For more information about Empire Seven Studios or Sam Rodriguez, please email empiresevenstudios@yahoo.com or call Empire Seven Studios at 408.638.7846.

Twitter: @empire7studios
Instagram: @empire7studios

This Thursday: Beta Tasting to Benefit the Bay Area Mobile Food Vendors Association

It's no secret that The San Jose Blog is fond of food; from restaurant openings, a full downtown restaurant spreadsheet, to the many Dishcrawls and Moveable Feast adventures -- we're simply addicted to eating!

So, when along comes another food truck adventure - we're happy to share it with others!

You may have already heard about it, but this Thursday is Beta Tasting! 

So here's the cheese:

There will be 10+ food trucks with varying cuisines, coming together to share over 20 experimental dishes. Tickets for the event are $2 each; all the dishes are priced $3-$5 each. So it's up to you what you'd like to try. After trying the dishes, you can vote for your favorites as well.

But this is more than just a food truck gathering. 

Proceeds from Beta Tasting benefit the livelihood and union of food trucks in the Bay Area through the Bay Area Mobile Food Vendors Association (BAMFVA).

I got in touch with a couple of the participating food trucks and asked the owners why they decided to participate in Beta Tasting and what they felt they'd gain in return by being part of this event?

As food truck owners, we are excited to have an association that represents us and our businesses. We are a group that has no representation when it comes to regulations, events, and legal representation.  Most food trucks are independent, and small businesses that need to have resources available to them to sustain their own business. When it comes to the food, we are a group of people that loves to cook, and want to be involved with presenting great food from truck.  

- Carol Wang & Robert Pei, Owners of Eat on Monday

I am a one of the members of the Board of Directors for the very new BAMFVA (Bay Area Mobile Food Vendors Association). The association is hosting this event in conjunction with Dishcrawl. It is our first fundraising effort to raise some money as we are still in the process of establishing the association. It will be the first event of its kind where each truck will be offering a brand new dish that no one else will have had the chance to try before! An opportunity to experiment with new recipes and for food truck fans to tell us what they think! 

- Nancy Nguyen, Owner/Operator, O Mi Ninja SJ - Vietnamese Street Food Truck

So what kind of dishes can you expect to see?

Eat on Monday will be featuring a Dungeness Crab Rangoon which is crispy fried wonton skin wrapped Dungeness crab, cream cheese, with a spicy and sweet Thai style dipping sauce. Along with that, they'll have an Egg in the Hole Burger and Fried Milk.

O Mi Ninja will be featuring Gluten-Free Vietnamese Carmelized Shrimp over Vermicelli Noodles, Honey Ginger Lemonade, Mini Pandan waffles with coconut whipped cream (see photo), Kumquat Limeade, Mini Ninja Banh Mi sandwich (A smaller version of their most popular banh mi combining all of their meats plus bacon and egg) among other items.

Some of the other trucks and their tasty treats include:

Waffle Amore: Lemon Bar Waffle, Frozen Fosters Waffle

Brothers Gow Chow: Lamb Sliders, Spanakopita, Dolmas, Greek Yogurt Parfait

Fairy Cakes: Banana Split Cupcake, Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcake

There are many more trucks that will be there. Be sure to check out Dishcrawl's event page for a full list. Maybe you'll find your favorite truck there and something new to taste!

Beta Tasting

When: Thursday, May 2

Time: 6p-9p

Tickets: $2

Location: San Jose Giants Parking Lot

588 East Alma Avenue, San Jose, CA 95112 (parking available nearby)

This event is hosted by the Bay Area Mobile Food Vendors Association, the first owner operated organization benefitting the livelihood of food trucks and presented by Dishcrawl.

April 2013 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• A seven-story mixed-use development with up to 235 apartments and ground-floor retail/office in South Market Street between Reed and Pierce has been proposed. They are shooting for a "modern urban project" that will "elevate the pedestrian environment downtown and make this a model for urban design." This will replace a parking lot and the buildings housing SLG Art Boutiki and Audio Design Car Stereos.
• Chromatic Coffee has purchased the Realty Building at 15-25 N. Second St. and has started micro-roasting coffee. Their ideal setup long-term would be to have a cafe on-site at the roasting facility [!].
• With all of the new dedicated bike lanes Downtown, there is now a proposal to ban riding on sidewalks in the Downtown core.
• MUJI is now open [Josh: please support them, we need more retail Downtown!]
• The first curb cafe is now up outside Chacho's and Love's Cupcakes [Josh: I hear Amir is applying for one as well]
• 61 solar-powered SmartMeters that accept VISA and MasterCard have been added on Market Street and Park Avenue around Plaza de Cesar Chavez.
• Wickedly Fast WiFi launches Downtown and is one of the fastest free outdoor WiFi systems in the country.
• Groundwerx has commissioned a team of artists to create a 200 foot long ribbon mosaic along South Second Street near Fountain Alley.
• The Friday Farmer's Market is returning on May 3rd.

To read the full newsletter, click here!