September 2016 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• The craft beer scene is exploding Downtown. Four new breweries will soon join the five existing breweries in the area. Two are near SoFA:
• Uproar Brewing Co. at 439 S. First St. (opens this Fall)
• Camino Brewing just south of 280
• Forager is a unique concept with craft taps and cafe rental space coming to the South First Billiards space at 420 S. First St.
• Brew Bike takes tasters for a Downtown pub crawl on a giant bike (steering is done by a designated cyclist). More info at sanjosebrewbike.com.
• Land needed for Modera at San Pedro Square has been cleared and the 201-unit residential project should begin construction in 2017.
• The Pierce (232 apartment project in SoFA) will have their first move-ins later this Fall.
• TeenHQ is now open at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library. It includes a gamer lounge, recording studio, hangout zone, and makerspace. Visit sjpl.org/teenhq for more info.
• Wework has opened five floors of co-working space at 75 E. Santa Clara Street, just about ISO Beers.
• Intacct added a fourth floor with 20,000 SQFT to its corporate headquarters in the Riverpark II tower.

To read the newsletter, click here!

The Light Between Two Towers

Our good friend Thomas Wohlmut from WMS Media embarked on a mission to discover if there is any connection between the San Jose Light Tower and the Eiffel Tower. I think his findings will surprise a lot of people. The documentary film will be available in 2017, and the very first trailer is below!


The Light Between Two Towers - Trailer from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Largest dog festival in the US takes place this weekend in Downtown San Jose

I actually had no idea that Bark in the Park was the largest dog festival in the country. This year 15,000 dog lovers and 3,900 dogs are expected to attend. There will be food, drinks, 75 vendors for dog-specific goods and services, demonstrations, shows, and tons of contests (dog costume, dog/owner look-alike, tail wagging, etc.).

Proceeds will benefit local organizations including the Humane Society, San Jose Animal Care Center, and the Campus Community Neighborhood Association.

The event takes place on William and 16th Street in Downtown San Jose this Saturday, September 17th and runs from 10am-5pm. There is no cost of admission for humans or dogs. For more info, head over to the Bark in the Park website.

Viva Calle SJ 2016 is going down this Sunday

My favorite event in 2015 is returning this year with several improvements. During Viva Calle SJ, miles of city streets will be completely shut down to let people walk, bike, skateboard, or dance down the streets of San Jose. The route has changed a bit this year. Instead of extending to East San Jose, it will go to Japantown and Midtown instead and there will be even fewer intersections where the streets are not fully closed.

In 2016 there are four different "Activity Hubs," all of which are in new locations. These include the Arena Green in Downtown San Jose, W. San Carlos (Midtown), Willow Glen, and Japantown. Each hub has food, drinks, live music, vendors, and all-around good times. Last year I also noticed several stores and organizations were also setting up booths outside of the hubs. Try to visit as many as you can.

The event takes place Sunday, September 18th from 10am-3pm. It is completely free and has no designated beginning or end (it's not a race). You can use the handy map below to locate the routes and festivities. For more info, head over here. Hope to see you there!

Coding Dojo doubled size of San Jose location

Coding Dojo launched its first San Jose location less than two years ago, running eight coding bootcamps a year with 15-20 students each (each bootcamp takes three months to complete). Today, more than 30 students a month are putting themselves through Coding Dojo's rigorous program.

In order to support all the extra demand, they doubled their footprint to 15,500 SQFT in a nearby building. The campus is now located at 1920 Zanker Road, Suite 20 and the program costs $13,495. For more info head to the Coding Dojo website.

Source: SVBJ

Sushirrito coming to Valley Fair

The original "sushi burrito" restaurant is opening their 7th location in San Jose, specifically the Valley Fair food court. They currently have four locations in San Francisco, one in Palo Alto, and one in Manhattan. The highly-rated fusion eatery should be open very soon, but I don't have an exact date. For more info, follow the Sushirrito Facebook page over here.

Thanks to Arnold Kwok for sending this in!

Bellpenny Brewing Company Releases Inaugural Beer

Congrats are in order for Bellpenny Brewing Company. They just released their inaugural beer, an ESB known for its balanced malt and hop flavors.

Their ESB can be found at downtown's ISO: Beers and Original Gravity Public House.

Before they open their own San Jose brewery, they'll be brewing their beers at local breweries, including at the brewery of their good friends at Santa Clara Valley Brewing.

The founders of Bellpenny Brewing are Char Boger and Jim Turturici, two well-known folks among the local beer community.

I've written more about Bellpenny Brewing at my local (mostly) San Jose beer site.

Cheers!

Vizio is now indirectly a San Jose company

America's largest TV company is now officially part of Silicon Valley. LeEco, which has their North America headquarters in San Jose, purchased Vizio for a cool $2 billion. It is unlikely that Vizio itself will move from Irvine to San Jose in the near term, but the purchase at least opens the door.

I have always had a lot of respect for Vizio. They started out as a budget brand focused solely on value and are now able to compete with the top manufacturers in the world. Vizio has always been among the first to drive cutting edge tech into products most people can afford (TV Apps, Ultra HD 4K, HDR, and now Smartcast). This is a company that belongs in San Jose, in North First, with all the other titans of the tech world.

Source: SVBJ

Deli Delicious now open in Evergreen

The best sandwich chain in the Fresno area now has its first Bay Area outpost. Deli Delicious opened less than a month ago on a quiet strip mall in Evergreen, just a few blocks away from the house I grew up in. Over the years, the generic eateries in the area have been giving way to more unique and higher-quality offerings that San Joseans thankfully have come to appreciate and expect. I can't imagine many people in the area choosing to go to Subway after trying out Deli Delicious.

I sampled (devoured) three different sandwiches and they were all excellent. The #44 Chipotle Chicken was my favorite, followed by the #42 Philly Cheese Steak, and #37 Hot Pastrami & Provolone. The meat is marinated and cooked in house, never frozen or microwaved like other chains. The breads are freshly baked. Oh, and instead of just having boring potato chips they have beer-battered fries, sweet potato fries, and curly fries for the sides. There are some healthy options like salads as well, but where is the fun in that?

Word is getting out, I highly recommend checking them out. It is definitely one of the better Sandwich places in Evergreen and if it's successful we'll likely see more of them (hopefully one in North San Jose or Downtown).

Deli Delicious is located at 2762 Aborn Road and is open Monday through Sunday from 10am to 9pm.