November 2009 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here is the latest from the November edition of Downtown Dimension:

• In a recent survey, San Jose residents said they would like to see more stores downtown that sell books, gifts, cards, computers, sporting goods and electronics. More used clothing stores and art galleries would also be a plus.
• According to a survey of downtown business owners, 50% said their business activity was declining while 34% said that they were holding their own.  66% felt at least moderately confident in the future of downtown.
• The second annual San Jose Downtown Open House was a tremendous success and brought in 1500 visitors to the 4 high-rise condo buildings downtown (6 visitors put down deposits on homes, 3 made offers, and several expressed serious intent in buying downtown condos).  Another similar event is scheduled for Dec. 4... more details here.
• Downtown Ice opens Nov. 20th!
• SJSU was ranked the 12th best public university in the West (up from 13th last year).
• There is a new 135 foot long mural in SoFA near the Robert F. Peckman Federal Building.
• SJDA's budget is relatively balanced.
• The Cheesesteak Shop opened at 76 E. Santa Clara St.
• Heel Bar shoe repair is coming to 134 E. Santa Clara St.

The San Jose Blog "Semi-anniversary"

It's been exactly 6 months since The San Jose Blog launched last May! I think I've finally gotten into a good rhythm for posting and plan to continue doing this indefinitely (and hopefully post more frequently). We have had some success in changing the perceptions of at least a few people regarding San Jose culture--particularly downtown--and I'm certain this blog will continue to gain traction as the economy picks up and San Jose continues to expand at a faster rate. Think of all the exciting projects on the table right now: downtown A's stadium, high-speed rail + BART, new downtown residential towers, Earthquakes stadium, massive airport expansion... the list goes on and on. Expect many interesting topics ahead.

Now to balance the positives with a little bit of bad news. Since launching I have been linking blogs about San Jose in the menu to the right. Today I decided to go through all of them to see how things are going and here is a little summary:

San Jose Revealed - Mysteriously vanished
San Jose Has A Blog - Taken down due to "Lack of Interest"
Going San Jose - No posts for 6 months
SJ21 - Still in suspended animation 

Thankfully San Jose Metblogs, San Jose Inside, Baseball San Jose, and San Jose Day-by-Day are still kicking, but it's time to replenish the blog list. If you know of a blog directly related to San Jose that I should link to please post the URL in the comments below. Speaking of comments, you can now post anonymously. Thank you again for reading!

South First Friday Art Walk Tonight

It's time for another South First Fridays Art Walk! Even though the weather is less than stellar tonight, there will be lots to see and do in SoFA from 8pm to late. The map below gives you an idea of how many businesses and organizations are participating. Click here to see the full menu of cultural delicacies in store for you this evening.

Halloween in the Park?

The largest draw to downtown San Jose for many years now has been Christmas in the Park. In has continued to grow year after year and brings in visitors from all over the bay. It's economic impact I'm sure is substantial and helps keep many downtown businesses afloat.

What would you think about a similar event for Halloween? Picture downtown lit up in orange and purple with elaborate Halloween displays assembled by talented local artists. Perhaps a lot of the infrastructure could even be shared with Christmas in the Park (e.g. retail booths). A strong event in October would help maintain traffic between the Music in the Park months and Christmas in the Park. It would be nice to flesh out this idea and perhaps make a formal proposal in a year or two if there is interest.

Here are some ideas I'm tossing around for what I would want to see in a "Halloween in the Park" event:

• Animated Halloween Displays (analogous to the Christmas displays that attract many families during Christmas in the Park)
• Orange, purple, and green LED lighting on trees.  It is also possible to use new controllable lighting that can go from Halloween colors to Christmas colors with the push of a button... that way the lights could stay up for Christmas in the Park as well and would only have to be put up and taken down once)
• Retail booths selling Halloween items 
• Food booths with candied apples, chocolates, candy, etc.
• Halloween-themed carnival games
• Costumed entertainers walking around the area, not necessarily scaring people but adding to the ambiance and providing photo opportunities for families.

Any thoughts?

Happy Halloween!!!

To guarantee I use a legal image, he's a snap of my Halloween setup for 2008 =).  Hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween!

80% off Restaurant.com Discount Code for Halloween

Here is the latest Restaurant.com discount code, only good through Halloween. Click here, choose your favorite restaurants, then when checking out enter the coupon code TREATS. This will take 80% off the cost of your gift certificates, which are usually already marked down by 50% ($25 gift certificates for $2). Usually the only restriction is that you spend $35 or more to use the $25 gift certificate. I don't know how restaurants can be profitable with these promotions, but at least they are attracting new customers. There are many local restaurants I never would have tried if it wasn't for these certificates.

Silicon Valley 2009 Halloween Event Reviews

Now that I have had a chance to attend all of the major Halloween attractions in the area, here are some quick reviews to help you decide which events are worth your time in this last week leading up to Halloween:

Halloween Haunt @ California's Great America - Santa Clara

• $25-40 per person
• 6 Haunts
• 1 Haunted Ride
• 4 Shows
• 4 "Scare Zones"
• Most Great America Rides Open
• Production Values (Quality) - 4/5
• Scariness - 4/5
• Value - 5/5
• TOTAL - 13/15

Pirates of Emerson - Fremont

• $20 per person
• 5 Haunts
• 1 Maze
• Impressive Outdoor Decor
• Production Values (Quality) - 5/5
• Scariness - 5/5
• Value - 4/5
• TOTAL - 14/15

Gyro's 4D Fear Factory - San Jose

• $20 per person
• 3 Haunts
• Outdoor Dancing
• Production Values (Quality) - 3/5
• Scariness - 4/5
• Value - 3/5
• TOTAL - 10/15

2010 Michelin Restaurant Ratings

The latest Michelin ratings for Bay Area have just been released and 39 restaurants have been recognized in our neighborhood. Receiving a Michelin star is one of, if not the highest honor a fine dining restaurant can receive. There are 3 different categories:

One Star - A very good restaurant in its category
Two Stars - Excellent cuisine, worth a detour
Three Stars - Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey

The same rubric is used all around the world, so a Two Star restaurant in the Bay Area would be the equivalent to a Two Star restaurant in France, London, or New York. As you glance through the full list of restaurants below, you may notice that NONE of them are in San Jose. So my question to you is, how the heck does a city of one million people not have a single Michelin rated restaurant? I know it's not because we don't love food. Did the Michelin committee just ignore San Jose entirely, or do we truly not have a single restaurant that deserves a star? If the latter is the case, I'm pretty sure I can think of a restaurant or two that deserves to be on the list below...

Three stars

The French Laundry, Yountville

Two stars

Coi, San Francisco
Cyrus, Healdsburg
Manresa, Los Gatos*
The Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena

One star

Acquerello, San Francisco
Ame, San Francisco*
Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford
Aziza, San Francisco (new)
Bouchon, Yountville
Boulevard, San Francisco
Chez Panisse, Berkeley
Chez TJ, Mountain View
Commis, Oakland (new)
The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco*
El Paseo, Mill Valley (new; now closed)
Etoile, Yountville (new)
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant, Forestville
Fifth Floor, San Francisco
Fleur de Lys, San Francisco
Gary Danko, San Francisco*
La Folie, San Francisco
La Toque, Napa (new)
Luce, San Francisco (new)*
Madrona Manor, Healdsburg
Masa's, San Francisco
Michael Mina, San Francisco (two stars last year)
Murray Circle, Sausalito
One Market, San Francisco
Plumed Horse, Saratoga*
Quince, San Francisco (new)
Range, San Francisco
Redd, Yountville
Sante, Sonoma (new)
Solbar, Calistoga (new)
Terra, St. Helena
Trevese, Los Gatos (now closed)
Ubuntu, Napa (new)
The Village Pub, Woodside*

* Restaurants I've been to