South First Friday + Street Market TODAY

Another awesome South First Friday is coming your way today, and it will be the last one of the year to be accompanied by a full blown street market! It all goes down at 7pm and stretches until the wee hours of the morning. More details below:

South FIRST FRIDAYS + STREET MRKT Sept. 3rd

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

The South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk + STREET MRKT is this Friday, September 3rd! It all kicks off at 7pm and goes 'til late!
Here's some highlights from KALEID Gallery and Phantom Galleries coordinated exhibits:

Coexist & Bisect Two new manifestations by René Lorraine
René Lorraine's latest work is a fascinating take on man coexisting with unfamiliar species, ideals, and life styes that one may find on this earth. Coexist deals with embracing differences between souls and the shells they reside in, and is an unbeatable experience involving a harmonious dance between crisp clean line, and free-flowing watercolor pigments. Bisect is about the challenges one person may have desiring two very different life styles. The delicate graphite mimic's the fine line of having balance and not.
René Lorraine is a graduate of San Jose State University with a BFA in Pictorial Arts, and an A.A in Painting.


Shadows of Light, from the Hidden Sun A vision of the Authentic self by Ras Lowe.
This Art message is about deep personal inner visions, a progressive transmission of sacred information for the 21st. century, from the ancient temples of Egypt, to the jungles of Holy Peru. Remembering every moment in Life is a gift, and is precious, not to be wasted.
Ras Lowe is a graduate from San Jose State University, MA, Urban Planning, and BA, in Black Studies-( African American Studies) He has lived in San Jose since 1969 and is retired currently teaching (Japanese Swordsmanship) Ken-do at SJSU.
(7-9pm) KALEID Gallery
88 South Fourth Street
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Opening Reception: Scrap Facet by Sandi Billingsley
A collection of distinctive monochrome portraiture on rescued & re purposed material.
Good Karma Cafe
37 South First Street
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Opening reception of Gravity by artist Valerie Runningwolf
New encaustic works as well as mixed- media pieces that are of traditional and contemporary ideas that awaken and encourage exploration.
First Fridays are Opera Night! at Caffé Trieste with some of the Bay Area’s best opera singers performing your favorite arias and duets.
Caffe Trieste
315 South First Street
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On view: Freedom. Experience Reality. by abstract artist Nathan Belomy
Phantom Galleries Location: 386 South First Street
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This Friday is also the last STREET MRKT of the season! Live music by Sean Hayes, Lisa Dewey & Lotus Life, and Jhameel plus 40 regional artists and indie vendors 7pm-11pm out on South First Street between San Carlos & San Salvador streets.

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For full listings of all participating venues including Anno Domini, MACLA, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, South First Billiards, SLG Art Boutiki, Higher Fire Clay, Downtown Yoga Shala, METRO Photo Exhibit and Art Ark, visit http://www.SouthFIRSTFRIDAYS.com!

San Jose's Treatbot Nominated for "America's Favorite Food Truck"

Treatbot--San Jose's Karaoke Ice Cream Truck with a rockstar 4.5 yelp rating--is in contention to becoming America's Favorite Food Truck, which is an honor earned by winning a Food Network contest to get the most votes. Show a little local love and vote for them right over here: http://foodtrucks.teamdigital.com/.

More Italian Family Festa Photos!

Thomas Wohlmut sent me a few shots from last weekend's Italian Family Festa that really show off the number of people that attended. This event was a huge success and hopefully will become a downtown tradition for many years to come.

Walking Tour of the Future A's Stadium + Diridon Area

I was fortunate enough to make it to the walking tour of the proposed A's stadium and Diridon area improvements. Imagine a state of the art ballpark along a new riverfront park, a short walk away from a bustling HSR/BART/Light Rail/ACE/Caltrain station, and adjacent to a massive retail and entertainment hub (this is the new plan for the area in front of Diridon and the HP Pavilion). It's a very realistic vision with a lot of intelligent and passionate people leading the charge.

I also noticed several friends at the walking tour:

BASEBALL SAN JOSE

At the Proposed Ballpark Site Walking Tour

from Baseball San Jose by noreply@blogger.com (DLo)

About 50-60 people, including several Baseball San Jose supporters, joined the San Jose Redevelopment Agencey for their Proposed Ballpark Site Walking Tour on Monday.

The agency's Dennis Korabiak led the tour, which consisted of updates on not only the ballpark, but the Diridon Station general plan, inlcuding BART and HSR. In short, the city plans to transform the area into a major retail-entertainment center, anchored to the north by HP Pavilion and to the south by Cisco Field.

Tour guests also got to hear from High-Speed Rail Authority board member, Rod Diridon. He made an impromptu pitch for the ambitious vision the city has for the area surrounding the station.



















Korabiak led the group to the corner of San Fernando and Autum, which will be the main gate to Cisco Field. It's not much to look at now, but soon it may be the site of a grand plaza welcoming A's fans to the game.

















Throughout the tour, Korabiak outlined the general ballpark concept. The agency's focus is on creating a comprehensive ballpark experience for fans, including a realigned Autumn Street, riverside parks, and plenty of new retail.

















The tour concluded with a few words from Baseball San Jose co-chair, Michael Mulcahy. In anticipation of a spring ballpark campaign, he urged baseball supporters to get the word out to as many people as possible.

It was interesting to get a peak at the city's grand vision for Diridon. If they come, the A's will have an dynamic new home in a bustling area of downtown. Of course, many things have to happen before that can become reality, but as Michael Mulcahy points out, MLB in San Jose begins with you.

You're up to bat, San Jose!

SAN JOSE METBLOGS

Tour of Proposed Ballpark Site Sparks High Hopes

from San Jose Metblogs by JoAnn Freda

Okay, I can only speak for myself but as I stood on the corner of San Fernando and Autumn and looked at the proposed site of the San Jose Athletics ballpark I couldn’t help picturing myself walking through the main entrance of the ballpark on game day and I got pretty excited.

Corner of San Fernando and Autumn

Last night Dennis Korabiak of the San Jose Redevelopment committee took a small group of fans(?) on a tour of the area between Diridon Train Station (Rod Diridon just happened to show up)
and the corner (and hallowed ground if hallowed ground can be secular?) that I hope will one day be the home of a major league ball club. The planners envision extended mass transit such as high speed rail, public art, trails, retail shops, restaurants and clubs. The beautiful artist’s renderings of the proposed ballpark made it easy to imagine this vision coming true. You can go to Pro Baseball San Jose for more details and links to the ballpark plans.

 

The Los Gatos Brewing Company is Coming Downtown!

The former home of A.P. Stumps has been empty for far too long. By Oct. 15th, The Los Gatos Brewing Company will take the helm of this flagship 2-story, 15,000sqft space and hope for a better outcome than their predecessor. The majority of the restaurant will be on the second floor while the first floor will be used for private dining and al fresco dining. For more information, click here.

Italian American Family Festa Photos

SJ21: A Sneak Peek Inside San Jose Little Italy

San Jose / Twenty-One has a great post about the new Little Italy project in San Jose, along with a few photos. I'll also post my several of my own photos on Monday. It's still not too late to catch the Italian American Family Festa that is going on today at Guadalupe River Park next to what will soon become Little Italy!

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A Sneak Peek Inside San Jose Little Italy

from S a n J o s e / T W E N T Y - O N E by DLo

"It's not about developing, it's about restoring." That's what developer Joshua DeVincenzi Melander says is the true intent of city's new Italian-American community, Little Italy San Jose.

An Italian wine bar will soon be in place at the main piazza.

Anchored in the River Street neighborhood, once a bustling Italian immigrant enclave, this new Little Italy will, in a sense, be an amalgamation of several of San Jose's oldest Italian communities (e.g. Goosetown, Luna Park) which the city either destroyed or neglected over the years. At one time, Italians were the city's largest ethnic group, so this new effort is more about bringing back what the city had (and lost) than creating something from scratch.

An archway on Julian will soon welcome visitors.

Like nearby San Pedro Square Market, Little Italy is ambitious in its scope. And yet, when completed, San Jose's Little Italy will feel very personable. Unlike the expansive Little Italys of New York City or Chicago, San Jose's occupies a relatively small space, primarily between River Street and The Guadalupe River Park. When completed, Little Italy will feel like an intimate Italian community. The intent here is here to create an authentic neighborhood experience with a string Italian-themed businesses, such as restaurants, gelaterias, and wine bars, as well as piazzas, archways, and bocce courts.

Future Italian-themes businesses.

One important milestone for both Little Italy San Jose and The Italian American Heritage Foundation of San Jose comes this weekend with theItalian American Family Festa (Saturday, August 28, 11 AM - 8 PM and Sunday, August 29, 11 AM - 6 PM; admission is free). This year the festival moves to its new home, adjacent to Little Italy, in the Guadalupe River Park. It is also its 30th anniversary, and will include the unveiling of the Piazza Piccola Italia. For the piazza, Little Italy solicited donations from the city's Italian-American community, who, in return, had personalized bricks placed into the design of the courtyard.

The Piazza Piccola Italia will be dedicated this weekend.

Little Italy is definitely a project to keep an eye on. It certainly has its work cut out for it, but the project certainly seems to be in loving hands. Speaking to Joshua DeVincenzi Melander, you quickly get a sense of the cultural pride that runs deeply through the project. They clearly intend to do this thing right. And they're off to a great start.

Buona fortuna.

Italian American Family Festa

Want to get a sneak preview of Little Italy? Why not head on down to the Italian American Family Festa, going on now in Guadalupe River Park! I was down there for a little bit this morning and there is tons of authentic Italian food, arts & crafts shops, bocce ball, and entertainment. Downtown San Jose wins big by netting great annual event, right next to the future Little Italy San Jose. I couldn't think of a better place in Silicon Valley to host this event ;)

WHEN:	Saturday, August 28, 11 am - 8 pm Sunday, August 29, 11 am - 6 pmPlease join us for the first event: Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Ceremony (12:30pm, Saturday, August 28th)
WHERE:	The Festa's new home in Guadelupe River Park, downtown San Jose