Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

I'm thankful for so many things, not the least of which is living in a city that is friendly, safe, vibrant, and with a bright future to look forward to. Warm wishes to all of you this Thanksgiving Day.


Photo from San Jose day-by-day

November 2012 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• Hundreds of new residents are coming to Downtown San Jose courtesy of two new high-rise rental buildings that will break ground early next year: One South Market (285 units) and The Carlyle (347 units).
• The 17th season of Downtown Ice began on Nov 16th and the opening ceremonies featuring Kristi Yamaguchi will be on Nov 23rd at 5:30pm.
• A new, super fast, free WiFi system is has been deployed throughout the Downtown core and is undergoing final testing. It should be ready very soon.
• Japanese retailer Muji has signed a lease for 7,000sqft at the base of the Fairmont Annex.
• The San Pedro Square Market now has 20 businesses, including newcomers:
• Sama Zama - made to order soups, salads, and sandwiches
• CaliDog - Californian cuisine meets Asian fusion
• Phonomenal Noodle House - Pho and rise dishes
• Polkadotz - mini-gourmet cupcakes
• The Civic has completed its $15M renovation, including leather seats and cup holders, new sound/video/lighting systems, and updated bathrooms and concessions.
• Work on San Carlos Street is wrapping up this month and will greatly expand the sidewalk and add a lighted public art display.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 2012

Before stuffing your face this Thanksgiving, why not participate in one of San Jose's most popular runs and offset some of those calories. The Turkey Trot kicks off early Thanksgiving morning in Downtown San Jose and is over by noon, giving you plenty of time to get to your feast. You can check out a video below of last year's run, which had more than 25,000 participants! For more info, just click here.




Timeline

• 6:30 a.m.  Race Day Packet Pick Up Opens (There will not be day of, on-site registration. Registration is only available online til 6am Thanksgiving morning, but capacity is 25,000, so registration may close early like it did last year.)
• 7:00 a.m.  “Costume Contest” sponsored by Virgin America & Mercury News
• 7:45 a.m.  “10K  Wheelchair” sponsored by Palo Alto Medical Foundation
• 7:50 a.m.  “10K Run” sponsored by Sharks Foundation
• 8:30 a.m.   “5K Run/Walk” sponsored by KLA Tencor
• 9:00 a.m.  Kids activities begin in Family Fun Zone
• 10:00 a.m.  “Elite Women” sponsored by SVB Financial & “PA/USATF Women” sponsored by El Camino Hospital
• 10:30 a.m.  “Elite Men” & “PA/USATF Men” sponsored by PG&E
• 10:30 a.m.  “Kid’s Fun Run” sponsored by Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (open to ages 2-9)
• 11:30 a.m.  Elite Awards Ceremony (all “open” winners will receive their medals and gift cards by mail three weeks after the race)
• Noon  Conclusion

More South San Jose Apartments

I wonder how long it will be before we run out of open land for these massive projects. Ivanhoe Cambridge and Shea Homes are building 648 luxury apartments at 1500 Cottle Road in South San Jose, where Hitachi Global Storage Technologies used to be. This is a $171 million project with ground breaking expected in 2013 and sales starting in 2015.

Ivanhoe Cambridge is a Canadian pension fund, and they must really like us because they purchased four South Bay apartment communities last year and Kimberly Woods in San Jose this year. Their total investment in Silicon Valley is now $600 million.

Source: SJBJ

Guieu, Salinger Exhibitions at KALEID Gallery

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Two new exhibitions opened last Friday featuring Michele Guieu and Karen Carlo Salinger at KALEID Gallery. Exhibitions are on view through November 30th.


Let’s Fight Till Six and Then Have Dinner by Michele Guieu
This installation of drawings and videos is about childhood and its fleeting moments. Everything passes, hence the title, which also refers to the fact that the show opens just a few days before presidential election day. It puts the urge to argue and the hunger for peace in (a childish) perspective.
The drawings hung on the backdrop of the giant leaf are made from pages of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. I see the world Alice visits – and creates at the same time – as a response to the complicated world we live in. In the series of short videos, I watch my two boys as they grow: the way they see the world, the creatures and the monsters they imagine.




Creature Comforts ­­­­­by Karen Carlo Salinger
Suspended animation, medical curiosities, scientific illustrations and biological specimens. Improbable creatures in impossible situations. These are some of the ideas that I incorporate into my drawings, sculpture, and other artwork. I call them my creatures, because that is what they are – unknown organisms that take shape in my mind, the roots of which come from a lifelong interest in strange biology, microscopic life, the human body, and basically anything else ooey, gooey, creepy, strange or unusual.


88 South Fourth Street (@ San Fernando)
San Jose, CA 95112
info@KALEIDGallery.com
408-947-1785
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, noon -7pm, free admission

San Jose Ranked #1 Cleantech City in the Nation

This one is not much of a surprise... in the inaugural Clean Tech Index, San Jose is the top cleantech city in the country. Several metrics were taken into consideration such as the number of LEED-certified green buildings, advanced transportation options, clean electricity, clean investment, electric vehicle registrations, and clean-energy patents. This is an emerging market and one that is very important for San Jose to maintain its leadership in. The top 10 list is below:

1. San Jose
2. San Francisco
3. Portland, Ore.
4. Sacramento
5. Seattle
6. Denver
7. Los Angeles
8. Washington, D.C.
9. Boston
10. Austin

Source: The Merc

History San Jose Celebrates the 235th Birthday of the Peralta Adobe

San José, CA – October 30, 2012  Mark your calendar and wish San José a happy birthday.  On Sunday, November 18 from noon to 4 PM History San José will be throwing a party to say, “Happy Birthday, San José!”

 

The traditional birthday party for the founding of El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe the Peralta Adobe Historic Site, San José’s oldest address at the San Pedro Square Market, will include cake, candles, horses, music and historic home tours.

 

There will be a candle-lighting ceremony celebrating the enlightenment of the Californios, symbolic of their courage and innovation. Visitors can share birthday cake with San José’s founding family members. ‘Happy Birthday, San José!’ is a little early. The real birthday is November 29, 1777 and has become an annual family event. Music will be provided by Los Arrebeños de San Francisco, led by Lance Beeson, a member of the Californios.

 

Family educational activities will include making corn husk dolls and learning about the Ohlone Indians who lived in the Santa Clara Valley long before the Spanish arrived.

 

Special visitor ‘Stone Shield’ will make her appearance at the birthday party.

She is a paint mare, 18 years old with blue eyes, whose ancestry can be traced to horses ridden by Spanish settlers as they came to the new world. By 1492 Spain planned the expansion of their power, including into North America. It was the Spanish horses that carried the DeAnza party to settle Alta California and today provides the framework for thoroughbreds, standard breds, and the Morgan and quarter horse. Only 2,000 of the Colonial Spanish horses remain and are critically endangered.

 

Also on Sunday, November 18 at 1 p.m. the public is invited to the ribbon-cutting of the new National Anza Trail Exhibit.  It will be installed in the Lasardi Building, inside the San Pedro Square Market, facing St. John Street. This is the premiere interpretive bi-lingual exhibition outside of the state of Arizona, and focuses on the travel of the Anza expedition in 1775. It will run through January 15, 2013. 

 

Home tours are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors, and $5 for children who are accompanied by an adult. As usual, members of History San José receive free admission. Adult tours of the Peralta Adobe and the Fallon House will be held at 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Tours especially created for children will at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. ,but are not recommended for children 7 or younger. These hands-on tours will allow children to dress in period costumes while learning about life in the early 1800’s.

 

The Peralta Adobe – Fallon House Historic Site is located at 175 West Saint John Street, in downtown San Jose, CA 95110. For more information call 408 918-1047 or visit www.historysanjose.org

 

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The Fallon House was built in 1855 by one of San José’s earliest mayors. The Victorian mansion showcases 15 fully-furnished rooms typical of the Victorian period. Thomas Fallon was a frontiersman in the John C. Fremont expedition, and Carmel Fallon was the daughter of one of the most prominent Mexican landowners in California.

 

The Peralta Adobe is San José’s oldest address. Built in 1797, the Peralta Adobe is the last remaining structure from El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. See the Adobe’s horno, an outside working oven or venture inside the home and see two rooms furnished as they might have been when they were occupied by the Gonzales and Peralta families. It is now surrounded by the new San Pedro Square Market.

 

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About History San José: 

History San José is a non-profit organization that collects, preserves and celebrates the stories of diversity and innovation in San José and the Santa Clara Valley. HSJ manages one of the largest and most comprehensive regional history collections in the State of California, from 1784 Spanish governmental records to twenty-first century Silicon Valley technology. 

History San José     1650 Senter Road     San José, CA  95112       408.287.2290

 

Website:  historysanjose.org

Blog: historysanjose.org/blog

Facebook: /historysanjose

Twitter: @historysanjose

San Jose Harvest Festival

The largest indoor arts and crafts show on the West Coast is coming to San Jose next week at the convention center. Over 24,000 unique arts and crafts--all made in the US--will be featured at the show. So this Black Friday, why not support some independent artisans instead of the traditional big box stores. All of the details are below!

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San Jose Harvest Festival Celebrates Black Friday by Supporting Independent, American Artisans

(San Jose, Calif., September 3, 2012)--- This year, Black Friday shoppers have the chance to forgo the big box stores and support independent artists and craftspeople by visiting the San Jose Harvest Festival, happening November 23-25 at the San Jose Convention Center.

"Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year," said Nancy Glenn, Harvest Festival Show Manager. "Our goal, just as it was 40 years ago, is to give visibility to the small businessperson by providing a venue to showcase and sell their crafts."  

2012 marks the 40th Anniversary tour of the Harvest Festivals, which began in San Francisco as a forum for independent artists to exhibit their wares. The show continues to hold to its time honored traditions of vetted, American made crafts in an environment offering down-home family fun.  

Adding to the entertainment this year is crowd favorite Tom Rigney and Flambeau, a band that blends American Roots styles into a completely original sound, mixing infectious grooves with deep musicality and spectacular solos. Also appearing on the main stage is John Park, known for his "Funny Waiter" show where he melds comedy and intricate tricks like plate spinning. There will also be the lovable strolling performers like Mama Claus and Eddie the Elf who wander the aisles and serenade shoppers with holiday classics.

Nature of Art for Kids, an eco-friendly company offering non-toxic art supplies for children, will host the hands on KidZone where kids can participate in take and make arts and crafts. Located next to the KidZone will be a special Child ID feature, sponsored by New York Life. Parents can bring their child to be photographed, fingerprinted and get essential information stored on a CD to have if needed in an emergency.

The San Jose Glass Artist Alliance will also be hosting a stained glass  workshop where Harvest Festival patrons can learn the intricacies of glass art and, for a small fee to cover materials, create their own ornament.

The official charity of the show is Humane Society Silicon Valley, a non-profit organization committed to animal welfare in every facet. Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV) will receive half of the proceeds from shopping bag sales and all of the proceeds from the bag and parcel check.

Plus, anyone who brings a non-perishable food donation to support the Second Harvest Food Bank will receive a $2 off admission discount.

The Harvest Festivals are the largest indoor arts and crafts show on the West Coast, featuring over 24,000 handmade gifts. Attendees can interact with artisans, get purchases personalized and browse from such items as original art, photography, jewelry, clothing, specialty foods, pottery, home decor and more.

What:             The San Jose Harvest Festival® Original Art and Craft Show

When:             November 23-25, 2012 (San Jose Convention Center, 150 W. San Carlos St, San Jose CA  95113)

Hours:            Friday: 9am – 6pm, Saturday: 10 am – 6pm, Sunday: 10 am – 5pm

Cost:              Adults: $9, Seniors (62+): $7, Youth (13-17): $4, 12 & Under:  Free

Info:              For tickets and information, please call 1-800-346-1212 or visit www.harvestfestival.com