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Martha's Kitchen in San Jose

Martha's Kitchen - Meet Cheri a Volunteer from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Nestled between downtown San Jose and the quaint town of Willow Glen lies a “little soup kitchen”. Founder Louise Benson began this work out of her garage when she prepared and gave away peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the poor. Then in 1981, she and her friends started Martha’s Kitchen on the premises of the Sacred Heart Church serving hot meals. The kitchen was named after a biblical figure, Martha, who unfailingly offered hot meals to Jesus and his band of followers on their frequent journeys through the community of Bethany.

Today, this “little soup kitchen” is not so little anymore. It still gives out hot meals onsite with its mission to “feed the hungry with dignity, no questions asked, no judgment made.” And its meals are hot and complete with soup, salad, roll, starch, a main dish, fruit and dessert. It also sends out over 210,000 hot and cold meals annually to more than a dozen other non-profit organizations in Santa Clara county as far south as Gilroy, and even to the dusty agricultural Merced county to support the hungry. Before the end of 2010 it served its 2,000,000th meal since its founding, and has now grown to an annual production of over 250,000 meals.

The “little soup kitchen that could” has proven it certainly could run an efficient kitchen with a lean staff of 6 employees which includes the Executive Director/Development Director, Operations Manager, two cooks and two and a half kitchen help. Edita Cruz, Executive Directors forecasts that Martha’s Kitchen will prepare 1,000,000 meals in as little as every four years.

SJC Passenger Traffic is Up 5.4%

June 2013 saw an impressive 5.4% increase in passenger volume at San Jose International over June of last year. Traffic is undoubtedly being helped by the new ANA nonstop to Tokyo and new flights to LA from both Virgin and Delta. The economy also likely isn't hurting either. In total, 8.3 million passenger flew through SJC last year and unless something radical happens the 2013 tally is going to exceed that.

This is not only good for the airport, but it is good for the city of San Jose as well since it owns and operates the airport. Now if we could just get a few more of those international flights!

Source: SVBJ

No Walls Between Us - An Exhibit of Jazz Photographs by Kathy Sloane

August 2nd to September 29th

ARTISTS RECEPTION:
Saturday, August 10th, 3pm-60m

San Jose, CA—San Jose’s Cafe Stritch, formerly Eulipia Restaurant, continues its heritage of presenting cutting-edge jazz and art by mounting a show of famed jazz photographer Kathy Sloane’s powerful, atmospheric portraits of jazz greats.

In 2011 The University of Indiana Press published Sloane’s book Keystone Korner: Portrait of a Jazz Club, now in its second printing. The book was recommended by The Library Journal, Downbeat and JAZZIZ magazines, and was awarded Book of the Year Award: Gold  (Performing Arts) by ForeWord Reviews.  The photos in the exhibition are drawn in part from her acclaimed book and also include other jazz photos from her 30-year career.

The exhibit will coincide with Cafe Stritch’s Rahsaan Roland Kirk Tribute Week (August 7 – August 11).  Kirk’s “Theme for the Eulipions” gave Eulipia its name in 1977, and the restaurant’s owners (as well as their children, current owners of Cafe Stritch) carry on the tradition of reverence for Rahsaan Roland Kirk and jazz. Trombonist Steve Turre, who played for many years with Kirk, will be playing at Café Stritch on August 8, 9, and 10, and Kirk’s widow Dorthaan will attend all of the activities during Cafe Stritch’s weeklong tribute to her late husband.

About Kathy Sloane:
Sloane began her life as a self taught photographer in San Francisco’s Keystone Korner Jazz Club in 1976, drawn to the music of improvisation, beauty and resistance that for her became a metaphor for the struggles of the 1960s in which she had participated as a literature and writing teacher. For 37 years she has committed herself to photographing the multicultural life of the Bay Area with the task of understanding and depicting the myriad ways in which various communities give meaning and value to all our lives.

She has exhibited in New York, San Francisco, Grenada, West Indies and France, and has won numerous awards for her still photographs, five of which were part of the Ken Burns television mini-series “Jazz.”  Her work is in the permanent collections of the de Saisset Museum in Santa Clara, CA, the Smithsonian Institution Jazz Oral History Program, The East Bay Community Foundation, Alameda County Hospital and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.  She has also produced photo essays for UNICEF in Grenada, West Indies; Global Deaf Connection in Jamaica, West Indies; and Head Start in New York City. http://www.kathysloanephotographer.com/

About Cafe Stritch:
Opened in March, 2013, Café Stritch was named for an iconic saxophone used by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, the jazz great whose composition “Theme for the Eulipions” gave rise to the name Eulipia, the white tablecloth restaurant and jazz club that preceded Cafe Stritch in the same location in the heart of San Jose’s SoFA arts district at 374 South First Street, (408) 280-6161.

Cafe Stritch presents live entertainment a minimum of five nights each week including jazz, indie, folk, and DJ’s. Beverages include a variety of craft beer, specialty cocktails, and a full service coffee bar serving offerings from recently founded local coffee roaster Chromatic Coffee Company. The food menu features large and small plate affordable offerings including fried chicken & waffles, hamburger sliders, jambalaya, salads and a variety of house-made soups.

Video of the New Samsung US Headquarters in San Jose

The new Samsung HQ broke ground several weeks ago and we have all seen the photo mock-ups of what the final product will look like. However, the video below gives a much better feeling of what it will be like to walk through the new buildings and drive around them. I think it is pretty safe to say that when complete, this will be the most impressive office building in San Jose and perhaps even Silicon Valley. Can't wait to see the end result!

Source: San Jose Development Forum

2013 San Jose Jazz Summer Fest Lineup

One of the largest Jazz festivals in the world is returning to San Jose this weekend (Aug 9-11). It's going to feature over 1,000 artists across 11 different stages, including Pink Martini, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Cameo! Music genres include all sorts of Jazz, Blues, Salsa, Latin, New Orleans, and R&B.

To see the lineup in an awesome promo video highlighting Downtown San Jose, click here.  For more info, schedules, and tickets, click here.

One South Update!

One of our readers sent in the below photo and information, showing the excavation for Downtown's One South hi-rise. The really interesting part is that there is now an archaeological component to the project! Read below for the details, and thanks so much Jordan for sending this in!

"A coworker sent me this picture. From her office, she is able to see into the construction site. Apparently, the construction site has partially become an archaeological dig! According to a reference, that area was the original market that gave Market Street it's name - so it's probably a basement or some interesting foundation of the forgotten market.

You can see workers carefully sifting through dirt on the right hand side of the picture. Hopefully, it's all something that can be photo documented. Any discovery of human bones can possibly delay the project for a bit. Otherwise, the rest of the site is still pushing forward in construction!"

New Eateries Coming to Valley Fair

Here is a quick update on the new places to eat at Valley Fair that should be opening soon (thanks to an anonymous poster):

• Dining Terrace Eateries
• Super Duper Burger
• Chipotle (Replacing Rubios)
• Youji
• Old Port Lobster Shack 
• Other Eateries Opening in Valley Fair
• Coffee Bean
• Pompolo Restaraunt & Lounge
• Bar Code Cafe

Source: Anonymous on Older Blog Post