South FIRST FRIDAYS Tonight!

Tonight is a great day to visit SoFA! 20 venues will be participating in South FIRST FRIDAYS, a self-guided evening art walk that runs from 7-11pm. However, since the weather is amazing this month there will also be a Street Market with dozens of vendors and live music courtesy of the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest. To see the full lineup and a preview of the art being featured, head over to the South FIRST FRIDAYS website.

San Jose Patent Office Officially Opening on October 15!

The first and only Patent Office on the West Coast will open the doors to its permanent location on October 15th. Considering that San Jose companies and residents submit more patents than any other city on the earth, the location in the the heart of Downtown San Jose is particularly befitting.

The office will be a huge quality-of-life improvement to local innovators and entrepreneurs who will no longer have to travel east in order to complete patent filings. It will also of course be a boon to the local Downtown San Jose community, since people from all over the Western States will be visiting this office. I'm sure that surrounding office space near the Patent Office will soon house complimentary services such as patent consultants and lawyers.

Its a big win for San Jose, and it all comes to fruition October 15th!

Source: SVBJ

Japantown 125th Anniversary Concerts

San Jose has one of only three remaining Japantowns in the United States. On August 15th and September 12th, Japantown San Jose is celebrating their 125th anniversary with a duo of concerts. Featured musicians are Chidori Band, San Jose Taiko (love these guys), Shirley Muramoto, Wesley Jazz Band, Wesley Ukulele Band, and Halau Na Wai Ola.

Get your tickets right over here.

Oh and check out the latest Japantown Art Boxes below.

Uproar Brewing Taking Over Zer01 Garage!

It's no secret that the beer scene is exploding in San Jose. Craft beer is popping up just about everywhere--heck, even our new Whole Foods on The Alameda has a microbrewery. It looks like that trend is going to continue with a notable brewery coming to the space formerly known as the Zer01 Garage (they have moved and are focusing on the Zer01 2016 Biennial).

Uproar Brewing Company is a husband and wife team from Minneapolis. They both has substantial brewing experience in a variety of craft breweries (Surly Brewing Company, Lift Bridge, Sociable Cider Works, Northbound Smokehouse).  Their taproom with have "his-and-hers" taps since they each have individual brewing styles (cool concept). There will be a total of 12 taps with four flagship beers and others that will be rotated in and out.

The new Brewery will take up about 10,200 SQFT. That also includes a spacious taproom, a full kitchen, a room for barrel-aging (see below) and special events. They are shooting for a late winter opening and their entrance will be at 439 S. 1st Street. Exciting times ahead for SoFA!

Follow Uproar Brewing on Twitter.

Source: San Jose.com, usedmedia from the San Jose Development Forum

August 2015 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• The Knight Foundation provided the San Jose Downtown Association with a $625,000 grant spread over five years to to develop projects that contribute to the city's beauty, vitality, and livability. Some of the projects currently underway are:
• Street improvements such as an interactive exercise loop, a new Almaden Boulevard median, and a new light installation on the Circle of Palms
• Four new Murals
• Prototyping and Research projects
• Increasing SJDA programming from 110 days a year to 121 days
• The Downtown Homeless Jobs and Training program is expanding for 2015-2016.This project placed 28 homeless with Groundwerx for training last year. In exchange for their work, participants earned food vouchers and housing assistance. Of the 28, 10 found employment and 11 gained housing. The extra hands also led to Downtown being cleaner and better Groundwerx response times.
• Some of the city's $2.9 billion 2015-16 budget will be used for several Downtown projects:
• $68,000 will go to rehabilitating the carousel across from the SAP Center and putting it back in operations.
• $210,000 for a canopy/band shell to replace the current rented canopy at Plaza de Cesar Chavez
• $100,000 for events and programs around the US Gymnastics Trials
• $100,000 for events and programs around Super Bowl 50
• $70,000 to enhance the San Jose Veterans' Parade
• $12,500 for a Downtown homeless drop-in center at First Presbyterian
• Tech Startup Skinnyprice have moved to 111 W. St. John
• The San Pedro Square Market has several new tenants:
• Oni Mexicantessan: a new gourmet Mexican sandwich spot
• Pasta Fresca: homemade Italian cuising with sauces made from scratch
• Lou's Beach Shack: seafood such as clam chowder, calamari, fish sandwiches, as well as shave ice and cotton candy
• Insight Realty pans to develop 10.6 acres between Highway 87 and Coleman Avenue it purchased from the Union Pacific with 250,000 SQFT of office space, 650 urban homes, and neighborhood-serving retail. The total investment will be around $360 million.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

Historic Photo: Downtown San Jose at 1st and San Antonio

Check out this photo that is nearly 100 years old! Cardinal2007 from the San Jose Development Forum gives a great description below of what you see in this image and what exists today.

South First Street, San Jose, c.1920 by Bennett Hall, on Flickr

"1st St, and San Antonio. The Montgomery Hotel on the left was moved south to make way for the Fairmont Annex, currently Muji is at that location. The entire block to San Fernando was redeveloped on both sides, the Fairmont Hotel is on the south end, and the building that says Pacific was replace by the Knight Ridder Building. On the right is a 2 story office/data center with retail on the first floor, a reuse of the failed Pavilion Mall. The building to the right south of San Antonio is still there, currently apartments, the movie theater wraps around it. Between San Fernando and Santa Clara on the right is most of the same buildings on the left some where redeveloped, one burned down, and is now an empty lot owned by the Archdiocese. 

The light rail tracks are roughly between the tracks and where the cars are parked on the right. The old tracks are long gone."

Saturday Stats - San Jose Ranks as the #2 Swim City in America

The San Jose Metro ranked as the second best city in the US for swimming according to a study commissioned by USA Swimming and Speedo. They noted that the South Bay has the most swimming pools per capita in the country. With 63 pools, the San Jose area has more places to swim than any other city with a population less than 2 million.

There is also a long heritage of swim champions that came from the San Jose area. The Santa Clara Swim Club has produced a whopping 51 Olympic gold medals, 17 silver medals, and 12 bronze medals. The club is gearing up for an impressive overhaul as you can see below. The end result should be one of the most advanced international swim centers in the world.

Anne Arbor, Michigan took the top spot in the study and the San Francisco-Oakland Metro came in third. We'll see how the new swim center impacts the rankings a few years from now.

Source: The Merc

San Jose Indie Band "A Yawn Worth Yelling" Releases New Single

One of our local indie rock bands called A Yawn Worth Yelling has just released their latest single and it is getting some national attention. The song is called Lonely Prisoner and you can hear it for free right over here. The band sounds great! Below is some additional information:

The San Jose, CA-based four piece formed in 2011, and have since shared the stage with prominent artists including Saint Motel and Relient K. They also recently played an exclusive showcase at E3 in Los Angeles, and have received praise from notable outlets including Examiner, Impose Magazine and PopMatters. The latter called their style, "upbeat, youthful, and sun-drenched pop...these guys know how to capture the summertime vibe with aplomb."

You can follow the A Yawn Worth Yelling website here.