WeWork Wants to Build Co-Working Office Space Downtown

WeWork is the leading co-working office company in the United States. Co-working is a hot product for entrepreneurs right now who don't need a lot of space but are looking to be part of a start-up culture and atmosphere. It usually involves a minimal amount of dedicated space and a whole lot of shared resources that include everything from conference rooms to beer and popcorn. Currently, NextSpace on 92 S. Second is the only co-working location in Downtown San Jose.

WeWork is a $10 billion company (with 30,000 members) that is looking to build its first Silicon Valley location in Downtown San Jose. While the company has five offices in San Francisco, there are none in the South Bay.

The rumor is that they are looking to lease between 70,000 and 90,000 SQFT of office space from the Towers@2nd complex on Second Street. These are twin high-rises with Ike's Sandwiches and ISO:Beers on the ground floor. It is also the complex housing the San Jose Mercury News.

If this comes to fruition, it will mean a lot more startups coming to Downtown San Jose. This would no doubt continue to drive the cultural Renaissance Downtown San Jose is experiencing and help fill vacancies with office and retail. Downtown is proving to be an ideal place where people can work, live, and play. As entrepreneurs graduate from co-working to their own dedicated spaces, there are options of all shapes and sizes in Downtown San Jose along with enough housing coming online to put their workers withing walking distance. The future is coming, and it's looking good.

Source: SVBJ

Playful People Productions Presents: Guys and Dolls

Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, Guys and Dolls JR, is an oddball romantic comedy. Gambler Nathan Detroit tries to find the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck; meanwhile, his girlfriend, nightclub performer Adelaide,whose chronic flu is brought on by the fact she's been engaged to the same man for 14 years. Nathan turns to the slick, high-rolling gambler Sky Masterson for the dough, but Sky ends up chasing the straight-laced and pure-at-heart missionary Sarah Brown. Guys And Dolls JR. takes us from the heart of Times Square to the cafes of Havana, Cuba, and even into the sewers of New York City, but eventually everyone ends up right where they belong.

Guys and Dolls is a cornerstone of the musical comedy stage that continues to delight audiences over 50 years after its Broadway premiere. Featuring the songs "Luck be a Lady" and "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat," this musical is the perfect balance of story, dance, music, and romance.

Our shows often sell out prior to the show weekend. Be sure to buy your tickets early, you won’t want to miss out on this fantastic production.

All Shows at the Historic Hoover Theatre, 1635 Park Ave  San Jose, CA 95126

Show Times:
Friday, November 6th - 7:00pm
Saturday, November 7th -11:00am, 3:00pm  and 7:00pm
Sunday, November 8th - 11:00am, and 3:00pm


Tickets available at www.playfulpeople.net
$12 attendees 12 and up, $8 children 11 and under,  and $6 Children’s floor seating

Tickets at the door (30 minutes prior to curtain)
$15 attendees 12 and up, $10 children 11 and under, and $6 Children’s floor seating


Founded in 2010, Playful People Production’s mission is to provide a quality, caring environment where children, teens and their families can have positive theater experiences. We strive to involve all family members in the many aspects of on stage and backstage theater in a safe and fun environment and offer participation in theatrical productions, classes, summer stock and camps for ages 3-93.

Playful People Productions is run by a mother-daughter team, Barbara Galiotto and Katie D’ Arcey, who between them have approximately 50 years of experience in the musical theater world. Both are Positive Discipline trained and worked as early Childhood Educators as well as in the theater.

Happy Halloween 2015!!!

Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween tonight! Do you have a favorite neighborhood for trick-or-treating? Post it in the comments.

Sourisseau News: Ice Cold Beer!

In the latest installment of Sourisseau News, learn about the history of beer in San Jose. The local beer scene is exploding today, but its history goes back over 150 years. Eagle Brewery was founded in 1853 by a German immigrant and was the first brewery in San Jose. The brewery itself was located the corner of Market and San Carlos, where the Westin San Jose (previously the Saint Claire) currently sits. For the rest of the story, you'll have to watch the two minute video below!


Ice Cold Beer! from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

The New San Jose Patent Office is Open for Business!

Silicon Valley's Patent Office is officially open at City Hall, taking about 35,000 SQFT between three floors. After fierce competition regarding where the office would be located, Downtown San Jose scored a huge win thanks to a lucrative offer from the city.

The Patent Office is currently open to the public. Not only are there several computers that can be used for patent research, but they are offering free courses on topics such as starting companies, trademarks, and the process for registering patents.

The Silicon Valley Business Journal grabbed some photos of the interior a couple weeks ago, and it looks more like a tech office than a government office (minus the court room). Hit the source link for more information and the full photo-set.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose Might Become First City in California to Get Google Fiber

Google Fiber is quite possibly the best internet service provider in the United States. Residents that are lucky enough to live in one of the very limited number of Google "Fiberhoods" are able to purchase 1,000 Mbps internet access (download and upload) for $70/mo. That is many times faster than the fastest "elite" services that Comcast and AT&T offer, at a fraction of the cost. You can also add 150 TV channels for another $60. Even those that do not purchase the service benefit, competing internet providers are forced to offer faster services and/or drop prices in order to compete with Google.

If you are strapped for cash and live in an area serviced by Google Fiber, no worries. You can also choose to get 5 Mbps internet access at no cost--$0/mo. Elementary Schools in Fiberhoods get the Gigabit internet service at no cost. The service is so attractive that several companies moved to Kansas City specifically to get Google Fiber. The internet has become an integral part of people's lives, and no one understands this more than the people living in Google's backyard... so when are San Joseans getting Google Fiber?!

Now the good news. Google has applied for permits to build two shelters called "Fiber Huts" in San Jose. These are the structures required to roll out Google Fiber, and Google would not be building them unless they are serious about an expansion of the service to San Jose. The rumor is that an official announcement for the service could come as early as next month!

If San Jose is selected for Google Fiber service, they would install 2,300 miles of fiber (some below ground and some using utility poles). Existing infrastructure would be utilized, so disruptions should be minimal. This would be another big win for San Jose. It seems like we're on a roll lately with good news around major development and infrastructure projects!

Source: The Merc

Wednesday Wishlist: Halloween in the Park! (Part IX)

UPDATED: Added a couple new ideas that were submitted this month

In what has become a San Jose Blog October tradition, today we have a Wednesday Wishlist post for Halloween in the Park. The idea is to build on the momentum that Christmas in the Park brings to San Jose each year and create something of similar scale for the month of October with Halloween in the Park! A lot of the infrastructure such as wiring, lighting, and booths might even be able to be shared between the events. The goal would be to make Downtown San Jose the epicenter of October Halloween experiences.

Below you will find brainstorming ideas we have collected for this concept so far over the years. Please have a look and provide your feedback and suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

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The largest draw to Downtown San Jose for many years now has been Christmas in the Park. It has continued to grow year after year and brings in visitors from all over the Bay Area. It's economic impact is substantial and helps keep many Downtown businesses and restaurants alive.

What would you think about a similar event for Halloween? Picture Downtown lit up in orange and purple with elaborate Halloween displays assembled by local artists. Perhaps 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 summer months and Christmas in the Park. Here are the ideas we have so far:

• Animated Halloween Displays
• Created by local artists
• Analogous to the Christmas displays that attract many families during Christmas in the Park (almost half a million visitors)
• Family friendly so that everyone can enjoy it (PG/PG13, perhaps around the same level as Great America Halloween Haunt)
• Halloween Lighting
• Orange, purple, and green LED lighting on trees
• May be possible to use new programmable LED lighting that can go from Halloween colors to Christmas colors with the push of a button, allowing the lights to stay up for Christmas in the Park as well and reducing setup/take-down costs.
• Halloween Food
• Booths with candied apples, chocolates, candy, pumpkin seeds, etc.
• Food trucks
• Trick-or-treating station - a free piece of candy to anyone wearing a costume any day in October (could also be used to hand out promotional flyers for Downtown events/businesses/resources)
• Retail Booths selling Halloween items, for example:
• Artwork (paintings, glass pumpkins, etc.)
• Home decor/crafts like candles
• Light-up hats/necklaces/bracelets
• Costumes
• Zombie/Halloween make-up station 
• Halloween-themed Carnival Games
• Pirates of Emerson and Candlelighters (Fremont) do a good job of providing family-friendly games themed around Halloween
• A handful of children's rides could also be added to the Paseo and reused for Christmas in the Park
• Interactive Art
• ZERO1-style, but with a Halloween spin.
• Halloween-themed video game kiosks and/or arcades
• Pumpkins
• Instead of the sponsored Christmas trees in Christmas in the Park, how about decorated Pumpkins (can even be Styrofoam so there is no mess/decay)?
• Pumpkin carving station for families. 
• Pumpkin carving contest.
• Costumed Entertainers
• Walking around the area, not necessarily scaring people but adding to the ambiance and providing photo opportunities for families
• Haunts / Mazes
• Would be ideal if these were nearby, perhaps in vacant retails spaces, surface parking lots, the San Jose Convention Center tent, or at SJSU.
• Could partners with one of the established San Jose haunt providers such as Deadtime Dreams or The World's Largest Haunted House.
• Potential Events
• Zombie-O-Rama can be used to kick off Halloween in the Park (late Sep. / early Oct. time-frame)
• Zombie Crawl
• Dia De Los Muertos Events
• Halloween/Dia De Los Muertos Bike Party
• Horror Movie Trivia Contest
• Weekly horror movie screening (perhaps in the Circle of Palms area?)
• Costume Ball

Inspirations:

• Candle Lighters
• Pirates of Emerson
• The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze (photos below)

Gavilan College Building a New Campus in South San Jose

Gavilian College was first established in 1919 as a San Benito County Junior College. In 1963, new community college districts were drawn that enabled an expansion into Santa Clara County and in 1966 their main campus was established on Santa Teresa Boulevard in Gilroy. In the late 90s, new facilities were added in Hollister and Morgan Hill to augment the Gilroy campus. Now the college is expanding yet again.

Gavilian College is going to build a brand new campus in Coyote Valley. In fact, it will be the first real development project in this area. The first phase will only consist of a 28,000 SQFT facility that will provide evening courses and a training facility for public safety--both police and fire.

Phase two will be much more ambitious and will include 554,000 SQFT of instructional space and enough room for 10,000 students. The vision for the site plan includes multiple 3-5 story buildings, labs, athletic facilities, a gym, and several parking garages. The first phase will break ground on December 4th. Phase two will take about a decade to be fully realized.

I think we can all agree that additional educational facilities can do nothing but benefit Silicon Valley, especially in South San Jose where there are fewer options for higher education. Gavilian will be a welcome addition to San Jose and a great way to kick off development in Coyote Valley.

The new Gavilian College campus will be located at 560 Bailey Avenue in South San Jose.

Source: Morgan Hill Life