Vintage Tower Apartments has two massive balconies

I was catching up on Nate DonatoWeinstein's twitter feed, and found this little fun fact. One of Downtown San Jose's first "tall" buildings has two substantial balconies. I have never seen the Vintage Tower building on Santa Clara Street from this angle and always thought those were maintenance areas. It turns out that whoever is on that top floor has a pretty amazing perk--a backyard in the sky.

Blue Bottle Coffee opening their first South Bay location in Downtown San Jose

Blue Bottle Coffee is a very popular "third-wave" coffee shop based out of Oakland. They are going to be the anchor retail tenant for 1 W. Santa Clara Street after the historic building's renovation is complete. This is a prime corner at the intersection of First Street and Santa Clara, which will only become more prominent a few years from now when the BART subway is built in Downtown San Jose.

Blue Bottle is also known for adding some extra vibrancy around their stores and have a reputation for seeking locations in up-and-coming areas. The 1,100 SQFT cafe will be the 12th Blue Bottle Coffee shop in California and the first in the area.

It will be interesting to see how 1 W. Santa Clara looks after the renovation is complete. Below is a before and after. It is difficult to make out many details from the picture-within-a-picture, but almost anything would be an improvement over the current aesthetics.

Source: SVBJ

Remote Chance: A Cinematic Escape

The newest escape game in San Jose is themed around the film industry and is called Remote Chance. This one is designed for teams up to 11 players and the challenge lasts 1.5 hours (including introduction and solution walkthrough). For those have have never done one of these, your team is locked in a room and has a certain amount of time to solve puzzles and escape. They are really fun to do with friends and coworkers.

Remote Chance is located at 701 N. 1st Street and games are available at the following times:

Friday 6:45pm, 8:45pm
Saturday 10:20am, 12:05pm, 2:50pm, 4:35pm, 6:50pm, 8:35pm
Sunday 10:20am, 12:05pm, 2:50pm, 4:35pm, 6:50pm

For more info and to get tickets, head over here.

Academic Coffee Pop-Up @ Five Points

One of my favorite bars in Downtown San Jose is now hosting a coffee pop-up shop run by Academic Coffee. They have nitro cold brews on tap, pour overs, espresso drinks, coconut lattes, and pastries from Firebrand Bakery.

The pop-up will be open Monday through Friday from 7am to 2pm, up until May. If you become a fan, don't worry they won't be going very far in a couple months. Academic Coffee is getting a permanent home in SoFA (499 S. 2nd Street).

~~~

Academic Coffee Pop-Up
@Five Points, 169 W. Santa Clara Street
Monday-Friday from 7AM-2PM

You can learn more about Academic Coffee over here:
FB: @academiccoffee
IG: @academiccoffeesj

Cellista presenting Finding San Jose in tribute to the 100th anniversary of Jean Cocteau's Parade

CELLISTA TO PRESENT: Finding San José  | A Multimedia Stage Poem
in tribute to the 100th anniversary of Jean Cocteau's Parade
May 18-20th, 2017 | 8PM
Akiyama Wellness Center in SJ Japantown
110 Jackson Street, SJ, 95112
Tickets: $12-15 at door of via Cellista.net

Cellista, the multidisciplinary artistic director of the performing arts company Juxtapositions has created a stage poem which places the eclectic communities of San José side by side. The production, first staged and workshopped in San Francisco to a sold-out, enthusiastic audiences makes its way home to San José.

This presentation of Finding San José marks the 100th year anniversary of the realist ballet Parade directed by French surrealist Jean Cocteau. The work, created for the Ballets Russe incorporated music from Eric Satie, artwork from Picasso, and choreography from Léonide Massine.

Finding San José is Cellista’s attempt to set the aura of her home of San José, to music, dance, film and stage, placing artists from across disciplines side-by-side.

The production, first staged and workshopped in San Francisco to a sold-out audience makes its way home. The production features video projections and short films by filmmaker Jennifer Gigantino (jennifergigantino.com), daring dance choreography from Lilith Ransom of Ransom Dance (facebook.com/ransomdance), Mojo DeVille (Haus Serpens Cabaret), and San Jose’s own Lauren Baines (laurenbaines.com). It includes a short experimental documentary entitled Cellista by filmmaker Brian Favorite.

Using her critically acclaimed debut full-length album of the same name as its soundtrack, Finding San José renders a lyrical truth to our present day and presents Cellista’s want to provide a mirror to the community she calls home. Finding San José, the stage poem is a complete work that juxtaposes disciplines in order to create a reaction to the reality of what it means to have a sense of place within a participatory and observational place.

Finding San José comes home for three performances on May 18-20, 2017 at 8PM at the Akiyama Wellness Center (110 Jackson St. SJ, CA 95112)
Tickets available via Cellista.net

Find out more about Cellista online: Cellista.net
Listen to the album: cellista.bandcamp.com
Fb link: facebook.com/cellista.music/


QUOTES

“Freya (Cellista) is a classically trained, punk rock spirited girl with the charm and elegance to defy the stereotype that classical music isn’t cool.”
— Belle Foundation

“Beautifully weird.”
— Director Brian Allan Hobbs

“Cellista is an American cellist, artistic director, and arts advocate and may very well be part cello. When she was born maybe a little piece of cello squirmed inside her bassinet and burrowed its way into her very being making the otherworldly performances she produces come to life. That’s the only explanation that makes sense at least."
— Rushtix

San Jose Flood Relief Fundraiser @ SP2

Another fundraiser benefiting San Jose flood victims is taking place this Saturday at SP2 from 2pm to 7pm. 100% of door donations and a portion of bar sales are going to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, one of the key organizations helping out our neighbors impacted by the floods. In addition to great food, there will be music by Cutso, Shea Butter, and Claksaarb.

SP2 is located at 72 N. Almaden Ave, next to the San Pedro Square Market. You can RSVP for this event over here.

San Jose Flood Relief Fundraiser @ SoFA Market

There will be a fundraiser Downtown tomorrow benefiting San Jose flood victims. Up to 20% of food and drink sales between 4pm-9pm at the SoFA Market on First Street will be donated to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, one of the key organizations helping flood victims right now. You can also try out SoFA's two newest eateries while you are there: Pizzeta 408 and Toasted Craft Sandwiches. This also happens to be SoFA's first city fundraiser. There is nothing like eating and drinking for a good cause!

March 2017 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• VTA is trying to cut the free DASH shuttle in Downtown San Jose, but is getting strong protest against doing so.
• Building owners are investing major renovation dollars into their buildings, including 1 W. Santa Clara, 325 S. First, 52-78 E. Santa Clara, 14 S. Second, and several others. These will receive new facades as well as other modernizations.
• The Pierce now has a flashy public art project called Voxel Cloud on its roof, which can easily be seen from 280.
• Ford has agreed to help expand Bay Area BikeShare. San Jose will go from 150 bikes to 1,000 bikes.
• Toasted Craft Sandwiches and Pizzetta 408 are both now open in the SoFA market.
• Nate LeBlanc is joining the SJDA as a business development manager. His previous roles include being the general manager of the SoFA market, ops director for Moveable Feast, and the manager of the San Pedro Square Market.

To read the newsletter, click here!