New AC Hotel on Stevens Creek

The AC Hotel is expanding their San José footprint! On May 18th, AC Hotel representatives submitted a Site Development Permit for a 6-story, 132-room hotel at 5969 Stevens Creek Boulevard. The site currently has a Shell gas station and an auto repair shop, and is located on the San José side of the border between Cupertino and San José. The hotel proposal is most likely moving forward in order to capitalize on business from the new Apple campus, located less than a mile north of the site.

Thankfully the architecture is an improvement over the atrociously-designed downtown AC Hotel; however, I would still like to see better quality design as the proposed hotel maintains a similar boring box shape and has zero window ornamentation. Even so, if approved by the Planning Director, a new boutique hotel would be a welcome addition to San José as we have many less hotel rooms per capita than our surrounding municipalities.

-Kimberly Vacca 

Apple has moved its big conference to San Jose

The largest company in the world announced that they are moving their World Wide Developer Conference Conference (WWDC) from San Francisco to San Jose earlier this year. This will make our city ground zero for new software and app announcements related to iOS, MacOS, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. This is not the first time that Apple has made major product announcements in San Jose in recent years, but it is the first time since 2002 that they have hosted their largest event in Silicon Valley proper.

The direct impact goes far beyond the conference itself. There are many related events such as AltConf (the Alternative Apple Developer Conference) which has also moved from San Francisco to the San Jose Marriott and the Layers Design Conference, which has moved to the Montgomery Theater. Both events run nearly the full duration of the Apple conference.

Apple has also worked with the City of San Jose to plan for entertainment and special events outside of the Convention Center for attendees to enjoy. 5,000 developers will be attending WWDC, but double that number could be in the area for festivities and supporting events built around the conference.

The Apple WWDC kicks off today and runs until June 9th. If you are an Apple fanboy or fangirl, this is a good week to swing by Downtown.

Sources: SVBJ, 9to5Mac

Playful People Productions Presents: Disney 101 Dalmatians KIDS

San Jose, CA: Dalmatian parents Pongo and Perdita live a happy, quiet life in London with their eight puppies and two human pets – Roger and Anita.  But when their villainous neighbor Cruella De Vil decides to kidnap the puppies with the help of her two henchmen, the race is on for the dogs of London to find and save the puppies before they become another fur coat in Cruella’s collection! Keep your pups on their leashes! Disney 101 Dalmatians KIDS is certain to charm and delight all audiences. A fun and spirited adaptation of the classic Disney animated film, performed by a fabulous cast of eager 4-12 year olds who are sure to put a smile on your face!

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

Show Times:

Friday, June 16th - 7pm

Saturday, June 17th - 11am, 3pm and 7pm

Sunday, June 18th - 11am and 3pm

Tickets available at www.playfulpeople.net

$12 attendees 12 and up, and $8 children 11 and under 

Tickets at the door (30 minutes prior to curtain)

$15 attendees 12 and up, and $10 children 11 and under

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 3-103

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 2nd Happiest Place to Live

We have a great stat to begin the weekend. San Jose was ranked as the 2nd "happiest" place to live by WalletHub. Researchers studying the science of happiness found that a positive mental state, health, social connections, job satisfaction, and financial well-being are the foundations of happiness. Based on these metrics Fremont ended up being the happiest city in the US. San Jose was a very close second. Other Bay Area cities in the list include San Francisco at #4, Oakland at #5, and Santa Rosa in 9th place.

Source: WalletHub, thanks to Barclay Livker for sending this in!

Aviato - New Downtown High-Rise!

NEW DOWNTOWN HIGH-RISE ALERT! On May 17th, a Special Use Permit was filed with the Planning Division to allow the construction of an 18-story multi-family residential tower in downtown San José with 304 residential units and 10,146 square feet of retail on a 0.77 gross acre site (199 Bassett Street). The project includes four levels of underground parking (1 space per unit), 84 bike spaces, a fitness room, and an outdoor terrace with a pool and hot tub. Unit sizes include studios, one bedrooms, and two bedrooms.

The site is sandwiched between Highway 87 and Coleman Avenue, and is located in the northernmost part of downtown. The proposed tower will be somewhat isolated until the vacant land between San Pedro Market and the site is developed; although, this land should not be vacant for long. In the interim, the applicant will need to work on addressing connectivity issues with the rest of downtown so that the residents are not intimidated by or uninterested in walking and biking in the area.

If approved, the proposed tower will be a great addition to the downtown area, as more downtown residents will increase the viability for downtown amenities, retail, and restaurants. Many potential commercial tenants state that the current downtown residential density is too low for them to justify moving into a vacant commercial space, so every new project helps alleviate this concern.

While the top of the tower could have a little more “pizzazz” to diversify the downtown skyline, I’m happy to see that the tower will not be contributing to the “Tan Jose” theme that so many other downtown buildings have embodied. The white stone and glass frame with a pop of orange color is noticeably different from the other residential towers nearby. The applicant also did a great job placing the parking ramp on the east side of the building, leaving the front of the building open solely for pedestrians and active uses.

Because this application is a Special Use Permit, it will go to the Director of Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement for approval and will not need to go to the Planning Commission, unless appealed, or City Council. To stay up-to-date on the development review process, look up File No. SP17-023 on www.sjpermits.org or contact the Project Manager at Shaunn.mendrin@sanjoseca.gov to be added to the community contact list.

-Kimberly Vacca

Looking northwest

Looking northeast

Looking southwest

Two special SubZERO events for tonight

As a reminder, tonight is the start of an epic two-day arts festival in SoFA called SubZERO. There are two special events I wanted to quickly highlight:

Works San Jose is having an opening reception for System Overlord between 7pm and 10pm. This project brings together designers are artist who are pushing the limits of print and new media. They always have a compelling showcase and I'm sure their latest collection will not disappoint.

You also have to swing by the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles and check out "Before You Were Born" by Laurie Shapiro. This is an immersive, walk-in exhibit that has an accompanying live performance. The exhibits at this museum continue to become more and more ambitious, and this one sets a new bar! Below are a couple photographs by Octavio Martinez to help you get a feel for the scope of this piece.

Admission is free at all venues, including the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles which normally do charge a fee outside of FIRST FRIDAY events.

The Toxic Avenger is coming to The Stage Theater Jun 7-23

2009 Outer Critics Circle Award- Outstanding Musical

THE TOXIC AVENGER
Book and Lyrics by Joe DiPietro
Music and Lyrics by David Bryan
Based on Lloyd Kaufman's film of the same name

Directed by Jonathan Williams
June 7 – July 17, 2017
Opening Night: Saturday June 10, 2017


San Jose, CA (April 2017) - San Jose Stage Company is proud to wrap its culturally diverse 34th season with the award winning Off-Broadway hit musical The Toxic Avenger.

TOXIC LOVE STORY WITH AN ENVIRONMENTAL TWIST

Based on Lloyd Kaufman's cult film, this laugh-out-loud musical has it all: an unlikely hero, his beautiful girlfriend, a corrupt New Jersey mayor, bullies, mobsters, and stiletto-wearing back-up singers.

After attempting to clean up Tromaville, the most polluted town in New Jersey, Melvin Ferd is dumped into a vat of radioactive toxic waste, only to reemerge as The Toxic Avenger. Affectionately known as Toxie, our new hero is a mutant freak with superhuman strength and a heart as big as Newark. He's out to save New Jersey, end global warming, and woo the blind librarian in town.

About the Playwrights:

Joe DiPietro’s current Broadway hit Memphis won the Tony Award for Best Musical and two additional Tony Awards (Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) Written for the Theatre (with David Bryan). Joe was born and raised off Exit 166 in New Jersey and thus has been a Toxic Avenger fan for the last twenty years. Joe wrote the book & lyrics to I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, the longest running musical revue in New York history which has had hundreds of productions across the country and around the world. He also wrote the book and lyrics to the Broadway musical All Shook Up, and the award-winning musical, The Thing About Men, which has played internationally. His plays include the Edgar Award-winning mystery, The Art of Murder, as well as the long-running hit comedy Over the River and through the Woods, which has had over a hundred productions around the world and is currently being developed into a feature film. He lives in Manhattan and Connecticut, but his heart will always be in New Jersey.

David Bryan  is the keyboard player, songwriter and a founding member of Bon Jovi. They have sold over 130 million records worldwide, performed more than 2,600 concerts in over 50 countries for more than 34 million fans, and were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006. On the band s award-winning CD Have A Nice Day , David and Jon wrote the song Last Cigarette. David began a career as a composer and lyricist of musicals. The song, Memphis Lives In Me, which he performs on Bon Jovi’s recent box set, is actually from his musical, MEMPHIS which won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. David also won a Tony for Best Orchestrations (with Daryl Waters) and Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) Written for the Theatre (with Joe DiPietro). David has also dedicated his time to become a National Spokesperson for VH1’s Save The Music Program, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of music education in America’s schools.  He was conceived, born and raised in New Jersey. As a young man, he saw The Toxic Avenger at a midnight showing in Newark, and from that day on, he dreamed of writing a musical about the first mutant superhero from his home state.

About the Director:

Jonathan Williams is the Producing Director of San Jose Stage Company, recently playing Isaac in DISGRACED & Kenneth in THE NIGHT ALIVE earlier this season.  He made his San Jose Stage directorial debut with the 2013 production of THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DIETY.  Jonathan has worked extensively throughout the BAY AREA as an actor & director with companies like TheatreWorks, The Aurora Theatre, Theatre on San Pedro Square, San Francisco Shakespeare Company and American Musical Theatre of San Jose.  In 2002 he relocated to Sacramento where he co-founded Capital Stage Company, producing over 75 productions and leading the organization to becoming the region's premier new works theatre. Jonathan has directed numerous productions, including GUARDS AT THE TAJ, UNCANNY VALLEY, TRIBES, THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY, DYING CITY, MASTER CLASS, HUNTER GATHERERS, DIRTY STORY, BOY GETS GIRL and THE SHAPE OF THINGS.

Cast Includes:    

COURTNEY HATCHER*
JOSHUA MARX*
ALLISON F. RICH*
WILL SPRINGHORN, JR*
BRANDEN NOEL THOMAS
*Actors appear courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

Creative Staff:                
         
Jonathan Williams                                       Director
CJ & Brett Blankenship                              Choreographers
Brian Allan Hobbs                                      Music Director
Michael Palumbo                                        Scenic/Lighting Design
Vijay M Rajan                                             Video Design
Ashley Garlick                                            Costume Design
Cirby Hatano*                                             Stage Manager


SHOWS:        Previews:      June 7 @ 7:30 pm / June 8 @ 7:30 pm/ June 9 @ 8:00 pm
                       Opening:       June 10 @ 8:00 pm
                       Run Dates:    June 7 - July 17
                                             Wednesday & Thursday @ 7:30 pm
                                             Friday & Saturday @ 8:00 pm
                                             Sunday @ 2:00 pm

WHERE:        490 S 1st St, San Jose, CA 95113

TICKETS:      For tickets ($30-$65) or more information, the public may contact San Jose Stage Company box office at 408-283-7142, or www.thestage.org

Great America Red, White, and Brews

As one who hasn’t frequented Great America since I last owned a season pass (back when houses were affordable), it was with a keen sense of nostalgia that I devoted this past Saturday to checking out their Red, White & Brews event. Would the place be as vast as I remember? Could I handle the permanently-looped opening strains of the Top Gun soundtrack while in line for 45 minutes at the eponymous ride?

Spoiler alert: it’s even more fun as an adult. Because, you know, alcohol; and you’re grown-up enough to remember to wear sunscreen.  Also Top Gun was re-named years ago when Paramount sold the park to Cedar Fair, so at least there was no threat of death-by-soundtrack. As an added bonus, Great America has these lovely things called Fast Passes, which (for a fee) let you skip most of the lines anyways. Who says the world isn’t becoming a better place?

Back to the original reason for this posting. The Great America staff kindly invited members of the San Jose Blog team to cover their Red, White & Brews event. They provided us with the press release (previously covered), which showed an impressive number of brewery/winery choices, and well as some special food offerings.

It was a rollicking good time. The SJ Blog team divvied up the beer tastings so we got to at least try the majority of the beers served in tidy little kiosks around the event area. The San Jose Beer Bike was also present, so we hopped on that and pedaled around the park doing our best Avril Lavigne karaoke, much to the amusement of the other park goers... at least judging by how many decided to participate as we cycled by.

The food was quite tasty, and, being the adventurous souls that we are, we all started off with the chicken heart skewers (see photo). The skewers are proof that one can grill nearly anything, slather it in BBQ sauce, wrap bacon around it, and feed it to the pickiest eater with no shame. The grilled corn was excellent. We split up the desserts so we could try each – but the clear winner was the apple bacon cheddar parfait, followed up by an off-menu selection that tasted vaguely like peaches soaked in a cinnamon-bourbon syrup. You had us at bourbon.

We then decided to make use of our Fast Passes and hopped on several roller coasters, which were just as amusing as any of us remembered (particularly the front row to Top Gun… er, Flight Deck). For those readers over the age of 30, if you haven’t been to the park since your teens, just remember that your spines aren’t the robust things they once were, and plan your riding schedule accordingly, perhaps interspersing them with regular stops at the food and beer kiosks.

The event was immensely enjoyable. Count us in next year; we look forward to continued events that highlight local brewing and winemaking talent.