SJDA hosting a public year-in-review meeting this Friday

The San Jose Downtown Association always throws an amazing end-of-year meeting with an entertaining slideshow presented by Scott Knies. The event is free and open to the public. It is also early enough that many people can attend before work.

This year topics include BART decisions, the future Google campus Downtown, and election results. Oh, and there will be complimentary coffee and muffins.

The event takes place this Friday, December 14th at Hammer Theatre Center (101 Paseo De San Antonio) from 8am to 9:30am. You can RSVP by emailing sjdarsvp@sjdowntown.com

Content Magazine 7th Anniversary Pick-Up Party - 11.0 "Discover"

Content Magazine is launching their anniversary issue on December 12th at the City Hall Rotunda from 7:30pm to 10pm. Subscribers get free admission, a free drink, and a gift bag. For more info, read the event description below or head over here to RSVP.

This December 12th Content Magazine celebrates seven years in print, and we would love to celebrate with you.

Please join us for a classy and artful evening at the City Hall Rotunda for the release of Issue 11.0 “Discover.” Together we will toast the creatives we have had the honor of featuring over the past seven years.

The night will include art, music, and dance performances by those featured in 11.0, as well as other 2018 featured musicians and dance groups. 

This event is co-produced by our partner BAUNFIRE, a Silicon Valley digital design agency.

We also thank our sponsors: San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs, San Jose Jazz, Stuart Event Rentals, Mach 7 Sound, Tech CU, Silicon Valley Asian Art Center, and Team San Jose.

Content subscribers, 11.0 features, and 11.0 contributors will receive free entry for them + 1 guest, one complimentary drink ticket to kick off the night, and a holiday gift bag (for the first 150).

$10 cover for general admission (supports the artist performing and includes a copy of the 7th-anniversary issue). Subscribe ahead of time at bit.ly/6issues or at the door and receive all the benefits listed for subscribers above. 

Parking: Free parking at City Hall Garage (must enter before 8pm). Paid covered parking at 4th and San Fernando. Street parking is also available.

Attire: Business casual/cocktail

More routes and flight capacity coming to SJC

San Jose International is getting two brand new routes next year around June. Southwest is launching daily nonstop service between San Jose and Nashville, Tennessee as well as a weekly nonstop between San Jose and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. The latter is a major tech hub, so building out this route is a no-brainer. Southwest flights to Hawaii will likely also start sometime in 2019.

Delta, our third most popular carrier, is also adding 72% more capacity on the popular San Jose <> Seattle route. It is doing this by adding two more flights in a larger, more comfortable plane (Airbus A220-100, photo below). The extra capacity will also be serviced by Delta Airlines proper and not Compass (aka Delta Connection). A couple weeks ago they also started nonstop service to Detroit.

Alaska Airlines, which is based in Seattle, will be launching a nonstop route on February 12th to a brand new Seattle airport in Everett, just North of Seattle.

As busy as SJC has become today, it looks like the airport is only getting started. They extra six gates they are working on can't come soon enough.

Source: SVBJ, SVBJ (2)

Sourisseau News: Marching to a Different Beat

Over the next several weeks, I'll link to short San Jose historical videos commissioned by Linda L. Lester and published by WMS Media. The first video is a montage of eccentric San Jose personalities. The person photographed below is A. D. M. Cooper, who had a downtown studio filled with nude drawings, many of which were used as payments for bar tabs. It's only a two minute video with a lot of interesting facts.

To watch the video, click here.

Roku is moving their HQ to San Jose

Roku--a popular streaming entertainment company--is taking over the Coleman Highline next to Avaya Stadium. The project will have a total of 8 buildings, all connected by outdoor bridges. Roku has decided to move their headquarters from Los Gatos (where it is subleasing from Netflix) to 570,000 SQFT across four buildings. It will first move into 91,368 SQFT in the first available building this January, followed by three other buildings as they come online.

The lease will be over 11 years, so they are making a major commitment to San Jose. We could see as many as 2,000 new jobs due to their move to San Jose. 

Since the Coleman Highline will eventually have 1.5 million SQFT of office space, that also gives Roku plenty of room to grow assuming other companies don't snap up all of the available floor space.

Source: SVBJ, SVBJ (2)

Better Bike Plan Workshop

Tomorrow there will be a public workshop for San Jose's Better Bike Plan 2025 project. Many more bike sharing stations are coming to San Jose, and this is a great opportunity to provide your input on a plan that will make biking "safer, easier, more convenient, and more comfortable to everyone."

The workshop takes placer from 11am to 1pm, December 1st (tomorrow), at Veggielution in Emma Prusch Farm Park (647 South King Road, San Jose).

What's Going on, Diridon?

The SJSU Urban Planning Department and CommUniverCity are hosting a community event to educate San Joseans about the Diridon Integrated Station Concept. As many of you know, Diridon will become one of the busiest transit hubs in the country over the coming decade--especially when the BART and High Speed Rail connections are complete. This event will provide some insights on what is already being planning and give you the opportunity to share your two cents.

There will also be free food, games, and raffles! The event takes place at the Poor House Bistro (87 South Autumn St., San Jose) on Saturday, December 1st, from 11am to 1:30pm.

San Jose Arts Scavenger Hunt: Dec 1 - 12

A free scavenger hunt launches this Saturday and runs all the way until December 12th. All you need to do is follow the hashtag #12DaysofArt. Each morning at 8am, the San Jose Downtown Association will post a clue on Facebook and their website. The clue will have a photo and written hint and all you have to do is figure out the location of the venue. If you are one of the first 10 people to arrive at that location at the specified time, you win a prize!

This is an amazing incentive to explore Downtown San Jose. I hope this event gets bigger and bigger every year! All of the details are below.

Who: San Jose Arts Marketing Roundtable presents

What: #12 Days of ARTS – a social-media driven scavenger hunt for arts prizes. More than 120 chances to win, including two Grand Prizes! Free to compete and win.

When: Saturday, December 1 through Wednesday, December 12, at various times each day

Where: In and around downtown San Jose

Why: An opportunity to give back to our community and encourage folks to have fun exploring San Jose and its vibrant arts scene. Theater, music, dance, museums, galleries, more.

Where to Go:

Follow the hashtag #12DaysofArts and your favorite San Jose arts organization’s social media sites. Each morning at 8 am, the San Jose Downtown Association will post a clue on their website at sjdowntown.com/12DaysofArts and on their Facebook page @sjdowntown. Watch for the #12DaysofArts clue consisting of a photo and a written hint. You must figure out the location of the day’s venue. The specific time to arrive will be noted.  It could come at any time during the day. 

How Does #12 Days of ARTS Work?    

Each morning a clue will be posted on the San Jose Downtown Association’s Facebook page @sjdowntown, which will also stream at sjdowntown.com/12DaysofArts and be shared on numerous arts and related downtown social media sites. To play the game, you must figure out the “secret” location of the arts organization…a theater, a gallery, museum, events venue, etc. and be one of the first 10 people to arrive at that location at the specified time to win a prize package. 

Those 10 people (or teams) are guaranteed to win a bag filled with wonderful arts surprises like free tickets to shows, entries to exhibits and fun events to participate in. Other surprises await such as dining coupons, free beverages, and logo items of hats, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and more. Ten bags are given away every day…sometimes more!

Every person is limited to TWO wins of the prize bags over the twelve days of the scavenger hunt, but even if you are a two-time winner, you should keep participating! Every person who finds the correct location is entered into the drawing for a grand prize. The more you participate, the more entries you get. 

The first 10 winners each day are asked to take a selfie showing the location of the arts organization from the clue and posting it to their social media with the hashtag: #12DaysofArts. Two GRAND Prizes will also be awarded through random drawings. If you missed a chance to win an Arts Prize Bag on any given day, you can still enter for the Grand Prizes by snapping a selfie and posting it to your social media with the hashtag. Anyone can play one time, or all twelve days!

Additional Information: This is the fourth year of #12 Days of Arts. It grew out of the monthly “brown bag lunch meetings” of the Arts Marketing Roundtable and it has been such a huge hit over the last three years, that we've brought it back again. Winners have included people who played the game just once or played every day, people who had never been to a live theater event or a symphony concert or a museum before, and even people who had never even been DOWNTOWN before. 

We had so many people miss out on prize bags last year, that we have added the element of GRAND prizes and have made them open to anyone…whether you won a prize bag or not. To enter to win, just post a selfie in front of one or more of the “secret” locations and include the hashtag #12DaysofArts. Random drawings will determine the winners. 

GOOD LUCK and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!