San Jose gets first round of tiny homes for the homeless

Homelessness is one of Silicon Valley's top issues, and it seems to be getting worse with over 6,000 individuals living on Santa Clara County streets. Fortunately, San Jose is taking a novel approach by building inexpensive tiny homes to house the less fortunate.

The first community of tiny homes is off of Mabury Road and consists of 40 "sleeping cabins," showers, a shared kitchen, laundry, and computers. Comcast is also donating WiFi service. The community is expected to serve 120 people a year (each resident can stay up to 4 months).

A second project is already underway near Felipe Court at the intersection of 101, 280, and 680. 

It's not a perfect solution but is helping move us in the right direction. I wish developers would also build inexpensive 150-200 SQFT studio apartments to provide additional housing options for everyone.

Source: San Jose Inside

Camera 12 redevelopment renders

Urban Catalyst revealed a few new renders of their plans for the former Camera 12 site, and it looks much better than what I expected. The shape of the theater is preserved but two additional floors are being added in the interior for additional office space (73,000 SQFT total). Rooftop patios will now be accessible from the 4th and 5th floors. Oh, and the 13,000 SQFT of ground-floor retail will extend onto the Paseo.

I still miss the movie theater, but this looks like it will greatly help activate the Paseo area. The project should be complete around the 2nd quarter of 2021. It is one of seven Urban Catalyst projects scheduled to break ground this year, all of which are in Downtown San Jose. The company plans to invest $700 million into San Jose.

Source: SVBJ

Diridon-SJC People Mover concepts

Last year, Mayor Sam Liccardo started collecting innovative ideas for connecting Diridon to both SJC and Stevens Creek (Santana Row, Valley Fair, Apple HQ, etc.). He received several interesting proposals ranging from autonomous pods, monorails, handing trains, and hyperloops. The goal would be to use a system with significantly lower costs than the current mass transit options and a shorter deployment time.

The only option that I think is truly feasible at a low cost would be a loop (not hyperloop), which the Boring Company is currently building in Las Vegas to connect various parts of their sprawling convention center. It might be possible for a couple hundred million (including stations) and everything would be underground, minimizing conflicts with other modes of transportation and completely taking weather out of the equation. It would also be scaleable to other parts of San Jose with much additional effort.

Our current transit options are failing us, so I have to applaud the city for thinking outside the box to make these two transit hubs together as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

Source: SVBJ

Eataly coming to San Jose

With two very successful food halls in Downtown San Jose and Santana Row across the street, Valley Fair might be feeling a bit left out when it comes to the South Bay food scene. Fortunately, their big expansion that starts rolling out in March has a major focus on cuisine. Several flagship restaurants have been announced, but the biggest addition will be an Italian Marketplace called Eataly.

The market clocks in at an impressive 51,000 SQFT. Eataly is large enough to house multiple restaurants, cafes, food stalls, bars, and take-out counters. If you're a foodie that likes Italian food, this may be your new favorite location in the mall. It will also be the only Eataly location in Northern California.

Eataly San Jose will open sometime in 2021.

Source: SVBJ

10th Street Distillery in San Jose

San Jose now has a whiskey distillery, which apparently is our first since Prohibition. It sits near our craft breweries at 2131 S. 10th St., just one building over from Strike Brewing. Two tech engineers decided to follow their dream and created 10th Street Distillery to make Scottish-style spirits right here in San Jose.

They carry a couple different types of whiskies, a Peated Single Malt (smokey) that has won multiple awards and a STR Single Malt that is smooth and slightly sweet. Total Wine & More as well as several liquor stores have started carrying the product. You can also find them in San Jose's top craft cocktail bars such as Haberdasher, Paper Plane, Miniboss, 55 South, District, and Five Points.

10th Street Distillery doesn't have a public tasting room setup yet, but they do offer tours and tasting events if you sign up on their website over here.

Former Camera 12 Theaters space will become office and retail

It's a bittersweet solution to a key space in the middle of Downtown San Jose, but at least it is better than the empty shell that exists today. Camera 12 was my favorite movie theater, and one of the few three-story movie theaters in the country. I was hoping this could be repurposed into a high-end theater with luxury seats, cocktails, and upscale dining similar to the Showplace ICON in Valley Fair. However, it appear Urban Catalyst has a firm plan for the 70,330 SQFT site.

The plan is to convert the space into a five-story building called "Paseo." This will be interesting to see executed given the existing configuration. They will likely have to gut the whole building. The top four floors will support 73,000 SQFT of office space while the ground floor will have 15,000 SQFT of retail.

I am excited about what the retail opportunities could be, especially given the whole street is starting to fill up. Scott's Seafood is moving to the former Social Policy space on the same block and Hapa Musubi is a few doors down (one of Downtown's most popular eateries, often completely selling out of food daily). It may no longer be a movie theater, but I'm certain this can be an anchor for urban activity Downtown.

Source: SVBJ

Guadalupe River Park - Adopt a Rose

Looking for a great last-minute Valentine's Day idea? The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy is offering a $60 package that includes adopting a rose (post your personal message in the garden), a box of chocolates, a cookie, and a free rose each month for a year.

Best of all, the proceeds go towards support the park and the purchase is partially tax deductible. You don't have to tell your significant other that last part.

To learn more and to order this special Valentine's Day package, head over here.

All That Jazz with "Chicago" @ The San Jose Stage

They had it comin'
They had it comin'
They had it comin' all along
'Cause if they used us
And they abused us
How could you tell us that we were wrong?

Back in high school, I was wondering why so many people loved CHICAGO when it first came out in theaters in 2002. Before I knew I loved musicals, I found the songs "Cell Block Tango" and "We Both Reached for the Gun" to be sensational and fascinating. Of course, being quite an ignorant child believing that justice will always prevail, I had no idea that the outcome of this musical's riveting storyline and dazzling musical numbers would be a scandalous travesty of justice. It was so scandalous in storyline, outcome, costumes, and choreography, that the original 1975 Broadway production of CHICAGO only ran for 968 performances, which is a relatively short run for an open-ended broadway production. Thankfully, two decades later, a more accepting Broadway audience and significant production tweaks paved the way for the current revival of CHICAGO, which is now the longest-running musical revival and longest-running American musical in Broadway history.

"We Both Reached For The Gun" musical number
Center Stage: Monique Hafeb Adams (as Roxie Hart), Keith Pinto (as Billy Flynn), Kyle Bielfield (as Mary Sunshine)
Ensemble: Patrick Wayne, Jill Miller, Jacqueline Neeley, Zoey Lytle, Matthew Kropschot,
Tony Wooldridge, Tracey Freeman-Shaw, Monica Moe, Vinh G. Nguyen, Nick Rodrigues.
Photo By Dave Lepori

"Razzle Dazzle" musical number
Keith Pinto (foreground as "Billy Flynn") alongside Matthew Kropschot,
Monica Moe, Jacqueline Neeley, Jill Miller, Zoey Lytle,
Tracey Freeman-Shaw, Tony Wooldridge, Nick Rodrigues.
Photo by Dave Lepori

Since my high school years, I have seen the musical twice on Broadway and once as a touring production through Broadway San Jose. I had no idea that the theatrical production would be significantly better than the big screen version including its simple set design, kinky costumes, and "all that jazz" expected from this musical.

CHICAGO took the stand at The San Jose Stage Company with its official opening night on February 8, 2020. The production was mostly true to what I've seen on Broadway especially when it comes to the choreography, singing, and costumes. The company at The San Jose Stage Company hit top marks for producing a Broadway quality show in its intimate setting allowing Bay Area residents to fall in love with this classic!

Branden Noel Thomas 
as "Matron ‘Mama’ Morton"
Photo by Dave Lepori

Given that I've seen previous productions at The San Jose Stage Company, it was great seeing former cast members return to the show including Monique Hafen Adams as Roxie Hart, Allison F. Rich as Velma Kelly, Keith Pinto as Billy Flynn, Matthew Kropschot as Fred Casley, and ensemble members June Miller, Monica Moe, Vinh G. Nguyen, Tracey Freeman-Shaw.

The highlight of the show was the excellent performance of Branden Noel Thomas performing as Matron "Mama" Morton. Branden's singing, acting, makeup, and costume was impeccable. Branden knew how to pull in the audience and deliver musical notes and lines with gravity... and tenacity. Branden is a young person whom I will be paying attention in future productions.

One thing that didn't occur in the Broadway production, but which The San Jose Stage Company changed very well, was the different direction to their musical number, "Mister Cellophane." Performing as Amos Hart was Sean Doughty, who previously performed the same part at another theater. In addition to Sean applying the sad clown makeup from the movie version, it was comical and malevolent to see how the spotlight operator moved the spotlight away from Amos on stage several times. Plus, Amos never received his exit music, as other characters did. Little things like this is truly reminiscent of the character of Amos Hart who is so innocent yet easily mistreated throughout the story.

Sean Doughty as Amos Hart
Photo By Dave Lepori

All in all, this is one of the few shows I would watch again and again. So make sure you catch a performance playing Wednesdays to Sundays now until March 15, 2020. You can purchase tickets online at The San Jose Stage Company website at www.thestage.org or at their box office at 490 South First Street, San Jose, CA 95113, (408) 283-7141. Discount tickets are available for students and seniors.

Written by John Huân Vu.