South FIRST FRIDAYS

While South FIRST FRIDAYS are technically on hiatus due to COVID-19, there are a mix of in-person and online exhibitions happening this this weekend. Anno Domini, Art Ark Gallery, KALEID, and Works will have all have exhibits open this Friday, roughly around 5-9pm. For more info on what will be showcased, click here.

For a proper night out you can pair that art with an outdoor movie at 3Below Cinemas, a great meal in one of SoFA's trendy eateries, or perhaps a few cocktails at Haberdasher. It's been a rough election week for everyone, I think we deserve a day to remember what normalcy looked like (plus masks of course).

Go Vote!

San Jose and Santa Clara County voting locations can be found over here.

October 2020 Downtown Dimension Highlights

The latest addition of Downtown Dimension is now live. Below is a summary of the content this month.

The OCTOBER 2020 Downtown Dimension is now available for download.   On the Front Page:   Historic Post Street continues to make history -- gaining a "Qmunity" designation for the LGBTQ+ community.  Dimension covered the Sept. 10 ceremony and recent public space-making upgrades to the block of Post between South First and market streets. Mac's Club, a downtown fixture since 1945, is one of the main reasons Post Street received the Qmunity distinction.  What a story of endurance and persistence the owners and long-time manager have to tell. Simultaneously, Post Street was mostly closed off to vehicle traffic and became the downtown's third Al Fresco dining location.  55 South built a patio boat christened the "El Dorado" now on the street awaiting customers.   Also this month: The 12th annual Dine Downtown begins Oct. 1 with several changes.  This year while restaurants struggle, Dine Downtown expand to 46 days -- through Nov. 15. SJDA is working with the City and 3Below Theaters to present Up on the Roof, showing 40 movies on the roof of the Second and San Carlos Garage starting Oct. 8.  Dinner is included in the deal.  Coronavirus protocols also make these events an experience not forgotten. The MOMENT shops on San Pedro Square are planning for the holidays. "Hella Gardens" public art project filled downtown storefronts with temporary flora. Future downtown office developers will need to pay a Commercial Linkage Fee.

Another way to stay connected to downtown: The Downtowner Online is sent each Wednesday.  This weekly email features downtown businesses including virtual events and ways to support downtown. Subscribe

Spooktacular Saturday at the San Pedro Square Market

Halloween event options are super limited this year, but there is at least one event going on at the San Pedro Square Market. Costumes, music, food specials, and some "Halloween Fun" are in order. Spooktacular Saturday runs from 11am - 6pm and all the proper COVID protocols will be in place.

Art Boutiki is streaming live concerts

Art Boutiki is a comic book publisher, store, cafe, and music venue for up-and-coming artists. They are the type of local treasure that would be impacted the most by COVID. However, they are making the most of a bad situation are are livestreaming concerts almost every Wednesday and Saturday. It's a great way to support the local arts scene and many of the concerts are free.

While going through there events I also came across Dine and Draw and Drink and Draw in-person events. For these you listen to music on the outdoor patio, grab some wine or brews, and draw. It is a comic book publisher after all.

I used to love visiting Art Boutiki as part of South First Fridays and was sad when they had to shut down and move to Midtown (44 Race Street). While I haven't visited the new venue yet, it looks like they have kept all of the soul and character of their previous location and may have even taken things up a notch!

For their full list of events, head over here.

Hat tip to Ryan Mann for sending this in.

Intersections of San Jose

Peter Gorman has created an interesting mashup of art and transportation. He designs minimalist maps that were inspired by a one-year, 11,000-mile, solo bicycle trip around the United States. As part of that he spent about a month exploring the Bay Area and turned some of our most popular intersections into the contemporary interpretations below. It's a neat project and you can view the high resolution image and accompanying comments over here.

Market Park could bring thousands of homes and an office compound to North San Jose

A massive transit village has been proposed for the San Jose Flea Market right next to our new BART station. This is already the site of our largest project that is currently under construction. How massive you ask? The developers are looking to build 3,450 residential units and 3.4 MILLION square feet of commercial space. To put that in perspective that is roughly half of all the office space the exists in Downtown San Jose today.

The commercial component would be spread across seven buildings and three parking structures. The residential piece could utilize high-rises as tall as 200 feet, would would be very noticeable for the area. Other nearby amenities would include a plaza, pop-up retail space, an urban garden, a 1.4-acre rec area, tennis course, and a mini baseball field.

The bad news is that the Flea Market would be demolished to make way for the 61.5-acre project. There would be 150,000 SQFT of ground-floor retail and restaurants in the transit village, but it would not quite make up for losing a San Jose icon. However, given the vast increase in jobs, tax dollars, and density near transit--this project should be an easy approval by the city.

Source: SVBJ

Latest Miro Towers photos

Gillynova from the San Jose Development Forum has posted a few photos of Miro, which will feature San Jose's two tallest towers when construction is complete across from City Hall sometime next year. The project appears to be coming along nicely despite all of the COVID restrictions.