25-story apartment tower proposed for Downtown San Jose

An environmental impact report was filed recently for an infill high rise building at 439 South 4th Street. The property is only half an acre and currently has an aging three-story apartment building and detached single family home.

The proposed tower is 274-feet tall, 25-stories, and will have 1,500 SQFT of retail and five stories of parking. The parking will take up the majority of the basement and first four floors and allow for 168 cars and 70 bicycles.

Most of the 210 apartments appear to be three bedrooms, so they are likely targeting SJSU students similar to The Grad. There also appears to be a community room, dog park, fitness center, and pool deck.

If this moves forward, construction will take about two years after groundbreaking.

Source: SF YIMBY

100 Things To Do In San Jose Before You Die - 2nd Edition

Welcome to the blog post that has stayed in "draft" the longest. I started writing this right as COVID had just started to spread and decided to table it until the pandemic was over. Then last year, life got crazy... so this has been in draft for over three years!

Five Eight years ago I read the first edition of Susannah Greenwood's "100 Things To Do in San Jose Before You Die." As a hardcore San Jose aficionado, I was shocked (and delighted) that I had only done 54 out of the 100 things to do in the book. There is so much to do and see in San Jose.

25% of the entries on the second edition are new, and the rest have been updates with extended tips. I have used the book as sort of a checklist to see how many I can do. The answer is 52. In the 2nd Edition I have been able to do 52/100.

Some of the new entries include:

• Hiking Mount Umunhum
• Having a picnic at the Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve
• Bike, Blade, and Board at Viva CalleSJ
• Letting your taste buds travel with a Little Ethiopian in Little Ethiopia
• Indulge at Adega (I think this will be updated for the 3rd Edition)
• Pair farm-fresh food with gorgeous valley views at the Mount Hamilton GrandView Restaurant
• Celebrating the geekiest week of the year with Star Wars Day and Free Comic Book Day

...and many, many more. It's a great book and still very relevant, especially if you want to get the most out of the beautiful place where you live and uncover as many hidden gems and fun attractions as possible in your own home. San Jose is one of the most underrated cities in the United States, and this book will help explain why.

If I haven't been super clear, I highly recommend the 2nd edition (even if you have the first). You can get the book in paperback or Kindle form over here.

"In sitting down to revise the book, I thought a lot about San Jose, how it has and continues to change, as well as what a successful travel experience for me personally constitutes. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to 6 continents and I examined what my favorite places were and why they ranked so. Certainly natural beauty, history, cultural offerings and great weather all play a part in connecting one to a destination and creating a positive travel memory, but what it really comes down to for me, are the people. That is the x factor. The people you meet, at least in my experience, can leave as much of a lasting impression in many cases as the food or the views or the activities you engage in. The people you meet have the power to transform a moment into a story and create a shared experience that extends its impact well after you’ve returned home. In short; conversations create connection and that connection is ripe for the picking in San Jose.

They say it’s not about the destination - it’s the journey, but I think San Jose truly proves they’re both very much intertwined. The featured places and events in the book were especially selected to not only represent our culture and highlight our tremendous natural landscape, but to underscore our strong sense of community. Each of the entries certainly qualifies as a stand-alone adventure, but each of them also strives to put the participant directly in the path of our cities most magical asset; San Joseans. These are the places you’re most likely to strike up that all important conversation with the most passionate and knowledgeable secret tour guides, each genuinely eager to enhance and elevate your experience with additional history, tidbits, and previously undocumented advice. It’s less of a guide to physical places perhaps as it is a curation of potential conversations by which one can better understand and enjoy our awesome City.

Whether you're a first time visitor to this biggest little city in the heart of Silicon Valley, a regular traveler to the area, or a local this 2nd edition is a great catalyst to exploring what makes San Jose tick and getting to know the authentic San Jose." -Susannah Greenwood

South FIRST FRIDAY (+ STREET MRKT - August 2023)

South FIRST FRIDAYS is back this week with multiple galleries open from at least 5-10pm. Participating venues include ANNO DOMINI, the Institute of Contemporary Art, KALEID Gallery, Works San Jose, the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, the SoFA Market, MACLA, Art Ark Gallery, MACHU PICCHU, Natural Do Salon, 1Culture, and Chopsticks Alley Gallery.

In addition to FIRST FRIDAYS it is also a STREET MRKT featuring over 50 artists a beer/fermentation garden, music, and food trucks.

It all goes down this Friday, August 4th. As usual admission is free and all ages are welcome. Click here for a preview of featured art! Below is a map with all of the galleries to check out across three different districts. Keep scrolling for a list of artists and food trucks.

Hollywood by Fuquan Divine

South FIRST FRIDAYS presents:

STREET MRKT an indie urban art faire 
5pm–10pm, free admission (spend it with the Artists!).
So. 1st St. between San Carlos & William streets

50 talented artists gather together out on So. 1st St. transforming the SoFA District into a lively outdoor gallery for the evening. We’ll have stunning paintings, unique sculptures, mesmerizing jewelry, chic fashion and even on the spot experiences like custom poems and crystal bowl sound baths. Support our amazing artists and help our local art scene thrive!

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Soloman Acosta
Rebecca Anguiano 
Art of Joseph Richardson 
Purl Bailey (AKA Marilyn Roaf)
Bay Area Glass Institute 
The Blunt Letters / Elle and Micaela
Bolo Vintage
Julianne Bonnet 
Bungalow Glow Candle Co. 
Arely Cardenas
Emmanuel Cervantes-Mejía + Michael Rogan 
Curious Shapes / Bryan Corbin
Crossroads Trading Co.
OaxaCali Studios  / Dario Cruz & Steve Gonzalez
Current Tattooing 
Jennifer DeChenne
Sharon Diebert
Designs by Maureen
Lorenz Dumuk 
Flow State Sound Healing & Arts / Lailani Africa
Force129 & Betty Proper 
Jodi408
Faded Visualz 
Cynthia Gonzalez
Ali Hall 
Hand in Hand Henna 
Ken Harmount
Sydney Hessel 
Higher Fire Clay Space 
KNS Beauty Essentials
Land and Sky Fine Art / Joe Mandrick
The Local Creatives Show by StageOne
Luui Arts /Nhi Nguyen
Frankie Mcfly
Julianne McKay
La Madre Bruja
Ocelote Press / Jhovany De Ala
Jean -Luc Pedanou
Tania Okay + Lotte Van De Walle
Leslie Perez Jewelry
Francisco Ramirez
Random Marks- the Art of Doug Edwards
Mason Roberts Artist
Rene Schilling Sears
South Bay Ceramics
Suha Suha
Eric Vasquez
VG Designs
Heylu Wheat 

Flipside Crew DJs in the beer garden, plus delicious food trucks!

BEER GARDEN & FOOD TRUCKS

On Tap…
Clandestine Brewing
Fox Tale Fermentation
and more...

plus…

3 Brothers Kitchen
3 Hermanos Mexican Grill
Akita Gourmet Sushi
Chickn Bros.

San Jose has the largest share of Vietnamese restaurants in the country and exciting projects to come

I believe San Jose has the largest Vietnamese community of any city in the US. At the County-level, it is only second to Orange County down south. However, despite having a slightly smaller Vietnamese population than Orange County (180k vs. 120k in here), Silicon Valley has the highest concentration of Vietnamese restaurants in the US. 6% of all restaurants in Santa Clara County are Vietnamese, featuring some of my favorite foods like pho, banh mi, and other delicacies.

SJ Today has great guides for both the top Pho and Banh Mi shops in San Jose. There are also lots of other types of restaurants featuring spicy Bun Bo Hue and Nuoc Mia (sugarcane juice) that you can find throughout San Jose.

The strength of the Vietnamese community here is one of the reasons why there is a proposal on the table to build a 260,000 SQFT Vietnamese indoor market modeled after a Ho Chi Minh City landmark (image below) where Sears used to be in Eastridge. It would be called Hello Ben Thanh Indoor Market and would have a combination of retail stores, massive food courts with as many as 50 booths, an entertainment center, and banquet hall. The project would take over both floors of the old Sears building. Think of it as a Vietnamese version of Eataly that will be accessible from both inside and outside the mall.

There is no formal ETA, but the developer Intelli has already secured the space for $24.8 million.

Source: The Merc, NextShark

First look at electrified Caltrain trains

Just yesterday thousands of train enthusiasts got a sneak peak at Caltrain's upcoming electric fleet at Diridon Station.

75% of Caltrain's diesel trains will be replaced with brand new emission-free electric trains. These also have upgraded features like digital displays with real-time trip info, free Wifi, power at every seat, and two bike cars per train that can fit up to 72 bikes. Each train will have seven two-story cars.

Work on this project started in 2017 and the electric trains should be fully operational sometime next year.

Source: SF Standard

Wedding venues in San Jose

SJ Today has a great guide on wedding venues in San Jose. It takes a quirky kind of couple to consider the Winchester Mystery House, but that is one of the options on the list. See their recommendations over here.

Old Fry's HQ will become a giant office campus

The shuttered Mayan-themed Fry's store and previous Fry's HQ on Brokaw Road are destined to become a seven-building tech campus. Combined, they will add another 2 million SQFT of office space to North San Jose. 

However, don't expect to see this completed anytime soon. The developer is planning to build the project in four phases over a decade and won't even begin construction until 2024 at the soonest.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose's secret hotel

There is a secret hotel hiding in plain sight right across from City Hall. It's called the WhyHotel by Placemakr and it takes up a chunk of MIRO Towers. I believe at some point MIRO struggled to lease all of their apartments, so they partnered with Placemakr to create sort of a hybrid between a hotel and Airbnb.

Since these are technically luxury apartments, all rooms have kitchens and are at least 592 SQFT. The largest room is a 2 bedroom 2 bath for up to 4 people at 1,227 SQFT. Prices are generally the same or less than hotels in the area but you get a ton more space and the convenience of a kitchen and in-unit laundry. 

I'm not aware of any hotels Downtown that have two-bedroom suites as a readily available option (outside of some rare and very expensive Presidential suites). So if you are staying with a larger group of family and friends and don't want multiple rooms, this is likely your best option. If you're curious about what it would be like to live in Downtown San Jose, it's also a nice way to do a test run for a week or so.

Some other perks include a modern fitness center, yoga studio, and private dog park. I'm not sure how long this hotel will be around, so if you're interested here is the link.