A growing industry in San Jose is the creative retail world. Largely supported by San José Made and its sister company MOMENT, many local artists have turned their craft into thriving business ventures. Genevieve Santos, owner of the stationary shop Le Petit Elefant, is one of them. Deeply inspired by travel, she makes watercolor illustrations […]
“San Jose doesn’t get the recognition it deserves for being the lowrider capital,” says Angel Romero, founder of Dueñas, an all-women’s lowrider club. Angel’s love for lowriders came from her mom, who tricked up a brand new 1977 Monte Carlo she had received for her own quinceañera. When Angel and her siblings were kids, this […]
The vibrancy of San Jose’s creative culture can be found on its streets, in its art galleries, infused in local businesses, and in the work of neighbors who use creativity to connect, reflect, and inspire. The City of San Jose’s Creative Ambassador program awards artists who champion the power of creative expression.
Expressions of the Vietnamese American Experience April 30, 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War.* As we commemorate this important occasion, the day also provides an opportunity to reflect on the journey that brought Vietnamese refugees to the United States, as well as the growth […]
Castro Valley native San Jose State Alum Brodie Brazil has turned an early love of storytelling into a 20-year broadcasting career covering the same Bay Area teams he grew up cheering for.
This feature is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube. The Preservation Action Council of San Jose (PAC*SJ) is a dedicated historic preservation advocacy organization committed to celebrating the vibrancy of San Jose’s architectural and cultural heritage. As a member-based group, PAC*SJ works to ensure that historic buildings and sites are recognized for their significance and potential. […]
*The article originally appeared in issue 5.1, “Sight and Sound,” 2013 From his 90s exploits at Ajax to the more recent Naglee Park Garage, Chris Esparza’s impact on downtown San Jose has come in many phases. He looks to take his next step with Blackbird Tavern. Long-time downtown ambassador Chris Esparza remains one of the […]
Skateboards to Stencils Growing up in the quintessentially suburban Almaden Valley of San Jose, professional skateboarder and artist Jason Adams was always drawn to the raw vitality of punk rock and its striking aesthetic, or really anything that stood in opposition to the smothering suburban splendor. Around the age of 13, Adams was introduced to […]
In the courtyard of Mexican Heritage Plaza, accompanied by the gentle sound of a waterfall and a slow sway of a dense crop of palm trees, Jonathan Borca admits he’s often a bit too busy. And in a moment of reflection, he shares the fascinating reason why. “I feel I have an existential window,” shares […]
Original article published in Spring/Summer 2010 Every year, 12,000 people travel from all across America to hear music by over 1,400 performers during a four-day period. With more than 80 venues from which to choose, listeners have the opportunity to see a host of new faces and acts. The event is heralded by musicians and […]
As councilmember, Peralez encourages community member involvement through participatory budgeting, a process that includes brainstorming ideas, encouraging volunteers and experts to develop project proposals, and voting on and funding projects. As he continues to look out for our city’s interests through his duties as councilmember, Peralez will soon be volunteering as a patrol officer for the Police Reserve Unit.
“I’m very fortunate to be connected to some organizations that I truly, sincerely love, and I think those organizations see that because I go all in.”
The 29-year-old rapper and founder of Tank Shop, Yonex Jones, said his favorite thing in the store is definitely the music.
The SJAA is a collaborative effort across many involved in the cultural landscape of California. In an area globally known for technological innovation, the role the arts play in San Jose can get lost, voiceless. The group is a central voice for arts advocacy and education in San Jose and is planning ways to address the impact of AB 5 and many other policies and issues permeating the arts.
As Brian Boitano skates onto the ice, the psychological weight is colossal. “It’s like the microwave gets turned on,” he describes, “and you’re cooking from the inside out, ready to explode.” The roar of 20,000 throats tidal waves over him and washes across the Saddledome. The almost palpably solid feeling of 20,000 pairs of eyes latch onto the back of his neck like a grappling hook. He strikes an erect pose, made all the more commanding in a blue military uniform. Silence falls like an ax. The music swells. And Boitano’s skates stir to life.
When Kristi Yamaguchi saw the ice show at the Hayward Southland Mall as a little girl, she was in awe. “Just seeing the lights and the costumes…the performances were just really magical the way they all came together,” she remembers. “As a six-year-old, it’s like wow.”
Meet the Iron Butterfly, the ninth-placed Olympian and two-time US national silver medalist, Polina Edmunds. And while Edmunds’ nickname fits the weightless way she maneuvers across ice, there’s more to it than that.
How Google’s downtown megacampus will transform San Jose’s art landscape. Interview with Alexa Arena, Google senior director of real estate development.
Elements of art, music, writing, philosophy and community come together in his laundry list of mainstays and bylines. Blogs, music collaborations, stores, galleries, design houses, dance crews, poetry, and activism are portions of his multifaceted persona. Try to label or define Dandiggity and you will quickly realize there may be no definition for what he does. Creator, organizer, and director all seem to fall short of capturing the energy and initiative that have made him one of the most diverse people you will meet.
East San Jose was arguably the hub of the lowrider golden age during the late ’70s and through the ’80s, despite its LA roots—a period Abel refers to as the “King and Story Days.” From Friday to Sunday, Low Conspiracy (which was 80-members strong at its peak) cruised the boulevard with dozens of other clubs late into the night. Thousands of car enthusiasts milled around on the sidewalks and daydreamed themselves into many a driver’s seat.
I would love to see more public space engagement… As a teenager, Ed Solis didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life,…
Helping Santa Clara County to become the healthiest region in the country, one home garden at a time. Raul Lozano hopes to have planted 20,000 gardens in Santa Clara County.
The Bay Area is the most recognized hub for synchronized swimming in the world. But while synchro remains strong, synchro in the United States as a whole has fallen behind.
As the 10th-largest city in the United States, San Jose’s local news offerings are startlingly sparse. The Mercury News has reduced its staff reporters in recent years, even while buying out many of the surrounding community newspapers. Metro fills some of the holes in San Jose coverage, but as a free weekly, its scope is limited. Online publications like Patch have struggled with readership, and TV news outlets spread their resources across the entire Bay Area. All of this leaves Silicon Valley residents with few opportunities to read about local politics, community issues, and other important news affecting their lives.
Since leaving his native Hawaii for UC Berkeley in 1985, writer and scholar Jeff Chang has emerged as a potent contemporary cultural critic and one of hip-hop’s leading advocates.
Jeff Chang may be one of today’s leading contemporary cultural scholars, but there are plenty of signs that he’s still very much a fan of the culture he writes about so eloquently and thoroughly.
Mikomi Yoshikawa-Baker, “Miko,” desperately wanted to protest the murder of George Floyd. But, given the police’s rampant use of tear gas and rubber bullets, she also wanted to keep herself and her young daughter away from the crowds. So she looked around the downtown neighborhoods, noticed all the boarded-up windows, and discovered the best way to join the movement—by calling in an army of creatives, buying up gallons of paint, and depicting powerful antiracist messages on the ubiquitous blank lumber.
Of the people, by the people, for the people: such is how the Conscious San Jose Festival came about—how it operates in every moment and how it dreams for the future of our world. It’s a celebration of yoga, wellness, music, art, food, but most of all, community—a rosy bubble of possibility where anyone is accepted, and everyone belongs.
Assisting with this mission is Michael Ogilvie, San Jose’s public art director. Seeking to deepen San Jose inhabitants’ appreciation of their home, Ogilvie leads the city’s public art program by stewarding over 250 works of art and research and also plans and evaluates public art projects.
Design a business plan for a mom and pop shop. Throw in all the extras, goodies, and toppings, like locally sourced content, community building, local economy boosting, and anything else that sounds good. Do not be shy, put it all in there. In fact, build your dream business. Have you got it in your head? OK, now take this business plan and put it in a blender.
With the misguided adoption of Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) this past January, Sacramento is undercutting fundamental parts of the ecosystem for the performing arts in California. The law has resulted in a multitude of scenarios in which artists are losing opportunities to create and California audiences are losing the opportunity to benefit immeasurably from experiencing the artists’ work.
Activist art is on the rise, particularly in the last two years. While it used to be rare to have art institutions hosting activist exhibitions, they are now being shown across the country and in locations that even just a few years ago would have seemed improbable. Imagine a gallery or museum in a conservative southern town having an exhibition on the theme of racism or Black Lives Matter. The whirlwind of rhetoric and hyperbole from the current administration spewing xenophobia, misogyny, and racism has galvanized artists into action, bringing to light injustice and inequalities.
It’s an overwhelming understatement to say this has already been a rough year for California’s creative ecosystem. No sooner had we begun to grapple with the unintended yet utterly predictable consequences of Assembly Bill 5 and explore potential solutions with lawmakers, COVID-19 came around and threw the whole world upside down.
The Voice of San Jose Originally appeared in issue 5.4, “Form,” 2013. Bob Kieve has been in a love affair for almost three-quarters of a century. Even at the age of 91, Kieve nourishes that love as president of Empire Broadcasting, which owns KLIV-AM, a news radio station, and Hot Country 95.3 KRTY in San […]
Building community through bicycling A cyclist yells the rally cry from within a colorful peloton of bikes. Other riders cheer on and ring their…
Search online for a San Jose gym that offers boxing, and you’ll find dozens that advertise this. Few are boxing exclusive. None have the Dreamland Boxing Training Center’s credentials…
Grab a seat behind the goal about halfway up the stands at Avaya Stadium. Take in the game and the air traffic of Mineta Airport in the distance, framed by the boxy downtown San Jose skyline and the peaks that form the Santa Clara Valley…
“We’re at a critical juncture in our evolution, and the startup buzz of possibilities is palpable. I experienced it when I came here in 2008 to build CreaTV San Jose,” recalls Suzanne St. John-Crane, former CEO of CreaTV and current CEO of American Leadership Forum – Silicon Valley.
Columnist Sal Pizarro Finds His Voice Growing up in the Bay Area, newspaper readers got to know Herb Caen and Leigh Weimers over their…
In the end, however we get our stor
ies, the important thing is to keep passing them on. People walking into Hicklebee’s at 1378 Lincoln…