After decades of being the place not to go, San Jose’s downtown has become a center for the arts and, believe it or not, a scene with nightlife beyondrough-and-tumble clubs. These days, the neo-mods and art lovers are infiltrating the clubbers’ territory, along with theatergoers enjoying the reopened California Theatre.
Downtown looks a lot better nowadays, too: the city laid out $508 million for its shiny-new ultramodern city hall, and the eye-catching Martin Luther King Library showcases fine-art displays on every floor and even in some of the bathrooms. Near the sites of future high-rise housing developments, South First Street— aka SoFa—has transformed over the past year into a funky scene that feels like a cross between SoMa and the Mission. “We used to have to go to San Francisco to feel alive, but now we have inspiration right here at home,” says Jenny Do, owner of the Green Rice Gallery. On the first Friday of each month, assorted galleries open their doors from “8 until late,” and hundreds attend. “It’s sort of like Burning Man. At first there was just this elite crowd, but now it’s trending toward mainstream,” says the downtown association’s Rick Jensen. Some artists even—gasp!—prefer San Jose to San Francisco, where “it’s all about the scene,” says Cherri Lakey of the Anno Domini gallery. “People in San Jose are here to look at the art, not at what other people are wearing.”
GALLERIES
Stepping in gum and driving by Braille were both conceptual elements of recent exhibits at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. Contentious art is a 24/7 affair here; videos play in the front and back windows all night. 451 S. First St.
The third floor of an office building is an unlikely place for a cultural oasis, but the Green Rice Gallery is just that. Thanks to owner Jenny Do, “all of the silent Vietnamese artists who’ve been painting night after night in their garages” now have somewhere to show and sell their stacks of work. 300 S. First St.
At the forefront of community art is Anno Domini, with an exterior adorned with murals. One by San Jose’s David Choe features a pregnant woman who appears to be smoking a cigarette with fingers bigger than her head. 366 S. First St.
Supporting over 150 local Latino artists, MACLA (Moviemiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana) cross-pollinates a Latino and non-Latino following. 510 S. First St.
MUSEUMS
The San Jose Museum of Art has always featured innovative local work, like San Francisco–born Mildred Howard’s Abode: Sanctuary for the Familia(r), featuring a house made of blue bottles. 110 S. Market St.
At the Tech Museum, you can arm wrestle someone in New York, program Mr. Potato Head, and get in touch with your inner innovator. 201 S. Market St.
THE TALK
Despite its new life, this clubby hood remains rough around the edges. Gallerist Do admits the clubs bring traffic, but not necessarily the kind SoFa wants. Still, constantly circling cop cars mostly keep a lid on late-night rowdiness.
THE GRUB
The cool kids lounge on benches at the just-opened Naglee Park Garage, a cross between a 1920s gas station and a Hansel and Gretel cottage that serves meatcentric home cooking. 505 E. San Carlos st.
City Hall and Adobe workers snap up Dakao’s $2 Vietnamese sandwiches. 98 E. San Salvador St.
Since 1977, theater- and symphonygoers have stopped at Eulipia for chicken breast with melted brie (on the menu for 25 years) and lemon-lime pie (served for the last decade). 374 S. First St.
THE HANGOUTS
When a festival, art fair, or concert isn’t under way at the Plaza de Cesar Chavez, families picnic while their kids dart through fountains designed to be jumped in. Market St. at Park Ave.
After the California Theatre’s $75 million restoration two years ago, its 1927 interior is so posh and its acoustics so sound that Steve Jobs announced Apple’s latest offerings there (and Bono and Tim Allen dropped in to hear about the forthcoming iPod video capability last fall). 345 S. First St.
NIGHTLIFE
Mission types head to the SoFa Lounge for dancing, cocktails, and a mix of local bands and DJs. When patrons get the munchies, owner Michael Borkenhagen raids his dad’s kitchen downstairs at Eulipia for provisions. 372 S. First St.
South First Billiards has 29 antique Olhausen pool tables, plus a full bar and dinner menu featuring better-than-average bar food, like drunken bratwurst. 420 S. First St.
WHAT IT COSTS
…to rent: $1,770 for a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot apartment at 101 San Fernando St.
…to buy: $599,500 for a two-bedroom, 1,440-square-foot Paseo Plaza townhouse at 144 S. Third St.
ONLY HERE
What was supposed to be San Jose’s crown jewel–a $500,000 public art commission–is often called a giant dog turd. The city kept sending sculptor Robert Graham back to the drawing board to create the half-serpent, half-bird Aztec god; instead of a bronze piece, they got a rockcrete sculpture bearing little resemblance to the mock-ups.
ON THIS SPOT
If you chat up veteran waiters at Original Joe’s, they’ll tell you a tale. They say this outpost of San Francisco’s Italian institution was built because the owners disapproved of their son Babe Rocca Jr.’s playboy lifestyle in the city and wanted to relocate him to the sticks. (Rocca’s son denies this, saying his dad was a family man.) But life in San Jose wasn’t so squeaky-clean; rumor has it, a brothel operated above the restaurant for years. 301 S. First St.