I love this story. Over Labor Day weekend the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition packed up and moved their office from Willow Glen to a new location at 1922 The Alameda, San Jose. The SVBC advocates for cycling as an everyday transportation solution that’s good for the environment and healthy for the participants so naturally they accomplished this big move completely by bicycle.
They enlisted a team of over 20 volunteers, each with a trailer or some kind of load-carrying contrivance attached to a bicycle, and hauled everything. Computers, furniture, files…everything. They formed a ragtag caravan as they made the three mile trek. After they unloaded the bikes and carried everything to their new fourth floor office on my favorite stretch of El Camino Real, one of the volunteers won a new Burley Travoy trailer in a drawing.
I was immediately reminded of the 2010 Fourth of July Rose, White, & Blue Parade on The Alameda. The Cleveland Avenue neighborhood association entered a green-themed float entirely powered by bicycles. Carbon footprint: zero (assuming the huffing and puffing of the pedalers was too small to measure). It won first prize. The Bicycle Coalition move may not be quite as impressive a feat as the Murphy Party dragging covered wagons over the Sierra Nevada in 1844, but given the easier alternatives the SVBC could have chosen, their dedication to their cause is admirable as is the consistency of their message.
[Update] The SVBC is holding an open house at their new location. Come chat with other cyclists and enjoy some refreshments.
Last November I took a bus ride up El Camino Real from San Jose to San Francisco and blogged my impressions and observations. To avoid giving myself whiplash, that day I only looked out the right side of the bus at the eastern side of the street and doggedly ignored the left side so the job was only half done. Last Friday, September 3, 2010, I completed the task, taking the reverse bus trip from San Francisco down to San Jose, observing the west side. Back in November I scribbled all my notes on the bus by hand in a notebook and ended up taking four months to type them all up. It’s not that I’m a slow typist, it’s just that the scope of the project was much larger than I anticipated. For the second trip I found a more efficient way: I live-tweeted my journey.
If you’re unfamiliar with tweeting, it means I used my cell phone on the road to type and send text messages to the Twitter service. Twitter messages, or “tweets,” are limited to 140 characters each so it enforces brevity. A great advantage is that every message was timestamped and geocoded by GPS so I have a complete record of what I saw, when I saw it, and where I was. I tried to live in the moment and just write what was on my mind which means whatever happened to catch my eye out the bus window. I know it’s a pretty pedestrian read (irony intended) but I hope I conveyed a sense of El Camino’s diverse profile.
Below are my 167 tweets from that day from my brand new @allcamino twitter account. It took some effort to extract them all from Twitter’s web site. There are web apps that do this but they didn’t work for me because they rely on Twitter’s search engine which failed me, returning only six tweets (?!). I wrote a Perl script to convert their HTML to the format I wanted for the blog. To improve the readability I put each time stamp and location stamp against the right margin above each tweet. You can click the location links to open a Google map. My live-tweeting strategy worked great. Last year it took me four months to finish the writeup. Here I’ve done it in less than four days.
I cleaned the text up, fixing obvious two-left-thumb typos and grammar issues, but the content is largely raw and uncut. I’ve put a few editor notes in [square] brackets and added hyperlinks for your reference. I’ve written broader post-trip comments in between tweets in italics. You’ll see a bunch of the photos I took, many from the windows of the buses. Please excuse their quality. (more…)
The San Jose Earthquakes are hosting the L.A. Galaxy today at Buck Shaw Stadium on El Camino Real in Santa Clara. With the Galaxy come Landon Donovan and the Earthquakes have been hyping that fact to promote the match. It worked; the game is sold out. I had considered going to the game today but the scheduling didn’t work out. I was going to take my son for the fun of seeing Donovan, the hero of Team U.S.A. soccer, but I have since learned it isn’t that simple. Real Earthquakes fans, I’m learning, hate his guts.
Donovan started his MLS career at San Jose and was wildly successful, leading the club to championships in 2001 and 2003. The local fans loved him and were hugely supportive. Then in 2005 he was acquired by archrivals the L.A. Galaxy. Many in San Jose saw it as betrayal and have not forgiven him, though it wasn’t entirely his doing.
In parallel however Donovan has become nationally popular playing for Team U.S.A. in international football matches. He wore the red, white, and blue in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and in the 2002, 2006, and most recently 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. He will forever be remembered for his late goal on June 23, 2010 which lifted the U.S.A. over Algeria, earning us the top spot in the group and advancing us to the knockout round. My son and I watched that match that morning and when Donovan scored we lost our freaking minds, jumping around, embracing, hollering with elation.
National hero, local villain. What’s a fan to do? The San Jose Mercury News interviewed some Earthquakes superfans and it’s clear where they stand:
“When he puts on the U.S. national team shirt he’s Landon Donovan, Team USA,” said Alex Davidson, leader of the Quakes fan club the Casbah. “As soon as he takes that shirt off he’s the guy who betrayed us.”
San Jose’s Brando Erazo, a member of the 1906 Ultras fan group, is even less poetic: “I still hate him. Nothing will ever change it. I don’t care if he ever comes back here.”
Perhaps it’s good we aren’t going today. I can’t call myself a loyal Earthquakes fan or a huge soccer fan. I’ve only been to one Earthquakes game and I only pay attention to international soccer every four years when the World Cup rolls around. I hate to think what would have happened if I had brought my son to Buck Shaw today and we blithely cheered Donovan as he took the field. At the one game we went to, the final home game last season against the New York Red Bulls, I was surprised and impressed by the vigor and volume of the San Jose fans with their non-stop songs, noisemakers, and loving support. They are fantastic. San Jose isn’t known for hooliganism, but I’d hate to go down in history as the guy who sparked it.
MLS Soccer
San Jose Earthquakes v Los Angeles Galaxy
Aug 21 – Saturday, 1:00PM
Buck Shaw Stadium
500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara 95050 http://www.sjearthquakes.com/
San Jose Bike Party is tonight and once again they are taking it to The Street, El Camino Real. To finish out the route the riders will be hopping on El Camino in Santa Clara at Los Padres Blvd and following it all the way down through The Alameda into downtown San Jose, ending at City Hall. The theme Hot August Lights is a play on Reno’s Hot August Nights so there will be bikes tricked out in their finest regalia and sporting plenty of lights (a sly way to promote bike safety). If that’s not El Camino love, I don’t know what is.
Indeed the ride starts tonight at San Jose City Hall, located at East Santa Clara Street and South Fourth. The food trucks will be there in force to send them off fully fueled: MoGo BBQ, QuickDog, Kalbi BBQ, and The Louisiana Territory. Treatbot would be there but sadly they’re having vehicle trouble. One commenter on Facebook quipped they should find some bicycles to tow the truck; there will be no shortage of pedal power tonight!
In addition there will be something special at the kick-off (roll-off?): a performance by Japanese drum troupe San Jose Taiko. They are promoting their Rhythm Spirit 2010 Concert, coming September 10-11 to the Campbell Heritage Theatre. Ei ja nai ka!
Bike Party. For those about to roll, we salute you!
My wife was lucky enough to win tickets to the San Jose Jazz Festival this past weekend and I’m smart enough to be married to her in a community property state, so on Saturday the family headed downtown to enjoy some sunshine and great music. I could go on and on about our new favorite thing, chimney bread, or the delicious Creole food we ate, or my spectacular mudd pie brownie sundae, or Paulette’s authentic East Coast Italian ice. You’d have to physically shut me up if I started to describe Maceo Parker‘s funkdified set, or Marcus Miller‘s transcendent recreation of Miles Davis classics. But I’m not here to tell you about that. I’m here to tell you about the Sunnyvale Art Gallery.
While we were at the Jazz Festival, the Sunnyvale Art Gallery was holding the “Trash to Treasure” event I plugged on Friday. I really wanted to check it out so we left San Jose and hightailed it up to their location on El Camino in Sunnyvale, across the street from the Cherry Orchard. We caught the very end of it. Sadly we missed the live music, but it’s not like we were starving for tunes that day. Three painters were still hard at work on their masterpieces so I had a chance to chat with them.
Oscar’s a computer scientist who’s currently studying art. His piece depicts a child begging on the streets of his native Mexico City. I told him, a little embarrassed, that my first impression was of a soccer player because the stark white shirt reminded me of a jersey. It’s done completely in spray paint and he was adding the final circle elements with a stencil as we showed up. I was amazed at the subtle skin tones he achieved. I have no idea how he did that with spray paint, though I can tell you he had an awful lot of cans with him. I’m guessing they were labeled something like “flesh #1,” “flesh #2,” “flesh #3,” etc.
Graphic designer Angela was halfway through her painting, a tribute to imagination in which a young woman puts pen to paper and creates limitless visions with tiny capoeira dancers giving body to her flights of fancy. Angela and her subject were inspired by the Shel Silverstein poem “Listen to the Mustn’ts.” Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.
Heather created a dramatic landscape in two halves, one side showing a flaming sky behind living flora, the other showing charred trunk skeletons on a cool evening. I loved the sense of opposites in balance, a multi-dimensional yin and yang. Her day job is producing artwork and lettering signs for Trader Joe’s grocery stores, but it was clear she enjoyed letting loose here.
All the artists I talked to enjoyed their day making art in each other’s company though it was grueling. Oscar worked on his painting for about seven hours and was exhilarated but exhausted. Tim the owner of the gallery told me the event was a success. Five bands performed throughout the day, and other painters were there earlier to decorate some erstwhile “trash.” Everyone looks forward to coming out and doing this again.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the gallery’s cafe. We all ordered sandwiches, though I neglected mine for a bit while I was chatting with the artists. Tammy, Tim’s sister, whipped up some fantastic paninis: pastrami for me, bulgogi and a salad for Paulette, and grilled cheese for our son. I had eaten there earlier in the week and had the barbecued roast beef, also delicious. Their sandwiches are all named for artists: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Dali. I’ll leave it to you to guess which is which.
It was yet another winning event on El Camino Real. I have to smile at the creative spirit which continues to thrive on this Grand Boulevard. I hope they have another Living Art session soon. When they do I’ll be there because I want to check out the live music. With apologies to Vincent, I’ll be all ears.
When I met Bill Wulf at the Rose, White, and Blue Parade on the Fourth of July, we got to talking about other local historians like Clyde Arbuckle and Ralph Rambo, both of whom he personally knew. He told me I needed to check out the work of Patricia Loomis. I was familiar with her name but had never seen any of her books. I looked her up in the San Jose Library catalog and saw that they had copies but they could not be checked out because they were signed by the author and had to stay in the King Library’s California Room.
Not long after, I was refreshing my Google bookshelf and remembered to add Pat’s books to the list. On a lark I Googled her to see what else I could find out about her and was sadly shaken to find she had passed away only a week prior. On a bittersweet note, just a few weeks before that she had celebrated her 90th birthday with a big party at San Jose Historic Park. Here’s a timeline that shows how these events all converged inside the span of 30 days.
6/30/2010 Pat celebrates her 90th Birthday at San Jose History Park
7/4/2010 Bill Wulf tells me to check out Pat’s books
7/4/2010 Paulette and I watch fireworks at San Jose History Park
7/20/2010 Pat passes away in Arroyo Grande, her hometown
7/27/2010 A memorial service is held at the South County Historical Society Heritage House
7/29/2010 I learn all this when I randomly Google her
Pat was born in San Francisco in 1920 and grew up in Arroyo Grande near Pismo Beach. She came to San Jose to attend San Jose State University and stayed for over 60 years. She took a job at the Mercury News as a reporter but most famously between 1971 and 1981 she wrote a weekly column called “Signposts” in which she presented the history of the streets of Santa Clara County and the pioneers they were named after. That’s right, a history of the streets. This is why Bill Wulf turned me on to her. Select columns were published in two volumes called Signposts and Signposts II by the San Jose Historical Museum, the same group that runs History Park.
Last week I was up in Menlo Park and discovered a wonderfully funky used bookstore on El Camino called Feldman’s Books. I went inside and made a bee’s line to the California history section to see if maybe, just maybe they had one of Pat’s books. Eureka!
Signposts II is a delightful book. The table of contents reads like a South Bay atlas: Bascom Avenue, Lawrence Expessway, Montague Expressway, and more. The very first article, Abel Road in Milpitas, mentions Oakland Road and Main Street which pass by Henry Abel’s old cow pasture. I had been wondering about Abel since it has superceded Main Street in the modern era, and now I know all about it. I learned that Henry Abel’s granddaughter Mrs. John Donovan developed Serra Shopping Center in Milpitas, a kitschy tribute to Padre Junípero. Each page is deeply researched, vibrantly narrated, and illustrated with vintage photographs. I’ll treasure it.
She wrote another seminal history book called Milpitas: a Century of Little Cornfields, 1852-1952. It’s featured in the Milpitas Historical Society’s permanent display at the Great Mall.
Pat stayed active. After retiring to Arroyo Grande she wrote two more books: Streets of Arroyo Grande and Arroyo Grande Cemetery, which incidentally is located on El Camino Real down there. Clearly she was a girl after my own heart.
My wife went out of town for an overnight business trip. When that happens, my son and I usually find a way to get into a little he-man mischief. Last night we threw a couple camp chars and blankets in the car, grabbed a nutritious meal from Jack-in-the-Box, and headed to San Pedro Square to watch “The Goonies” outdoors in a big Downtown San Jose block party. Don’t tell my wife that we stayed up way past our bedtimes.
The San Jose Downtown Association has been putting on these Wednesday night “Starlight Cinema” events all summer long in three different locations: San Pedro Square at Santa Clara Street, the Historic District on Post Street between First and Market, and SoFA District at South First and William. This week’s “The Goonies” was the last showing at San Pedro Square this summer, but the other two locations still have upcoming features:
August 18, 2010 “Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3-D”, Historic District
August 25, 2010 “Zombieland”, SoFA
Believe it or not my son and I had never seen “The Goonies.” You: “You’ve never seen ‘The Goonies?!?'” Me: “Yeah, I know, right?” What’s more I didn’t know anything about it. I heard of it and I knew it was about kids and I remember confusing it with “Gremlins” when it came out, but that was it. I didn’t know the plot or who was in it. I acknowledge this is pretty strange because I was a kid when it came out, the same age as some of the actors in the movie. I saw many of its similar contemporaries like “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Lost Boys” but somehow “The Goonies” never made it on my to-do queue.
One thing I did know is that people my age love this movie. Our friends at GeekDad.com wrote a moving tribute to its timeless appeal on the occasion of its 25th anniversary this year on June 7. The town of Astoria, Oregon, where it was filmed, hosted a special celebration with a red carpet screening, a bus tour of film locations, a meet & greet with the cast, and a picnic.
San Jose didn’t go quite that far but last night was a lot of fun. We got to San Pedro Square about 8:00 PM, parking in the $3 flat-rate city garage there. The crowd was already sizable but we managed to find a couple spots on the curb for our chairs. A little to the left we would have been behind a lamp post and a little to the right we would have been a safety hazard obstructing the sidewalk, so we did alright though our view was partially blocked by an especially high-backed folding chair in front of us. It was a little hard to hear the sound system but it got better once the movie started and the audience quieted down. There were a couple tables on the opposite curb promoting the Downtown Association, Broadway San Jose, and selling movie snacks and drinks. My son opted for Milk Duds. I prefer Red Vines myself, but I respect his choices.
There was some pre-show entertainment. Fans participated in a treasure hunt where they had to collect clues at various local restaurants. If they found a key they got a chance to try opening a treasure chest live in front of the crowd. The winner found Broadway San Jose tickets inside; the losers won various raffle prizes. Then the organizers held a trivia contest with additional goodies, but my son and I tried to ignore the questions in case there were spoilers. They showed four shorts produced by local filmmakers participating in the Cinequest/Adobe Youth Voices program, then around 9:00 PM the feature presentation began.
It was a good adventure flick. I didn’t love it; it was a bit too contrived and there was way too much screaming for my grownup sensibilities (“WAAAUUUGGGHHH…!!!”). The characters were crazy fun though, and the kid actors delivered some great performances. I had no idea Sean Astin and Josh Brolin were in this movie and I didn’t even recognize them. My son’s favorite character was Sloth and football fan that he is, was delighted to learn John Matuszak played for the Raiders.
I did get goosebumps as the Goonies unlocked the secrets of One-Eyed Willie’s treasure map and its Spanish legend. Corny as it sounds it reminded me of my own map quests, poring over high-res scans of sepia parchments trying to decipher centuries-old Spanish. And I understood what drove Mikey on. It wasn’t gold, it was the feeling that there was something out there to discover that would unlock something inside. He found his, and the deeper I dig into El Camino Real, the closer I get to mine.
I’ve written about Treatbot a few times, San Jose’s own Karaoke-enabled ice cream food truck. We first learned of them in April at Calvin’s Second Anniversary celebration. I’m not normally very observant but I surprised myself by noticing that the address printed on Treatbot was the same as Calvin’s! Ryan the owner explained to me that food vans need a permanent address, so his is Calvin’s. Personally, I think Treatbot just wanted the upscale The Alameda address. I was very impressed by the whole conceptand the ice cream sandwichbut I was soon to learn it was just the tip of the iceberg.
A month later while at work I saw a very random message on Twitter retweeted by @aroundfremont:
MoGo BBQ Lunch time! Join us for lunch 12pm at 399 S main st milpitas! Come out be featured in PACMAN”S 30th anniversary video! they will be giving out free stuff today and cool PACMAN gear!
I like lunch, I like Pac-Man, and I work in Milpitas, so at the appointed hour I was there. That’s when I learned about MoGo.
Like Treatbot they are a new-wave mobile food vendor. MoGo serves up Mexican-Asian fusion cuisine such as Kimchi Quesadillas and Tofu Burritos. I tried a couple pork tacos with MoGo vinaigrette with a side of Kimchi rice. Very tasty.
A coworker told me that these gourmet food trucks are very popular in Los Angeles and now they’re on the rise up in the Bay Area. They can be found all over the country. They even have their own elimination-style road trip reality TV show, “The Great Food Truck Race” with Tyler Florence on The Food Network. Obviously food trucks have been around forever, known colloquially by an unflattering rhyme I won’t repeat here (hint: it’s not “broach poach”), but they’ve always been plain unimaginative affairs, more a convenience than a culinary experience. This new generation has found a formula to energize the whole concept of meals on wheels.
The first element is food with a hook. Treatbot sells locally-made hand-scooped ice cream, not packaged frozen novelties like your typical music-box-cranking ice cream truck. MoGo and Bulkalbi have the Mexican-Asian fusion thing going on which is exotic even in multicultural San Jose. Other trucks go high-end, serving dishes you’d normally only find in fine restaurants.
The second element is marketing. Each truck works hard to create a unique identity and memorable customer experience. Treatbot…Karaoke…say no more. They have clever names, flashy paint jobs, and bubbly servers. They’re most known for using social networking sites to attract and retain clientele: Facebook, YouTube, Yelp, you name it. (Humorously their mobile nature defeats Foursquare; it can’t keep up.) I follow them all on Twitter and let me tell you, when I get that daily deluge of lunchtime locations and menus du jour, it gets the juices flowing. Last week three of them showed up within walking distance of my job on three different days; I took the bait and ate at all three.
Let me know if I missed any. I haven’t tried them all yet, but I will. I know where to find them.
Naturally these trucks often find their way to El Camino Real. Heck, Treatbot lives there. The MoGo Pac-Man event was on Main Street in Milpitas. It’s not an opening at The Usuals unless Treatbot is there. A few nights ago MoGo and Curry Up Now were both on El Camino at the same time for dinner, a couple miles apart. They know what’s up.
Here’s what I really like about these trucks: when they show up, they create an event. Namco chose to tag along with MoGo, tapping into some street excitement to celebrate Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary. They filmed this video behind the truck. It works both ways; the trucks go where the action is, often in pairs. Bike Party, National Night Out, festivals, holidays. Social networks in tow, every time they park it’s an instant meet-up.
I feel were right at the beginning of this movement and I wouldnt be surprised to see an explosion of variety in the next couple years. Theres plenty of room for innovation too. This is Silicon Valley. How about online ordering? GPS tracking? Electronic payment? Alternative fuel vehicles? (Treatbot is propane-powered!) Um…chairs! The sky’s the limit and the road is open.
As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a hipster: live in the cool places, wear the cool clothes, drink the cool beverages. Too bad that’s not my lot in life. I’ve spent my entire existence 37.5° out of phase with the rest of the world which means being hip has always been a mathematical impossibility for me. A little too much behind the beat but not enough to turn you on. I do know hip when I see it though, and I got more than an eyeful at The Usuals last week on The Alameda.
The Usuals is a clothing and accessories boutique that opened in April. It’s owned by brother-and-sister team Mike and Mari Millares, San Jose natives who have a longtime passion for fashion. They also have deep love for their home town so they created a shop that uniquely celebrates clothes and the San Jo’. This is most immediately evident in Mike’s Deadstok line of printed tee shirts, especially his iconic “I ♥ SJ” design with a teal shark-jawed heart. That’s how I came to learn of The Usuals. They had a booth at the Rose, White, & Blue festival and were selling “The Alameda” shirts. Pinch me. “Um…I’ll take one of those.” My first visit to the brick-and-mortar store however was Friday, July 23 when they hosted an event. What kind of event? That takes a bit of explaining. The best way I can describe it is: it was a San Jose mashup.
The Usuals is a clothing store, so clothes of course were the focus. They feature their own clothing designs as well as lines from other local designers. On top of that they host rotating art exhibits in the store so the Friday event was an opening reception for a Lost San Jose photography exhibit which will run until August 24. But wait, there’s more. In the back of the store they held a trunk show, showcasing jewelry from local artists. I’m not done. They presented a fashion show with some help from models from Ready2model, a talent agency. The models were styled on-site by 5 Color Cowboy, a salon further up The Alameda. The event was a fundraiser; they donated part of their Deadstok sales to the Trace Elementary School rebuilding fund to help them recover from their devastating July 5 fire. [Click here to donate by check or PayPal so classrooms can be ready before the kids start school in the fall.] They had a DJ from The Bangerz Crew providing atmosphere and an MC, Don Prahfit, freestyling during the fashion show. Inside they had refreshments provided by Chris Talosig. Outside they had ice cream and karaoke provided by Treatbot. Get the picture? I’m tired just describing it all.
Our whole family had quite The Alameda evening. We started with dinner at Tee Nee Thai. It was my wife’s first time and she loved it. I had the amazing Mussamun Lamb and asked for it hot but not “Thai hot;” I may be stupid but I’m not crazy. We enjoyed chatting with our friendly Tee Nee waitress who confirmed it’s a family-owned place staffed by cousins. She thinks an uncle came up with the name because the place is so small. “You should see our kitchen,” she said. I think this is becoming my favorite Thai restaurant because the vibe is so warm and homey and every dish I’ve had there has been a winner.
Afterwards we rolled down to The Usuals, stepped inside, and my head started to spin from sensory overload. There was so much going on, I couldn’t process it. Clothes, photos, music, people, jewelry, live hair-styling. Most disconcertingly there were models walking around the store being photographed by paparazzi. I’m just not used to this. It seemed every time I stopped somewhere to catch a breath, I was in somebody’s way, awkward like an ox, so I did the only sensible thing. I stepped outside for some ice cream.
Treatbot was there with their van. Treatbot is one of the South Bay’s social-network-promoted roving upscale food trucks, a trend that’s sweeping the nation. They sell ice cream sandwiches and cones but they have a gimmick: there’s a karaoke machine attached to the truck. Instant party. A customer was serenading his family with “Superfreak” as I was placing my order. “Temptations, sing!” I ordered an ice cream sandwich on chocolate chip cookies and the flavor I chose was “408,” a lascivious chocolate concoction with caramel ribbon and Oreo cookie crumbs. It was sinfully heaven. I think the flavor is their own original creation; their ice cream is made locally.
Sufficiently bumped up to a higher energy level, I once again broached The Usuals and this time managed to sync up with my surroundings. I had a great talk with Josh Marcotte, the photographer behind Lost San Jose. His granddad was an old-time San Jose resident and history buff so Josh grew up hearing stories and appreciating our landmarks and neighborhoods. Recently however he became increasingly aware of how the past is fading away, either on its own or hurried along by development and progress. Parts of San Jose are becoming “lost.” At first he tried to capture some of the receding treasures in writing, then taught himself photography and took to the lens instead. He walks around and snaps images of aged architecture and decaying city scapes. The result is a haunting, evocative collection. His interest resonates with my El Camino Real obsession, and he has inspired me to kick my own photography up a notch.
I did in fact have my camera with me so I took a bunch of photos. Josh brought his enchanting collection of vintage cameras and had them on display in the store. Cameras as it turns out are extremely photogenic. Also photogenic was Eva, a model who tirelessly circulated around the store all night promoting Ready2model, cheerfully posing for anyone with a camera, your humble blogger included.
It was a great evening. I’m not much for nightlife so it was a real treat to get out and hang with the hipper set for a while. I love that The Usuals are on The Alameda. The Millares exhibit a blend of creativity, currency, and community-sense that will drive The Alameda’s Town Center to new pinnacles of cool. I may not be hip enough to go there with them, but at least I’ll be able to say I bought the tee shirt.
I’m shocked and dismayed to report that Calvin’s Cheesesteaks on The Alameda had a fire last week and is now closed with “significant fire, smoke, and water damage.” The fire was caused by a problem in an ice machine on July 11. The restaurant was not open at the time and there were no injuries.
Distressingly the Mercury News reports that the traumatic stress of the fire caused the owner, Jonne Aleeson, to be briefly hospitalized. I have no updates but I trust he is recovering swiftly.
You’ll recall my wife and I were last at Calvin’s on the Fourth of July. We hadn’t heard about the fire but on July 17 we happened to drive by and noticed some of Calvin’s things out on the sidewalk but thought nothing of it. Oddly enough on July 19 my wife took some co-workers there for lunch and that’s when she learned of the fire. I say “oddly enough” because that’s the day the Mercury News published its story.
As it so happens Calvin’s had been working on opening a second location nearby at 1699 San Carlos. Work continues on that and it should be completed soon. The Alameda location will re-open pending insurance and repairs. It could take a month or longer. San Carlos is a fine road, but it’s no El Camino Real.
Readers of this blog will surely know that we love Calvin’s. The sandwiches are second-to-none, but what makes the place so very special to us is Mr. Aleeson. We’ve been privileged to spend some time with him in his restaurant and get to know him and watch him interact with the community. He’s a remarkable guy, warm and generous. He’s also toughnot with people, but with life. Even before this fire he has endured challenges and trials that should not be asked of anyone, but his faith in God and the love of his family and friends have brought him through. In heartfelt moments he openly shares how Blessed he considers himself to be, and listening to him teaches me what Blessed truly means.
This fire is really unfortunate, but we can be thankful it wasn’t worse than it was. Plaster and wood can be replaced and I look forward to that happening as soon as possible. My prayers are for “Mr. Calvin” (as I call him) to recover his health and once again find the strength to carry on. We miss him, The Alameda needs him, and I envision a spectacular Grand Re-Opening where we can can all show him how much we love and appreciate him.
They enlisted a team of over 20 volunteers, each with a trailer or some kind of load-carrying contrivance attached to a bicycle, and hauled everything. Computers, furniture, files…everything. They formed a ragtag caravan as they made the three mile trek. After they unloaded the bikes and carried everything to their new fourth floor office on my favorite stretch of El Camino Real, one of the volunteers won a new Burley Travoy trailer in a drawing.
I was immediately reminded of the 2010 Fourth of July Rose, White, & Blue Parade on The Alameda. The Cleveland Avenue neighborhood association entered a green-themed float entirely powered by bicycles. Carbon footprint: zero (assuming the huffing and puffing of the pedalers was too small to measure). It won first prize. The Bicycle Coalition move may not be quite as impressive a feat as the Murphy Party dragging covered wagons over the Sierra Nevada in 1844, but given the easier alternatives the SVBC could have chosen, their dedication to their cause is admirable as is the consistency of their message.
