There’s never been a shortage of “colorful” language to be heard in downtown San Jose’s Fountain Alley, but these days that language is actually about colors: bright blues, vibrant reds and summery yellows.
Last month, Urban Community — which owns the connected buildings that face both Fountain Alley and East Santa Clara Street — had the office and retail spaces painted. And this month, crews are working on the building facades that face East Santa Clara Street. Jeff Arrillaga, one of the principals at Urban Community, told me they’re doing whatever they can to add vibrancy to the area and help draw attention to the buildings’ tenants.
That group includes the new chicken sandwich hot spot, Scratch Cookery, as well as The City Fish, Pastelaria Adega and Fox Tale Fermentation Project. A second Academic Coffee location and Goodtime Bar, which will serve wine and beer along with charcuterie plates, will join Scratch on the Fountain Alley side in the coming weeks and months.
And if you’re wondering just how much difference a bit of paint can make, compare it to the infamous Dr. Eu buildings across the street on the corner of Second and Santa Clara. The historic structure, which was restored in 2008, has been vacant for decades and now has all its ground floor windows and doors boarded up because of damage.
If I had one wish, though, it would be for the restoration of the historic Firato deli sign attached to 30 E. Santa Clara Street. With all the new paint, its wear-and-tear is really showing.
SPECIAL DELIVERY TO UKRAINE: The San Jose Fire Department is sending more than $1 million in equipment to help life-saving operations by first responders in Ukraine, through a partnership with the nonprofit group Nova Ukraine and the Edmonton, Alberta-based Firefighter Aid Ukraine.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Assistant Fire Chief James Williams made the announcement Thursday outside the department’s training facility on Barack Obama Boulevard, joined by Firefighter Aid Ukraine’s Aaron Hindle and Nick Bilogorskiy, co-chair of Nova Ukraine. San Jose Deputy Chief Aaron Freyler was a key organizer of the donation, both Liccardo and Williams said.
The donation itself consists of hundreds of self-contained breathing apparatuses, along with air packs, regulators and air-breathing cylinders. You might think that especially here in California, San Jose’s firefighters might need to use this equipment instead of giving it away. But Williams said that the department recently replaced a large stock and was retiring this older equipment as a result.
“Firefighting is a calling, a calling firefighters across the world have answered,” Williams said. “We know our fellow firefighters in Ukraine are facing dire circumstances as we speak.”
CARS AND MORE CARS: There’s a cavalcade of car events coming up over the next few weeks, starting with Streetlow Magazine’s Lowrider Car Show and Concert on July 10 at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. War and the Delfonics will provide the music to go with the custom lowriders, muscle cars, trucks, motorcycles and even bicycles on display from noon to 6 p.m. Tickets are $40 and are available at Eventbrite.com.
Then on July 24, the Saratoga Car Show roars back to life, with more than 200 classic — or just cool — cars on display along Big Basin Way, along with live music, food trucks and local brews and wines. The free event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be preceded the morning of July 23 by the Tri-City Cruise, where you can catch some of those cool cars in motion from Saratoga to Los Gatos and Campbell. Check out the details at www.saratogacarshow.com.
And you can mark your calendars for the 22nd annual Antique Autos show, which the Santa Clara Valley Model T Ford Club is bringing back to San Jose’s History Park on Sept. 17. That’ll include more than 200 vehicles, including fire equipment, bikes and motorcycles, made before 1946.
Source: www.mercurynews.com