San Jose Community Information

THIS WEEKEND, the campaign to designate a Little Italy neighborhood in San Jose will blossom even more when a gala fundraising dinner erupts on Saturday (Nov. 21) at 100 N. Almaden Ave. The Little Italy San Jose committee will host a grand-scale evening of authentic Italian cuisine and entertainment—a multipronged effort to raise $200,000 for an official Italian business and cultural district. The funds will go toward three new gateway arches to the old River Street neighborhood, plus murals depicting Italian-American history in Santa Clara County to be installed underneath the Guadalupe Freeway underpass. » Read More

A FREE-FLOATING columnist can find the muse in any crowd, whether it’s billionaire pioneers of the computer industry or Finnish astrologer/filmmakers who write books expanding on Timothy Leary’s eight-circuit brain model for intelligence increase. And in the last few weeks, that’s exactly what I did. » Read More

HAD THIS WEEK’S COLUMN occupied the inside back cover of Mad magazine, the author would have opened with “Here we go again with another ridiculous review of an Arcadia Publishing photo book.” Or something along those lines. Instead, he will state upfront that yet one more San Jose–related book from Arcadia’s Images of America series, simply titled, Silicon Valley, has been unleashed upon the public. » Read More

APROPOS of this week’s issue—Metro’s annual Best Of installment—allow me to yak about a few events taking place this weekend honoring the legacy of world-renowned skateboarder and San Jose local Tim “Beans” Brauch, who departed this life 10 years ago. On May 9, 1999, at the young age of 25, Tim passed away of sudden cardiac arrest, but by that time, he had pretty much already conquered the skating universe. » Read More

IN CASE YOU weren’t there, the urban-blight exploration junkie played his greatest hits on Auzerais Avenue, Stockton Avenue, 24th Street and in the parking lot of the Pink Elephant Center. The junkie had recently been in recovery, but after reading the wonderful book Touring Historic Willow Glen: Ten Walking Loops, he immediately relapsed and needed to kill the pain at all costs. » Read More