Feast Issue 5.5

SAN JOSE’S

INNOVATIVE E V I T A E R C & ULTURE C

CONTENT Issue 5.5_Feast

featuring: Ryan Sebastian_moveable feast Dan Dixon _Crewners Trina Merry _BodyPainter Ibi Oluwole _Ibiss Boutique content magazine, san jose

Feast 5.5 $9.95

J.Lohr Winemakers dredg

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CONTENT Issue 5.5 “Feast” Dec. 2013 /Jan. 2014 The Makers: Cultivator Daniel Garcia Marketeer Sarah Garcia Managing Editor Flora Moreno de Thompson Writers/Editors Gillian Claus, Lynn Peithman Stock Publishing Consultant Alyssa Byrkit

Writers Mark Haney, Leah Ammon, Kathyrn Hunts, Jennifer Elias, Susan Chmelir, Lam Nyuyen, Victoria Felicity, Steveyann Jensen, Charles Becker, Shona Sanzgiri Designers Jeff Gardner, Sean Lopez, Brian Gomez, Kristine Young, Kim Galanto Photographers Gregory Cortez, Scott MacDonald, Daniel Gaines, Thomas Webb, Ajay Fay, Lam Nyuyen, Kim + Phil, Victoria Felicity

Distribution Sarah Hall

This is the season of celebrations, office parties, and family gatherings…times to reflect spiritually and to look forward to next year’s opportunities. In this issue we present a few places and people that can be a part of your holiday gift giving, dining, and celebrating. And we wish you and yours the very best in this season and into the new year.

We are also celebrating two years of producing a high quality print publication that discovers and displays the talented people of the South Bay. And we are still finding more stories to share! We look forward to exploring more in 2014 and thank all the contributors, subscribers, and sponsors that make Content possible. And with that, we “raise a glass” to celebrate—with all that is implied in a FEAST! Enjoy.

Daniel Garcia

IN THIS ISSUE Dredg / Ryan Sebastian / Dan Dixon / Trina Merry / Ibi Oluwole / Charlie Mann / Jordan Trigg To participate in Content Magazine: editor@content-magazine.com Subscription & Advertising Information available by contacting sarahg@content-magazine.com

Fine dining * catering * take out * banquets * gift cards

deliciously cuban!

FUNDADA

EN 1994

Habana Cuba RESTAURANT

Lunch: Tuesday- Friday 1 am-2pm Dinner: Tuesday-Thursday 5-9pm LU=== Friday-Saturday 5-10pm Sunday 5-9pm 238 race st , SJ Ca * 408.998.2822 * www.998cuba.com

Content FEAST 5.5

Winter 2013 San Jose, California

Non-stop 6

SJC to LIH

Perspective 8

San Pedro Square Market

Design

12 Industrial Design, Elemental 8 14 Graphic Design, Keith Teleki 18 Interior Design, Sal Wikke

Art

18 Digital View, James Henry and Neil Wood 24 Bodypainting, Trina Merry 28 Youth Story Tellers, Cinequest’s Picture the Possibilities

J. Lohr Winery pg. 43

Profiles

32 Crewners, Dan Dixon 34 J. Lohr Winemakers, The Lohrs 38 Entrepreneur, Todd Beauchamp 42 Restaurateurs, Charlie Mann & Jordan Trigg

FOod & Drink

44 Orchestria Palm Court, Mark Williams 46 Strike Brewing Co., Jenny Lewis & Brewmaster Drew Erlich 48 Moveable Feast, Ryan Sebastian 52 Sacred Heart Community Services

Style

Orchestria Palm Court, pg. 44

54 Ibiss Owner, Ibi Oluwole 58 WinterBliss, Fashion Editorial

Music

64 Dredg 66 Winter Drink, Blackbird Tavern’s Mark Stott 68 Local’s Choice, Shona Sanzgiri 70 Contributors

Content Magazine is a bi-monthly publication about the innovative and creative culture of San Jose. To participate in the production or distribution contact: editor@content-magazine.com

Ibi Oluwole, pg. 54

Elemental 8, pg. 12

Hop on a plane tomorrow and explore with reckless abandon or plan every last detail—whatever your mood, here’s our take on one of many non-stop destinations served by our very own Mineta San Jose International Airport.

Now boarding!

Sugar, pineapples, and coffee were the cash crops of the Hawaiian Islands for decades, but as the locals joke, these days the main island moneymaker is tourism. The islands have been built up around tourism, tailored to what tourists want to see and do.

KAUAI, HAWAII

Written by Susan Chmelir

Kauai—also known as The Garden Isle— fought this trend decades ago by implementing building and development restrictions. There are no skyscraper hotels here, and the main road doesn’t go all the way around the island. These laws have kept Kauai quiet, lush and distinctively untouristy. The roads are two-laned and sugar cane-lined, and the humid air smells like flowers.

E ‘ai kakou (Let’s eat!)

It is entirely possible to survive any extended amount of time on Kauai solely on fish tacos and mai tais. But for those interested in diversity, the island has many other cuisine options to choose from. In recent years, the locals have turned away from their beloved Spam in favor of a more sustainable, locally-sourced and MSG-free diet. The result has been a new crop of restaurants serving delicious fresh fish and colorful island fruits and vegetables, mixed in with traditional Hawaiian flavors.

On the east side of the island in Kapa’a is Hukilau Lanai, considered one of the best restaurants on the island. They offer their famous poké nachos, a huge menu of fresh fish and an impressive wine list. Also on the east side is Monico’s Taquería, where Monico himself will mix you a mai tai and serve you Mexican-style seafood burritos with his famous jalapeño crema sauce.

flight time Nonstop Alaska Airline flights from SJC to LIH depart every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday and last approximately five and a half hours.

In the north is The Dolphin in Hanalei, where the fish burger is perfectly enjoyed with a beautiful river view. For a more traditional five-star meal, check out the St. Regis Hotel in Princeville, located next to a mountain range, a golf course, and a beach.

The south side of the island is home to more traditional “tourist” fare. Brennecke’s Beach Broiler on Poipu beach offers great happy hour prices on appetizers and the must-have mai tais, while also serving as a perfect place to wait out late-afternoon rainstorms. Kalapaki Joe’s, also in Poipu, makes the island’s best piña colada.

For your sweet tooth, there are countless shave ice stands throughout the island.

However, Tropical Dreams Hawaiian Gourmet Ice Cream in Kapa’a is worth a visit. They pride themselves on producing every piece that goes into their delicious ice cream—all the way from owning the cows, to the pineapple farms, to the coconut trees.

Ho`ohau`oli (Do fun things!)

A trip to any Hawaiian island wouldn’t be complete without a trip (or several) to the beach. Every Kauai beach boasts beautiful sand, warm waves and prime sun-soaking spots.

In the north is Hanalei Bay, which might look familiar as the backdrop for the movie South Pacific. Another northern option is Tunnels Beach, which offers arguably the best snorkeling in all of Kauai.

In the east is Kalapaki Beach, perfect for families with young children, as the waves are fairly calm. Southern Kauai has Poipu Beach, which is a beautiful beach on its own but is also a favorite napping spot of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal.

Among the south’s most famous beaches is Shipwreck Beach, aptly named for its strong riptide and picturesque—but not swim-friendly—waves.

Besides beaches, Kauai offers nearly endless sights and activities for the relaxed and adventurous alike. The absolute

must-do activity for any Kauai visit is a trip to the Na Pali Coast, the lush, untouched land to the northwest. It is only accessible by kayak, an 11-mile hike, or a boat tour accompanied by a certified tour guide. The steep cliffs and turquoise water make the Na Pali Coast justifiably the most-photographed area of the island, and one of the most famous sights on all the Hawaiian Islands.

Hukilau Lanai 20 Aleka Loop Kapaa, HI 96746

hukilaukauai.com

Monico’s Taqueria 4356 Kuhio Hwy. Wailua, HI 96746

monicostaqueria.com

The scenic and quaint Kilauea Lighthouse sits on Kauai’s northernmost point and offers some of the island’s best bird watching. Also in the north in Princeville are the Queens Baths—where you can cliff jump into warm pools of clear water (just be aware of the high crashing waves).

The Dolphin Hanalei Dolphin Center 5-5016 Kuhio Highway Hanalei, Kauai, HI 96714

Opakaa Falls and Wailua Falls are both worth a visit, and on a sunny day rainbows can be seen through the waterfalls. Spouting Horn—another of Kauai’s most-photographed sights—is best viewed on a windy day at high tide, where the water spouts as high as fifty feet.

stregisprinceville.com

Some additional worthwhile tours are Kauai’s national tropical botanical garden, named Allerton Gardens, which features the famous “Jurassic” Morton Bay fig tree. Tours of the Koloa Rum Company and the Kauai Coffee Company both offer free tastings, and flavors for purchase not available on the mainland.

Kauai has perfect weather, stunning sunsets, fragrant flowers, warm waters, and friendly locals. The United States is lucky to have Kauai as one of its own.

Californians are even luckier to be a mere five-hour flight away from this tropical paradise.

hanaleidolphin.com

St. Regis Hotel Counterpoint 5520 Ka Haku Rd. Princeville, Kaua’i, HI 96722 Kalapaki Joe’s 1941 Poipu Rd. Poipu, HI 96756 kalapakijoes.com

Allerton Gardens Counterpoint 4425 Lawai Rd. Poipu, HI 96756 ntbg.org/gardens

Queens Baths Kapiolani Rd. Princeville, HI 96722 Brennecke’s Beach Broiler 2100 Hoone Rd. Koloa, HI 96756 brenneckes.com.

Koloa Rum Company 870 Halewili Rd Kalaheo, HI 96741 kauaicoffee.com

San Pedro Square Market

Culinary Social Convergence

San Jose’s food scene is in its infancy. But within the last couple years, downtown has seen a more significant food culture arise with the birth of the San Pedro Square Market.

Written by Mark Haney Photography by daniel Garcia

S

This culinary social convergence is urbanism at its best, and has been successful in making San Pedro Square Market a unique destination in San Jose. Downtown San Jose has struggled with placemaking and the ability to have venues that attract people. Now that is changing, as high-rise residential neighborhoods are developing in close proximity to the Market. Nearby businesses and Though the space is shared by numerous restaurants— restaurants are feeding off the momentum that the Market offerings range from pho, to pizza, to raw oysters—diners has created. can intermingle from one to the other and sit down at the many tables and chairs within the courtyard and buildings. The Market’s success can be credited to its micro-retail One of the most unique dining experiences at the Market concept. Where else in downtown can a potential small is the ability to have multiple restaurants represented in business owner find retail space with less than 500 square feet and be connected to 20 other vendors within the same one meal. property?

San Pedro Square Market is more than a social diversion, it’s a social convergence. The food is a large part of why People come to downtown to experience the people come, but the social aspects of the Market can be transformation that’s taking place. The social convergence just as important. It has the ability to connect strangers, all and authenticity of San Pedro Square Market is what keeps them coming back. gathering in a single place. an Pedro Square Market has begun filling a long established culinary void in the core of city. What makes it so unique is a number of aspects, from the food offered, to the social convergence, to the atmosphere.

It presents a new culinary experience that has been quickly adopted by San Joseans.

ELEMENTAL GOOD DESIGN IS LIKE OXYGEN:

Written by FLora moreno de Thompson Photography by Daniel Garcia

You don’t even notice it, but you can’t live without it. Stephen Hooper and Benjamin Chia are striving to achieve that perfect mix of form and function at elemental8, their design firm. The duo launched their downtown San Jose office in 2008 after working together at designafairs USA which was a division of Siemens. Together, as Chia says, they bring, a ying and yang of talents to become more than just an industrial design company. They are designers with a broad range of problem solving skills, from dealing with a client’s branding, to designing a coffee press, to creating medical devices that help save lives.

How did you start?

Stephen Hooper: We worked together at a company called designafairs USA. It was a design firm owned by Siemens.

My role was as president of designafairs; Ben was part of the management staff. That’s how we met. When we saw the opportunity to split up from Siemens, Ben and I decided to go into business together and purchase the assets of designafairs. At that point we decided to move headquarters to downtown San Jose.

What are your roles in the partnership?

Benjamin Chia: We have a ying and yang relationship. Steve and I come from very different backgrounds. We’re both designers. Steve is more high level and strategic...he’s defining relationships, whereas I’m more tactical and more on making things pretty. One could say that you want to have a perfect mix of form and function. That’s kind of what elemental8 is all about.

We believe good design should be timeless, but at the same time it should be appealing. For things such as medical equipment you have to have functionality. For consumer products, they need to have appeal. And sometimes, vice versa.

Would you say the goal of great design is that you don’t notice it?

BC: Design can be perceived in many ways. Sometimes we do need to see good design. We take a strategic approach.

Sometimes we need design that can be felt. There are a ton of situations where we have to express and celebrate design for the sake of our client’s brand. I hate to say this, but the visual appeal is what sells. We take different stances for different clients.

SH: In different industries, it’s critical to look at design at different levels. We are extensions of the users. We don’t want the product to be a barrier for them. It should be something intuitive.

BC: Ultimately, what we do here for clients is we’re here to provide them an interdisciplinary approach. They have a one stop solution here. What we want to create is that integrated user experience. It’s not just a matter of fact that we’re imposing design onto someone else. It’s scientific, and there’s rationale behind it, but we want to make sure there’s an emotional aspect.

is—user interface, a medical tool, DJ software—we have to figure out from a user-centric perspective how to deliver a complete user experience. How to make people feel good and to repeat the experience or refer it to other people.

We have to know about business and marketing, and the decision process our client is thinking about and the cultures they’re nurturing to make the project successful.

When did you find yourselves drawn to industrial design?

SH: We can’t know everything [about a product]. But as part of our process, we bring in a sense of curiosity. We aren’t embedded in our client’s way of life, which to them brings fresh ideas. But part of our design process always starts with research. We follow an end user and look for those unspoken needs of a product. If it’s a consumer product, we have to understand the usability aspect. We leverage the fact that we don’t know everything, but then embed our brains into a user perspective. We are always trying to be the user advocate. It’s a common thread in all our projects.

BC: I came to us at age 13 from Taiwan. I’ve always been obsessed with new things. New technology, new products.

I love how things look, I want to touch it and see how is it made. I would constantly ask the question “Why?” and “For what purpose does a product like this take it’s physical manifestation?” Given that my father was an architect, he kinda influenced my creativity.

SH: I was always a problem solver or maybe I saw myself that way. I always jumped in. I did ask the question “Why?” a lot. It’s funny, I remember stumbling on a design program up in western Washington. I was in the process of going for another degree in architecture and construction management. I came across this place, where people were drawing forks and knives and building models, designing computers. Around that same time, my girlfriend at the time said her dad was an industrial designer. He showed me his portfolio, which was from the 50s when he went to school. I was blown away. I dropped my other degrees and went after industrial design.

Where does the company name elemental8 come from?

SH: The eighth element in the periodical chart is oxygen.

We were looking for something that represented design.

We exist and we make things incredibly well. We play with the emotional aspects of a product and you can’t always see that. So we quickly realized our tag line, “we breathe innovation into your products.” We’ve evolved since that. elemental8 is not just product design, but also branding and user experience. Those three aspects are our primary aspect. It still holds true.

There’s a lot you need to know about a product for industrial BC: Oxygen itself is a strong bonding element. You can design. How do you handle that? create new elements when you combine oxygen with BC: You have to know a lot of stuff. Not just about form, but others. We stay transparent, but we stay vital and we create you need to know a little about engineering, how things new things out of it. are made, and why. It doesn’t matter what the subject it elemental8.com / info@elemental8.com Benjamin Chia

/ facebook: elemental8

Keeping it Weird:

Keith Teleki Interview and Photography by daniel garcia

He’s the man behind those Mountain View bumper stickers printed in the same iconic font Iron Maiden uses on their merchandise. Although he went to Berkeley to become an architect, Teleki somehow found his way into a career as a graphic designer and art director, running Teleki Design out of a small office on Castro Street. Now is the time for Mountain View to embrace its weirdness, and Teleki is the one leading the way.

You got a BA in art and architecture from Berkeley...

When I graduated, very few of us went on to be architects.

I wasn’t ready to go into the field and draw roof plans.

I took a little time off, got into some other stuff. My first real job was working for a woodworking magazine.

Designing, building, and photographing furniture and then writing a piece on how to do it. My former career is furniture design.

I see myself maybe going back in this direction eventually.

Architecture is a late bloomer’s craft. It requires a lot of maturity to really be good in the profession. If I were to go back…I’m into small structures. Prefab architecture. I like that you can take something you can build yourself and move off the grid. It’s very conceptual and theoretical.

How did that woodworking magazine lead you here, to where you’re at now?

Going from furniture to graphic design…I don’t think I quite had the skill set to be an independent person.

Fundamentally, I need to be in this space. I can’t work in a corporate office. My last full time job was designing packaging for the Gap in San Francisco. It’s an amazing company; I made some great connections. I learned how From art directing to marketing to graphic design, What do to do business from that job essentially. you enjoy the most?

At the time, my wife was an assistant buyer for Neiman Strategy meets impulse. The big idea, big picture. What’s Marcus. She had moved out to the Palo Alto store to the biggest, boldest vision of what you can do. Also, how manage their handbag department. Her degree is in do you implement that? I’m really good at big, bold art psychology. After we met, she became inspired to get and the raw detail part of it. A lot of architecture is detail a PhD in psychology; she practices now. Her office is oriented. It’s all about process. When you come up with a concept that’s important to you, you can’t think about upstairs. how much work it takes. You have to do the work. You We made an offer on a house in Mountain View in 2004. gotta stay focused.

The offer was accepted and we moved. Impulsively, I quit my job. I was still a child when worked at the Gap. What are some of your influences as a graphic designer?

But I didn’t know it at the time. I am usually a really I look for genius in any field. Li Edelkoort is a fashion strategic, plotting person, but then sometimes impulsive; trend forecaster. Fashion needs to be two to three years spontaneous. It wasn’t a healthy place for me at the time. ahead of actual trends. People in the fashion industry look to this person for what’s coming next. Also, Karl Lagerfeld, When they first hired me at the Gap there were eight designer for Chanel. He’s his own being, he’s a personality. designers. After a few rounds of layoffs, I was the last guy He’s not just a fashion designer—he’s a photographer, he’s they kept because I’m conscientious and reliable. I too was a graphic designer. And he’s able to sell himself. There’s sorta fed up. My performance reviews were not so hot. this graphic designer, Stefan Sagmeister. This guy in the Honestly, I didn’t know enough to be able to play the graphic design field is totally over exposed. He’s like the game. It’s completely my fault that I didn’t continue there. Kanye West of graphic design, however his process is similar to my process. He’s not a stylist. He wants the It was a learning experience. process to lead to something.

And then I panicked for two months. Then I was at a party. Someone said ‘Hey Keith, I hear you are a designer, When you’re talking about keeping Mountain View weird, do you do web design?’ No. ‘Do you know Photoshop?’ you’re saying to do things that are creative and different?

Oh, yeah. Next thing I know I’m at Intuit, sitting in a I created a blog, weirdmountainview.com, as a vehicle to room with 20 marketers. It was the first time I’d used a get more local business to hire Teleki Design. The thing PC laptop; I’ve always been a Mac guy. And that was my about Mountain View is that the time is now. There is first web design project. There I was, designing the 2005 explosive growth in Mountain View. With Google and Firefox and Speck headquarters here, there’s so much marketing website for Quickbooks. development happening that Mountain View is currently bursting at the seams. I see it as my job to put a stake Were you afraid they were going to find out?

No, I tend to perform well in interviews and they had the in the ground and say ‘Come on people, this is part of confidence I could do it. As it turns out, web design is the personality of Mountain View.’ Now is the time for a lot like designing an architectural plan. You’re taking Mountain View to establish its personality. something very cluttered and making moments of comfort Teleki Design for users as they move through the website. So I was able 257 Castro St. #102 to take my Gap experience that I didn’t use at the Gap. By Mountain View, CA 94041 learning to figure out what makes people happy at each telekidesign.com stage of the process, I made a lot of connections at Intuit. facebook: telekidesign

Designer Interview

Sal Wikke Written by Steveyann Jensen Photography by Gregory Cortez

MEET SAL WIKKE, a certified Interior Designer working for RMW Architecture & Interiors in downtown San Jose.

If there was someone who truly knows this city, it’s Sal. “I love San Jose, and I’ve been a resident of downtown my whole life.” Sal grew up on 10th Street five blocks away from his high school sweetheart, Devin, whom he married in 2008. He went to elementary school on 7th Street and obtained his Bachelors degree from San Jose State University. His entire family still lives downtown and now he and his husband own a beautiful 1937 bungalow in Japantown. “It’s such a great eclectic neighborhood, it’s my own little haven.”

“ san jose is a big city that feels little.”

H AVING GROWN UP IN SAN JOSE, WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON THIS CITY AND HOW HAS IT CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? I think

that San Jose has come a long way. It used to be very different. Downtown San Jose used to feel dark and unsafe, but the San Jose Redevelopment Agency changed that. It feels safer than ever before; there is culture and there is stuff happening. There are new condominium towers going in, and great restaurants. I’d love to see it continue to develop and it would be great if downtown San Jose could get a mall! As a downtown resident I love to support my local downtown businesses. To me, San Jose is a big city that feels little. There’s an incredible sense of community, and I feel like I know my peers and I don’t get lost in the hustle and bustle.

WITH SUCH DEEP ROOTS IN SAN JOSE, WHAT OTHER WAYS HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY? My sister is very

involved with the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley, and I recently had the opportunity to volunteer with her.

It’s a great organization that supports education programs for Hispanic youth and families, organized by ex-mayor Ron Gonzales. In our local design community, I’ve had the opportunity to be a guest lecturer at SJSU once each semester for the past three years. It has given me the ability

to connect with students and youth, which is something I really enjoy, and I’ve begun to explore other opportunities to do this through our local IIDA chapter.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO INTERIOR DESIGN? I have a dance back-

ground and always liked art and dance. When I was in high school I had an art teacher who encouraged me to look into the Interior Design program at San Jose State University and that just clicked for me. As a kid I was always rearranging stuff; looking for ways to make my space more efficient or change the feel. I was very creative and spatially aware, so when she gave me that push, it just made sense. Once I started in the program I thought it was the best thing ever and I never looked back.

SO YOU WERE A DANCER GROWING UP? Yes, I started dancing

when I was about three years old and focused primarily on contemporary ballet and jazz. About six years ago I was in a pre-professional company training 20 hours per week while working and going to school full time. At that point, I just realized that my heart wasn’t in it anymore so I decided to focus on design instead.

HAS YOUR BACKGROUND IN DANCE INFLUENCED YOUR DESIGN?

Absolutely. In dance you are very aware of things spatially and that has helped me tremendously in design. I am always aware of how people will experience the spaces that I design. How will they walk through the space as a client or a guest? How will they experience the openings, doors, hallways, finishes and design elements in 360 degrees?

Dance also taught me how to take criticism. There was no sugar coating, so you learn to develop thick skin to protect yourself and understand that criticism isn’t personal but it is the quickest way they can communicate to you that you need to go back and fix something. That has really helped me in design. If a client doesn’t like it, rather than taking it personal, I turn it into a challenge and think about what I can change to make them like it; because ultimately, the completed design is a solution between the designer and the client.

WHAT LED YOU TO WORK FOR RMW? I had been commuting

up to San Francisco working for a firm that was primarily involved in commercial interiors projects. Although it had been an incredible experience in the few years I had worked there, I wasn’t feeling challenged creatively as much as I wanted to be, and I was really interested in finding something local. About three years ago, a friend and classmate of mine called me up one day and told me about an opening at RMW and said I was the only guy she would recommend for the role. I was flattered and extremely interested and ended up getting hired on as a junior interior designer. It’s been an amazing opportunity and I work with such a great team.

WHAT TYPE OF PROJECTS HAVE YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK ON WITH RMW? I’ve been fortunate to have a mix of

projects with varying budgets and scales. My first project was for Jive Software’s 30,000 sf Palo Alto office in 2010.

My next big corporate interiors project was for Juniper Networks in Sunnyvale, which was close to one million square feet. I worked on it every day for a year and a half am very proud of the result. It was challenging and our team came out celebrating because it was such a success.

WHEN APPROACHING DESIGN, DO YOU HAVE A DESIGN PHILOSOPHY THAT GUIDES YOUR WORK? Yes, actually. In 2007 I had a really I’M SURE IT’S VERY SATISFYING SEEING THE OUTCOME OF SOME- great opportunity to go to Japan as part of an architectural THING YOU’VE WORKED SO HARD AND SO LONG ON. It is, and I study tour. We were there for 11 days and visited Osaka, haven’t actually shared this with anyone before, but I love Kyoto, and Tokyo. It was such a great opportunity to learn to do perspective renderings in the design phase of the about their culture and how that’s developed into a very project and one of my favorite things to do is to stand in specific aesthetic with regard to architecture, graphics and the same place at the job site once it’s finished and see it design. You have these beautiful historic shrines and temfrom that same perspective in real life. It’s my guilty plea- ples in Kyoto contrasting with kinetic Tokyo and Osaka, sure. It’s very satisfying to see that vision and that design where there are thousands of neon lights and so much come to life. stimulation. It was really great to experience both environments and see both perspectives as it relates to design.

Most importantly, that particular trip had a big influence on me as far as understanding my own aesthetic. In talking and researching for the class, I became aware of Wabi-Sabi, which is the aesthetic of ‘perfectly imperfect’. It was a really great way of defining what I valued in design. The idea that everything is balanced but there is always something

“I want to make a difference.”

there that throws it slightly off to create tension. It should look intentional but it shouldn’t fall flat. That speaks to me and to the aesthetic that I’m starting to develop as a designer.

FOR CORPORATE INTERIORS PROJECTS ARE YOU TYPICALLY WORKING WITH COMPANIES THAT WANT TO INCORPORATE STRONG BRANDING INTO THE DESIGN? IF SO, HOW TO YOU BRING WABISABI TO THOSE PROJECTS? Definitely. If you’re working for

a company that is very branded and their colors are red white and gray, those colors are integral to who they are and therefore integral to the design. As a designer, that strict palate can feel limiting, so you have to figure out ways to augment or amplify it. I think about alternative ways to add life to the design, perhaps through a unique finish or material. There are always opportunities to be creative in these circumstances; it can be one signature piece or it can simply be a feeling that is created through the design.

WHAT OTHER PEOPLE OR EXPERIENCES HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR DESIGN? I would have to say I am most influenced by my

peers. Knowing and understanding what they do informs me of their solutions, makes me aware of new trends, and encourages me to work harder to get to their level and become a better designer. I feel very inspired by our local design community. If I had to choose a designer I would say it’s a toss up between Japanese architect Tadao Ando and Interior Designer Kelly Wearstler; two completely opposing aesthetics that I love equally.

WHAT KIND OF AN INFLUENCE DO YOU HOPE TO HAVE IN SAN JOSE?

I am hoping one day to contribute something to the community—a building, a space that will positively affect people’s life. I want to be part of that. RMW is doing that as a company to make design matter, not just to the client’s big picture, but also to the community. That is something I feel very proud of and I am proud to be part of that team.

I want to make a difference.

Interior images provided by Rmw

RMW.COM

gleaming the cube Written and Photography by Lam Nguyen

Digital View expands the world of high definition video display into the future.

The Lumiere Brothers are often credited with inventing the first motion picture camera in 1895. In truth, they were one of many who were all working on similar devices at the time. What made the Lumieres’ Cinematographe unique, and ultimately, one of the most pivotal inventions of its time was the fact that it was a portable motion picture camera, film processing unit, and projector in one.

Encapsulating all of these capabilities in one device, the Cinematographe is an example of technology enabling an art form.

Digital View is not the only company making displays. In fact, throughout the elaborate history of the LCD, there have been many companies with just as many complementary and conflicting ideas about which direction the industry would go and how the technology would evolve. What makes Digital View stand out amongst these companies is that they are using art, as well as business, to drive innovation. “The art was cinema, and that sort of thing, but I think the mix of content and displays can be the art. Being able to develop the idea around the technology and using it in different ways,” says James Henry, co founder and CEO of Digital View.

It all began in 1995 as a joint venture based out of Hong Kong and London amongst James Henry, Neil Wood, and Richard Cobbold. By 1996, they opened their office in California and produced their first LCD interface products. This paved the way for what would later become

their custom video controller technology. Like many Silicon Valley tech companies, their focus was primarily business applications. “It’s fair to say that most of our customers are businesses,” says Henry. “You see these video walls becoming more and more common. Businesses are using them in their lobbies as part of the ambiance or as a tool for communication.”

Digital View’s goal is to anticipate where the technology might go and they’ve realized that some of their future developments might come from art as much as it does business. “You can see some of the sci-fi novels or movies where people have been exploring how display technology would be used in the future.” A tour of their offices in Morgan Hill quickly tells the story. As one might expect, there is a large production area where products and components are manufactured and a predictably corporate conference room equipped with monitors and cameras. But one look into their showroom reveals a very different side. Within stands The Cube, a block of six incredibly vibrant, high resolution displays meticulously assembled to form an almost overwhelming block of light.

To allow artists to take full advantage of The Cube’s broad viewing angles, color, and brightness, Digital View also developed a fully customizable video controller. The controller gives users the ability to manipulate all of the displays individually or to synchronize them, making it possible to generate dynamic content that would use all of the screens

James Henery Neil Wood

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“We’ll be very, very happy ifpeople come back and take it well beyond where we’ve taken it.” simultaneously. Just beyond The Cube is a completely transparent display. It’s easy to miss. At a glance, the video seems normal enough. Then, it becomes apparent that portions of the video are not changing. It is a transparent piece of glass that also happens to be a fully functioning high resolution display. The final piece in the showroom is a screen that reaches from floor to ceiling, constantly rotating through a slideshow of crisp, saturated images.

Despite the enormous show pieces, Henry is not necessarily interested in the bigger is better axiom. “I’m really keen on people experimenting on the small scale as well, which is why the stuff that can go in galleries is interesting to me,” he says. “For example, one of our customers, an artist, put a whole load of smaller displays in bird cages and built an entire exhibition piece out of this, which was held in Venice. That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about when I say people are really looking to use video and technology and presenting it in different ways.” Beyond the artistic applications, Digital View is also hoping to make their display technology an interactive, practical business tool.

Henry believes that Digital View’s technology can be both, if given the right catalyst. “If we get the right exposure, can reach the right people—I reckon if you can do it anywhere, you should be able to do it here. You’ve got that mix of young, energetic, well-educated people who have got a sense for all sides of it, from the technology through to the appreciation of the arts.” When asked why art and creativity were such a focus, Henry says simply, ”I think it’s really a fundamental starting point for broadening people’s thought processes.” Despite this, Digital View has no intention of making art itself. Their purpose is to create new tools by which, they hope, a new medium of art will be defined. “What we hope is that people come in here, look at this, go away and say, right, actually, I know what else I can do with that. We’ll be very, very happy if people come back and take it well beyond where we’ve taken it.”

Aside from screens scrolling through corporate news in the confines of an office, they’re looking to enhance user experiences in other environments such as trade shows or conventions. “For corporate events, we’ve been working with a company called Tint that has software enabling live video sharing. You can set up an Instagram account and hold a corporate event or convention and have all these screens up,” explains Billy Barnes, Digital View’s art director. “You could set up a hashtag that allows you to send a photo at the event and share it in real time. All of the panels start circulating through the photos that are being generated.” Will it be a new artistic medium or corporate communication engine?

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digitalview.com

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“YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A GREAT TECHNICAL ARTIST TO BE A GREAT ARTIST. YOU JUST NEED GREAT IDEAS.”

Trina Merry’s Bodies of Work Written by flora moreno de thompson Photography by Daniel Garcia

LIVE ART CANVAS

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t’s hard to forget Trina Merry’s works of art once you’ve seen them. That’s because her canvas of choice is the human body: Merry is a bodypainter. Her models have been painted at C2SV, South First Fridays, and Midsummer Night’s Yelp, to name a few local events.

Merry didn’t always paint on models, though. She worked in other mediums while holding down a day job for several years before finally figuring out what she really wanted to do, and eventually started her own business as a bodypainter. “I don’t see myself stopping bodypainting anytime soon,” Merry says.

You didn’t always used to body paint. What did you used to do?

I went to school for film. I worked on major Hollywood films and TV shows. I worked on TV sets, I made the environments people lived in. Then I thought I needed a break. I took a sabbatical in Yosemite and began to paint on canvas and found objects.

Why did you make that transition to bodypainting?

I was doing really well and doing sometimes up to nine gallery shows in one month. A lot of people dream about that, but maybe it was over the top. I just saw that I would do really well, but I’d hit a wall in five years creatively.

I had just gone to the Guggenheim Museum and saw a Kandinsky exhibit. I decided I didn’t know enough about modern art so I thought I should take some classes. So I could understand why I hated this guy’s work, but I why was connecting to it emotionally. So I took a class, and through that class I learned the difference between popular art and great art. I decided I didn’t want to make popular art, I wanted to make great art.

What’s the difference between great art and popular art?

Great art is about ideas. Popular art is about what everybody likes, like your Thomas Kinkades. Popular art is what appeals to the masses. It’s very aesthetic. A lot of low-brow art falls into that category. Not to say that that there isn’t great art that is low-brow art. I think there is.

What are some great ideas that you are having these days?

One series I’m working on is called Objectified. It’s an installation that I’ve done now at a museum in LA and a gallery in Oakland and I’m going to start photographing it. Walking around Willow Glen, I was struck at how all these houses are really designed like a Spanish hacienda, an English country cottage, an urban house, a German house on my street. It’s just bizarre. I’ve grown up with this my whole life but it just clicked that this is the expectation for me now. I’m supposed to grow up and still be this high schooler. This is our expensive fashion that we wear, this is our self identifier as adults that we go massively in debt over. At the same time, my grandma passed away recently and my family is selling property on these streets and I understand how much this property tears people apart.

I’ve been thinking about those things.

Do we own these things or do they own us? I started thinking about this a little more. This idea of our houses as fashion or the things we wear as self identifiers.

Thinking about our self identifiers, are we being lost in this environment or are we hiding behind the things that we own? Don’t we have to continue our search anymore?

As an artist I live in that in-between area all the time. I’m not going to be the one that questions reality because I’m making it. I’m a culture maker. I’m allowed to ask these So I thought bodypainting was a new, contemporary questions. So that’s what I’m doing. This series is making medium, but also our most ancient art form. I thought different rooms in different houses. The models become I could try to push what I wanted to do creatively with the furniture in the room or camouflage into the room. body paint.

People becoming the objects they own.

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TOP: “White Apple Blossoms” Bodypaint: Trina Merry, Model: Rebecca Case, Photography: Joshua LaCunha BOTTOM: “Lilies” Bodypaint: Trina Merry, Model: Anna Julian, Photography: Ronald Nelson

“I’M NOT GOING TO BE THE ONE THAT QUESTIONS REALITY BECAUSE I’M MAKING IT.” What about craftsmanship as an artist? I think you should always be excellent. You’re not going to be popular if you aren’t excellent technique-wise. You need to push technique. You don’t need to be great at technique in order to make great art. Like Damien Hirst doesn’t even do his own work. Neither did Andy Warhol. You don’t need to be a great technical artist to be a great artist. You just need great ideas. I don’t paint everything myself.

Do you remember your first bodypainting? Who was it?

I think it was on stage in SF at Hotel Utah with a band, The Red Paintings. I painted a mermaid. She had a tail and a wig and I painted little Alice in Wonderland illustrations on this girl’s body. The band was like what is that? No one does that! I didn’t want to paint clothes on her, she’s a human canvas. I want to paint what I paint on a body.

You’ve been influenced by Alice in Wonderland quite a bit.

What fascinates you about that?

I just feel a bit like Alice. Sometimes you experience things and they make you feel smaller or bigger. I’m driven by this overwhelming sense of curiosity. My life is unreal.

It’s surrealistic all of the time. I don’t just mean in my imagination, I do things that people dream about or don’t even know they are dreaming about. I met the Pope and stayed at his summer house. I met Lady Gaga and Marina Abramović. I end up in all these situations where I’m like uh…Even the models going on stage with Iggy Pop. All of a sudden there’s my art dancing on stage with Iggy Pop. This just doesn’t happen to people.

What have you found out about yourself in the process of becoming a bodypainter?

That we’re all flawed. And that it’s ok.

A lot of models that I see you paint look perfect.

They’ve all got something funky. That’s what makes it so cool. It builds a passion in me for other people. People have so many wounds that we don’t get to know about or hear about. So when you sit down and finally listen, it makes people so much more beautiful. I can be really hard on myself and my body image so to hear other people come out with their flaws and be vulnerable...it’s like being in a relationship. It’s a cleansing process. You face all the things about you that are not perfect. Either accept them or change them.

Art and business. Do you have any tips you’d give or lessons you’ve learned for any other artists out there?

Art and business—they’re buddies. You can’t have one without the other. A great book I’m reading is called The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art. Read that book. I’m learning a ton this year because I want to start a bodypainting gallery. The economics of art are really important for any artists to understand. I spend more time doing the business stuff than I do making the art, but I work really hard at doing the art. I just have to do the everyday things. You have to think way bigger than the little San Jose art scene. You don’t have to leave San Jose, you just have to think bigger.

Your art is temporary. How does that feel?

As I’m doing it it’s changing into something else. It makes me be present. It makes me be alive. That really started kind of hitting home that this is not made for the product, it’s about the process. Yes, you can try to document it because your ability to share it with people widens, but it’s not about that. It’s about the experience between you and the person you’re painting. The kinds of conversations you go through because someone has their clothes off are ridiculous.

trinamerry.com facebook: MerryBodypaintings

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Lights, Camera, Action Written by Lynn Peithman Stock Photography by daniel Garcia

Picture the Possibilities Empowers Youth Around the Globe to Share Their Voices Through Filmmaking

Establishing Shot The annual film festival Cinequest has premiered films and trumpeted cutting-edge technology since 1990 in Silicon Valley. Three years ago, Cinequest’s leaders added a new program called Picture the Possibilities, geared toward youth around the world to empower them to share their stories through film.

“Cinequest’s co-founders, Halfdan Hussey and Kathleen Powell, have always valued the importance of teaching and empowering youth through film and technology,” says Kyle Burt, publicity director for Cinequest. “Together with Marcela Villegas Castanon (PTP coordinator), they developed a concept that would not only increase the positive impact on youth, but would also continue and expand this impact for a longer period of time. After years of short test trial youth workshops, they found that a long-term global youth empowerment program would make the largest and lasting impact on our youth and communities.”

Backstor y PTP centers on the “Seven Powers of Creating”: picture, position, plan, passion, partners, persistence, and peace, according to Villegas Castanon.“We teach each participant that you need to have a picture of your vision of what you want to see changed or expressed. You need to take a position on that vision. You need to make a plan on how you are going to execute it. With passion, partners, and

persistence you will be able to to accomplish accomplish the the picture picture you you had. And ultimately, you will reach peace. peace. Those Those are are the the seven powers and it’s basically telling telling them them that that they they can can do whatever they set their minds to. to. It It starts starts with with them, them, what they want to see changed, and and what what they they want want to to do. do.

No one can do it if they don’t start it.”

Locations Locations Three years ago, PTP launched in Silicon Valley, Los Three years ago, PTP launched in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, New York City, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Mexico Angeles, New York City, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Mexico City. Today, the program still includes those locations, but City. Today, the program still includes those locations, but has also expanded to Phnom Penh and Jakarta. In 2014, has also expanded to Phnom Penh and Jakarta. In 2014, PTP will include San Diego.

PTP will include San Diego.

Cast Cast of of Characters Characters Today, more than 300 students ages 13 to 19 have Today, more than 300 students ages 13 to 19 have helped helpedcreate films through PTP. Villegas Castanon and create films through PTP. Villegas Castanon and her staff her staff coordinate the programs throughout the world. coordinate the programs throughout the world.

Each year, PTP gathers between 20 and 40 students in Each year, PTP gathers between 20 and 40 students in each of its locations for a week in June to write, shoot, each of its locations for a week in June to write, shoot, direct and create a film. Mentors help guide them through direct and create a film. Mentors help guide them through the week and these mentors include college students as the week and these mentors include college students as well as film professionals. Each location creates two to four well as film professionals. Each location creates two to four films during the sessions. films during the sessions.

One of those mentors during the 2013 season is Jennalynn One of those mentors during the 2013 season is Jennalynn Sallings, 18. Sallings was a senior in high school and Sallings, 18. Sallings was a senior in high school and

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“BY BRINGING TOGETHER YOUTH WITH THE MENTORS, THEY LEARN THEY CAN (AND ARE MOTIVATED TO) EXPRESS WHAT THEY WANT TO EXPRESS, WHATEVER IT MAY BE; WE USE FILMMAKING AS AN EXAMPLE.” initially needed more volunteer hours. She started working with Cinequest because her mom had worked there and she quickly fell in love with the environment, the collaborators and the infectious creative passion.

She first worked with the film festival in the spring, then heard about PTP. “It sounded really interesting because they were working with youth and I was always involved in youth programs, and they did so much for me. They were looking for mentors and it was finally my time to give back,” said the De Anza College freshman.

Evan Bennett, 18, was one of the Silicon Valley students who worked with PTP last summer. He is a senior at MetroEd, a regional provider of career technical education (CTE), adult education, and teacher credentialing services. “I got to learn how to use the boom mic better,” he says. “I also got to learn how to deal with people because I’m a tad bit impatient at times. You learn things. You meet people. You gain confidence. What more could you ask for?”

Point of View Students are encouraged to apply, and PTP seeks “schools and organizations where the youth won’t have the greatest resources to art,” Burt says. “So it’s not necessarily challenged or low income students, it’s just an area where art isn’t necessarily a prevalent opportunity for them.”

As part of the application, students submit a story idea for a film, “so it’s almost 100 percent student-made, with the exception of the editing afterwards,” Burt says. “We go through with our fancy editing tools and make that happen. They send in their ideas. We craft the story idea, they start writing the scripts, and they make it all happen in this week period of time. They’ll all do a little bit of cinematography, a little bit of the writing, a little bit of working with the actors. We bring in actors so they’re dealing with professionals.”

Action Sallings helped with one of the films called Real Friends. “That talked about how our generation is so involved in social media and texting and all that stuff, and how we’re using pictures to prove we have friends instead of really making friends.”

Most of the mentors are volunteers. “The mentors are either working or studying in their particular field so we’ll have students who are working cinematographers come in and teach them how to frame the picture or the scene, how to block the cast members and the actors and how to coach the actors, how to direct based on what the script is supposed to do, how’s the setting working, how’s the sound—all of the different elements that go into it,” Villegas Castanon adds.

Jennalynn Sallings

Films average between three to seven minutes, but occasionally, a topic begs for more screen time. During PTP’s first year, the Los Angeles group created a film about Homeboy Industries, which helps gang members and convicted felons get out of their previous lifestyle.

That film is 13 minutes long.

Impact Sallings treasures her PTP experience. “Cinequest is very innovative and they support all creative thought so that it really helps each student to blossom, even the mentors, too.

“Seeing the kids grow at the end of the week and seeing how close they were and how bonded they were to each other and to their work was a really great experience.”

For Villegas Castanon, the PTP coordinator, “I’ve learned that kids are looking for someone who they can look up to, who gives them confidence and encourages them to go out and do something. By bringing together youth with the mentors, they learn they can (and are motivated to) express what they want to express, whatever it may be; we use filmmaking as an example.

The biggest impact on the youth I’ve seen is the personal connection between all who participate. It is something they probably haven’t had before, where a young adult and/or working professional takes the time to listen, teach and encourage the youth, with tools they may have never had access to—building a connection between the present and the future.”

And working on Real Friends prompted Sallings to cut back on her social media presence and focus on personal connections. She has deleted her Instagram account.

Premiere Each spring, the Cinequest Film Festival hosts a PTP event, which showcasesall of the students’ films. “This year, we’re doing something a little bit different, where we’re having Cinequest Connect,” Burt said. “We will bring some youth from each of the different cities for an event before the festival starts. We’ll have them pitch their film and talk with leaders and executives of companies.” Cinequest will be March 3 through 16, 2014.

Critics’ views Jeffrey Schmidt is assistant principal at downtown’s Central County Occupational Center. He has seen first-hand how PTP inspires and educates students who otherwise would not be exposed to such professional film creating experiences. Schmidt taught Evan Bennett video production. “He found out right away that he loved it,” Schmidt says. Bennett was one of five students from CCOC that went to PTP last year. “It was really amazing,” Schmidt says. “It helps them communicate. It’s another opportunity for them to share what’s important to them. It gives them a real-world experience.”

The Sequel Cinequest’s leaders plan to grow PTP to be bigger and to reach more students. “We want to get more of a corporate involvement, (to include) corporations and businesses and thought leaders, to show (students) that not only are you doing something, and not only are you making something real, now here is someone who did the exact same thing who is in that position. They are talking to you, saying, ‘Here’s how I did it.’ “

cinequestptp.org

Evan Bennett

Godfather of Grooming Written by charles becker Photography by gregory cortez

The simple menu of services at Crewners leaves room for perfecting what Dixon does best.

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ou may have passed Dan Dixon’s upscale barbershop in San Pedro Square Market en route to dinner or to watch a Sharks game at the Market Bar. Being that Crewners looks like a scene from a 1900s barbershop built into a hotel high-rise, it is rather difficult to miss. With its large windows, mahogany floor, autographed Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton photos on the wall and, who could miss the immaculate Dixon himself with comb, scissor, and straight razor in hand.

Kevin Spacey. But, then again, everything in the quaint Crewners shop tells a story.

Dixon recalls his first taste of entrepreneurship selling greeting cards at the age of six. Since his early childhood in Los Gatos, Dixon has continued to find creative outlets for his charisma and business acumen as the owner of a branch for It’s a Grind, a coffee shop chain. He’s also ridden the highs and lows of the 1990s real estate bull. If you Google him, you might still find images of Dixon from a hair modeling assignment for Command Performance Hair Salon in the mid 80s. Despite a few loosely connected dots across the span of his career, operating the highest Yelp-rated barbershop in the state of California was a stone’s throw away from Dixon’s wildest dreams when he first put his ideas on paper.

Dixon is enthusiastic to start a dialogue with everyone from workers to visitors. He’ll tell you about the history of the Peralta Adobe and recommend a dish at his favorite spots like Robee’s Falafel. If you pry enough, Dixon might tell you that Crewners has been featured in the media from CBS to the History Channel, and his shop was the first and only service-based establishment in San Pedro Square Market. Any and all customers who sit down for a Tradi- It was his current girlfriend who shared her insight as a tional Shave or Crewners Signature Cut could attest that cosmetologist for the niche in upscale men’s grooming alDixon is a natural storyteller with a tone not unlike actor most four years ago. Salons make up roughly 95 percent

of the hair grooming market and cosmetologists actually have few hours cutting men’s hair when they pass the state board exam. The market had an opening for an establishment that understands men’s haircuts and the fashion and media inspiration behind it. Only one, some would say significant, challenge stood in Dixon’s path. He had to first learn how to cut hair. He enrolled at San Jose Barber College not long after.

“When I first started at San Jose Barber College, the other students were taking bets I wasn’t going to last in my first month,” Dixon recalls. “Pretty much the inmates run the asylum there. There are no instructors. You just learn from the guys next to you.” Dixon ended up graduating from Jade Beauty and Barber School, where he spent the majority of his 1,500 hours honing his skills by tapering and blending the coarse and straight hair of Asian men. Now Dixon is more versatile than your average barber. He has spent hours mastering everything from scissor tapers on Asian hair to business cuts and even clipper fades on curly and wavy hair types. “Blades on the lower portion, clippers over comb to blend the tapered lower portion and on top I always use scissors—always,” says Dixon.

for Crewners as, “Keep services to a minimum. Haircuts and shaves. Period. I don’t wash or color hair. Every service takes 30 minutes.”

The simple menu of services at Crewners leaves room for perfecting what Dixon does best.

“I love the makeovers. The guys who come in to me have gone to very inexpensive hair locations and got what they pay for or gone to older barbers and get the routine cuts.

But they watch TV and follow fashion and want their hair like that,” Dixon says. “The cosmetologists aren’t equipped to give men that cut. Guys will come in with celebrity pictures on their smartphones, with requests to be conservative for the office, but a little crazy and edgy, and their girlfriend wants it this way. I’ll whip them into shape. The transformation of someone’s hair to what they’re not used to—that’s what I love.”

In a way, it is ironic that attention to detail is now so rare that it stands out—even creating a niche market in men’s grooming. Since the 1900s and even in the last 50 years, the hair grooming business has been fragmented by the commercialization of haircuts from franchises, such as A lot has changed for Dixon since his classmates were tak- Fantastic Sams and Supercuts. ing bets on whether he would make it through the day. In a way, Dixon sees himself as a vanguard for men’s groom- “The older generation of barbershops that used to be ing. “As far as shaves go, it’s now seen as a luxury like all over metropolitan areas that were cutting hair in the manicures and pedicures. One of the biggest things that 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are now in their 70s, 80s and 90s. changed in the world is the loss to the attention of detail,” There’s no one to replace them. Not to do the businessDixon explains. “There is no service in customer service style cuts,” Dixon explains. anymore. Too many businesses have an over-eccentric mindset of ego and attitude.” Dixon’s goal is to provide If his experience as a real estate broker has taught him one one-on-one service for each client, a rarity in the modern thing, it is location is everything. Dixon’s dream is to make Crewners into a scalable and duplicable barbershop that multi-task service industry. will allow other barbers, like himself, to showcase their “I wanted simplicity, attention to detail and return hum- craft. He has already chosen three new locations in the Bay Area and is in discussions with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh bleness to the service. I’m here for them,” says Dixon. on a Las Vegas store in a watershed project that Hsieh is He compares the In-N-Out business model to McDon- putting together in Old Vegas. ald’s. “In-N-Out has literally one-fourth the menu of McDonald’s. They (In-N-Out) use better ingredients, they Dixon is even planning on purchasing San Jose Barber have higher customer and employee retention, and they College from the current owner to help train more highly pay employees more. Plus, they always have a line and qualified barbers. However, as Dixon explains, “That is an there are fewer locations.” Dixon translates this case study entirely different beast.” crewners.com

twitter: @crewners

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Lawrence Lohr Director of Wine Education Steve lohr CEO Cynthia lohr VP of Marketing

A Tale of Lohr A winemaking family works in tandem with both land and community Written by Leah Ammon Photography by daniel garcia

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teve Lohr was made chairman and CEO of J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines just four months ago, but in a sense, it’s a role he’s been preparing for all his life. The eldest son of Jerry Lohr, founder of the award-winning San Jose-based wine company, Lohr has been involved in the family business since he was a little boy. He vividly recalls riding in his father’s truck down to the family’s vineyard in Arroyo Seco—an area of Monterey County about 100 miles south of San Jose. “I always went with him on the weekends,” says Lohr. On those long drives, they would discuss everything related to the business, including his father’s choice to plant a vineyard in California’s Central Coast.

hopping onto a tractor to plow the fields before he even had a driver’s license. But after graduating from college— also from Stanford, with degrees in civil engineering and economics—he chose to go into his own business, building custom homes. Some years later, when his father was diagnosed with cancer, Lohr found himself reconsidering his choices.

Thankfully, his father recovered, but Lohr was shaken.

“I thought to myself,” he says, “if I’m ever going to take advantage of Dad’s mentorship, now’s the time to do it.”

So, in 2003, Lohr devoted himself entirely to the winery, coming on board as the VP of Planning and Development.

He’s never regretted the switch: “The wine industry is very It’s easy to forget that in the 1970s, it was an unheard- convivial. People share ideas freely. I figured that’s the kind of decision—and, frankly, a gamble—to cultivate wine of world I want to be in.” grapes in California anywhere other than the Napa Valley.

The state wine industry was in its infancy; Monterey was During his time at the company, Steve Lohr has been not yet its own appellation. But Jerry Lohr, who had done integrally involved in supporting their corporate extensive research, believed that the Central Coast—with philosophy of sustainability, which he explains can best be its cool winds and stony soil—possessed a terroir uniquely understood as “the three E’s.” suited to produce something excellent.

Lohr is passionate about the first E: Environment. He For his insight and independence, Lohr credits his father’s presides over J. Lohr’s Sustainability Committee, and sits “pioneering spirit.” Jerry Lohr grew up on a family farm on the board of the California Sustainable Winegrowing in South Dakota, raising staple crops—wheat, corn, Alliance. “We all know that California is a beautiful soybeans, flax. “The safe thing would have been for Dad to place to live,” he says, “and rich in natural resources. But stay in South Dakota, and follow in his father’s footsteps,” California also has the largest population of any other says Lohr. Instead Jerry Lohr chose to attend graduate state, and this means there are lots of demands put on school at Stanford University, and went on to open a those resources. In order to ensure that our children and successful land and real estate development company. our grandchildren enjoy a California as beautiful as the Over time, he found that he missed farming, and felt one we know and love, we must be active stewards of the drawn to cultivate something uniquely Californian. He earth.” opened his first vineyard in 1972, and two years later in Sustainable practices incorporate aspects of organic farming San Jose, his first winery. and environmental preservation—water conservation, Steve Lohr recalls with pleasure helping to plant the first alternative fuel sourcing, and natural pest control in lieu of of the vines from seedlings when he was only ten, and chemicals—but they also include responsible agricultural

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techniques, including attention to curbing erosion and a focus on soil integrity. J. Lohr has been a trailblazer in all these areas. In 2009, J. Lohr unveiled the largest solar tracking array in the wine industry: a three acre, state-ofthe-art, 756 kilowatt solar photovoltaic single-axis tracking system designed to offset 75% of the winery’s energy usage at its Paso Robles operations and reduce CO2 emissions by 29,887 tons over 25 years. The company’s efforts were honored in January of 2010, when J. Lohr became one of the first wineries in California to earn the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing distinction.

The second Lohr generation works closely with colleagues who have been with the organization for many years. This is, as Lohr points out, rare in the wine industry. Head winemaker and President Jeff Meier has been with J. Lohr for 29 vintages; VP of Production, David Mezynski has been there for 30 years. The top seven salespeople have worked for the company for more than 20 years.

As for the future, it seems entirely possible there will be a third generation of family involvement. Lohr recounts with a chuckle the story of a Christmas party a few years ago, where his sister’s seven year old daughter occupied herself The second “E” of sustainability, Equity, has to do with designing wine labels. “She kept saying, ‘Grandaddy, caring for employees, the industry, and the community, Grandaddy, when can I come work for the winery?’” another area in which J. Lohr leads the way. In particular, Steve Lohr is proud that in 2009, J. Lohr donated funds to UC Davis to help the school build a new teaching facility and research library—the world’s first LEED Platinum certified winery in the world, housed in a building which (once all its features come online) will be self-sustainable in energy and water use.

Insofar as the third “E”—Economics—is concerned, the company focus is placed on a sustainable business model: a family-style business. At J. Lohr, Steve Lohr works side-byside with his siblings: His sister, Cynthia, is the company VP of Marketing, and his brother, Lawrence, is Director of Wine Education. “Not all families get along necessarily,” Lohr says. “If you throw the business on top of it, that can make things even more challenging. But I think that we’re very blessed in that we really do work well together. We share the same goals and vision, and we each have our own strengths.”

jlohr.com 1000 Lenzen Avenue San Jose, CA 95126 408.288.5057 twitter: jlohrwines facebook: j.lohrwines

The Game Worth Playing Interview and Photography by Victoria Elizondo

Todd Beauchamp is the president and founder of

In2Technologies, under the consumer brand Engage.

Beauchamp’s product will “bring the senses together” with Unity, a cohesive home entertainment system that is set to revolutionize the at-home entertainment experience. After years of working in the sound design industry and at Apple as one of its top engineers, Beauchamp is building his very own “Game Worth Playing” with Unity—cultivating a team of passionate people who are working together with great vision and drive to impact the world.

“THIS IS WHO I AM. I CAN’T EXPLAIN IT AND IF I STARVE THE REST OF MY LIFE, I DON’T CARE. THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO.”

39

of that book. And I freaked out! I was 19 or so at the time.

I gave him one of my cards and told him, “I will work for free, I just want to learn. I am very passionate about this.

Call me to do ANYTHING.” And about two weeks later he called me.

He taught classes on the leading software at the time.

How the guys up in Seattle at Carver Audio heard of me was through Vance. The guys were looking for a speaker designer and he told them, “I have this punk kid. He is green as hell. He has the passion and he will figure out anything.” That is how it all started.

I remember Vance pulling me aside after our third time getting together and he told me, “I want to have a real conversation with you...If you ever want to make a living, get out of the business now.” And I remember looking him straight in the eye and saying, “No. This is who I am, I can’t explain it and if I starve the rest of my life, I don’t care. This is what I want to do.”

What lead you to work at Apple?

Well, from there I ended up down in San Diego in a crazy cool little company called American Technology and all we did was audio-related technology. Super fun stuff, so we were really well known for this technology called HSS. Which was like a laser beam of sound. Two people can literally be touching shoulders and I can aim it at one of It has been great creating that fun structure. Every single you and the other will not be able to hear it. It is like a person coming into the company is bringing that level of laser pointer. If I were to shoot it over to the back wall you passion to make a difference. Not, “I’m getting a job and would think there was a speaker over in that area versus right above you or right next to you. a paycheck.”

Tell me about running a startup.

The thing that has been so cool about it is not only the technology of the startup, but also the efforts we are putting in building a team and how we are going about that in a different way. How do we bring a different culture to corporate America?

Think of point of purchase advertising. It is totally crazy technology. It actually has to make the air become nonlinear in order to produce the result. It is really weird stuff. We became really well known for that and started getting calls from all over asking us to work on different projects. It was a dream come true.

Tell us a little about your history.

You mean how did I get into all this craziness? I was fortunate to grow up in the country, out in Oregon, in a log cabin that my dad hand-built. I didn’t have a TV (I was 30 before I had my first TV). We were ten miles out of town, and well, you find ways to occupy yourself.

The military came to us and asked if we could create something to help them with this problem. After that they created a 500-yard protection zone around a fleet. They came to us and asked us if we could build them something.

We ended up building what we called LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) and it went from nothing to No. 4 in funding for the government’s non-lethal acoustics list in I can’t tell you why I was so enamored with it. I was 30 days. What it gave the military was a viable option to intrigued. I just thought, I have to figure this out. I establish intent without using lethal force. The San Jose understood at that young age how important music was. I SWAT team has one. just felt like I wanted to make this the best experience. I got hooked. In the industry there is a book called Loudspeaker I left that company in 2005 and started working on Unity and two years into it, I got a random phone call from Design Cookbook. It was like my Bible.

Apple. It went something like, “Hey, your name keeps One day, I was working in this little hi-fi shop and I could coming up in the industry and we want you to come run hear the salesperson talking to someone. This guy Dave one of our labs.” I thought it was a prank call. I took the comes and gets me and he tells me, “Hey Todd, I want you job and within three months of starting there they handed to meet someone. This is Vance.” Well, it was the author me the iPhone.

I started tinkering with stuff—building stuff. When I was about 13, my parents bought me my first radio. It had a little speaker, a little tape deck and a little AM/FM tuner in it. My dad had a different brand and I remember the second I turned it on I thought, “Wait a minute, that does not sound as good as my dad’s,” and I thought “Why?”

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“WE NEVER ALLOW OURSELVES TO SEE WHAT DIFFERENCE WE CAN MAKE BECAUSE WE ARE SO CAUGHT UP IN THE DAY-TO-DAY.”

In the beginning, it was an audio system, but because of this (iPhone) our idea has shifted. We have created a gateway and that has opened the door to a ton of possibilities on the software side. Unity is redefining smart TV. It is about the media experience. If you look at what people are ultimately looking for they want stunning video, great audio, and easy content search. You can get all of that but its not unified.

You have a special management style that you created after your time at Apple. How did the “Game Worth Playing” We are also building software. The engagement part right change the way you run your business and how did you now, if you are watching a movie and a really cool song comes on, can you do anything with it? If a movie trailer come up with this simplified model? pops up, can you do anything with it? Imagine being able This idea is all about realizing the internal barriers that to take action on that and not only you but everyone in occur to a person as exterior. On a personal level, how this the house. shifted within Unity was awesome. I saw my concerns that kept me at Apple, which was not a bad thing, but when I Unity is software and hardware. Think of smart phones. got my concerns out of the way, I saw how I could build Before you had a GPS, camera, iPod, and phone, etc., all were good experiences independently, and now with my own Apple. the redesign of the hardware it created a pathway for a I could see my story and I could see my concern and I redesign in the software side. This is what we are doing understood that everyone has their own story and set of with Unity. concerns. As a leader, I can help people see their concerns and get them out of the way. You should see our team, it’s When does it hit the street?

It is dependent on funding. We are ready to get it to insane. All because of that one shift in concept. market seven months after funding is achieved.

Asking, what if? What is the impact that your idea can in2technologies.com make, realizing those concerns and asking but what is the todd.b@in2technologies.com difference? We never allow ourselves to see what difference we can make because we are so caught up in the day-today.

Now, every single person walking into the company creates their “Game Worth Playing” within the company. I meet with people and ask them, what is the difference you want to make? They create their own job description.

When you get to the team part of this and you get to how do we shift our leadership within a scenario, where no matter who walks through the door, they are working at their full potential. It’s just removing concerns.

What made you want to create a unified home entertainment experience?

You can see early on, that connection and getting that importance around music and movies. There is not a more powerful universal language out there. It moves people.

My thought was, how can I deliver the best experience of that so people have more joy? Having that be conscious in my mind. I remember being in San Francisco and walking into a media store and seeing a complete disconnect on style, seeing all the wires, and it just hit me with a ton of bricks. What would someone in this lifestyle be looking for? Style, elegance, performance. I went back to my hotel and drew a picture of what would solve the problem. It became crystal clear.

Lars Uffhausen COO

Dave Yale Director of Design Gregory Milstein Health and Well Being

Todd Beauchamp President/Founder

A Dynamic Duo Charlie Mann and Jordan Trigg

Written by Flora Moreno de Thompson Photography by daniel garcia

The men behind Jack’s Bar__Liquid Bread__Spread__Beer Walk__Grapevine

A

fter bartending for years, Jordan Trigg decided he wanted his own bar. He ended up buying Jack’s Bar in Japantown and brought fellow bartender and friend Charlie Mann onboard to help turn it into the friendly neighborhood bar it is now famous for. Seven years later, Trigg opened up Liquid Bread, a gastropub in downtown Campbell serving seasonal fare and craft beer.

be known for pushing the envelope, something you can look forward to that’s consistent. At our businesses, you’re getting the same service all the time. It’s nice that our employees have a sense of ownership. They care about the place, too. We also like being a part of the community. In every community we’re a part of, we’re doing a Beerwalk.

That’s worked well for us.

Trigg and Mann also own Spread, the sandwich and bottle shop down the street from Liquid Bread which Mann manages. As if that wasn’t enough on their proverbial plates, Trigg and Mann also run Beerwalk, a beer tasting event in the South Bay and they recently took ownership of The Grapevine in Willow Glen.

Who came up with the idea for Beerwalk?

CM: We started with a Winewalk. JT: I am on the Japantown Business Association board and we were looking at ways to raise money. So we did a Winewalk. We did one and it wasn’t the right fit. So we thought, what about a Beerwalk?

It was meant as a fundraiser for the JBA at first and went well. Other communities asked us... CM: Willow Glen, Mountain View, Campbell, Santana Row...we try to keep What makes Jack’s such a special place?

Charlie Mann: It’s super friendly. You can walk into Jack’s it in nice downtown boutique areas and get people into all by yourself and in ten minutes, you can be in a shops they normally wouldn’t go into. It introduces people to small businesses. JT: The goal is to promote local beers, conversation with new friends. but also to raise money for the local community.

Can you talk about the art showcased on the walls at Did you initially think that you’d get such a positive response Jack’s?

Jordan Trigg: Basically, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to Beerwalk? to put on the walls. Jack’s had stark walls for about six CM: It just seemed like a fun thing to do. Like all our places, months. I have a lot of local artist friends...the first artist we we base most of what we do on what we personally think featured was Kori Thompson, a good high school friend of would be fun. JT: Our main thing is to do the things we mine. CM: We always have an artist showcased on the walls like to do, things we’re passionate about. in there. JT: That was six years ago. One of [Thompson’s] pieces is still up in between the two restrooms. It’s a big What’s your favorite dish at your restaurants? piece his wife said doesn’t belong in their garage [laughs]. CM: The Unkosher sandwich at Spread. It’s our version of a So he donated it to Jack’s. I wanted to do an art show every Ruben sandwich. JT: The Duchess is my favorite sandwich. month that that’s a lot of work. Right now, we do it every At Liquid Bread, everyone’s going to say the burger. I think the Mussel dish represents California cuisine. It’s three to six months. mussels with charred octopus, chorizo, udon noodles from What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in running Japantown, with a Fumet broth. It’s all California in one plate. CM: That’s my favorite dish at Liquid Bread, too. your businesses?

JT: For Jack’s, the greatest challenge has been the back patio. City approved it; that took 14 months. Right now What’s next for you guys? we’re waiting for ABC approval so we can have alcohol out JT: We’d like to open a few more Spread shops. Right there. Just like any first business, it’s hard to revamp it and now, we just gotta catch our breath. But we have a million get it out there. I struggled for the first year or so. Jack’s is concepts in our brains. CM: When a space like Spread nice because it was small and I wanted something that was opens up, we see what idea fits best in the space. That’s intimate. CM: It helped that he pretty much lived there for kinda how it goes. the first couple of years. Jordan could be found there at all hours of the day, living off Wienerschnitzel. spreadcampbell.com instagram: @spreadcampbell What made you decide to open Spread? twitter: @spreadcampbell JT: It was an afterthought actually. We already had Liquid facebook: spreadcampbell Bread open and Liquid Bread is so small, we couldn’t really do lunch there. It was a little premature on our part. liquidbreadcampbell.com CM: This place came up, and we had been talking about instagram: @liquidbreadcampbell opening a bottle shop. JT: We had to do food here, and we twitter: @lbgastropub thought there’s no sandwich shop in Campbell...A lot of facebook: liquidbreadcampbell it is to Charlie’s credit. Spread is mostly his creation. CM: We luck out by having amazing beers and pairing it with jacksbarsanjose.com amazing food. We have 230 bottles of beer. JT: We have a twitter: @jacksbar sous chef from a Michelin star restaurant. facebook: jacksbarsanjose What do you want your establishments to be known for?

CM: For being fun, cool places to hang out at.

JT: Good vibe, good workers, good energy. We want to

grapevinewillowglen.com twitter: @grapevinewg facebook: grapevinewillowglen

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Orchestria Palm Court Written by Gillian Claus Photography by Kim + Phil Photography

What’s old is new again at the Orchestria Palm Court, a gem of a restaurant in San Jose’s theatre district.

“No one is going to hurry you.

Stay as long as you like.”

Mark Williams

E

ngineers are known for being problem-solvers, so when Mark Williams found that his collection of mechanical musical machines had outgrown his living room, he did what any creative thinker would do. He constructed a building for them.

Not just any building. The atmosphere had to be right for his prized collection, so he built them a whole soundscape, authentic right down to the brick walls, the chatter of diners, and the hiss of the soda fountain. He built them the Orchestria Palm Court, a new restaurant located in the city’s theatre district.

Williams hails from a musically-inclined family and wanted to learn to play the piano, although he admits to not inheriting the gene, so he bought himself a player piano—just as a backup. The piano He does not want the place to be a museum or a kitschy old-time wasn’t working when he bought it so he learned to fix it himself and throwback. The interior of the ex-auto showroom built in 1910 has there began his fascination with the machines. been lovingly renovated by Williams. The brick walls were designed to recreate the original feel and acoustics of a bar or restaurant at the “You can’t find these songs on CD,” says Williams. “If you want to turn of the century. hear them, you have to find a roll.” He is referring to the perforated paper cylinders which allow notes and controls to operate the The whole process took nine years. Retrofitting the exposed girders hammers inside the instruments via a vacuum. Each roll held five for earthquakes, installing A/C on the new roof and running all to ten tunes, usually the most popular songs of the time. Many of new electrics underground all took place while he was working for them are reminiscent of the soundtrack for old cartoons. Remember a startup. Then, just when he hit the point of no return, the startup “Mack the Knife,” “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” and “I Ain’t Got folded. The restaurant, which was originally his retirement strategy Nobody?” became his full-time concern. “I had done everything except the final kitchen build-out. If I hadn’t done that, the building would have been useless.”

Player pianos line the walls, and three stand side by side up above the bar.

I asked Williams to play me one of these classics and, after offering an apology for the quietness of the empty room, he disappeared to activate a control panel in the back of the bar. The machine that came to life was a Violano Virtuoso, a self-playing violin. The strings inside are played by small rollers and the fingers on the strings are metal. Combined with a piano frame, the Virtuoso is a fascinating mechanism to watch that puts out a powerful sound designed for public places—it is meant to be heard in tandem with clinking glasses, laughter, and conversation.

The Art Nouveau nymphs frolicking on the panel of his 1926 Electramuse Jukebox also adorn the walls, decorated with prints and posters selected by Williams’ partner Russ. Purely acoustic, the wooden jukebox spins ten records with no amplification, just the horn of the Victrola inside. Player pianos line the walls, and three stand side by side up above the bar.

So Williams expanded his plans for the restaurant, designing a menu that features grass-fed beef, free-range eggs, and real creamery butter.

“Not much comes out of downtown that isn’t deep fried. We just do cooking,” he says.

Specializing in the warm and familiar European favorites, the dinner menu includes pork chops and steaks as well as salmon and ratatouille. Comfort food made from scratch daily with natural ingredients. Williams feels strongly about healthy cooking right down to the fiber content of his whole wheat flour. He has given the food he serves a great deal of thought. The kitchen does not use microwave ovens or deep fat fryers. “It’s not low-fat or low-calorie,” says Williams, “but I have lost ten pounds eating this ice cream.”

Many of the dessert items have been recreated from period recipes.

The ice cream soda fountain features organic ice cream from Three Twins in Petaluma. Even the drinks are made with freshly-squeezed fruit juices.

At first glance, the prices on the menu seem a bit high, but Williams decided to go with another nod to the practices of the past. The prices include service and tax. There are no waiters at Orchestria But not all of Williams’ machines produce music. He also owns Palm Court. His customers order from the rear counter and pay an automated popcorn machine which individually butters each when they are ready. No tipping is allowed. perfectly-popped kernel. The machine runs on Sundays. “Otherwise, it smells like a circus in here,” says Williams.

So has the engineer found more than a perfect home for his collection? Will this gamble on affection for the sounds of the past combined with a healthy modern consciousness win over the downtown crowd? “The jury is still out on that one,” says Williams.

By adopting theatre hours and staying open until 11:30 PM, Williams hopes to encourage people to come just for a glass of wine or a dessert. “No one is going to hurry you. Stay as long as you like.”

Orchestria Palm Court 27 E. William Street San Jose, CA 95112 408.288.5606 Thursday-Sunday 6:00 PM to 11:30 PM orchestriapalmcourt.com

Striking Out on

Their Own Written by Flora Moreno de Thompson Photography by Scott MacDonlad

Jenny Lewis

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Drew Erlich

Strike Brewing Company co-founders Jenny Lewis and Drew Erlich finally have a brewery they can call home.

B

y the time you’re reading this, Strike Brewing Company will be almost ready to open the doors of their new brewery on South Tenth Street to the public.

Since they first incorporated their business in 2011, Strike Brewing Company has brewed their beers at Hermitage Brewery’s contract brewing facility, renting the equipment they need to brew and bottle their products. “They’ve been great partners, but it’s time for us to do more stuff,” CEO Jenny Lewis says. Brewmaster Drew Erlich is looking forward to getting a space of his own to brew special beers, such as seasonal brews or barrel aged batches. He might even branch out to try sour beers or Belgian-style beers someday.

Finding a space for their large brewing production equipment took them a while, but they finally settled on a warehouse at 2099 South Tenth Street. “Once we bolt the equipment down, we’re not moving,” Lewis says with a laugh. They hope to eventually grow into the rest of the space as their production increases.

The two friends and business partners met through Lewis’ boyfriend in 2008. That boyfriend, Ben, later became Lewis’ husband and a silent partner in the company.

For the most part, Lewis and Erlich run the show. “Drew and I have probably had our disagreements, but it always gets worked out pretty easily,” Lewis says. “It has to!”

Lewis is no stranger to running a business. She was hired to run the catering business at Satura Cakes, but also ran a lot of the operations during her four years there.

Lewis left to get her MBA at Rice University, using the brewery for her grad school assignments any chance she could get. When she graduated and returned home with a business plan for a brewery, Erlich and Lewis applied for alcohol permits and

finish line. Their four session beers (Blonde, Wit, Brown, and Porter) While Lewis was away at grad comprise their core lineup, but the two hope to expand their beer school, Erlich did his beer-making homework. The self-taught brewer selection in the near future. learned a lot from Steve Donahue, co-founder of Santa Clara Valley Their beers have earned Strike Brewing Company. “I learned a lot Brewing Company a faithful about the professional brewing scene following among athletes and nonfrom Steve,” Erlich says. “I’m always athletes. In 2013, their Imperial Red Ale won a gold medal in the US picking his brain about things.”

Open Beer Championships. Strike Once they’re done with building Brewing Company can be found their new production facility, Strike pouring beers at an average of ten Brewing Company hopes to carve events a month. These events range out a space for a tasting room at the from beer festivals, to marathons new brewery. Lewis hopes to use the and races, to private parties and tasting room as a place to test new corporate events. Lately, they have beers and get instant feedback from taken part in beer pairing dinners their visitors. “It’ll have 12 to 16 with local restaurants too. taps of things we’re playing with,” When Lewis or Erlich can’t make Lewis says. it to an event, they dispatch interns “We want to be that brewery where to help them out. “We get emails you can take a tour, have a taste, and from people that want to learn more be someplace where people can go about the industry,” Lewis says. after work for a beer,” Erlich says. Some of their interns are college While at school at Rice, Lewis found students who want to get into the inspiration for what she envisions beer business themselves.

Strike Brewing Company’s tasting room to be like at Saint Arnold “San Jose’s beer scene is on the rise,” Brewing Company. Visitors to St. Erlich says. “There are a lot of great Arnold’s bring board games or beer bars, which wasn’t true five or cards to play while hanging out and six years ago. I think people have drinking beer. Instead of opening had a hunger for craft beer and a kitchen and serving food, Lewis haven’t had the places to go for it says they’ll probably bring in food until now.” trucks.

Strike Brewing Company was born.

“We want to be that brewery where you can take a tour, have a taste, and be someplace where people can go after work for a beer.”

Strike Brewing Company’s flagship beers are targeted toward the active lifestyle market. As athletes themselves (Erlich is a former pitcher, while Lewis was a collegiate swimmer), the two wanted to make a flavorful beer they could enjoy without a high alcohol content.

Their session beers are perfect for drinking after a game or at the

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strikebrewingco.com twitter: strikebrewingco twitter: strikebrewingco

Written by Flora Moreno de Thompson Photography by KIM + PHIL Photography

Ryan Sebastian may be known around San Jose for Treatbot, the ice cream karaoke food truck or Movable Feast, the mobile food truck event in the Bay Area. But Sebastian’s work as a creator of third spaces—a place outside home or work where people hang out and create a sense of community—is only just beginning.

Growing Up in East San Jose

W

I am interested in making cities for people, not cars.

But when you’re trying to get the best grades, all you are doing is making cities for cars. That grading system drives development in San Jose more than almost anything else. Any development that messes up that grade is a problem. That’s a long way of saying that I ended up doing the opposite of what I really wanted to do, which was to make cities more livable.

hen I was in elementary school, I loved reading about redevelopment in San Jose. I remember doing this program in high school, you know, where you take underprivileged kids to Stanford. We went to University Avenue. When we came back, we were like “Why is it different there than here?” People seem to like being [on University Avenue] and where we were in San Jose, it seemed like people didn’t really want to be there.

The birth of Treatbot That’s the big question. It came up all the time when I was younger: How do you make a place that people want to be at? How do you turn something into a community?

Another part of that is the experiences you have growing up. My family had parties a lot, there was always extended family around. I’m used to being around a lot of people.

I think it was a great experience for me. I like when it’s crowded and busy.

I am married to a wonderful woman, Christine. She’s a trained chef and has an incredible sense of smell. That helps her to be a really good chef. We wanted to open a business, and thought what is a business that’s not too expensive, but still in both our interests. We thought, well karaoke and ice cream was the perfect idea. At first it came up as a joke. We were having dinner with friends and they said you should put a karaoke machine on the truck. We thought hey, that’s actually not a bad Growing up, my parents read the newspaper everyday. idea. In fact, I could borrow the extra one from my I didn’t know too many kids my age that read the parents. We borrowed one and installed it on the truck. newspaper. I grew up reading the Mercury News and that’s when I started reading about San Jose. At first, I was Third Spaces in San Jose only interested in the sports section, but after a while I was interested in other things.

This is a big thing for us, the idea that we are trying to create this third space. We’re trying to take underutilized I remember I was in the seventh grade at Leyva Middle spaces and create a social space that people would enjoy.

School, and we had this contest: what government One of the fun things we see with food trucks is that you’re official would you want to follow for the day. I’m able to rapidly build a special space in any sort of backdrop assuming most kids said they wanted to see the mayor you can imagine. A parking lot, an abandoned lot. And or the president. I wrote that I wanted to spend the people love to eat. At every celebration, food is almost day with the head of the Redevelopment Agency. always a centerpiece.

Making Cities for People, not Cars I used to work as a traffic engineer. It was a great experience, but our job was to move cars as fast as possible. How do you move cars, and how do you stop them from being in traffic? There’s a peculiar grading system for traffic. If you go to a bad area of traffic, a bad part of the freeway, you can grade that from A to F. When it’s an F, we want to fix it.

San Jose is still a suburban city. It’s an auto-dominated city.

We started working with VTA. They have Park and Ride lots. People use parking lots in the day time, but at night they don’t use them because they’ve already gone home from work. So we take these underutilized spaces and set up lights, music, and food trucks. Our Friday night Moveable Feast event in Willow Glen draws over 2,000 people a night. We run it fifty nights a year. It’s one of those things where everyone in San Jose has been to it. San Pedro Square Market, at a Starbucks, a farmers market—people

49

“YOU DON’T NEED A HUGE BUDGET TO MAKE SOMETHING THAT’S REALLY UNIQUE.”

really desire those spaces. I’m surprised more people aren’t realizing that public space is the most underserved product in most suburban cities. That’s what we try to develop, is public space. But we’re not going to spend millions of dollars. We have ideas that require little to no capital.

The Future We’re talking to VTA about building a shipping container-based project in San Jose on 1st Street, the Mitchell block. It’s a big parking lot. Somewhere in there is a building that’s getting demolished. The city doesn’t know what to do with it. I want to build something where if you want to start a clothing store, you buy a shipping container, get it outfitted, and start a business for a lot less than if you were getting into a storefront somewhere. If I can convince three retail shops, one that does coffee...we can start building a district. We don’t need to make a million dollars. We need a way to see that space. And we think if you fill this space, people will want to be there.

Advice to Other Placemakers Ideas have to be inspired. They have to be placed in a real time and place and feeling that you’ve had. You don’t need a huge budget to make something that’s really unique. I saw this Facebook page called “San Jose’s Lame Because You’re Lame.” The whole idea is a lot of things we complain about is because it’s us. We can’t blame the mayor. It’s a collective output of what we do. I believe there’s a demographic shift. San Jose is not a bedroom community anymore. People are coming here for jobs or they grew up here and they’re still here.

Second generation people here are totally different than someone who originally came here for cheap housing. The second generation, like me, is interested in seeing San Jose as a dynamic city; not a place to get away but to engage.

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The biggest misconception about San Jose is that the young people on the east side of San Jose are the source of our problems. I think more and more, especially in the cultural landscape and city building landscape, a majority of these people are going to be from East Side San Jose.

We’re at the point where there’s a window of opportunity It’s rare for me to meet someone from Willow Glen or here that won’t occur for a very long time.

Almaden or Rose Garden that really cares about San Jose.

They have a large world view, they can go wherever they want. I have not met too many people from good parts of mvblfeast.com San Jose that have been putting heart into San Jose. This twitter: @mvblfeast is something that can be considered negative, but can be facebook: mvblfeast turned into a positive. You have these blue collar guys that don’t have a passport, have never traveled. But the funny treatbot.com thing is when things are down, these guys aren’t going to twitter: @treatbot leave. They’re still going to be here. How do you hang on facebook: treatbot to that passion?

That’s not going to go away. This second generation is more interested in the city experience. Crime has dropped dramatically and the difficulty of urban life has dissipated.

No one will believe me, but violent crime has dropped dramatically. People want to live in cities.

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Serving Dignity to the

Working Poor Written by Kathryn Hunts Photography by Daniel Gaines

When San Jose families need help, Sacred Heart Community Service is there for them.

I

t is 8am, and while most families in this neighborhood are just sitting down to breakfast, a line of people has already started to gather in front of the house on the corner. Bundled up in coats and blankets, they try to warm themselves in the early morning sun. Over the next hour, the line grows longer snaking along the brick path and onto the sidewalk. Mothers tuck babies into their strollers, and a few men use this time as a chance to rest before a long day on their feet. They are all waiting for Sacred Heart Community Service to open for the day. Some are here early so they can still get to work on time; some are here so they can beat the rush, and for others this is just their first stop before heading to other agencies for vital resources such as bus tokens or childcare.

SHCS sits at the corner of South First Street and Alma Avenue. There is a strong possibility you have driven past it and never knew it was there. The facility purposefully resembles a house to bring a sense of ease and community to people who need them. The house also pays homage to founder Louise Benson who fed hungry families from her home in the 1960s. Over the next 50 years, Sacred Heart expanded Mrs. Benson’s dream from giving groceries to providing clothing, weatherization, community gardens, financial workshops, and job skills such as resume writing and interview techniques.

Their mission is to provide essential services with dignity and compassion. Part of that includes referring to clients as customers. “We want our customers to feel welcome when they come here,” explains Volunteer Coordinator Terri West. “They probably aren’t feeling welcome most places they go, but we want this place to be at least one of the places they feel they’re not going to be judged and that we understand the situation that they’re in. So for me, I always think, I don’t know what it’s like to be in that situation, but I would want someone to smile at me, or I would want someone to stop and listen to me.”

Sacred Heart incorporates dignity into every facet of a customer’s visit. For example, the clothing department mimics a retail store. “We don’t throw things in a barrel and say dig through here and see what you can find,” says West. “We want the experience of looking for clothing to be a close to a store as we can. We really sort through the clothing and make sure they’re in good condition. We want to make this experience as good as it can be.”

Providing a consistently good experience is particularly challenging come winter. Sacred Heart needs small turkeys or chickens (8 to 10 lbs.), non-perishable foods like rice or pasta, toiletries, diapers, and most of all, volunteers. “The week between Christmas and New Years is always really hard for us. It’s usually our busiest week throughout the entire year,” anticipates West.

Volunteers during this busy season help ease the wait time for customers so they can get to other agencies they need.

“Even a few people coming out for a couple hours at a time is huge. It makes a big difference.”

high school. I enjoyed it so much I continued to volunteer for years later. I often worked the food pantry and clothes closet. The faces of the people that passed through where unforgettable. Where there might have been despair on one’s face was replaced with a renewed sense of hope. It was truly a gift to both of us.”

After 50 years, Sacred Heart’s gifts have made remarkable success stories for their customers. Lisa Del Silva, an immigrant mother who did not speak English and her two year-old son who did not speak at all, felt completely alone. The distressed mother enrolled in Sacred Heart’s Parents of Preschoolers program with her son. Parents of Preschoolers is a class that teaches parents about parenting techniques, nutrition, and the English language while the children are next door in preschool. Within three to four weeks, the two year-old was picking up words, and by the end of the year he was the most talkative student in class.

His mother transformed into a “promotora”, a leader of the program.

Today, her son attends Sacred Heart’s homework club after school. The homework club gives students the structure and cheerleading to believe they can go to college.

Students have gone on to universities such as Santa Clara University, University of California, Berkeley, and even Harvard. “These kids can really really go far. We try to talk to them about not just graduating form high school, but really going on to college, and really thinking about these other options you can have. Don’t focus on just the money because we can work on that with scholarships and aid,” describes West.

“Where there might have been despair on one’s face was replaced with a renewed sense of hope.”

Local businesses have also made an impact on customers.

Di Moda Salon in Willow Glen donated haircuts for six people in Sacred Heart’s JobLink Employment Program.

Two months later, West ran into one of the women who received a haircut: “It was like night and day…she had scrubs on and just gotten a job as a hygienist. And she’s like, ‘I swear to God, it was that haircut.’ We were both laughing, but I think it gave some of the customers a real boost to feel good about themselves because when you feel better about the way you look. We get stories like that a lot where people didn’t think things were ever going to turn around, and then [they just needed someone to tell them they could do it.] If it gives anybody some kind of hope, it’s awesome.” sacredheartcs.org

1381 South First St., San Jose, CA 95110 408.278.2160

facebook: sacredheartcs youtube: sacredheartcs

The experience for these volunteers makes an impact on their own lives too. “[Volunteering] was a fun easy way to contribute to the community,” shares Santa Clara County resident Andrea Pusateri. “It was originally required by my

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miss ibiss Ibi Oluwole’s great sense of fashion and style is reflected in the merchandise she hand picks for her clothing store, Ibiss Boutique. Located in Willow Glen, Oluwole’s store caters to everyone from high school girls shopping for prom dresses to an octogenarian customer who shops there regularly. Ibiss Boutique also carries Oluwole’s own jewelry designs. Running a business is a rewarding endeavor for the Nigerian-born, San Jose-raised Oluwole. “It’s my dream store,” she says. “Seven years later, it’s exactly what I’d want it to look like.”

Written by Flora Moreno de Thompson Photography by daniel garcia

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“I THINK IT’S NICE TO BE ABLE TO ENJOY YOUR CLOTHES AND NOT HAVE THE CLOTHES WEAR YOU.”

Ibiss Boutique was started as a business plan assignment in college? I honestly did the assignment with the intention of always bringing it to fruition. I really wanted to go to Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and I got a little bit of discouragement to go in that direction. From everyone, my high school counselor even. I don’t mean that pejoratively or negatively, but they didn’t see it as practical. They realized maybe some of the limitations that are inherent with being a woman of color. They wanted me to do something a little more traditional that would certainly get me a job.

What would you consider your greatest accomplishment? So far it’s been moving into this location. We were down the street originally; before that we were in Santa Clara. The decision to merge both locations into this store was my biggest accomplishment, even though it meant closing another location. I was so scared to put myself so out there. Maybe it was because of personal insecurities that I felt I couldn’t accomplish it professionally. I got out of my head so much to actually move into this location. It’s my dream store.

Seven years later, it’s exactly what I’d want it to look like.

How do you stay on top of trends and your customers’ demands? I’m constantly emailing my vendors, asking if they’ve they changed the designs, what’s new, what’s hot.

I’m the only buyer, so it’s hard to buy for other people. I keep up with what the trends are and the manufacturers I work with. I think one of the best things I could have invested in is a point of sale system that lets me know exactly Why did you decide to open a clothing store? I did a clothing what people are buying. line briefly. And while I was going to school I was working in San Francisco for a company...I actually helped them put If you could open a second store tomorrow, where would you together a menswear line. It was short lived. At the time I open it and why? I wouldn’t open up a brick and mortar was working on a clothing and jewelry line of my own. It’s store. I’d do a good job with an online store instead. The really hard to make a living doing design and production direction that fashion is going is digital. I just think that’s on your own. When I realized that was hard to sustain, I going to influence people and the way they shop. With moved over to the retail side of fashion. I thought, what people being a little more busy, I just feel that ecommerce can make a living? That’s when I shifted to retail because, is where it’s going to be. okay, I love being creative, but maybe I wasn’t meant to be What can we expect next from you? As far as current proja designer. ects, the only one is the online store. We’re trying to get it working a little more smoothly and to have the option for Running this business, what would you say works for you?

The ability to turn over [merchandise] really quickly. People customers to shop online and pick up in store. I’m studying come back because there’s always something new. We get other stores with brick and mortar storefronts and online new items everyday. Part of the business model was to bring stores. in new things all the time. We get new stuff in daily. I feel like I know our main clientele. We try to stick to classic What do you think about San Jose’s style? Casual’s nice. I was at New York Fashion Week this year, and don’t get me pieces, but we do trends too. wrong, but I’ve always felt like you should feel comfortable What has been your biggest lesson? Don’t overbuy. Part of in what you’re wearing. Maybe it’s Silicon Valley culture that lesson is operate and grow at a rate that’s fiscally pru- that’s made us comfortable with wearing jeans to work. I dent. There was one point where I felt like we needed to think it’s nice to be able to enjoy your clothes and not have carry this and carry that. We were growing at a rate that the clothes wear you. people weren’t buying at. I had just opened when the recesmissibiss.com sion was at it’s worst. Maybe it was advantageous because 1100 Lincoln Ave. I never new the ‘good old times’ that everyone always talks SAn Jose, CA 95125 about so I never know how much business has fallen.

Have you always been drawn to fashion? Yes, my whole life!

From when I started making clothes for dolls. If I couldn’t make something for myself I’d make it for my dolls, when I was about eight. In high school, I designed prom dresses. I designed mine and prom dresses for two of my girlfriends.

twitter: missibiss instagram: missibiss facebook: ibiss

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winter bliss Photography: Daniel Garcia Assistant: Jesus Medina Make-up & Hair: Tara de la cruz Model: Eyrn Agency: Halvorson Model management Clothes: Ibiss Boutique

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gold and black dress by Edita-$44

coat by Audrey-$78

black and white dress by Sweet Rain- $32 green necklace by Emma- $24 Jewlery available online missibiss.com

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DREDG bay area legends Written by Victoria Felicity Photography by Ajay Fay

Dino Campanella (pianist and drummer)

Mark Engles (guitarist)

Gavin Hayes (vocalist)

Drew Roulette (bassist)

You will frequently hear the name Dredg mentioned by many contemporary Bay Area artists as they list their creative influences. Dredg is a true bay area band—a group of conceptual artists whose mission is to create an experience for their audience. Gavin, Dino, Mark and Drew sit and share stories of adolescent want and rehash how their main desire was to create honest music, which lead them through some experiences that will forever continue to shape their lives and their friendship.

What brought you all together? Drew: Similar interests, you know. School—we all met each other at different places. I met Mark on my baseball team, I met Gavin in art class, I met Dino in my Spanish class. We just all had similar interests. Gavin: Metal t-shirts and math classes. Dino: It was a small town where we grew up and we would hear things like, “Oh, there is this guy who is really good at guitar.”

Gavin was known as the “shredder.” We were just kids who wanted to play music.

How did you see your individual influences shaping your music? Mark: I think we all noticed that in 1996-97, everyone was jumping on a bandwagon and even though we were really good at all the popular stuff, we didn’t want to get lumped into it all. So, we started thinking outside of that. Dino: Conceptually, Pink Floyd was a huge influence. Dark Side of the Moon. That inspired us to look at bringing a concept to an entire album versus just songsong-song. So basically, we were these metal kids who wanted to take an artistic approach. Mark: I think a lot of

it was that we were under a lot of pressure because we saw that so many of the local bands were doing the same thing.

We would walk in the room and we didn’t want to be just another heavy club band in San Jose, and we weren’t.

What was your first breakthrough moment? Gavin: Wednesday night at the Cactus Club. Mark: Yep, I would have to say it was playing our first Cactus Club show. We weren’t at a teen center. It was a real night club and it just felt good. Dino: Yeah, and we were playing on a stage where some of our favorite bands had played the night before and I think we just had this great connection. We are that close. Mark: Yeah, then after that, it was making our first full-length album and being able to travel outside of the Bay Area for the first time. Getting emails, having people approach us asking us to play. Hopping in our cars as 1819 year olds and going to different cities to play shows; Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, and LA. It turned into a weekend thing. We would book wherever we got a show.

Drew: Yeah, the weekend just ended a year ago.

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the time. Geologically I like the idea—clearing a path for water. Not much deep meaning to it. But I think once a band really establishes themselves you really forget about how shitty the name is. Drew: It’s [the logo] a Chinese character; it translates to chameleon or “to change.”

How did you all go about creating your music? Mark: It started in 1994. We set aside summers to get together to write and record. Every summer we would record and I guess the last summer before it became serious we realized that we didn’t have to go to school. We could just keep traveling and writing. Drew: We were looking a lot to our creative influences and we just wanted to focus on the music. It’s not really about us. It’s about what we are creating. Din: Yeah, we avoided press photos for a while.

For Interscope, we wanted to be faceless.

What are your thoughts on how music has evolved? Dino: We grew up in an era where the connection was so important between musicians. There was energy between the bands and that’s because they were in a room creating that energy together, and that’s what we tried to do when we were younger. And so now you get these electronic musicians who didn’t write songs connecting at all and you put them on stage and they give a performance that is garbage sometimes. It’s just not the same at all. What makes a good record is when you can sense a great energy, when you can tell people sit in a room and create.

What roles did each person play in making the band successful? Mark: I think Dino at first was on top of all the Internet stuff. Dino: Yeah, but I remember asking Drew if he could handle the emails because we were getting so many and I would deal with calling people for shows, and that’s the last I read an email. Mark: Drew and Gavin were the most artistic of the group. Gavin is the people person.

Me...I have no idea. Drew: Mark was our moral compass for a while. Making sure everything got done. Mark: We all had our niche...even when we were butting heads, it was okay because deep down we all really got along and we could relax in moments knowing that everyone was going to work in the way they worked. We all just worked really well together. We have all fought with each other.

What’s next? Mark: I think we have all talked about how we can see another record, but we just need that catalyst.

How do you feel knowing that lots of local bands see you as their inspiration? Drew: It is awesome because we can relate. We are grateful that we all made it here and we were able to do what we did. Dino: We have been very blessed and there has been no shortage of great experiences. Mark: I think people respect how we went about making our music. We were pretty humble and went on the road and tried to just make honest music. Thank you for continuing to talk about us. dredg.com facebook: dredg twitter: @dredg

Where did the name and logo come from? Gavin: We needed to come up with it for a talent show. It was between Woven and Dredg… Drew: It was seriously just a list of words on a paper and that one looked cool at the time. Mark: It was short, simple, and phonetically sounded like our music at

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WINTER DRINK

SPICED APPLE OLD FASHIONED 1. In an old fashioned glass,

muddle 1/4 ounce of caramel syrup, a 1/4 ounce spice apple syup and a dash of cinnamon.

2. Add 2-3 shakes of Bar Keep Apple Bitters.

Written by mark stott Photography by daniel garcia

3. Add 2 ounces of Bulleit Rye, splash soda water and ice.

4. Stir for 10-15 seconds.

5. Garnish with an apple twist.

Served at Blackbird Tavern

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BLACKBIRD TAVERN BARTENDER, MARK STOTT

I

I created the Spiced Apple Old Fashioned as a winter cocktail because apple pie and winter are synonymous in my mind. One of my favorite cocktails to drink and make is an Old Fashioned, and it is actually the drink that inspired me to look at creating and making cocktails in a different light. It is such a simple drink when it is made right, and perfectly embodies the origin as well as rebirth Over the past year and a half, downtown San Jose has of classic cocktails. evolved tremendously with an influx of new restaurants, bars, coffee shops and live music venues. It is exciting I wanted to pay homage to it by tweaking it to integrate to see downtown San Jose blossom and I no longer feel my obsession with apple pie, and I hope that my that I need to trek up to San Francisco in search of great interpretation of the classic does it justice this winter. food, drinks, or music. I feel so fortunate to be a part of the team at Blackbird Tavern and am inspired by the synergy of creativity that flows throughout the restaurant on a daily basis (from ownership, the staff, performers, and customers). grew up in Santa Clara, but up until a few years ago, I rarely ventured downtown. That all changed when I discovered a wonderful family owned and run coffee shop in Japantown called Roy’s Station, and has intensified as I pursue a teaching credential program at San Jose State University.

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Picks by Local Mohammad Gorjestani PicksPicks by shona sanzgiri

by Local Mohammad Gorjestani

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With a city as big as San Jose, even the most savvy insiders need a local’s advice every now and then.

With a city as big as San Jose, even the most savvy insiders need a local’s advice every now and then.

A. Paradiso Market

local Shona Sanzgiri

DAy Job I manage editorial projects for Issuu, a digital publishing company based in Copenhagen, Denmark with offices in Palo Alto and New York. We work with magazines - mostly fashion, arts & culture, social justice, and lifestyle publications like VICE, V Magazine, Anthology, and the New York Times Magazine - to preserve their print experience in a digital format.

Night Job At night, I write book reviews and essays and profiles as a freelance writer. For a year, I tried to write full-time. It was discouraging and tiresome.

I was able to cobble together something of a resumé, and wrote for GQ, Paris Review, Bookforum, Interview Magazine and a few others.

street cred I was an adolescent skater. Most of my friends were either the same, or they were graffiti artists, musicians, or painters. Our upbringing might have set us apart, but on closer inspection, we had a lot in common.

It’s a weathered romanticism, but I met some of my best friends on street corners, parking lots, and warehouses. Hemingway said by riding a bicycle, you learn the contours of a country best. By riding a skateboard, you learn about a city’s underbelly. ssanzgiri@gmail.com

I guess they’re not as visible as they once were, but the Italians of San Jose were fairly prominent not so long ago. Their legacy can be seen in abandoned parts of town. My favorite place is Paradiso Market, a colorful, rickety old delicatessen off San Carlos and Meridian on the way to Willow Glen. They have a pasta roller, a generous hot bar, and a wall-to-wall fridge full of cold beer and Italian soda. Most people come here for the meatball sub. I’m no different. 791 Auzerais Ave. San Jose, CA 95126

B. Rehoboth Restaurant Besides the women, I’ve considered moving to Ethiopia for the food. It’s the perfect marriage of Indian and Mexican, and manages to surpass both with its rich, subtle flavors.

I say this as an Indian with strong Mexican sympathies. My favorite Ethiopian restaurant can be found, oddly enough, in Japantown. They don’t serve alcohol, which is a bummer because Ethiopian beer is a nice, autumnal brew: dark, with notes of clove and molasses - a very good match for stewed vegetables and meat.

On a summer night my girlfriend & I ate there, alone, and, hearing music, wandered into the church next door. A gospel choir was having a rehearsal, and invited us to sit and listen.

From the outside, these two places look completely uninviting. When you step inside, you learn that’s the furthest thing from the truth. caferehoboth.com

c. La Lune Sucrée Paseo de San Antonio is ground zero for the enlightened vagabond. There’s a Philz coffee shop, a hair salon, a bike store, and two bistros. One of them is La Lune Sucrée, where I go every Sunday for a bowl of cold German oatmeal topped with slices of blueberries and bananas and raisins and strawberries, arrayed in a crescent moon shape, alongside a cup of their thick, viscous hot chocolate. They serve Kir Royales, mimosas, and cider, if you’re looking to parlay Saturday night into an even lazier Sunday. And plenty of good pastries and crepes for fortification.

I used to sit and read, but I’d get distracted. It’s better to people-watch: you’ll see tattooed frat boys roll by on longboards. You’ll hear a few pretty ladies talking about first-wave feminism. A month ago some guys were doing parkour, leaping from the balls of their feet onto the precipice of a small bike rack. I was jealous because they all had toned abs, and I was guzzling hot chocolate at noon. lalunesucree.com

d. Cafe Stritch Whenever I’m in SF, I go to Four Barrel. Not so much for their coffee but for their outdoor garden/patio thing. I’m glad San Jose seems to have embraced the outdoor garden/patio thing. Stritch has the best one. Even when it’s besieged by people, I’ve always found a welcoming table. They make good use of a sprawling space and high-ceilings.

It’s uncommonly hard to find somewhere in San Jose where one can read, drink, listen to music, or not do much of anything, and yet still feel like you’re doing “something.” The spiked horchata is lethal and delicious. I love it dearly. cafestritch.com

E. Mark’s Hot Dogs My last meal on earth would probably be a hot dog. I don’t tread lightly at Mark’s, and its burnt orange pagoda beckons pilgrims to partake of the boiled pork, coddled by pillowy buns, and lined with gooey, processed cheese. I shun the curbside service unless I’m handicapped from last night’s mischief. Even then, seems lazy.

48 S Capitol Ave, San Jose, CA 95127 G.

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Contributors The production of Content Magazine would not be possible without the talented writers, editors, graphic artists, and photographers who contribute to each issue. We thank you and are proud to provide a publication to display your work. We are also thankful for the sponsors and readers who have supported this magazine through advertisements and subscriptions.

Want to be a part of the Content community?

Contact us at: editor@content-magazine.com

KIM GALANTO Kim is a graphic designer based out of San Jose, working at a design agency in Campbell. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she moved to the Bay Area just over a year ago after graduating with a BFA in Graphic Design from Woodbury University.

Kimvisually.com

FLORA MORENO DE THOMPSON Flora is a writer and managing editor for Content Magazine. A proud San Josean, Flora is a San Jose Sharks season ticket holder and San Jose Bike Party regular. She is addicted to coffee and her two dogs, Lord Stanley and Little Joe. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and writing about herself in the third person.

AJAY FAY Ajay is a recent transplant from the beautiful Los Angeles, and is now living in the Silicon Valley. He is a rare breed with an actual Degree in Photography. His work infuses sophisticated lighting and precision editing.

He dreams of turning into a bird and flying away. ajayfayphotography.com

COVER IMAGE

LEAH AMMON Leah is a Bay Area native, recently returned to California after a 7-year-detour to the East Coast. When she’s not at her day job, working as Communications Manager at a Silicon Valley arts organization, she can be found gallery-hopping, geeking out over typography, or taking her dog on a walk.

“Feast” by Trina Merry Models: Rebecca Case, Kerstin Tuning and JenJen Wong.

Rebecca’s Black Tank from Silk & Honey. silk-honey.com

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SEAN LOPEZ Sean is a part-time fisherman, home brewer, and bread maker. Full-time design grinder, beer drinker, and husband. Sean juggles between the many interests, hobbies, and professions which keeps his curiosity intrigued. Named after the infamous “Sir Connery,” he has no resemblance (height or otherwise) to the original double-oh-seven. lopezfarms.com

VICTORIA FELICITY Victoria Felicity has a background in global business operations who moonlights as writer, portrait and live music photographer.

She is drawn to people who inspire her interest in music, innovation and creativity.

Her aim is to achieve honest interviews with incredible people. She is also a killer salsa dancer.

LAM NGUYEN Lam, photographer and writer, is a San Jose native. Though his travels have taken him to 4 continents, he has always considered Silicon Valley home. His love for the written word has always been a major driving force in his life. These days, he indulges in the possibility of one day retaking American journalism.

PIZZA BOCCA LUPO

Neapolitan Wood Fired Thin Crust Pizza @ San Pedro Square Market

87 N. San Pedro Street, San Jose CA www.pizzaboccalupo.com

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