10.27.2023

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Today’s Forecast

57º | Mostly sunny | 5% chance of rain | Sunrise: 7:22 a.m. | Sunset: 5:06 p.m.

🛍️ Plans for La Pulga

The future of San Jose’s historic flea market

The "Welcome to San Jose" sign at the Garden at the Flea.

The Garden at the Flea hosts many weekly markets and pop-ups. | Photo by SJtoday staff

In June 2021, the City of San Jose approved rezoning San Jose’s historic flea market to make way for a Berryessa BART Urban Village.

The redevelopment initially pitched replacing it with a massive tech campus, but developers are now proposing a mixed-use housing development.

Let’s take a look back at the complexities of this project.

An old picture from the 1960s-1970s of the flea market. — Check out the flea market during the 1960s-1970s.
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Photo via San Jose Flea Market Archives

🕰️ A community hub

It’s hard to come across a San Josean who hasn’t yet been to or heard of the swap meet, or La Pulga to many Latinx residents, at Garden at the Flea.

When it opened in 1960, there were ~20 sellers. Today, the market is host to more than 6,000 vendors every week and draws in nearly 4 million people each year.

It has become a cultural + social hub for residents looking to purchase affordable goods from other locals for decades. When redevelopment news was announced, vendors pushed back about the fate of their trade.

An overhead view of the project site for the Berryessa BART Urban Village. — This is the overall site of the Berryessa BART Urban Village where the flea market will be affected.
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Photo via City of San José

🏗️ A change of plans

The developer’s current plan puts ~$5 million towards supporting a 5-acre urban plaza space for a public market, but it does decrease the flea market’s current 15-acre span.

It’ll also give a 1-year advance notice of the closure of the flea market (as the official construction timeline has not been cemented), to ease the transition.

The new project proposal, dubbed Market Park, also envisions:

451 townhouses, 399 apartments, and 90 condos (20% will be deed-restricted for lower-income households)
45,000 sqft of ground-floor retail space
A neighborhood park + creek trails

The landowners have submitted an application to the city to switch their plans from office to residential, but the timeline for approval + construction is currently unknown.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this redevelopment — give us a piece of your mind.

Events

Friday, Oct. 27

Halloween Costume Party | Friday, Oct. 27 | 8 p.m. | The Ritz, 400 S. First St., San Jose | $15 | DJ Basura and Bit will spin new wave, synth pop, indie, and disco hits all night long — plus, there’s a costume contest with cash prizes.
Slash and Sip: Adult Pumpkin Carving Party | Friday, Oct. 27 | 8-10 p.m. | San Pedro Square Market, 87 N. San Pedro St., San Jose | $30-$60 | Have a scary good time sipping cocktails + carving your masterpiece alongside new friends.

Saturday, Oct. 28

Nikkei Matsuri Artisans Fair | Saturday, Oct. 28 | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | San Jose Buddhist Betsuin Annex, 632 N. Fifth St., San Jose | Free | Browse 40+ local artisan booths offering items with Japanese and Asian influence — the Japanese American Museum will be selling food.
49ers PRIDE Drag Brunch | Saturday, Oct. 28 | 11 a.m.-2 p.m. | Levi’s Stadium, 4900 Marie P. DeBartolo Way, Santa Clara | $40 | Enjoy live performances, a buffet brunch, and raffles for prize bags, autographed items, and tickets for Sunday’s match against the Bengals.
Courtyard of Horror | Saturday, Oct. 28 | 12-11 p.m. | Camino Brewing Co., 718 S. First St., San Jose | Free | This San Jose Simpsons art show features music from SOULMAT3S + Ladies 1st DJ Club, local food and craft vendors, a blood orange beer release, and costume contest.
Avenida de Altares | Saturday, Oct. 28 | 5:30-10:30 p.m. | School of Arts & Culture, 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose | Free | Walk through beautifully decorated altars with intricate sugar skulls + a mesmerizing sea of marigolds.
Go Go Gone Show: Halloween Edition | Saturday, Oct. 28 | 6 p.m.-2 a.m. | Mama Kin, 374 S. First St., San Jose | $10 | This eerie edition of the show presents a talent competition, costume contest, and tasty treats.

Sunday, Oct. 29

Oakridge Farmers Market | Sunday, Oct. 29 | 9 a.m.-1 p.m. | Westfield Oakridge, 5420 Thornwood Dr., San Jose | Free | Get fresh produce, live entertainment, and more at this year-round market.
Creepy Crawly Halloween Crafts | Sunday, Oct. 29 | 2 p.m. | Campbell Historical Museum, 51 N. Central, Campbell | $5 | Bring the kiddos to enjoy Halloween goodies and craft fun.

Events calendar here

Click here to have your event featured.

Finance

Hedonova outperforming S&P 500 by over 200%

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Since late-2019, Hedonova has outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 200%. | Graphic provided by Hedonova

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News Notes

Development

New details about a planned downtown highrise, Orchard Residential, point to a construction start date as soon as November. The 30-story, 540-unit tower is slated for the former site of Bo Town Restaurant at 409 S. Second St. (SiliconValley.com)

Sports

After a 4-2 loss to Sporting KC Wednesday night, the San Jose Quakes have been eliminated from the MLS Playoffs. But, we do have to give it up to the team for bouncing back from last place in 2022 to No. 9 seed this year under new head coach Luchi Gonzalez. (The Mercury News)

Community

San Jose will receive an $8.5 million state grant — over the next three years — to create a retail theft unit within the San Jose Police Department to tackle a recent uptick in organized shoplifting at local malls. The funding will create one full-time forensic analyst + four part-time investigator roles. (Silicon Valley Business Journal)

Coming Soon

Word on the street: A new burger joint will soon open on Paseo de San Antonio. Campus Burgers keeps it simple with four items on their menu — hamburger, cheeseburger, fries, and soda — each costing under $3. While no opening date has been announced, we’ll keep you updated.

Open

Santa Clara County recently moved its wedding services to an expanded chapel on its new campus at 110 W. Tasman Dr. The new chapel features fresh wooden pews, a wreath-wrapped altar, and modern floral details around.

Civic

HomeFirst, a local housing operator, will receive $6.2 million to continue funding four interim housing sites through next June, following a unanimous vote from City Council. Last year, the service provider housed 865 people, which was ~40% of its program participants. (San José Spotlight)

Trending

One lucky local scored big this week. An East San Jose Shell gas station at 1140 N. Capitol Ave. sold a winning Fantasy 5 ticket worth ~$164,488. The jackpot for matching five numbers was $328,976, but another winner in Galt will be splitting the pot. (The Mercury News)

Real Estate

$402,287. That’s the annual income needed to purchase the average home in the San Jose area, according to a recent Redfin report. How do we compare nationally? We’re above the annual median income of $114,627. Here are some homes below the average cost. (Redfin)

Cause

Looking to support local? Start right here: with the SJtoday news team. We live, work, and play all things San Jose so we can bring you the kind of news you actually care about. Directly support us by becoming a SJtoday member — you’ll keep this free newsletter hitting inboxes.

Community

The votes are in for our Pumpkin Carving Contest — drumroll please...

See the winning pumpkin in our SJtoday 2023 pumpkin carving contest

“Public Health Patch” | Photo submitted by Callie Gregg

Winner: “Public Health Patch”

By overwhelming majority, our winner of the contest this year were these three exceptionally colorful painted pumpkins by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.

What’s better than one pumpkin? Three. Described by the creators, “The Santa Clara County Public Health Department stands as a nurturing tree, anchored by strong roots and extending branches that offer support to our diverse community.”

Congratulations to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and all our finalists — you’re all the cream of the carving crop.

See the rest of the finalists

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The Wrap

Today’s edition by:
Alyson

From the editor

Despite Halloween landing on a Tuesday, there’s a ton of festivities to attend this weekend. Along with hosting my own party, I’m hoping to stop by Camino Brewing Co.'s “Courtyard of Horror” on Saturday which will feature tunes from my favorite DJ duo, tasty bites, a new blood orange brew, and special art from San Jose Simpsons.

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