As small business month is quickly approaching I was thinking how wonderful and vibrant a community…read moreJapantown San Jose is. There so many seasoned and new diverse small business owners here in the heart of Japantown. Classic Loot, Zonkey, Roy's, Santo Market, Taqueria Corona, Minato, Hukilau, Kazoo are among my families favorites. We have also enjoyed and welcomed new businesses too like Banne (yummy sourdough) and Furbaby Fancy petgrooming (the most posh and elite pet grooming experience) into our rotation as well! I should have just listed all the businesses here! So proud of the businesses that contribute to our community!

There's definitely a lot of history, community love, and shops and restaurants here. It's smaller…read morethan the other Little Tokyo in LA and Japan Town in SF (I think), but because we came around midday lunch time on a Tuesday after Fanime, not many stores or restaurants were surprisingly open? Maybe it's due to being after Memorial Day or because most of them were night time dinner service only restaurants. Either way it's much cleaner than Little Tokyo in LA and with less jump scares and trash everywhere. Easier to find parking and more affordable, in a sense, than Japan Town SF. Stopped by the Japanese grocery store and Santo Market while we were here. Fun to kill a couple of hours, I suppose. I just gotta come back here again when more things are open !

"As my artist's statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of…read moredeep significance."―Calvin San José has a long line of, shall we say, questionable Public Art (PA) projects; everybody knows about the giant dog turd statue Quetzalcoatl―or as I like to call him Quetzacaca ( goo.gl/lvswBr )―in the Plaza de César Chávez. Let's also not forget the Fallon Statue debacle ( goo.gl/wKEv0g )―and don't get me started on the mangled shopping carts (goo.gl/vbB6NE) passing for a statue on the corner of Alma Ave and Almaden Rd. Need I go on?! So, whenever CSJ does something right I love to point it out. I first read about Ursa Mater (aka Mama Penny Bear) in the Merc from my buddy Sal Pizarro's column. Ursa Mater is a gigantic piece of coin art that was put together by Hayward-based artists Mr & Mrs Ferguson. She first made an appearance at last year's Burning Man festival and is now prominently displayed in Paseo de San Antonio―just east of Plaza de César Chávez, right by Bijan Bakery. The statue of Mama Bear and her two cubs sits at least 10-12' tall and is completely covered in 200,000 pennies ($2,000 worth) to make up the bears fur. It's pretty cool to look at from afar, and even cooler up close. I suggest getting here quickly to check her out, as she will only be on display until the end of May. And then we'll be back to staring at Quetzacaca forever. FOL...

I like to think that these represent the bear on the California flag. The name Ursa Mater…read more Is an excellent play on words by the artist. Ursa Major is Latin for "greater she bear" So Ursa Mater translates roughly to "She bear of matter" ( I only understand a very small amount of Latin so this may or may not be the exact translation). The bear and her cub are made of pennies so it seems the artist's intention was to make a realistic mother bear out of " matter" , hence the name. Also behind the pennies is a concrete core. It's as if these bears have a real fur made out of metal. As the previous reviewer said, there are are a lot of bad San Jose art pieces, but this one is fantastic. Just an edit: it seems to be gone now. Very sad.

Very powerful tribute and space for peaceful reflection. The actual gardens are well tended and…read moreappear to be a welcomed community addition.

We need a park for children here. Theres a parking lot they learn to ride bicycles in. A free area…read morefor the elderly to garden. Theres a shit ton of space. The statues are there. A nice park like mccandles would allow for bbqs and have something for children who never heard of the war to enjoy while also learning where they come from. Isntead its just left with nothing. They even kicked out the gigantic homeless encampment which didnt bother me much but if you do you might as well build mini homes and/or a park for out kids.

Not huge, but it's a great stop, especially when you're biking in the morning hours when the sun…read moreisn't too hot in Milpitas, CA. There aren't many cars on the roads between 10am-12noon, so it's a breeze riding a bike around and resting for a hydration stop here. Tiny public parking lot onsite off Milpitas Blvd. Hidden Lake neighborhood have peaceful homes and nice walking paths to get a glimpse of the small lake sometimes filled with ducks. You can easily walk up and down stairways or bike around the neighborhood area near the homes. Yes, there are picnic tables and families do stop to enjoy small gatherings. Hidden Lake Park is not far from retailers/restaurants/grocery stores/fast foods/etc. Convenient. Not many visitors on weekdays. It's always clean when I stop by seasonally for a morning biking routine. The clouds look great outside today, so it wasn't too hot under the sunshine. Overall, good place to chill before continuing onto Milpitas Blvd. where there's bike friendly streets now. Easy to follow the paths and navigate around town.

***the lake itself is part of a community called HIDDEN LAKE as well***…read more OVERALL: Meh. Wouldn't go out of my way to drive here to walk; therefore the 4 stars rating. Due to being part of a community, there are a ton of guest parking (especially near the gates to this park) BUT if you keep driving, the parking lot for this "park" is on the outside (you turn in with the sign "HIDDEN PARK LAKE" in green lettering/tanish brown background and there are a few spots for you to pick from). Two stairways up to other flat cement ground trails. Very quarry lake vibes but not much water. Lake itself is a smaller circular flat cement ground leveled trail. Regarding up the stairs: One way does end up at another park whereas the other way just ends up in another neighborhood/main road. Lack of shade. Lots of ducks. There's few places to sit. Few trash bins. No visible toilets.

Cool ghost town visible from train - San Jose to Sacramento…read more It was so fun discovering this small ghost town in the middle of the South at wetlands. A raucous history clings to Drawbridge - hunting and maybe gambling at one time or another. Built in the 1870s and it became 'ghostly' after the last person left in 1979. I like the background of the town and how it spices up the history of the southern part of San Francisco Bay.

I found out about Drawbridge on Atlas Obsura and was fascinated. It's definitely one the better…read moreelusive urbex destinations. You technically can't go here so I won't go into detail on how to get there but it's best to find someone who's been here before to guide you as it can be tricky to find and some entrances might be blocked off. The abandoned buildings on the side of the train tracks are spread out and you can get some nice photos with the hills and marshland in the background. It's worth going but this is a production. It's about a 9-mile walk and yes you do have to watch out for the train. Most of the time it's fine but there is a small stretch when you need to cross a bridge over water and let's just say you don't want to end up like those kids on Stand By Me. If you don't want to do the walk you can take an Amtrak Train which goes through it.

This is a temporary art exhibition at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, featuring oaxacan animal sculptures…read moremade of fiberglass and metal construction and painted with colorful and imaginative designs. My faves were the lionbull, the happy alien, and of course, the rabbit (by artist María Jiménez). A couple of the artworks are located across the street, near the SJ Museum of Art and in front of Bijan Bakery, but the rest are scattered throughout the park, a lovely sight to see among the beautiful trees and decorative lights in the plaza. Supposedly the statues themselves light up after dark. But perhaps they were broken during my recent visit, or maybe these creatures partied too hard over the weekend during the Pride festivities, cuz only one was illuminated with color-changing lights at nightfall. It was still enjoyable to explore these creative pieces during the day, especially on a Monday afternoon without the distraction of annoying crowds. Plus it's free to view, unless there's a special event happening which charges an admission fee. San Jose Jazz and its partners are hosting various community gatherings and activities in the plaza through the end of September as part of this exhibition, including cultural festivals and movie & music nights. These are great opportunities to check out this fun and unique art display and celebration of Mexican tradition and heritage. And just maybe, if you're lucky, you'll get to see all of the sculptures lit at night during these events.

The three stars is for the Coco movie shown last night, next to the Art Museum. The problem was…read morethat the view of the movie screen was faded, because of a city sidewalk spotlight which was aimed directly at the movie screen. This made the movie harder to see. Because one of the palm trees cast a shadow over the right-third of the screen, the right side of the screen was easier to see than the left side of the screen, which suboptimized the experience, because our eyes keep reminding us that one side of the screen is faded, while the other side is not, which forces the mind to continually have to adjust for the whole hour and a half. But the black statue at the other end of the park lit up well in the dark:

This stretch of highway is beautiful. I have done this hundreds of time but it still feels magical…read moreevery time I traverse it. There are beautiful redwoods on both sides with little towns along the way. On the one side is quaint Los Gatos and on the other side is stunning Santa Cruz. Just know that it backs up frequently since it is pretty windy and frequent crashes, which shuts down the highway. Drive safe please!

Amazing views, and an excellent scenic drive. The viewpoints at sunset especially are beautiful if…read moreyou want to take photos.

Located at Edith Morley Park in Campbell, near the percolation ponds, this wall sculpture is…read morecomprised of symbols of nature as portrayed by the artist, Glen Rogers. Her works focus on elements representative of feminism, spirituality, and living earth. This particular piece presents shapes and images that support this theme. And the setting features lovely trees along the wall that complement the steel sculpture beautifully. It's worth checking out if you're in the area.

Lupe the Mammoth is a cool (not so) little structure on the Guadalupe River Trail about 4 miles…read morefrom Alviso. There's not much around the area, so unless you are biking or jogging on the trail, it might seem out of the way to view such a simple little-known monument. But it has a neat little story behind it for anyone interested in art, science, history, or nature, or even just cool quirky attractions that are free of cost. A guy came across the collection of bones while walking his dog along the trail back in 2005. How awesome is that, it's like finding a dinosaur in your backyard! The actual remains can now be found at the Childrens Discovery Museum in San Jose where they can inspire kids to "dig for fossils" and explore the past, but the unique sculpture on the Guadalupe River Trail marks the setting of this magnificent discovery. And it is far from ordinary. It's beautifully crafted out of bent steel pipes, and almost twice the size of the actual baby mammoth remains. The area and the exhibit itself are not run down by trash or graffiti or shady characters, so it makes for a pleasant experience and worth checking out. The area is actual pretty quiet and scenic, besides the Trimble Road highway (there's an underpass that connects the trail if you're looking to cross the busy street). It's surrounded by business parks, with private parking only. So there is no parking at the exact location of the mammoth statue. However if you're driving, there is free street parking on Seaboard Ave (6am-10pm), next to the nearby 76 gas station, within walking distance... Though the sculpture can easily be viewed from Trimble Road, please don't stop on the street (illegally) and block traffic. This isn't the most exciting attraction in San Jose so you shouldn't have too high of expectations. But if looking for a low-key outing that won't cost you a penny, this is a great option (to appreciate this work of art in person, not just through photos).

Columbia mammoth spotted along the Guadeloupe Trail! Ok, actually it is only the whiff of a memory…read moreof a memory locked in a skeleton fossil over 12,500 years old. A sculpture of a mammoth made of what looks like curved metal bars sits under a tree waving at commuting cars trundling along the street. It is massive and I think quite cool. I hope the city makes it a habit of putting more sculptures and works of art along the trail. There is a small information board that gives you the low-down on Lupe, her discovery, and how old it is. A cool snippet of one of the coolest cousin to elephants that used to wander in Silicone Valley in the Pleistocene period. Tres cool! The large metal structure isn't in the best location, but can easily be visited by joggers, walkers and bicyclists wandering along the Guadeloupe trail where is passes through the city of Santa Clara.

This creative masterpiece is easy to miss, as it's on the side of a building (same building as San…read moreJose Jazz), located across the street from the California Theatre, along a pathway with probably not a lot of foot traffic, in the SoFA district where many buildings are covered in art. Spending a Sunday afternoon going running in downtown SJ, I stopped to admire this beautiful collaboration of colorful and quirky pieces comprising of the work of 100 different artists, celebrating diversity in the art community. Each painted tile, depicting these individuals and their stories, come together to represent the city as a whole. Not your typical art gallery, I absolutely love it. Too many favorites!