Hallelujah, our downtown coffee shop is going to stay open in the evenings. Congrats and welcome to the new owners of the shop formerly known as Fifth Street Coffee and then Sue’s. The new owners, Philip Willis and his girlfriend Tiffany Smith, already have leapfrogged the naming pack with the cool selection of “Dragonfly on Fifth.” The logo should be awesome – as awesome as Willis’ quote from our story: “I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. But this is something I’ve been thinking about for a year now. I wanted to be involved, and be a part of the community.” A spring grand gala is planned with new floors, seating, paint, and – yes – hours befitting a real coffee shop that will stay open until 9 p.m. Could this be a key sign that a downtown breakthrough is ahead?
Back in ’06, city leaders were touting another downtown breakthrough: paseos. Bulletin from a 2006 Dispatch: “Main street shoppers have different names for the corridors that slice through buildings and connect them to parking – breezeways, paseos, walkways. Soon, “cure-all” may be added to the list by city leaders facing a downtown parking crunch, complaints about safety and years of anxious waiting for a public restroom. “It’s a huge advantage because of the fact that one of the challenges is to have an easy pedestrian flow from the parking areas to the main street,” Community Development Director Wendie Rooney said. “You want to keep the parking lots off the main street. You don’t want to eat up that prime retail, but when you have to walk all around the block and down the street, it’s an inhibition. A direct connection is vital.” Vital, apparently, takes a very, very long time, but there is light. MayorAl reports that, “We are in negotiation for properties between 4th and 5th and … I hope to be able to announce in a couple of weeks one of them. Our hope is that one paseo will focus in and be named Gilroy Sister City Paseo and the other Gilroy Historical Paseo.” Coffee shop open at night, paseos built and a new ordinance that allows dancing downtown … what’s next, a new restaurant operated by Milias owners Adam Sanchez and Ann Zyburra in the beautiful Old City Hall building?
Ah, men interested in the romance building department? Take heed: a little wine paired with chocolate ain’t a bad way to go. Pen in Feb. 11 or 12 for an excursion to Solis Winery’s Wine and Chocolate event. Mmmmhuh, noon to 4:30 p.m., $10 unless you become a wine club member, then it’s gratis. Regardless, be sure and take home a bottle of the ’09 Seducente.
Seducing customers from the Gilroy Welcome Center in the outlet mall with special ticket offers makes absolute sense. So, I hope new volunteer president Hugh “C” Davis sees fit to reconvene the G-Fest Board on the matter and try to impose some common marketing sense. More folks at the fest is more better for Gilroy, and you don’t need to attend a “UC” to know that. My apologies to Mssr. Davis for last week’s “Sparky” reference, but Hugh “C” is anything but a peanut butter “Skippy” guy so it just didn’t compute.
Compute it just doesn’t … why on earth would Councilman Dion Bracco go fishing for Councilman Perry Woodward’s home alarm information? It’s just oh-so-very smarmy. What would such a man do with the power that comes with the office of mayor? Think about it.
Doesn’t have to think about spending that $5,000 from the Super Bowl pool. My buddy Troy G. picked up “lonesome doves” on the Super Bowl board, a finishing score of 2-2. Yeah, 42-22, etc. could happen, but Harry Houdini would have to get involved.
Didn’t know until this weekend that escape artist Harry and the author of my favorite childhood book, “The Call of the Wild” were friends. Found that out at beautiful Jack London State Historic Park just outside the quaint hamlet of Glen Ellen where we stayed in the inspiring “Moon House” built by an incredibly talented sculptor who has exhibited at Burning Man. The exhibits, the hikes, the views – all spectacular at Jack London Park. The Fig Cafe serves up superb country French food sans the fluffery in a convivial atmosphere. Enjoy a meal, walk over to the Jack London Saloon, stroll home to the “Moon House.” Super Saturday night. As you’ll see by the photo below, Gov. “Moonbeam” Brown has the amazing park on his “shut-it-down” list. Go for it, Gov., and if you do the voters are going to shut you out of state politics forever. Not one extra red cent to save the parks. That’s what we pay all our taxes for. What we pay the governor for is to make sure the parks we paid for with our taxes stay open for our recreational enjoyment. Don’t play politics with the parks. Cut the budget elsewhere and stop playing games.
If you’re game for a springtime backpack (thank God Yosemite is a National Park) and want to learn the basics from a hometown trail vet, sign up for our outdoor columnist’s one-evening class at the Community Center in Morgan Hill. Ron Erskine, through Gavilan College Community Education, will fill you in on the wild, wild world on Tuesday, March 6, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Morgan Hill Community Center. Enroll at www.GavilanCE.com (“courses,” “leisure,” then “outdoors”) or call 408-852-2801. Game on … “Go Niners!” … oh, yeah, well, “Go Numbers!” – as in my pool numbers – and may the third best team win.
Reach Editor Mark Derry at ed****@ga****.com
