Gary Singh
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San Jose Earthquakes Return to Home MLS Playoffs After 14-Year Wait
New stadiums are supposed to have playoff matches. That’s the whole point, right? Since the San Jose Earthquakes are finally in the MLS playoffs, at home, for the first time since PayPal Park opened 11 years ago, the club will stage yet another monumental rally in San Pedro Square to celebrate. On Friday the 13th, the rally will erupt from 6 to 8pm. Ted Ramey, the Quakes’ radio play-by-play announcer, will emcee the evening. Managed by Bruce Arena, the Quakes will then host Houston on Tuesday, Nov.
Judi Oyama: The Skateboarding Pioneer Reclaiming Her Story
Judi Oyama’s mom told her to “be seen, not heard.” Those words, although well intentioned, will not work anymore. Thanks to a new exhibit at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) with that same title, Judi Oyama: To Be Seen / Not Heard, the Santa Cruz native’s lifelong career as a pro skateboarder and graphic designer is on display through next year. Oyama rose to prominence in the ’70s, when skateboarding was almost entirely a male-dominated activity. The dudes got all the press.
Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest Opens With The Rose Documentary and Art of Healing
Last weekend, a Korean rock music documentary opened the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific FilmFest, paired with a visual art show exploring resilience and healing. For a moment, it felt like everything was coming up roses and cherry blossoms.
Logitech encourages San Jose youth
Last week, more than 50 Logitech employees spilled out of a tour bus and filled the MACLA Teen Tech Center on South First Street to celebrate a new partnership. “We’ve worked with lots of corporate partners before; I have to say that I’m impressed with Logitech as they ‘walk the talk’ and want to be engaged,” said MACLA executive director Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez.
Kanwal Rekhi: The Silicon Valley Pioneer Who Helped Build the Internet
Anyone that ever swapped out an ethernet card or tried to troubleshoot local area networks has Kanwal Rekhi to thank. Back in the ’80s, Rekhi cofounded a company, Excelan, to commercialize Ethernet and TCP/IP, a suite of Defense Department protocols that eventually became the foundation of the Internet.
Silicon Valley Women Are Rewriting the Rules of Leadership and Art
As the news from Cornell becomes rough to ingest, it can be a form of self-care to elevate the stories of amazing women right here in Silicon Valley. In a span of just a few hours, this columnist experienced a retrospective of women artists at the de Saisset Museum, then attended a celebration of South Asian women tech-company leaders at Kepler’s Bookstore, and even learned of a new exhibit about the pro skateboarder Judi Oyama. All borders between past and present dissolved.
C’est Bon! Inside the Grand America Hotel’s French-Inspired 25th Anniversary Fete
A mime and accordion player performing. Credit: Sammy Olsen. A mime is always a good addition. I don’t know if this is some type of event-planner secret weapon, but when attendees fill a ballroom and hit up various catered stations while performers circulate, all with a French theme, the roof is destined to be blown off of the event. A tip of the proverbial chapeau is de rigueur.
Madison, Wisconsin: A Lakeside Meetings Destination With History and Flair
In Madison, Wisconsin, groups cannot get lost on their way back to the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, sitting right on the lake. Audrey Munson (1891-1996), said to be America’s first supermodel, points them in the right direction.
The Ghosts of Santa Clara Street in Downtown San Jose
The block of Santa Clara Street between First and Second is fermenting on many levels. Always in search of a more global context, I consulted a book on Paris to help me understand this block in a more poetic fashion. As I sat at Fox Tale Fermentation, one of several eateries currently knocking it out of the park—both on this side of the block and on Fountain Alley, the other side—there was no way for me to separate everyday life from the grand sweep of history.
Nandita Dinesh Finds Community at South Asian Literature and Arts Festival
When Nandita Dinesh ran community-based theater projects in conflict zones around the world, she had no idea a thriving South Asian arts community awaited her in the Bay Area, where she would get to fangirl over another Nandita, a legendary filmmaker. The 2026 South Asian Literature and Arts Festival (SALA) erupts at Menlo College this weekend, featuring writers, visual artists, Nobel laureates and much in between.
Kindness in San Jose: Dolly Parton, Aart de Geus and Susan O’Malley
While certain tech industry CEOs embrace the global far right and advocate inhumanity, inequality and cruelty as policy, it can be a form of self-care to elevate others who thrive on kindness and generosity instead. Back in the day, people called these types of columns “round-ups.” In this case, it was easy to cherry-pick a few human examples because kindness is more popular than you might realize.
Silicon Valley’s Leading Weekly
As of last weekend, the Andy’s Pet Shop neon sign has returned to life on Bascom Avenue, making San Jose a much more interesting place. The grand re-opening party brought out tremendous community support, with several nearby businesses and friends all contributing to the festivities. Even in the blazing sun, the neon made it all worthwhile. Sometime in the ’50s or ’60s, before I was born, a reporter wrote that Bascom was entirely dark at nighttime, except for the neon signs. Why?
The Willy Street Global Eats Food Tour
One of nearly 300 parks in Madison. On the day of our slow bicycle tour, the Willy Street area of Madison, Wisconsin, was a global place. We went from East Asia to Ethiopia and then returned to an upstairs Ayurvedic paradise where chai became mandatory. But that last stop was just me. I freeloaded the chai after the others had already left. People say never give away the whole thing, the whole story, but with Madison Eats Food Tours, the reveal is necessary.
Exploring Aborn and San Felipe: A Uniquely San Jose Experience
The mammoth intersection of Aborn and San Felipe in San Jose is a rocking bazaar that should be explored on foot. Multiple Indian grocers and a Japanese fish pond retailer were among numerous components of the landscape on a recent Friday evening. In this part of town, the hills are practically in your face. When the sun sets on the opposite side of the valley, throwing streaks of yellow and orange across the sky, the hills start to glow. It’s fabulous to see.
Furthur Bus Returns to the Bay Area in Grateful Dead Exhibition
The most famous bus ever to park in San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood is now included in a massive show in San Francisco. Presented by the Haight Street Art Center, Forever Grateful, Golden Gate Park opens Saturday, Sept. 5 at the County Fair Building (Hall of Flowers) in Golden Gate Park. The exhibition is the second and final chapter of Forever Grateful, a collection-based and experience-driven tribute to the enduring legacy of the Grateful Dead.
Furthur Bus Returns to the Bay Area in Grateful Dead Exhibition | Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley’s Leading Weekly
Paddle Sports Now Two Friends Died During Midnight Canoe Trip in Tomales Bay outdoors.com - Bethanie H • 23m Two men were camping with a group on Tomales Bay near San Francisco, California, when they decided to head out on a midnight canoe trip to see … Fraud Now What Happens Next to Daejon Love After Arrest in $1.3M Fake 49ers Player Scheme?
The Art of Falling
In Triage, Claudia Rankine’s new blend of essayistic prose, memoir, and art criticism, the narrator falls in the street and lands in the triage center. “If only triage existed before the collapse,” the narrator, who may or may not be Rankine, says.
Namita Paul’s Thresholds of Memory Explores Art, Architecture and Loss
When the artist’s odyssey merges with the neighborhood’s odyssey, she is in the right place. Originally from Jalandhar, India, artist Namita Paul examines the emotional imprint of architecture—the way built environments hold our stories and shape who we are. Rooted in the thresholds between home and displacement, between containment and unraveling, Paul’s artworks engage themes of longing and loss. Her new solo exhibit, Thresholds of Memory, occupies the Miro Gallery across from San Jose City Hall.
Knapp’s Plow Works: A Forgotten Piece of San Jose History
I always thought plows were boring. Then my grandfather and great-grandfather returned to life in a photograph of Knapp’s Plow Works in San Jose. The photo is from 1914 but I did not discover it until last week. My appreciation of plow history completely changed. I never knew my mom’s father, James Edmund Compton (1897-1974), the one on the right. When he was a teenager, he helped out the blacksmiths at Knapp’s legendary shop at 1022 S.
A Firsthand Look at the W Hotels Brand’s All-Inclusive Debut in Punta Cana
At W Punta Cana, Adult All-Inclusive, the nature-focused atmosphere is most refreshing. Seven separate buildings are accessed by outdoor wooden walkways covered with thatched A-frame roofing, while swimming pools, decks, restaurants and various outdoor gathering spaces gradually descend to the beach facing the Atlantic Ocean on the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic.
Leigh High School’s Surprising Music History
To reacquaint myself with Leigh High School, I went looking for murderers, but I found music history instead. A more joyous process emerged. While visiting Menlo Park recently, I spotted an original used hardback copy of Child of Satan, Child of God, written in prison by Susan Atkins, the most notorious person ever to attend Leigh High School and grow up in Cambrian Park.
Properties and Experiences Let Groups Take in Tucson, Arizona, With a Wide-Angle View
At 7 a.m., the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa provided a wide-angle view of the morning sun rising over the Sonoran Desert outside of Tucson, Arizona. Every gathering place at the resort—the meeting spaces, the restaurants and the public areas—prompt guests to contemplate the vastness of the landscape.
Walking El Camino: Silicon Valley’s Indian Restaurant Corridor
The intersection of Wolfe and El Camino recently provided a microcosm of Silicon Valley in ways that can only be understood on foot. At first, I was going to say the Patio might be the only bar in Santa Clara County within walking distance of 10 different Indian restaurants. After I thought about it some more, I’d say any bar on El Camino between Santa Clara and Palo Alto was probably walking distance from 10 Indian restaurants. Such was the beauty of modern-day Silicon Valley.
Rediscovering San Jose, One Walk at a Time
Together, Rebecca Solnit and Juan Felipe Herrera recently re-ignited my obsession with exploring San Jose on foot. How did this start? Well, 20 years ago, when this very page featured walking experiments in the more wounded parts of San Jose, emphasizing their Zen-like beauty, the results were mostly successful. Readers responded in kind, suggesting even more suburban interstices they thought I needed to visit.
Remembering Alan Soldofsky’s Legacy in San Jose’s Literary Community
In April of 2019, Alan Soldofsky organized that year’s annual Legacy of Poetry Festival at San Jose State University (SJSU), including a reading by Forest Gander, who won the Pulitzer Prize two days before his campus appearance. The SJSU event was Gander’s only scheduled gig at the time he learned of the Pulitzer. The column that appeared on this page, in advance of the event, was still on the streets of Silicon Valley when the Pulitzer announcement came over the wire.
How Arnold Del Carlo Preserved Valley Fair’s Forgotten History
On a recent visit to the Valley Fair Cheesecake Factory, the ghost of photographer Arnold Del Carlo arrived and transformed the whole scene into Stickney’s, as it was 60 years ago. At the time, Stevens Creek Plaza was a separate mall anchored by the largest Emporium department store between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Stickney’s, a carnivore’s paradise, was next door, right where Cheesecake Factory is now. Decades later the plaza merged with nearby Valley Fair into one gargantuan complex.
How the World Cup Showed Just How Far San Jose Has Come
Thanks to the world’s game, San Jose is a much better place than it was decades ago. Last week, the US men’s national team stayed at the Marriott in downtown San Jose and trained at PayPal Park before their World Cup match against Bosnia-Herzegovina at Levi’s stadium. None of those venues, the hotel or the stadiums, existed 30 years ago. Even as recently as 20 years ago, Levi’s Stadium was the overflow parking lot for Great America.
A Valley of Nations: What the World Cup Meant to Santa Clara County
Thanks to the World Cup, Santa Clara County has become a valley of nations. As this week’s Metro hits the streets, the United States Men’s National Team is set to take on Bosnia on July 1st at Levi’s Stadium, in the first round of the knock-out stages for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. After five celebratory group-stage matches between various countries, the USA-Bosnia game will be the sixth and final game at Levi’s. The rest of the tournament will be elsewhere. The local joy has been infectious.
Tony Powell’s Hidden Life Comes to Light in New Documentary
The only San Jose Earthquakes player to operate a crumbling motel in West Hollywood for 20 years is now the subject of a documentary. The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel screens on June 25th at Frameline, the annual San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival. The story, and the film, resulted in a remarkable, deeply emotional journey, both for the subject, Tony Powell, and the filmmakers.
San Pedro Square Becomes the Heart of the World Cup in San Jose
Last weekend San Pedro Square hosted the largest football celebration in San Jose history. The organizers did it right this time. It was only the first weekend of the World Cup. The rest is yet to come, but especially for the Mexico game Thursday, the USA game Friday, or all day long on Saturday for Brazil, anyone would say the whole party brought thousands and thousands, without exaggeration, to the downtown streets. It was the most joyous global party I’ve ever seen in San Jose.
One Alley in Tucson: A Pizza Pilgrimage
Story and photographs by the author. On the side of a brick building, at the corner of E 7th St and North Arizona Ave, a mural greeted me. This particular block of North Arizona was more of an alley than a street. It was open to cars, with a few parking spaces at an angle to the alley, but the short block was better experienced on foot.
On the Scene at the Opening of the Vanderpump Hotel
A few days before opening night, TV cameras followed British restaurateur and reality TV star Lisa Vanderpump around the lobby of her new namesake hotel located on perhaps the most-prime corner of the Las Vegas Strip. In every corner, maintenance workers put the final touches on the lavish boutique property. Lisa Vanderpump Credit: Gary Singh The Vanderpump Hotel was so brand new, in fact, that it wasn’t yet identified correctly on rideshare apps.
From Earthquakes Fan to World Cup DJ: Raffi Nalvarian’s Full-Circle Journey
Fifty years ago, when Raffi Nalvarian was a kid, he saw Pele play against the San Jose Earthquakes at Spartan Stadium. Now his DJ company will handle all the World Cup games at Levi’s. When Nalvarian formed Sound in Motion with Adrian Cavlan, an old childhood friend, they were both already DJs, but working independently. After joining forces, the adventure led to tons of wedding gigs. They landed at every single Sharks home game. Once Levi’s Stadium opened, they were the go-to folks for the 49ers.
Why Seattle Is a Top Destination for Sustainable Meetings and Events
Inside the 120-room boutique Populus Seattle, host property for Visit Seattle’s “Mother Nature’s City” fam at the end of April, the first thing anyone noticed was the greenery. Massive amounts of plants and indoor foliage flank the hotel’s entryway, leading past the front desk to a staircase that ends at the restaurant and cafe areas. The entire space places guests in a relaxing, forested environment.
As Great America Faces Closure, the FIFA World Cup Arrives in Santa Clara
As Great America fades away, the FIFA World Cup will soon begin. Santa Clara might never be the same. After picking up my credential for the World Cup games at Levi’s Stadium, I looked at my photo—the same mug shot I used for my visa to India a few years back—and everything from my teenage years spiraled back to the present moment. Nowadays, the amusement park across from Levi’s is called California’s Great America, operated by Six Flags.
Silicon Alleys: Almaden Valley Athletic Club marks 50 years
Joe Shank, 87, is showing me around Almaden Valley Athletic Club at Camden and Kooser, the facility he opened 50 years ago. “We’re just as vibrant now as we were when we started,” he says, as we walk outside to the pool area, where seniors are taking an aqua fitness class. Shank moves just fine for his age. We go up and down stairs, in and out of several spaces, all throughout the sprawling complex, which has relentlessly evolved, expanded and adapted to the changing times for half a century.
Save California | Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley’s Leading Weekly
The California Room on the fifth floor of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Main Library is one of the most useful rooms in all of San Jose. Only a non-vibrant person would suggest otherwise. More than 5,000 people visited the room over the last year, including students, teachers, authors, historians, genealogists, property owners, developers, land-use consultants, newspaper columnists and everyday citizens. And that’s only the ones who were counted.
L.A. Guns Returns to Downtown San Jose’s Rock Scene
The remains of the Sunset Strip from 1988 surfaced last week at the Ritz for a small rock show that triggered a thousand mystical viewpoints of the ever-evolving South First Area in downtown San Jose. From the perspective of an old wise man 2600 years ago, nothing is really born and nothing really dies. When all the conditions are sufficient for something to manifest—a cloud, a flame, or a flower, for instance—then it will happen.
Vanessa Hua explores suburban paranoia in ‘Coyoteland’
TRENDING: Vanessa Hua explores suburban paranoia in ‘Coyoteland’ Social Eyes: Week of May 14-20 Fog Lamp channels modern anxiety into post-punk catharsis Pacific Mambo Orchestra ignites Oakland Museum crowd Ollie’s celebrates seasonal cheeses New novel turns East Bay suburbia into uneasy psychological terrain By Gary Singh May 12, 2026 NATURE’S NIGHTCLUB Local author Vanessa Hua drew inspiration for ‘Coyoteland’ from a startling East Bay encounter between a coyote and two deer during the...
Giselle in San Jose
REPURPOSED: Some reincarnated set pieces and new costumes make for an excellent ballet. (Photo Credit: tony abello) Reincarnated set pieces from Santa Cruz are given a second life in Hammer Theatre for New Ballet’s fresh interpretation of the classical Giselle story. New Ballet director Dalia Rawson’s staging honors the Giselle legacy while featuring new costumes and a spooky ghost story with woods haunted by vengeful spirits.
AAPI Heritage Month Through Art, Film and Community in the Bay Area
With Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month now upon us, the columnist reincarnated as “Herb Caen Tagore” and infiltrated a wealth of events. Taking his nom de plume from the legendary San Francisco Chronicle master of three-dot journalism, Herb Caen, but also Rabindranath Tagore, the writer, poet, philosopher and playwright, the columnist tried to attend everything Asian-adjacent he could manage in a small number of days.
San Jose’s Acid Test House: From Grateful Dead History to Forgotten Local Legends
Last year an original flyer emerged for one of Ken Kesey’s acid tests, the notorious multisensory happening at 38 S. Fifth Street on December 4, 1965, at which a band formerly known as the Warlocks played under their new name, the Grateful Dead. A plaque now exists at San Jose City Hall, stumbling distance from where the house originally sat. However, only a non-curious person would stop there. That house, that same humble abode, came loaded with stories before the Grateful Dead even showed up.
San Jose Acid Test House & Grateful Dead History | Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley’s Leading Weekly
Another televised debate, another missed chance to clear up California’s unsettled governor’s race Which came first, the chicken or the egg?That old question pretty much sums up what was billed as a 90-minute debate among the eight serious — at …
A Visit to the Original Round Table Pizza and Menlo Park’s Historic Landmarks
With pizza on his mind, and on several of this issue’s pages, the columnist made a triumphant return to the oldest Round Table in the world. On El Camino Real in Menlo Park, just steps from a few amazing bookstores and several Metro racks, I waltzed into Round Table Pizza, the same continuous operation that started with the very first Round Table pizza parlor that Bill Larson opened in 1959. The story is not new, but the physical spot and the legend both deserve to be revisited.
Levitt Pavilion San Jose Gains Momentum With Plans for St. James Park Stage
Last week, a few dozen arts advocates gathered for a power-networking soiree at MACLA to hear Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose provide updates on their progress to build a permanent stage complex in St. James Park. Formed in 2016, Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose is a non-profit organization of interesting characters, all committed to the revitalization of the long-beleaguered park as a safe and inclusive destination for all ages and backgrounds.
George Clooney Inspires Paparazzi Memories
George Clooney’s Joint as Viewed from Lake Como. Photo by Gary Singh. On a dreary overcast morning, George Clooney was nowhere to be found. His canary-colored mansion on Lake Como was only viewable from the water and we saw just one person on the terrace. “That’s probably someone on the cleaning staff,” said our tour guide, as we zipped past the mansion in a small tourist skipper, the chilly wind against our scarf-clad faces, all six of us.
CADRE Lab at SJSU Celebrates 40 Years of Experimental Media Art and Innovation
If you build something, the students will eventually come. The CADRE Lab for New Media at SJSU proves it. This weekend, CADRE (Computers in Art, Design, Research, and Education) celebrates its 40th anniversary with events and panel sessions at the San Jose Museum of Art. Everything is open to the public. Originally known as the CADRE Institute, the program later changed its name to the CADRE Laboratory, a more fitting moniker.
A Book Lover’s Guide to Los Gatos Bookstores
If people on Instagram can post guides to bookstores in Rome and Paris, then Los Gatos should have its due. When I stood in the back corner at Beyond Text Bookstore, a killer little indie shop in the heart of Los Gatos, the idea came to me. A streetlamp was painted on the wall, right next to a tiny alcove. It became my guiding light for the rest of the day. Beyond Text was not a huge place, but the proprietor was doing a fantastic job at helping other people, providing recommendations and the like.
Downtown San Jose Memories Surface at Home Eat on San Fernando Street
Last week, Table D1 at Home Eat raised the ghosts in at least four different languages, inspired by the ever-shifting landscape of downtown San Jose. As I slithered into the gargantuan Chinese restaurant at Fourth and San Fernando, NVIDIA conference attendees surrounded me. All of them carried designer laptop backpacks and wore lanyards on lime green necklaces. At Table D1, I ordered an $11.75 Kung Pao Chicken Combo, made to order and fantastic.
Friend (Re)Quest: Andrew McCarthy Journeys to the Male Heart of the Matter
With a road atlas in the passenger seat, Andrew McCarthy bailed from the East Coast and tore across the United States looking for friendship. The resulting book, Who Needs Friends: An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America, documents his jagged journey through various one-horse towns from coast to coast, where he ambushes any dude he can find, young or old, about their own close friendships, or lack thereof.
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