The city of San Jose is hoping a community block party will help revitalize downtown businesses.
In the area known as Fountain Alley, connecting First and Second Streets, they hosted Thursday the first in a series of block parties being thrown by the city.
San Jose’s summer block party series sets up live music, lots of food and drinks and tours of new local businesses in different districts of the city.
Thursday’s party is designed to bring much needed foot traffic into the downtown historic district.
One new business, the Rec Room, combines a café during the day and a dance club at night and operators embrace the block party strategy.
“I think it’s awesome. I mean, personally, I think there needs to be more things like this in San Jose," said Brandon Salmon, owner of Rec Room. "Especially after COVID, a lot of the mom and pop shops kind of being either closed or shut down."
The block party not only aims to bring more visitors, but also more businesses, including temporary popup stores.
“We’re bringing in a total of 11 businesses, retail businesses to our downtown into two different clusters that will also bring more vibrancy to downtown,” said Alex Stettinski with San Jose Downtown Association.
The association points out a recent study shows San Jose’s downtown activity has gone up about 20%, while San Francisco's has dropped considerably.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was at Thursday's event.
“We’re creating exposure for the small businesses, we have incredible entrepreneurs, incredible diversity of restaurants, and bars, and cultural venues," he said.
Downtown San Jose has faced issues over the last few years. The pandemic impacted businesses and foot traffic.
About a year ago, residents expressed their concern to NBC Bay Area regarding open air drug use, the city responded with officer foot patrols.
On Thursday, as the city moves forward with its second summer of block parties, businesses and residents around are optimistic.
“It would give us a chance to get out and do more things, out and about on the streets around here because it’s a beautiful area and downtown is one of the most beautiful downtowns I think I’ve ever lived in. So, I would love to see that it would flourish and more people would come,” said Downtown San Jose resident Faustina Minquela.
