MACLA means Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana. Here are a few works that stood out for me on a recent visit.
You can visit MACLA at 510 South 1st Street, San Jose CA
maclaarte.org
MACLA Museum
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
This is a wonderful place to see new things. The art on display changes regularly, so it is good to go back for new thoughts.
Here is some of what stood out for me on a recent visit.
You can visit the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, 520 S. First Street, San Jose, Ca 95113
www.sjquiltmuseum.org
Mezcal Restaurant – #Tacos
In our impossible goal to sample all of the tacos available in San Jose, my family has begun tracking our taco tastings. This is the first in our series of taco tasting adventures and the first use of our new taco rating system.
🌮🌮🌮🌮 = We like these tacos and we want to come back soon
🌮🌮🌮 = We like these tacos and will happily eat them again
🌮🌮 = We would eat these tacos if we were hungry at a party
🌮 = We are not going to eat these tacos again
Our taco score will be a composite of our individual scores for the tacos we ate during that visit, though we are each eating different tacos and not necessarily the same kinds from restaurant to restaurant. In other words, this is very unscientific, not necessarily representative of what any one of us actually thought of our own tacos on a particular visit, not necessarily representative of the restaurant in general, and not a good indicator for comparisons.
Basically, we are looking for a fun taco adventure and you should go and try them all yourself. We just decided to make up this whole system to go along with our experience.
So here we go- Tacos!:
Mezcal restaurant at 25 W San Fernando St, San Jose, CA 95113
Mezcal restaurant is a perfect example of how our scale system is not likely to help you decide if you should try a restaurant or not. Mezcal is not a taqueria; it is a fancy dining restaurant with art everywhere and a cool vibe. There are very few tacos on the menu and a lot of other great looking items. What I mean to say is, if you were trying to judge this restaurant, you probably wouldn’t have only had a couple of tacos. However, that is what we were there for. Tacos!
What you see here are vegetarian tacos and tacos filled with asada and cheese. On this day there were two adults and two children recording their taco thoughts that included:
–Salsa and beans are very delightful😁
-I didn’t like the cheese here, the meat was good but the cheese wasn’t.
-Pickled onion delicious. Salsa & chips amazing. Avocado salsa & green salsa amazing. Mezcalrita for drink was new, interesting, good flavor.
-Good salsa, tasty black beans. I imagine lots of the food here is very good. The pickled onion and salsitas for the tacos were very good. Overall, an upscale place where the tacos are not the main thing. I would like to come back to try more items.
Combined taco score for Mezcal = 🌮🌮🌮
Food Court Mural
This mural by Sara Tomasello (www.saratomasello.com) is in the food court called The SoFA Market in our South First Area of First Street.
First Poppy of the Season
This one came up on February 27th this year; the first Poppy of the season in the yard. They are so beautiful.
Ocean Wave Roof Tiles
The Moon on the Wall of Trees
Off of Post Street
This mural designed by artist Houyee Chow (https://houyeechow.com/2021/07/03/qmunity-district-mural/) incorporates images of people from the area.
This mural is full of details. When you look closely you see figures of LGBTQ history. Some info about these murals can be found at: https://news.sfsu.edu/news-story/alumna-creates-mural-celebrating-lgbtq-life-san-jose
I have not found info yet on this large WE ARE QMUNITY mural though there is this reference to Mahal, which can mean love or beloved, and a reference to an instagram of this Bay Area film maker named Jinji Sayson: https://filmfreeway.com/JinjiS
This may not be as excellent as the murals though I do appreciate it. I have noticed more of this in San Jose in recent years. By “this” I mean taking things you need and making them a little more beautiful or interesting. If you have to have a fence or gate as in this case, may as well make it interesting.
2nd and William Street Mural
I want to know more about this one, too. My internet detective work is apparently not of the highest standard.
Parade of Floats (*updated 2024)
There are 16 sculptures in the Parade of Floats artwork in San Jose. Each represents a different quality of the San Jose identity including its values and history. The qualities were submitted by residents to be used as themes for the artwork. You can find the sculptures on either side of City Hall. I have seen several of these works, created by artist Andrew Leicester (https://andrewleicester.com), and was pretty sure I had not run into all of them or taken the time to consciously connect to each theme so I decided to make it an outing to see all of them on the same day and to identify and consider the quality represented by each piece as noted on the attached plaques. Here is what I found.
And that is what I found. Pretty fun. You may have noticed that there were 14 and I know there are supposed to be 16. So I walked around and around… and still did not find anymore. Maybe there are only 14? One of the plaques I came across specifically mentioned 16 floats so that couldn’t be it. I continued the search… without success. Though, I had developed a theory that a little research later seemed to support. I could not find absolute evidence that two were moved and would later be returned. However, I did consider how the building to the right in the next picture was only very recently completed and how the sidewalk had been blocked off for some time during construction. Maybe the two missing statues were moved during construction to protect them and to make room for the construction equipment? Maybe this is where they use to be, next to the new building?
*Update follows here – 2023
It turns out the two sculptures were in fact temporarily removed and are now back in their spots, right there in view of the City Hall.
Here is the Future sculpture, shown above, back in the parade.
And here is the Family sculpture.
There you have it, a parade for San Jose, every day.