History Park San Jose

History Park in San Jose

History Park is like a little part of a town with sidewalks and buildings that have been moved to the location for preservation. Inside the various buildings, including an original post office, one room school house, hotel, fire station, numerous houses, and more, are various exhibits and museums within the park.

History Park in San Jose

Here is the one room school house. Volunteers are in the open buildings to explain and tell about the history within.

History Park in San Jose

Fruit boxes from our agricultural days.

History Park in San Jose

This sculpture by artist Ramon Franco honors San Jose’s 1975 mayor, Janet Gray Hayes, who along with numerous other accomplishments became the first mayor in the United States of America of any large city with more than 500,000 residents.

History Park in San Jose
History Park in San Jose
History Park in San Jose
History Park in San Jose
History Park in San Jose

Looking up at the 1/2 scale model of the 1821 light tower that had been designed to bring electric light to many in downtown San Jose by shining brightly from a central location.

History Park in San Jose
History Park in San Jose
History Park in San Jose

You can still ride the historical San Jose electric trolleys.

History Park in San Jose
History Park in San Jose

And the current home of the dancing pig sign, a local icon for many. The sign was moved from its original location where construction will be taking place.

MACLA Museum

MACLA means Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana. Here are a few works that stood out for me on a recent visit.

MACLA Museum
MACLA Museum
MACLA Museum
MACLA Museum
By Thomas Jones
MACLA Museum
“The Masks I Wore” by Vanessa Wallace-Gonzales
MACLA Museum
“A Kiss Between my Faith, Self Doubt, and I” by Vanessa Wallace-Gonzales

You can visit MACLA at 510 South 1st Street, San Jose CA
maclaarte.org

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.

San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum

Here is some of what stood out for me on a recent visit.

San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum
Embroidery by Michelle Wilson and Anne Beck
San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum
When you get close, you see the stitches of the quilt spell out a message
San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum
San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum
Unknown Artist, c. 1880
San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum
Waves #4 by Etsuko Takahashi, 1998
San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum
San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum
Artist Mung Lar Lam uses ironing to communicate concepts
San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum
This is fascinating. The cloth looking sticks stuck on this jacket are actually seeds from a Pinweed found in nature. This work was created by artist in residence Olivia Ronan who was working in the museum studio and taking time to speak with visitors.

You can visit the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, 520 S. First Street, San Jose, Ca 95113
www.sjquiltmuseum.org

Pacific Grove

Pacific Grove

Inside the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum, one of the many interesting things to look at is this well aged donated collection of carefully labeled sand from around the world. There is a list with the location of sand origin and the corresponding label number.

Pacific Grove

There are a lot of sand samples that this collector had gathered.

Pacific Grove
Pacific Grove
Pacific Grove

Sandy, the gray whale, was celebrating a birthday during our visit. Sandy was used for years as an educational model that could be disassembled and reassembled to spread knowledge. Today, Sandy rests permanently assembled to greet visitors of the museum.

Pacific Grove
Pacific Grove
Pacific Grove