San Jose Improv closed for renovation
If you need a laugh, you’re going to have to look somewhere besides the San Jose Improv for a while. The comedy club, which has called downtown’s historic Jose Theatre home since 2001, is going dark for the next several weeks for a renovation.
Improv parent company Levity Live announced Tuesday it had renewed its lease at the Jose for the next decade and was “refreshing” the venue with new carpeting, paint, audio/visual tech and furniture. The historic facade and neon sign on South Second Street will not be changed.
Comic Felipe Esparza’s soldout shows over the past weekend were the last scheduled acts for a while. The club is expected to reopen in time for a scheduled show Oct. 13 featuring Mohamed Henedy, followed by weekend visits from Ian Bagg and Christopher Titus. In the meantime, the Improv will produce a weekly show on Wednesday nights at Backyard San Jose, the outdoor space that just opened at Fountain Alley.
If your funny bone needs a tickle right now, though, check out one of the weekend shows at ComedySportz San Jose. Jeff
Kramer and his rotating team of improv players are keeping audiences laughing at downtown’s 3Below Theaters.
The Jose, at 62 S. Second St., has had a storied history since it opened for plays and later vaudeville in 1904. Eventually the movies came, and it became just one of several popular theaters in the downtown area that included the Padre, the Victory, the Studio, the Gay, and the Fox. None but the Jose and Fox — now returned to its original name, the California — survived the 20th century as entertainment venues.
Following the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, the city planned to demolish the Jose, but the Preservation Action Council campaign to preserve it. The city’s Redevelopment Agency bought the building for $7.2 million in 2000 and spent $6.1 million to restore it. After the Improv signed on as a tenant, the nationwide comedy chain put in $1 million in lighting and sound improvements before the club opened in October 2002. Late last year, real estate heavyweights Gary Dillabough and Don Imwalle teamed up to purchase the two-story building for $2.14 million.
NEW NAME FOR SJSU EVENT CENTER >> Provident Credit Union has made an $8.1 million deal with San Jose State to place its name onto the Event Center on campus for the next 20 years. The annual sponsorship payments will go toward renovations and ongoing maintenance on the 30-year-old building, which is used as the home court for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as for commencement, concerts and other university functions.
The agreement was no doubt helped by the fact that Jim Ernest, Provident Credit Union’s president and CEO, graduated from San Jose State with a degree in economics in 1987 — two years before the Event Center opened. Provident, which is based in Redwood Shores, has been around since 1950 and has 20 branches throughout the Bay Area, including in San Jose. It’s the second big SJSU venue to get a new name after a 15-year, $8.7 million deal in 2016 turned Spartan Stadium into CEFCU Stadium.
PARK HEROES HONORED >> The San Jose Parks Foundation honored Marsey Kahn, Jennifer Roberts and Dave Guthridge as this year’s Parks & Trails Heroes at its fifth annual Summer Soiree last week. The fundraiser’s location at Thousand Oaks Park was appropriate since the trio was honored for their work at the park.
Last year, the Thousands Oak Park Conservancy was launched with a goal of creating a walking trail with benches and educational signage in the undeveloped portion of the park near Branham Lane and Almaden Expressway, which would preserve it as open space. Using the Parks Foundation as its fundraising vehicle, the group set out to bring in $50,000 but ended up with more than $75,000 in just a few months. The extra money will go toward further conservation of the oak woodland.