From parking lot to park
New downtown park has pocketful of amenities.
Artist Yolanda Guerra, right, stands in front of her mural “Huipil of Love and Home,” with MACLA Executive Director Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez and Nico, Helstrup-Alvarez’s pandemic puppy, at the June 30 grand opening of the SoFA Pocket Park in downtown San Jose. Guerra’s mural is one of eight selected to decorate the wall of the park, whose amenities include a dog park and a demonstration garden run by Veggielution, an urban farm in East San Jose.
What was an eyesore in downtown San Jose is now a place for residents to bring their puppies and pick up fresh, local produce.
Representatives from the myriad organizations that helped transform a former parking lot at 540 S. First St. into the SoFA Pocket Park came out to celebrate grand opening on June 30. Many brought their furry friends to check out the dog park, February, and Veggielution brought a sampling of the produce grown in its urban garden in East San Jose. Veggielution has planted a demonstration garden at the pocket park, where produce will be grown in raised beds.
“This is the first time we’re extending beyond East San Jose,” Veggielution Executive Director Cayce Hill said at the opening, pointing to the changes brought about by the pandemic. “We hope expanded access to fresh air and neighbors will be part of the change.”
The San Jose Downtown Association and its Property-Based Improvement District (PBID) partnered with Urban Community, which owns the property, to create the pocket park in a space that had attracted taggers and dumping since the parking lot closed.
“We originally envisioned creating a dog park,” Chris Freise, who represents the PBID, told those gathered at the grand opening. “We realized the space had more potential, and that’s where Veggielution came in.”
The lot is located between the Institute of Contemporary Art and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, both of which were involved in finding artists to create murals along the walls that face out into the park. The two galleries worked with downtown arts organizations Local Color and MACLA to put out a call for designs. Nancy Bavor, director of the Museum of Quilts and Textiles, said about 50 artists responded, and eight designs were chosen.
“They reflect global textile traditions and San Jose textile traditions,” Bavor said of the resulting murals.
Freise pointed out that the project is entirely privately funded. In addition to Urban Community, project sponsors include Urban Catalyst, Topa Architecture, Google, the Knight Foundation, Hamilton Builders and JJ Perez Paving.