The latest edition of Viva CalleSJ — the event that welcomes cyclists, skaters, strollers and joggers onto six miles of San Jose streets — is this Sunday, and it looks like the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds will be a key destination no matter where you start your journey.
The “SoFA to the Streets” route has endpoints at downtown San Jose’s arty SoFA district and Martial Cottle Park in South San Jose, with Monterey Road and a few other streets between them closed to vehicle traffic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Fairgrounds, centrally located on the route, will be one of the big activity hubs for this first of three Viva CalleSJ events this year.
There’ll be BMX stunt riders flying through the air, a petting zoo for kids, live music, a taste of the upcoming Silicon Valley Mariachi Festival, a few dinosaurs from the Jurassic Quest experience, food trucks and a beer-and-wine garden. And you’ll get to see the big tent for Cirque du Soleil, which opened its show “Kooza” there Thursday.
Other activity hubs will have plenty to do at the endpoints and on Monterey under the Capitol Expressway overpass there’ll be a rock-climbing wall and a live art demo. You can get more information on all the hubs — as well as a map for vehicle-crossing points along the route — at vivacallesj.org.
MUSICAL SEARCH: The Googler Orchestra — didn’t you know Google had its own employee-driven symphony? — will perform at a benefit concert April 28 for Music for Minors, a nonprofit that helps get more music education into Silicon Valley schools.
The concert at the Capuchino High School in San Bruno will include family-friendly orchestral music like the majestic “Pines of Rome” and the whimsical “Carnival of the Animals,” as well as a special performance by Music for Minors students from the San Mateo-Foster City School District Vocal Music Program.
Tickets to the 4 p.m. concert are available for $25 at www.mfm.org/concert.
SPEND SPRING WITH HITCH: The Stanford Theatre is closing out the spring season with an Alfred Hitchcock festival that opens this weekend with a double feature of “The 39 Steps” and “The Lady Vanishes.” It continues through June 9, with favorites including “Notorious” (May 4-5), “Rear Window” (May 11-12), “North by Northwest” (May 23-26) and “Psycho” (June 1-2) all on the schedule.
Get the full schedule at www.stanfordtheatre.org.
BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Computer History Museum in Mountain View is looking back to the freewheeling days of the 1980s — pretty much the prehistoric era of the Internet — with a couple of upcoming events.
On April 25, Kevin Driscoll, author of “The Modern World: A Prehistory of Social Media,” will chat with technology and society expert danah boyd about BBSs — Bulletin Board Systems, if you don’t remember them — and how they helped shape the social media landscape of today.
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That’ll be followed by TechFest, an all-day event April 27 that celebrates the technology of the Eighties. The totally rad festivities will include an ‘80s dance party — starting at 11 a.m. — a chance to meet Rubik’s Cube masters and a screening of 1982’s original cyber-gaming movie, “Tron.”
So put on your day-glo, grab that Members Only jacket out of the back of your closet and head on over. More information and tickets for both events are available at www.chm.org.