Frank Oliver freely admits he doesn’t know a thing about making coffee. He’s not even much of a coffee drinker, preferring a simple cup of ice-filled cold brew to fancier drinks.
But the Campbell resident has been a real estate broker in Santa Clara County since 1975 and knows a lot about locations and marketing. He says he knew Camino Coffee had the potential to be a real hit when it opened in Gilroy last year in a former gas station across from the Caltrain stop on Monterey Road. That’s close enough to a lot of downtown activities to make Camino a stop for regulars.
“It’s a social place,” Oliver said of the area near Camino. “It’s where everything’s happening.”
It took Oliver a few years to get Camino up and running, including the renovation of the 1930s era gas station and delays caused by COVID-19. For the coffee side of things, Oliver partnered with family-owned Proyecto Diaz Coffee in Oakland and keeps the menu fairly simple with cappuccinos, cortados, mochas, lattes and teas, along with pastries — with the occasional flourish like a winter menu and a “neapolitan” cold brew with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate flavors.
There’s a record player in the corner, and some customers bring in their own vinyl to spin. There’s a ukulele jam on Saturday mornings and a running club has also adopted Camino as a home base. Manager Daniel Reich says they have plans to add patio seating and more shade for next summer.
Camino opened Feb. 29, 2024, and since Leap Day only rolls around every four years, the first anniversary will be celebrated with specials on Feb. 28 and March 1.
“The community has really embraced us,” Reich said. “Gilroy has been great.”
ART AND ABOUT: If you haven’t been to the San Jose Museum of Art lately, this is a good week to check out two exhibitions there: Chief Curator Lauren Schell Dickens will give a gallery talk at 12:30 p.m. Friday about “Kambui Olujimi: North Star,” an immersive installation by the New York-based visual artist that explores the relationship between weightlessness and liberation.
While you’re there, be sure to check out “Beta Space: Patty Chang and David Kelley,” which is a multimedia installation about people, sea animals and the natural and man-made things that connect them. Chang will also be at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center on Thursday for “Patty Chang: On Mothers, Melons, Lakes and Whales,” an evening of screenings and conversations featuring her videos and artwork. That program starts at 6 p.m. at the Cantor.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: The County of Santa Clara’s 175th birthday was celebrated at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, with Supervisor Otto Lee, the board president, and County Executive James Williams extolling the county’s virtues, especially the role of immigrants throughout its history.
“For 175 years this county has been the place where people from all around the world and all over the United States have come to build better lives contribute their talents and make history,” Lee said.
Now, this was a belated celebration as Santa Clara County was “born” Feb. 18, 1850 — and it shares that birthday with 26 other counties established by California’s first legislature on that date. Coincidentally, that legislature — famously known as “The Legislature of 1,000 Drinks” — met in San Jose, which was the first capital. And all this occurred pre-statehood — almost seven months before California was admitted into the Union on Sept. 9 that year.