Santa Clara Home to Professional Men's and Women's Soccer

With the naming of the new Bay Area Women's Professional Soccer entry, FC Gold Pride, Santa Clara is now home base for both professional men's and women's soccer. FC Gold Pride will begin league play in April, 2009. Like Major League Soccer's (MLS) San Jose Earthquake's men's soccer team, FC Gold Pride's home games will be played in Santa Clara at Santa Clara University's Buck Shaw Stadium.

Current U.S. national team members on the team include Nicole Barnhart, Rachel Buehler, and Tracy Hamm. Other players of note include Canada's all-time leading scorer Christine Sinclair, Brazilian midfielder Formiga, Japanese forward Eriko Arakawa and Brazilian defender Erika. FC Gold Pride will be coached by former Santa Clara University star Albertin Montoya.

"The Nutcracker" arrives in mid-December

Artistic Director Josefa Villanueva and the Santa Clara Ballet Company present the 35th annual, full length traditional version of "The Nutcracker." This year's performances will include local dancers and acclaimed guest artists. Performance dates and times are Saturday, December 13 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 14 at 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.

All performances of "The Nutcracker" will take place at the Elizabeth A. Hangs Theatre inside the Santa Clara Convention Center at 5001 Great America Parkway in Santa Clara. Parking is FREE. For more information, visit the Santa Clara Ballet Company website, or call (408) 881-0879.

Check out "Halloween Haunt" if you dare!

This October 3 - November 1, 2008 California's Great America takes on a dark, sinister side and eerily transforms into the first-ever Halloween Haunt! This is a separate admission with separate park hours. Taking place every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings from 7:00 p.m. - Midnight, this ultimate, in-your-face Halloween experience beckons brave souls to take on their worst nightmares!

Halloween Haunt features 13 terrifying elements, including spine-tingling haunted mazes, themed scare zones, head-turning live stage shows that are all combined with the park's collection of world-class thrill rides. Regular admission tickets to Halloween Haunt are $39.99. Discounted tickets are available at the Santa Chamber of Commerce and Convention-Visitors Bureau's Chamber Store for $32.00.

Convention Center Purchases Clean Renewable Energy

Having won the Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) award for five consecutive years (2003-2007), the Santa Clara Convention Center has long been a leader in saving energy and waste. Now, the Center has purchased over 1.5 million kilowatt hours of clean, renewable energy or one-half of the output of one large-scale turbine on an annual basis.

This new commitment in partnership with Silicon Valley Power will provide environmental savings through preventing the release of 933 tons of carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas. This is the climate impact equivalent to planting 777 acres of forest or taking 171 cars off the road for one year.

“This is only the beginning of a broad set of initiatives we plan on implementing to conserve energy and minimize our impact on the environment,” says Convention Center general manager Lisa Moreno. For more information about the Santa Clara Convention Center’s green efforts, visit the “Green Meetings” section on its website.

Despite rising gas prices, California's Great America attendance is up!

This is an exciting season for California’s Great America theme park. From the all-new FireFall, an extreme thrill ride complete with the fire and water effects, to the addition of the “Endless Summer on Ice” show, the park is a great choice for family fun. Despite rising gas prices, this year’s park attendance is up thanks to good weather and an enhanced visitor experience.

The theme park is also home to the water park, Boomerang Bay that is free with admission. Plus, Nickelodeon characters including SpongeBob Squarepants make it a must-see for families visiting Northern California.

Cedar Fair, the owners of California’s Great America, also own Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, California as well as other theme parks around the U.S. Regular admission price is $51.99; however, tickets can be purchased at a discount ($35.00) at the Chamber of Commerce and Convention-Visitors Bureau at 1850 Warburton Avenue in Santa Clara.

The park opens daily until August 25 then weekends through November 2. For more information, visit the California’s Great America web site or call (408) 988-1776.

Major League Soccer Debuts in Santa Clara!

Professional sports has arrived in Santa Clara in the form of Major League Soccer (MLS). The expansion San Jose Earthquakes began their three year stay in Santa Clara on May 3rd as a sellout crowd of 10,515 fans packed Buck Shaw Stadium at Santa Clara University. The game between the Earthquakes and FC Dallas was the largest attended event ever at the historic field named after former San Francisco 49ers coach Buck Shaw.

Upcoming games in Santa Clara include Thursday, May 22nd vs. defending MLS champions the Houston Dynamo; July 12 vs. the Colorado Rapids; July 27 vs. the New York Red Bulls; August 16 vs. the New England Revolution; August 30 vs. the Kansas City Wizards; September 6 vs. D.C. United; September 13 vs. Houston Dynamo; September 27 vs. Real Salt Lake, and October 11 vs. Chivas USA. Have you been to any of the games yet? If so, please comment.

Japanese Restaurants

Santa Clara has many great tasting Japanese restaurants. Three of my favorites are Sushi O Sushi, Sushi California, and Hana Maki Sushi. Sushi O Sushi (2789 El Camino Real) has been a Santa Clara success story. The restaurant started in a corner space in a small shopping area along the El Camino Real. At lunch time, the lines were out the door, so the restaurant relocated a few doors down to a much bigger space. Sushi O Sushi is the higher priced of the three restaurants, but the sushi is fresh and delicious.
Sushi California (4477 Stevens Creek Blvd.) began when several of the employees at Sushi O Sushi left to begin their own restaurant. At first business was slow, but now Sushi California has a steady and loyal clientele. The food is moderately priced and the same quality as Sushi O Sushi. Both myself and several of my co-workers frequent this restaurant often.
Finally, for a low priced, what some may call “hole-in-the-wall” sushi restaurant, try Hana Maki Sushi. The restaurant is in the same shopping complex as Sushi O Sushi. It’s small with usually only one server for the entire restaurant. For $1.75, you get six California Rolls, and they are very tasty. For a quick and inexpensive lunch or dinner, there is no place better to go. Hana Maki Sushi is located at 2725 El Camino Real

City Approves 49ers Stadium Vote

If the City of Santa Clara can work out a deal with the San Francisco 49ers by July, there will be a non-binding vote for a proposed new stadium in November, 2008. The Santa Clara City Council voted unanimously to approve the measure, so city residents can have their say on the proposed stadium.

The City of Santa Clara is currently in negotiations with the team to offer up to $136 million in public money for the project. The team is committed to not impacting the city’s general fund or raising taxes. The 68,000 seat open-air stadium would be built near California’s Great America theme park and across the street from the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Included in the preliminary design is a special plaza outside the stadium that would connect it with the theme park and Convention Center, creating a central entertainment corridor for the City. The target date for completion is 2012. Stay tuned!

Intel Museum Has New Exhibits

“Arti,” an artificial intelligence robot, talks with museum guides to help tell the fascinating story about how Intel’s technology helps teachers and students in South Africa. That is just one of the new exhibits on display at the Intel Museum .Visitors to the museum can also catch a handful of “binary rain,” representing the data created by emails, cell phones, video, and more. In addition, you can “get digitized” as your digital photo is snapped and a digital postcard is created.

All this is FREE as there is no charge to visit the Intel Museum. The museum also provides maps in multiple languages that provide a quick review of each exhibit. The Intel Museum and Intel Museum Store is located at Intel’s headquarters at the Robert Noyce Building at 2200 Mission College Blvd. in Santa Clara.

"Live" Camera Allows You to Watch Ballroom Expansion as it Happens

The exciting 24,000 square foot Convention Center ballroom expansion is underway and you can watch it happen “live.” Construction has been ongoing since this past October, 2007 and is gaining steam. The new space is designed for multi-purpose use as ballroom, meeting, or exhibit space.

The current construction does not interrupt any of the current Convention Center operations. The Center is connected to the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara and next to the Santa Clara Golf & Tennis Club. Across the street and within short walking distance is California’s Great America theme park.

Just two years ago, the Convention Center celebrated its 20th anniversary. The state-of-the-art 262,000 square foot building has hosted many dignitaries including President George W. Bush, Prince Andrew, current Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Senator John Glenn, and many others.

Convention Center and Great America Hotels

A recent report by the Santa Clara Convention and Visitors Bureau indicates that the eight full service hotels surrounding the Santa Clara Convention Center and Great America theme park averaged 73% occupancy in 2007, the same average as 2006. The hotels included in the report included the Biltmore Hotel & Suites, Embassy Suites, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hyatt Regency, Marriott, Plaza Suites, and Sierra Suites.

Given today's business and leisure travel climate, this is a substantially high occupancy rate. It's no surprise though because the hotels in the north of Bayshore "Entertainment District" of Santa Clara are very high quality. Almost all of them included in the above report spent millions on upgrades to their hotel in 2007 or are in the planning stages to do so. These are first class hotels in a safe, clean city. Pair that with the many business, convention, and leisure travelers who visit Santa Clara and you can see why the city's occupancy rate is as high as it is.

Santa Clara hotels remain the biggest bargain in the state on weekends. For example, once California's Great America theme park opens on March 16, hotel/theme park packages will be available with rates ranging from $119.00 - $159.00. That includes two admission tickets to the theme park! The mid-week rate per night alone is above the price of these outstanding hotel/theme park packages. You can book one of these packages starting in March at santaclara.org.

Year-round Farmer's Market

Every Saturday at Franklin Square near Santa Clara University (SCU) the Farmer’s Market is open from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The market is over a block long and features not only the freshest food and vegetables, but also several arts and crafts booths, and often live music. It’s a fun way to spend the first half of your Saturday in Santa Clara.
The market is “certified," meaning the participants only sell food items they have produced themselves. You can find the Farmer’s Market near SCU on Jackson Street between Benton and Homestead. After visiting the market, take a walk over to Mission Santa Clara de Asis on the SCU campus. The Mission Church and Mission Gardens are definitely worth seeing

NCAA Division 1 Basketball in Santa Clara

For sports fans visiting Santa Clara, check out a Santa Clara University (SCU) men’s or women’s basketball game. When watching a college basketball game, you never know when you might be watching one of the future NBA greats. SCU, after all, produced one of the NBA’s top talent’s in two time MVP Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns. This year the SCU men will play host to some great West Coast Conference (WCC) division games including contests against perennial power Gonzaga and much improved Saint Mary’s. Other opponents include Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Portland, San Francisco, and San Diego. Games are on Monday or Saturday nights at Leavey Center on the campus of Santa Clara University. For ticket information, you can call 408.554.4660 or visit SCU Athletics website at santaclarabroncos.com.