Santa Clara County History Digest

The Silicon Valley African American Cultural Center is slated to open its doors in 2027, with the help of $3 million in state funds.

The San Jose Planning Commission is considering a plan to build 14 condominiums in West San Jose, including the reconstruction of the Graves House, lost to a fire.

One of Mountain View’s oldest buildings might undergo major renovations if a proposal goes through to add a three-story extension to the back of the building.

With Retro Milpitas right around the corner, the Milpitas Beat got on the phone with Chris St. Germain—the longtime co-owner of Cal Skate and the daughter of original founders Ernie and Evelyn St. Germain—for an interview.

City officials are looking to revise the strategy for protecting buildings of historical significance, including a fresh look at the list of properties worth preserving.

Former San Jose Councilmember Nancy Pyle died at age 85 on July 14 from dementia according to her husband. She worked for more than 25 years as a teacher in the San Jose Unified School District and later ran for San Jose City Council.

The city of Milpitas is launching a new event called Retro Milpitas. The idea is to offer residents a a chance to experience the Milpitas of the 1970s through the 2000s.

The KDF Tenants Association, representing more than 1,000 residents from four different affordable complexes in San Jose owned by Newport Beach-based KDF Communities, picketed outside Orchard Glen Apartments in the Seven Trees neighborhood. Tenants say previous efforts such as petitions and letters have mostly failed.

The first-in-the-nation measure to add caste to state anti-discrimination laws, which passed the state Senate, survives the Assembly judiciary committee. The bill’s author refused to water down the measure further.

In a ceremony outside the historic Roth Building, advocates of the Palo Alto Museum celebrated their future home’s restoration, set to begin in July, by posing for a photo holding symbolic scoops of soil with golden shovels.

Eva Kastan Grove, a local philanthropist who co-founded the Grove Foundation with her husband, former Intel CEO Andy Grove, passed away May 31 after a short but fierce illness.

After grappling with a $30.7-billion deficit, California lawmakers approved a budget that adds funding for child care, transit and climate change. It also includes $10 million for various local projects.

An obscure 1910s-era labor board once regulated everything from canneries to film sets to sheep farms. Why is California trying to bring it back now?

As Palo Alto prepares to sign off on a plan to redevelop the former Fry's Electronics site, the city’s advisory bodies are mounting a last-ditch push to preserve the historic cannery at the heart of the project.

The roughly 120-year-old former First Church of Christ Scientist near St. James Park in downtown may continue to be allowed to wither as a plan by San Jose officials to protect it is now in limbo.

Harry Edwards, a towering figure in Bay Area sports history known for promoting athlete activism, has no plans to stop fighting against racism and injustice despite suffering from bone cancer. “I am very much aware of the severity of the situation I am in and the reality of the circumstance,” he said.

As thousands of scorned A’s fans lament what appears to be the imminent end of the team’s playing days in Oakland, the organization's many past dalliances with relocation have come under a renewed spotlight.

The Milpitas Beat caught up with Milpitas Historical Society President Bill Hare for a chat about the city’s long yet forgotten history as the butt of endless jokes.

Stanley George Wojcicki, a preeminent physicist and Stanford University professor emeritus, died of congestive heart failure at home in Los Altos on May 31.

With a conservative Supreme Court expected to rule this summer in favor of ending or restricting affirmative action in college admissions, California’s private universities are worried about the potential impact on campus diversity. College administrators are revamping admissions and doing more high school outreach, while student activists are campaigning against a potential ban.

Monica Yeung Arima became aware of gaps in her son's elementary school history curriculum when a reading selection talked about the transcontinental railroad—but didn’t include any mention of the Chinese workers who built it.

Dick and Mac McDonald came to California to seek opportunities in the movie business and wound up owning a drive-in BBQ restaurant in San Bernardino. On May 15, 1948, they opened their revamped restaurant with a Speedee Service System featuring hamburgers.

Economic models calculate reparations to eligible Black residents to address past racial inequities. The task force also voted to recommend California apologize for “gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity and African slaves and their descendants.”

The San Jose Swim & Racquet Club, which has operated for nearly seven decades, appears likely to be sold, demolished and redeveloped with dozens of townhomes.

After two years, work has finally started on removing a controversial San Jose monument. On April 18, construction workers started jackhammering the three-foot concrete pedestal of the Thomas Fallon statue, located at the intersection of St. James and Julian streets.

The Palo Alto Museum is set to make the leap from concept to reality after the City Council approved the final agreement required to convert the Roth Building into a center for recognizing local history.

Don Von Raesfeld, arguably the single most influential person on Santa Clara’s road to electric power self-sufficiency, died suddenly this week at St. Clare’s Church during Easter Mass. He was 96.

Palo Alto’s effort to build a downtown history museum will hit a critical milestone next week, when the City Council approves the final document that is required before construction can start.

Few assembly members have pledged their support for monetary reparations for the descendants of formerly enslaved people. Public response is split.

A dilapidated theater is ready to be annexed into San Jose. How it will be used is up in the air. The San Jose City Council unanimously voted to annex nearly an acre of land that’s home to the 74-year-old Burbank Theater at South Bascom and Parkmoor avenues.

Strong wind gusts topped more than 45 mph just before 1 p.m. on March 14, snapping at least six power poles and destroying the famed Mariani’s Restaurant sign on El Camino Real.

For International Women’s Day, Mattel is hoping to inspire young girls to embrace the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by honoring a group of STEM pioneers with their own Barbie doll.