Graphic designer Theo Mendoza holds up a T-shirt bearing the logo he created for East Village, the new branding for the East Santa Clara Street Business District, on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2024. It’s not easy to distill the vibe of a business district that’s so eclectic it’s hard to define, but San Jose graphic designer Theo Mendoza has pulled it off with a funky new logo for East Village, the rebranding of San Jose’s East Santa Clara Street Business District.
Chris Patterson-Simmons, owner of the Neu2U boutique and president of the East Santa Clara Street Business Association, speaks at the unveiling of the association’s new logo and branding as East Village at Vegan Bistro in San Jose on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. In his month-long design process, Mendoza talked to the merchants in the district — many of the restaurants and stores in East Village are owned by entrepreneurs who are Vietnamese, Black, Latino, Cambodian, Korean or Chinese — and what he heard from them led him down a path away from stylized, and toward something family-friendly and light that still authentically still represented the businesses.
“He did a fantastic job. It’s fun, it’s whimsical, its colorful—but at the same time, it means business,” Orozco said. “It represents the growing and thriving that can happen here in East Village.”Mighty Mike McGee says this year’s 10th annual San Jose Poetry Festival, which opens Thursday and runs through the weekend, has a lineup that puts an emphasis on spoken word poetry.
Speaking of youth, one tradition returning from last year’s festival is that all performances are free to anyone 19 and under. For everyone else, you can buy a festival pass for $50 or pay for individual events at the door.