Dan Vado’s comic book store/cafe/all-ages music hall always seemed like a place so cool and funky you were shocked to find it in San Jose. Where else could you grab a Frontier Village pint glass or a copy of Beachbum Berry’s tiki cocktail bible, Sippin’ Safari? People who went there, loved it — whether they were performing or sitting in the audience.

When Vado announced in August that the Art Boutiki would be shutting its doors at the end of the year, we were more surprised by our good fortune to have had it around as long as we did.

“Art Boutiki never fully got past Covid, however, and that with costs, in particular utilities, spiraling out of control I came to the realization that keeping this place open was not sustainable and we were not one or two good shows from turning things around,” Vado said in an Instagram post.

He kept the place going these past four months to keep obligations to bands, though he’s had to raise money just to pay the utility bills. More fundraising will be needed after closing to return the building to something close to its original state, removing all signs that the building at 44 Race Street once housed something cool.

But there are still two weeks before the end, and lots of good reasons to stop by before then. The last Drink and Draw, hosted by Carlos Velazquez, takes place Dec. 18, and that’s also serving as a book release party for “My Die-Cast Life,” a memoir of Vado’s young life inspired by his old toy cars he found in his family attic.

There are lots of bands scheduled to play over the following weekend and the weekend after Christmas, including a can’t-miss show on Dec. 29 when the Francis Experience Quartet, led by Jonathan Borca and Gabby Horlick, headlines an impressive lineup with Mighty Mike McGee, Ray Lin, MindFi and Bennett Roth.

“This will be the first and last time my annual birthday show is held at this beloved venue,” Borca said, adding that a portion of proceeds will go to help cover the Art Boutiki’s expenses.

“The Last Dance” on New Year’s Eve will feature the Art Boutiki’s house band, The Sick Ones, and Vado will also take the stage with his band, the Coerced, to close out the year. The party starts at 8 p.m. and goes into 2026. The full schedule and tickets to all the remaining shows are available at artboutiki.com/calendar2.

JAZZY WINTER AHEAD: San Jose Jazz has released its Winter Series schedule with 21 shows at the downtown SJZ Break Room, including the sixth annual New Works Fest, kicking off Jan. 16. The lineup includes nationally known artists such as Karl Perazzo as well as local favorites like the JC Smith Band and the Muscle Shoals Project with Nate Pruitt and Rick Vandivier.

The New Works Fest, which runs Feb. 20 to March 14, will feature six of the 20 artists who were recipients of this year’s Jazz Aid Fund grants. That lineup includes R&B crooner Luqman Frank, saxophonist Ashley Jemison, funk/game music composer Trevor Strohl, steelpan innovator Phil Hawkins, soul singer Ouida and jazz drummer Sylvia Cuenca. Shows are priced for exploration —come to multiple concerts and take the pulse of the Bay.

You can check out the lineup and buy tickets at www.sanjosejazz.org.

20 YEARS AND COUNTING: This month marked 20 years since I took over this column from Leigh Weimers, who spent 40 years keeping tabs on the comings and goings in the Santa Clara Valley.

It’s a cliche to say it’s gone by in a flash, but it really has. Somewhere along the way, I went from being a single guy in his 30s to a 50-something married father of two teenagers. They certainly keep me going, but so do all the people doing good and interesting things around the valley. And that’s too many people, fundraisers, ribbon-cuttings, restaurant openings and Manhattans to list here.

This month, I was also voted the Best Media Personality in Metro’s Best of Silicon Valley issue, so I’ll thank both Metro’s readers and all of you for that honor. And yes, I do feel a bit like Sally Field with her “you like me” Oscars speech.

Have a safe and happy holiday season. I’ll be back here in January to get started on year 21, so I hope you’re here, too.

They made mud and incorporated straw and manure, and the artist ultimately left the shoes he was wearing embedded in the adobe. One of the surprising aspects of the piece is that visitors can walk around the hardened perimeter.

“From Their Hands to Ours,” which opened Dec. 5 and runs through March 8, is a collaboration between Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) and the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga. Graciano is MACLA’s visual arts curator and Olivia Esparza is Montalvo’s Marcus Curatorial Fellow. The other artists involved, in addition to rafa esparza, are Estefania Ajcip, Miguel Arzabe, Edra Soto and Arleene Correa Valencia.

Each of their pieces touches on a sense of identity or place and what they have inherited from their ancestors. The adobe floor, for example, reflects not only rafa esparza’s Chicano heritage but his relationship with his father in making adobe bricks. Edra Soto’s art is reminiscent of the fences in her native Puerto Rico. And Miguel Arzabe’s woven-and-painted piece is inspired by Bolivian textile arts.

“I think you can look at this exhibit and see that focus on tradition and cultural heritage is on clear display,” said San Jose City Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, who attended a preview reception Dec. 4. “‘From Their Hands to Ours” is all about exploring the ways the tradition, stories and knowledge that are passed down throughout the generations inform the way that we can show up and navigate the world.”

MACLA is at 510 S. First St. in downtown San Jose and is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free except for special events.

KEEP ON SKATING: Good weather has helped provide a good start for Downtown Ice, the San Jose Downtown Association’s skating rink at the Circle of Palms. Rink Manager Tricia McNabb says even though the rink didn’t open until Nov. 28 — a couple of weeks later than usual — attendance has been strong so far with Mayor Matt Mahan and other city staffers stopping by for a spin last week.

If McNabb had one holiday wish, though, it would be for a five-figure sponsor to keep the rink open through Super Bowl LX in February. It’s currently set to close Jan. 19, but a few more weeks would be a nice treat. Any takers out there?

The rink is gearing up for its extended holiday hours starting Dec. 19, but until then it’s open Monday through Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m., with longer hours on Friday through Sunday. It’s $21 to skate, and that includes skate rental. Get more information at www.skateunderthepalms.com.

BIRTHDAY GIVING: Some people would welcome a big party when they turn 90, but not Lew Wolff, the former owner of the Oakland A’s, San Jose Earthquakes and San Jose’s Fairmont Hotel. He hit the milestone birthday Dec. 13 but wouldn’t allow his daughter, Kari Wolff, and son, Keith Wolff, to throw him a party to celebrate. Instead, the Wolff family is donating 50 full scholarships to Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos. Kari Wolff was a longtime elementary grade teacher at the school, and three of Lew Wolff’s grandchildren are graduates.

That news was delivered on a handsome card filled with “Lewisms,” some of Lew Wolff’s words of wisdom. A few gems from the card: “We need a Developers Anonymous”, “Instead of ‘What if,’ ask yourself ‘Why not?’,” and “Where There is a Lew There Is a Way,” that last one uttered by his grandson Drew at age 8.

SHOW BUSINESS: Speaking of birthdays, beloved author Jane Austen’s 250th is on Dec. 16. If you’re in the mood to celebrate, you could always take in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s “Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley.” The play, a Christmas sequel to Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, is at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto through Dec. 28. Tickets are at theatreworks.org.

HERITAGE IMAGES: A new display at the Los Altos History Museum is opening Dec. 18 and will document some of the town’s early residents through historic portraits, paintings and sculptures. “Portraits of Los Altos” was inspired by Anna Knapp Fitz, who sculptured many terracotta busts and painted portraits of Los Altos townspeople. Sophia Lujan, the museum’s curator of collections, says some of the families featured include the Duvenecks of Hidden Villa fame and farming families like the the Brubakers, Furuichis and Smiths. Get more information at www.losaltoshistory.org.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS: The first night of Hanukkah is Dec. 14, and Santana Row in San Jose will again be the site of a community celebration at Park Valencia in front of Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant. Just look for the giant menorah and get there in time for the festivities, which run from 4 to 7 p.m. with live music and family-friendly activities.

VTA’s annual Stuff the Bus, a donation campaign in partnership with the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots program, returns to Plaza de Cesar Chavez on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. VTA staff and U.S. Marines will be on hand to collect new, unwrapped donations of toys and books, as well any monetary gifts. They’re looking for gifts appropriate for kids ranging from newborns to mid-teens, with one caveat: No plush toys.

And on Sunday, the 14th annual Santa Run Silicon Valley will make its way through downtown San Jose, with the 5K’s runners and walkers finishing the race at Plaza de Cesar Chavez. You can still register for either the main race, which starts at 3 p.m., or the kids’ Reindeer Dash at 4:30 p.m. at www.santarunsv.com.

The Holiday Train has been reinvented as an on-board experience as it shuttles from San Jose to San Francisco and back this weekend. The passengers will enjoy carols performed by Ensemble Continuo, readings of holiday stories and a visit from Santa in the decorated cars. Sounds great — if you have a ticket. They sold out in just 45 minutes when they went on sale Nov. 20.

For the rest of us, there’ll be pop-up activations and entertainment at four stations that are open to the public: San Jose Diridon, Palo Alto, San Mateo and San Francisco. The train will be making eight stops in each direction for those who want to cheer it on its way.

Some of the proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Real Options for City Kids (ROCK), Samaritan House and the Bill Wilson Center. The train leaves San Jose headed northbound at 2:50 p.m. and will leave San Francisco for the hourlong return trip to Diridon at 4:50 p.m. You can get the full schedule at www.caltrain.com/holiday-train/stops.

The free concert series was originally launched in 1996, featuring a variety of performances over 23 days — including choirs, opera singers, harpists, dancers, jazz bands and more, all recruited by Henry Schiro, who led the San Jose Jazz Society at the time.

The series evolved over time, but it remained a real gift, providing people with another reason to come downtown during the bright holiday season. It also gave arts organizations exposure to audiences, some of whom no doubt became ticket-buying supporters to the groups they liked.

It took a hiatus during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 before returning for its 25th season during the last two weeks before Christmas in 2021. Then it went dark for two years and returned last year with a single concert, celebrating the San Jose Symphonic Choir’s 100th anniversary.

The number of concerts has increased to four for this season, beginning Sunday, Dec. 14 with concert pianist Sandra Wright Shen, followed by the San Jose Symphonic Choir (Dec. 15), the Vivace Youth Chorus (Dec. 16) and the Altos Brass Quintet (Dec. 17). Each concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and is scheduled for an hour. The concerts are still free, but donations will support the Cathedral Social Ministries, handled by Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County.

The Silicon Valley Arts Coalition was the key driver in bringing back the series, which was supported by a grant from ParkSJ and sponsorships from the San Francisco 49ers, LifeScience PLUS and Noon Arts & Lectures.

This was Shop With a Cop Foundation of Silicon Valley’s 18th annual  event, which many officers — some wearing Santa hats and reindeer antlers — call their favorite day of the year.

It’s certainly a fun day for the 180 students who participated from Santee, Dahl, Shirakawa and Kennedy schools in San Jose. They earned $300 Target gift cards by taking part in a 10-week reading challenge, with some students making huge leaps in their reading level. The San Jose Police Department nominated an additional 20 students who had been impacted by high-profile, traumatic incidents.

“We wouldn’t be able to do all this without the generosity of companies like CEFCU,  Adobe and Comerica Bank,” said Shop With a Cop Silicon Valley Executive Director Darrell Cortez. CEFCU was the presenting sponsor and brought out a team of volunteers to cheer on the students, and the nonprofit received a $20,000 unrestricted grant from the Adobe Employee Community Fund that helped with the event.

The students were treated to a breakfast at the Holiday Inn on North First Street before being bussed to the Target on Coleman, where they were greeted not only by more than 200 law enforcement officers — including a few K-9 officers — but also by various mascots including San Jose State’s Sammy the Spartan, Danny the Dragon from Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, the 49ers’ Sourdough Sam and Target’s canine mascot Bullseye.

The big guests of honor were Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus, himself, who traded in his sleigh for the day in favor of a ride in the SJPD’s vintage 1964 Plymouth squad car.

While the event is considered a positive way for elementary school students to interact with police agencies, alas, the specter of immigration enforcement clouded the event somewhat.

Cortez said some activities originally planned to take place after the shopping spree were canceled because of concerns about immigration enforcement, and some families with eligible students opted to not participate for the same reason. Those students will be presented with their $300 gift cards to use at a later time, Cortez said.

We’ll find out the answer this weekend thanks to the San Jose Transit Bowl, a three-way race from downtown San Jose to Levi’s Stadium before the 49ers game on Sunday.

The contestants are Valley Water Director Shiloh Ballard, who will be biking; Mineta Transportation Institute Executive Director Karen Philbrick, who will take light rail; and African American Community Services Agency Executive Director Milan Balinton, who will take a car.

The friendly competition is sponsored by the Guadalupe River Conservancy, which is pushing the option of using the Guadalupe River Trail by bike to get to Levi’s for 49ers games, as well as Super Bowl LX and FIFA World Cup games next year. San Jose City Councilmember Michael Mulcahy, whose office is co-sponsoring the event, will get the race started at the Hotel De Anza, where all three will depart at 11 a.m., and the public is welcome to show up and cheer them on.

The champion will be whoever gets to their seat first, but you’ve got to believe that other factors — like stress and price — will be taken into consideration when you think about who the real winner was.

Personally, my money’s on Ballard, a former executive director of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. She’s the only one that doesn’t have to contend with exterior complications like VTA schedules and traffic, and she’s already been reaching out to social media for time-saving tips from people who regularly ride to the games. Another benefit? The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition runs a “bike valet” at the stadium, so she won’t have to worry about hunting for a parking spot.

‘NUTCRACKER’ GUESTS: For its 60th annual production of “The Nutcracker,” opening Dec. 13 at the Center for the Performing Arts, San Jose Dance Theatre has started a new tradition by casting community figures in a cameo role as a chimney sweep.

The lineup of “Guest Community Chimney Sweeps” includes San Jose restaurateur Viscount Michael North (Dec. 13, 2 p.m.); San Jose Dance Theatre Executive Director Elizabeth Sweeney (Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m.); Ron Murietta of San Jose’s Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs (Dec. 14, 2 p.m.); Mix 106.5 radio host Shan Berries (Dec. 20, 2 p.m.); Willow Glen Realtor Holly Barr (Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m.) and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan (Dec. 21, 2 p.m.). Tickets are available at www.sjdt.org/the-nutcracker.

“This is such a joyful way to honor our community while celebrating 60 years of Nutcracker magic in San Jose,” Sweeney said. “Each guest sweep embodies the collaborative, community-centered heart of SJDT.”

MORE ‘NUTCRACKER’ NEWS: Of course, we’re lucky around here to have a choice between San Jose Dance Theatre’s traditional version of “The Nutcracker,” and New Ballet San Jose’s “The San Jose Nutcracker,” which sets the ballet in the Santa Clara Valley of yore and includes lots of nods to local places and icons (including the famed Electric Light Tower).

New Ballet will have a special walk-on guest of its own at its 7:30 p.m. performance of “The San Jose Nutcracker” at the California Theatre — former San Jose City Councilmember Carl Salas will be performing the role of the father in the opening scene. For its companion production for young theatergoers — “My Very First Nutcracker” — New Ballet has teamed up with Legoland Discovery Center Bay Area to create a play zone at the California that will be open before those performances on Dec. 13, 21 and 22.

“The San Jose Nutcracker” runs Dec. 13-22, and you can get tickets to that and “My Very First Nutcracker” at www.symphonysanjose.org.

TEXTILE TALK: We’re in the final few weeks of the Quilt National 2025 exhibition’s display at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles in downtown San Jose’s arty South First Area (SoFA). But if you haven’t checked it out yet — or if you want to revisit the exhibit — there’s a special “Threads of Thought” walkthrough at 2 p.m. Dec. 13 with Nancy Bavor, the museum’s former executive director.

She’ll talk about the history of Quilt National, the jurying process and the works on display there right now. You can get more information, as well as tickets to the event, at sj-mqt.org.

The small stand, tucked away in a corner of the historic train station, has been on a month-to-month lease for the past few years. Anne Zingale, who took over the business from the McCarthy family in 2022, said she was notified last month that the lease was coming to an end. A one-woman show these days, the stand will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, with a couple hours off for lunch.

“They just said times were changing,” Zingale said. “This seems like such an important part of this space, and I think we’ve been a huge benefit to the station. I’m not happy about it, but it’s not my decision.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, passenger business cratered but had been coming back, though not quite at a level of the days when thousands of people would flow through the 90-year-old downtown station during the morning and evening commutes to get on Caltrain, ACE or VTA.

Of course, the newsstand business has changed dramatically over the years, too. The McCarthy family, which had operated stands in Oakland and Los Angeles, took over the San Jose newsstand in 1971. They finally got out of the business in 2022, but Zingale kept the name.

The stand once had more food offerings and was known for its popcorn in recent years. It also once sold travelers paperback books, magazines and more than a few newspapers. A Mercury News article in 1993 noted that the stand’s manager at the time was planning to order copies of the Kansas City newspaper for those Joe Montana fans who were eager for news about the quarterback after he left the 49ers.

“This is childhood memories to me,” said Gabriel Gadzikowski, a Sunnyvale resident who works as a volunteer station host and was grabbing a vanilla mocha latte Monday morning. “I’ve enjoyed seeing people come and go from this place.”

Those days are gone, as are the comfy stools outside the newsstand’s service window. Today, it’s more of a snack shack, selling sodas, candy and coffee to commuters, as well as train-themed T-shirts and toys and travel games to keep kids occupied. A surprising big seller are the collectible train station and railroad enamel pins, which Zingale says she may continue to sell online.

Zingale also serves as an unofficial concierge for the station, providing travelers with directions or help with train schedules when station employees aren’t around, especially early in the morning.

With the potential for BART and high-speed rail trains to one day join Amtrak, Caltrain, ACE and VTA at Diridon Station, Zingale said San Jose deserves to be a big transportation hub. She’s seen the renderings and attended meetings for new, bigger versions of the station. “They want to redesign the whole train station,” she said. “We’re just not being invited along.”

A Caltrain spokesperson said the agency needs to do a site visit and review the condition of the space before it determines a path forward, which could include finding a new tenant.

STREET SMARTS NEEDED: Santa Clara Street is easily downtown San Jose’s most vital roadway, but the city of San Jose has started a “reimagining” process to make improvements for transit, pedestrians and businesses and transform it into a “grand boulevard.”

The planning process is underway, and there’s an in-person session at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 10 at City Hall Wing Rooms 118-119, where city transportation staff members will show their design concepts and get feedback. This is just part of what will probably be a long process, but you can get more information — and take a survey — at bit.ly/santa-clara-st-project.

ANOTHER ‘SYM-FUNNY’: It was another fun and festive weekend with Symphony San Jose’s “Holiday Spectacular” at the California Theatre, featuring not just the symphony but the Symphony San Jose Chorale, the Cantabile Youth Chorus, dancers from New Ballet San Jose and vocal soloists Stephanie Jae Park and Chris Blem.

Conductor Elena Sharkova had some delightful banter with the audience as she led them in sing-alongs but had to pace herself as the holiday show expanded to three performances for the first time. She did get a breather, though, as Symphony San Jose board member Jim Hoover took the baton to conduct “Sleigh Ride” on Saturday night. Hoover, wearing a Santa hat and holiday-themed green suit, actually paid for the privilege, having placed the winning bid on the opportunity at the symphony’s season-opening event in October.

The festivities marked the 60th anniversary of a momentous night when the band, just having changed its name from the Warlocks, played an LSD-fueled “acid test” at a house on South Fifth Street on Dec. 4, 1965. In the intervening 60 years, the house was moved to make way for City Hall, but a plaque commemorating the spot was unveiled Thursday night. Featuring the band’s famous “Steal Your Face” logo, the plaque will be permanently affixed to the wing’s south wall.

“There’s no acid test tonight, but I’m thinking there might be a little acid reflux, looking around,” emcee Kim Vestal, a longtime DJ now doing traffic for KCBS, told the well-seasoned crowd.

The ceremony leading up to the plaque’s reveal included remarks from the two guys who have been spearheading this effort for years on behalf of nonprofit San Jose Rocks: founder Dan Orloff and former Mercury News sports columnist Mark Purdy. You think it’s hard work trying to get a remodeling permit? Try getting a plaque on city hall commemorating an event where people took LSD (which, as was pointed out several times Thursday, was perfectly legal at the time).

There were a couple of surprise guests, too. Ira Meltzer was a San Jose State student who lived at the house and talked about the wild night, which had Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and Bill Kreutzmann providing the music and Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters passing out the LSD-laced sugar cubes.

Another guest speaker was Trixie Garcia, the daughter of Jerry Garcia and Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia. She was born nearly a decade after the night in question — both her parents were there — but said she thought it was wonderful that San Jose commemorated the moment.

“The ’60s changed the world, and what was started here in the Bay Area continues to lead the world and progressive thought and a more mindful way to exist,” she said.

While passerbys took pictures and marveled at the light show projected on City Hall, visitors inside the Janet Gray Hayes Rotunda got to view a collection of Grateful Dead posters owned by collector Bill Guardino and get an up-close look at an original hand-drawn poster promoting the acid test The poster recently sold at auction for $37,500. It also led Orloff and Purdy down a research rabbit hole only to discover that the historic house  at 38 S. Fifth St. hadn’t been lost in a fire — as previously thought — but was repaired and moved to North Fourth Street, just blocks away.

So what does it mean that a band long associated with San Francisco played its first show as the Grateful Dead in San Jose? Purdy summed it up pretty well.

“I think the Grateful Dead are really the world’s band, No. 1. And No. 2, I think they are a band that was a cultural force all around the Bay Area,” he said, noting they started out in Palo Alto and Menlo Park, had roots in Berkeley and wound up headquartered in Marin. “But you know what? There’s only one place they played their very first performance. It was right here.”

BUILDERS NEEDED: Valley Health Foundation Executive Director Michael Elliott is seeking help for a good problem. The foundation’s Big Bike Build for its Turning Wheels for Kids program is coming up Dec. 13, and thanks to the support from the Santa Clara Family Health Plan and other groups, it’ll be the biggest one since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, volunteers assembled about 500 bicycles for kids who need them, and this year there are 1,000 ready to be put together and distributed to families for the holidays through various nonprofit and service organizations.

“That is, assuming we can get all those bikes built on Dec. 13,” Elliott said. “That depends on volunteers. We are currently at 50% of what we need.”

The Bike Build will take place at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, starting at 8:30 a.m. No experience is needed, and volunteers are provided with tools, training, food and a T-shirt. You can get more information at www.valleyhealthfoundation.org or sign up to volunteer at eventbrite.com (search for “2025 Big Bike Build).

TRIBUTE TO A COMMUNITY CHAMPION: Loc Vu, a significant leader in the Vietnamese-American community in Santa Clara County who founded the Viet Museum at San Jose’s History Park, died at age 92 on Nov. 29.

A colonel in the South Vietnamese Army, Vu and his family settled in San Jose after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and founded the Immigrant Resettlement & Cultural Center a few years later, providing services including English classes, job training and housing assistance to more than 20,000 immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos over the next four decades.

His work to preserve Vietnamese culture was realized when the Museum of the Boat People and the Republic of Vietnam opened at History Park in San Jose in 2008, distinguished by a replica of a fishing boat similar to those people used to escape Communist Vietnam. Vu collected artifacts for the museum for more than 25 years, picking up some at the flea market and others on eBay. His contributions to the Vietnamese-American community in Santa Clara County were recognized in the U.S. Congressional Record by Rep. Zoe Lofgren in 2015.

BUILDING HOLIDAY SPIRIT: If you’re out hunting for a Christmas tree this weekend, just be glad you didn’t have to build it. The Master Model Builder team at Legoland Discovery Center Bay Area in Milpitas, led by Peter Kochanek-Rogers, spent dozens of hours creating a 5-foot tree made out of Lego bricks. It’s the centerpiece of the Holiday Bricktacular event at the venue at the Great Mall, which includes lots of holiday scenes in Miniland, the Bay Area cityscape made out of Lego bricks.

Kochanek-Rogers placed the first ornament on the tree, a Lego heart he created as part of the Build to Give experience, where guests can also build hearts to help kids in need during the holiday season. The event runs through Dec. 24, and you can check it out at www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/bayarea.

Alvaro’s directed lots of shows before, but this is one of CMT San Jose’s Marquee Productions — a fundraiser that includes working actors and CMT alumni in the cast. While the season started with two shows last month, this one will likely draw a wider audience and put Alvaro in a bigger spotlight as the person who took over for Kevin Hauge, who retired this spring after 30 seasons in the role.

But Hauge’s legacy as a national leader in youth theater is more inspiring than intimidating for Alvaro, who worked with Hauge since he performed in a production of the jukebox musical “Leader of the Pack” as a teenager.

“He was my mentor for so many years, directing and choreographing my own shows,” said Alvaro, 45. “It’s been glorious being in this spot because I can really appreciate the kind of artistic excellence he held at every level. It has really felt like I have inherited a really amazing opportunity, and I can appreciate every single second of it.”

Alvaro’s career has woven together education and regional theater. He served as associate artistic director at Virginia Repertory Theatre from 2017-21 and most recently as an associate professor of musical theater at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His CMT credentials include directing or choreographing “Once on this Island,” “The Drowsy Chaperone” and “Avenue Q,” as well as serving as an associate director or choreographer on several other shows and working in similar roles with Bay Area companies like TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.

At CMT, Alvaro expects to honor and continue some longstanding traditions while being open to new things, too. This year, the company held an open house for the first time at its Creative Arts Center on Parkmoor Avenue that allowed residents in the neighborhood to enjoy an ice cream social and peruse the costume shop. “It was a good example of how new traditions can be born,” he said.

He’s also excited for San Jose audiences to see “Finding Neverland,” which ran on Broadway about a decade ago, followed by a national tour in 2016-18 (which had its second to last stop at the Center for the Performing Arts).

“Not a lot of people may be familiar with the show, but they know the characters,” he said. “I really do think ‘Finding Neverland’ is a great family show,. While it doesn’t have anything to do with the holiday season, there’s something really family related about it.”

“Finding Neverland” runs through Dec. 14 at the Montgomery Theater. You can get more information about the show and the rest of the current season at www.cmtsj.org.

ARTISTIC COLLABORATION: MACLA has partnered with the Montalvo Arts Center on its new exhibition, “From Their Hands to Ours,” which opens Friday night at MACLA’s downtown San Jose gallery.

The exhibition, which highlights how ancestral wisdom and childhood experiences shape identity, features new work by Estefania Ajcip, Miguel Arzabe, rafa esparza , Edra Soto and Arleene Correa Valencia. The artists — whose work includes painting, sculpture, textile art, and video — will be part of an artist talk during an opening night reception, which begins at 5 p.m.

The opening is just one of many events taking place Friday night during the monthly South First Fridays Art Walk. You can get a full listing and a walking map at www.southfirstfridays.com.

HOLIDAY CALENDAR: Wanda Buck, a longtime community leader and volunteer in Santa Clara, will be the Honorary Tree Lighter at the city’s 114th annual Holiday Tree Lighting in Central Park on Friday evening. The festivities begin at 5:30 p.m., but Buck won’t perform her official duties until 7 p.m., leaving time for entertainment from groups including the Roberta Jones Junior Theatre Choir and the Santa Clara Elite Dance Team as well as taking photos with Santa and the recently unveiled FIFA World Cup Countdown Clock. You can get more details at santaclaraca.gov/holidaytreelighting.

Los Gatos also will have its tree-lighting festivities Friday night starting at 5 p.m. at Town Plaza Park, where the grand Deodar Cedar tree — planted in 1923 — will be illuminated. Of course, that’s just a prelude to Saturday’s big event, the 69th annual Los Gatos Children’s Parade, which will have Los Gatos High School teacher Kurt Kroesche as grand marshal. The parade, organized by the Lions Club of Los Gatos and Los Gatos-Saratoga Recreation, starts at 11 a.m. at North Santa Cruz and Almendra avenues. It proceeds through town before the finish in front of the Civic Center.