The fact that Peter’s intending to move his office has me once again dreaming of him finding a funky (yet still safe and techno-friendly) space along The Alameda in San Jose. When we first sought out office space, our ideal was the kind of space occupied by one of our vendors, Plotter Pros. Their offices are just off The Alameda, a street that curves off the edge of a cute old neighborhood, between the sports arena and the Caltrain/Amtrack train station, on into downtown San Jose, where it becomes the main street, Santa Clara Street. Unlike downtown San Jose, though, The Alameda doesn’t have parking hassles (unless you’re near the Arena, and then only on one of the rare days there’s a daytime event on) and it’s hasn’t become so gentrified it’s lost it’s funky edge. For instance, Plotter Pros is across from a colorful house that functions as a day care center, around the corner from a used book store, a block away from San Jose’s virtually unknown own choclatier, and nearly as close to an old movie theatre that plays Indian movies. Best of all, Plotter Pros, told us they’d gotten a price on the rent which even we, as an up-and-coming little company, could have afforded. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of office space in the Alameda: if it were more gentrified, someone would stick an office building there, but if it were more gentrified then it wouldn’t be so funky and cheap any more, would it?
And so we ended up in the just-as-suitable-but-more-sterile techno-grotto near 237. All Peter really wants for his new offices is someplace closer to home, with more space, and more amenities for the rent. When I brought up the possibility of the Alameda, he thought it was a long shot, given as how we’d been unable to find anything before. I pointed out that finding an office along The Alameda is just like finding beachside parking in Capitola: it doesn’t hurt to look, and a space that may be occupied may be imminently open, and if you don’t find parking, well, you can still find parking somewhere else.