Capers restaurant in Campbell celebrates 25th anniversary

It was hard to find a seat at Capers Eat Drink in Campbell on Thursday afternoon as a big crowd displayed up to celebrate the restaurant and bar s th anniversary Owner Kam Ravazi was all smiles as he greeted customers including Campbell Mayor Sergio Lopez and members of the city council who stopped by with a proclamation to mark the impressive milestone This is like my personal version of Cheers Ravazi noted referring to the fictional Boston TV bar where everybody knows your name I must know percent of the customers by name Capers Eat Drink owner Kam Razavi poses at the restaurant in Campbell which celebrated its th anniversary with a party for patrons on Thursday July Sal Pizarro Bay Area News Group Ravazi self-deprecatingly credits everyone but himself for the restaurant s quarter-century of endurance We ve been fortunate with great employees great customers and even great landlords he revealed Between Capers and its sister restaurant the Loft in downtown San Jose which has been around for years stated he s still working seven days a week just not -hour days like he did in the beginning You get up every morning and you love what you do he stated Campbell City Councilmember Terry Hines who shared a table Thursday with Councilmember Anne Bybee and Vice Mayor Dan Furtado reported he loves the sports vibe created by Sharks and Warriors jerseys ers helmets and photographs and a huge mural of a San Francisco Giants member stealing home It s a great showing to see a full house here the present day he noted Capers Eat Drink in Campbell celebrated its th anniversary with a party for patrons on Thursday July Sal Pizarro Bay Area News Group Ravazi says he s grateful to have two places that have survived both the COVID- pandemic economic downturns and the work-from-home revolution that s decimated lunch crowds throughout the Bay Area I ve had a lot of friends who have closed just now he commented It s not a friendly climate for restaurants right now At least it s still friendly inside Capers PALO ALTO MUSEUM NAMES CEO As the Palo Alto Museum moves closer to opening it s added a big part to its future by hiring Marguerite Gong Hancock as its inaugural president and CEO Hancock who preponderance of late was chief innovation officer and vice president of activities at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View should be a great fit for the museum which is on track to open next year She s a Palo Alto native who worked at Stanford for two decades raised her family with husband Russ Hancock of Joint Venture Silicon Valley in the city and co-founded the Christmas Cr che exhibit a tradition in Palo Alto since Marguerite Gong Hancock was publicized as the inaugural president and CEO of the Palo Alto Museum on July Photo by Douglas Fairbairn Hancock stated in a report that she s excited to bring the Palo Alto Museum to life Palo Alto s enduring spirit of big ideas innovation and impact shines through Stanford University bold social movements the ongoing digital revolution and countless other stories she disclosed Rooted in Palo Alto and connected to the world the museum will be both a welcoming region space for all and a powerful platform to honor the past challenge the present and imagine a better future together If you ve been following along you know the Palo Alto Museum will be housed in the Roth Building a square-foot Spanish Colonial Revival landmark structure that s nearly a century old The former site of the Palo Alto Anatomical Clinic the building has undergone a million renovation Thoits Bros a property management company with deep Palo Alto roots provided a million gift to fund Hancock s hire TRANSFORMATIONAL GIFT Silicon Valley businesswoman and philanthropist Louise de Putron has donated million to Pivotal the San Jose-based nonprofit that works to ensure to future of young people in and in recent months aged-out of the foster care system The gift will endorsement Pivotal s coaching and scholarship programs over the next three years and also establish a new fund to promotion the mental and emotional well-being of foster care youth in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties Related Articles Domino masters get everything in place for the Tech Topple in San Jose Danny the Dragon rides again at Happy Hollow in San Jose Why people boo Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone and why he loves it San Jose s Poor House Bistro celebrating th birthday with July second line parade Her husband couldn t run the Stars and Strides race so she ran it for him Pivotal CEO Matt Bell noted the nonprofit is honored to be among de Putron s beneficiaries and considers it a vote of confidence in their work Her donation will have a tremendous impact on the scholars we serve he noted FAREWELL TO A SPECIAL SCHOOL Former students staff and family members gathered at Chandler Tripp School in San Jose in late June for a farewell reunion to the school which had served special demands children since The school s lease on Santa Clara County property on Thornton Way near Santa Clara Valley Clinical Center in the last few days expired and its programs are being relocated to other Santa Clara County Office of Learning sites drawing a close a legacy that lasted more than years Kathy Bays a retired special coaching manager at the Office of Mentoring organized the event which included lots of alumni and former teachers including Sylvia Chinn and Joe Fimiani whose first teaching job in the s was at Chandler Tripp Former Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Colleen Wilcox also attended and revealed the scheme was incredibly touching with former students and principals speaking The school was founded in and named for Chandler Clinton Tripp who according to a Mercury Herald article suffered from polio when he was a novice at Roosevelt Junior High but went on to graduate from San Jose State where he used a wheelchair He later opened a library at the Tenth Street Pharmacy on Santa Clara Street but died about a month before the school bearing his name opened The original class of physically disabled students mostly with cerebral palsy arrived on the campus then on rd Street next to Anne Darling Elementary School in a special bus and the school s station wagon It moved to Thornton Way in the mid- s More and more students were transitioned into local junior highs and high schools and the bulk graduated from high school and a great number of went on to college Wilcox explained TWO WRITERS AT TWO DECADES Metro weekly columnist Gary Singh and I both started writing our respective columns in which led James Leventhal executive director of San Jose s Institute of Contemporary Art to invite us to discuss what it s been like writing about this place we call home for years We ll be gabbing away July at the ICA gallery at S First St from to p m around the same time the weekly Pobladores Night Realm is getting going in the park right outside the ICA s doors You can RSVP at www icasanjose org