The scene at the Silicon Valley Capital Club was festive Wednesday night, with people cheerfully dressed in holiday sweaters for a party hosted by the club’s LGBTQ+ council. But a lot of the conversations ranged from wistfulness to rebellious as members of the 34-year-old private business club mulled its impending demise at the end of the year.
The three questions that seemed to hang in the air on the 17th floor of 50 W. San Fernando St.: How did this happen so suddenly, what’s going to happen to the club’s memorabilia and historic photographs, and where will the club’s approximately 800 members plus more than three dozen employees go after the doors shut Dec. 31?
Silicon Valley Capital Club members mingle during the Holiday Sweater Mixer hosted by the club’s LGBTQ+ Council on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The private business club is closing its doors after 34 years on Dec. 31, 2024. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
Longtime member Susan Hayes says she and several others are bothered that Invited, the Silicon Valley Capital Club’s corporate parent, gave its board of governors or members just a month’s notice that it was ending its lease early with building owner Jay Paul Co. “I’m not saying we would have changed their minds, but it would have given everyone time to prepare, and it wouldn’t have cost them a dime,” she said.
Discussions are under way to preserve some of the club’s furnishings like Sharks hockey sticks and pucks, along with the “Wall of Fame” photos of distinguished members and plaques with the names of the club’s original founding board of governors and its lifetime members. (For future trivia nights, the Capital Club’s original co-chairmen were Carl Cookson and Bill Krause
As to what happens next, there’s some talk about providing Capital Club refugees gathering space at other venues like the San Jose Chamber of Commerce building or the Glass House, but it would be hard to beat the sweeping views of San Jose that the Capital Club provided.
There are still a few more opportunities for members and their guests to enjoy those views before Dec. 31. Santa Claus will pay his final visit at a mixer Dec. 18, and Margie Tabel, the current chair of the board of governors, sent an email Thursday inviting members past and present to the Capital Club Grand Finale at 4 p.m. Dec. 21. The ticketed soiree will include a sunset toast and the sharing of many memories, I’m sure.
POWERFUL VOICES: Actor, author and podcaster Mayim Bialik was the guest of honor last week at Powering Hope, Jewish Silicon Valley’s annual event that brought together 270 people to the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos. In a conversation onstage with Heather Lerner, Jewish Silicon Valley’s senior director of philanthropy, Bialik reflected on her experience growing up in the Jewish community and talked about mental health and the fight against antisemitism.
The audience also was moved by a performance featuring Hannah Tarley and the Violins of Hope, instruments that belonged to Jews before and during World War II. But the biggest news may have been the exciting and transformative announcement shared by the Jewish Silicon Valley: the nonprofit has secured more than $4.4 million in funding over the next three years, achieving nearly 70 percent of its long-term goal.
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HOLIDAY BUYS: If you’re behind on your shopping and looking for artful gifts, there are a couple of opportunities on The Alameda in San Jose on Saturday. Alameda Art Works has its Holiday Gift Fair from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., and Visual Philosophy has Handmade for the Holidays happening at the same time.
San Jose Made’s big Winter Market also is back again this weekend, but it’s taking place inside the San Jose McEnery Convention Center instead of the adjacent South Hall (aka the big blue-and-white tent).
