Most people wouldn’t think about restoring a building like Faber’s Cyclery, a 140-year-old wooden structure on the southern edge of downtown San Jose that was devastated by a fire in 2013. Most people would bulldoze the wreckage and build something new. Jim Salata is not most people.
The owner of Garden City Construction and Buccaneer Demolition couldn’t let the building — one he had long coveted — disappear. And one day just before Thanksgiving last month, he welcomed people to see the structure he had brought back to life.
“Restoring this building has been an awesome journey of amazing karma and good will and there will be nothing like it in San Jose,” Salata said. “We hope that this is a turning point for the area some call the ‘SODA District’ — South of Downtown Area — and the gateway to downtown San Jose.”
The journey still isn’t over. Salata is continuing to work on improvements with plans to make it into a watering hole called Benjamin’s Saloon, a nod to the building’s original use from 1882 until the early part of the 20th century. That would pair nicely with Camino Brewing Co., which opened right next door on South First Street in 2018.
The building, with a distinctive Victorian cupola, has had many lives starting with the aforementioned saloon and grocery store, a business that eventually passed into the hands of the Benjamin brothers
The saloon passed through several hands before it wound up in 1903 with the Benjamin brothers, who continued to operate it until Prohibition. At that point it became a soft-drink stand — though who can say what people were really imbibing — until 1923 when Jacob Faber opened his bicycle shop there.
It remained in the Faber family until the 1970s when it was sold to Alex LaRiviere, who kept it as Faber’s Cyclery. The aging building began to lean — making it look like the Crooked House at Happy Hollow — and LaRiviere closed the shop and bicycle museum just weeks before the April 2013 fire. And that’s when Salata entered the picture.
The first couple years were spent repairing the building, with Kelly House Movers straightening it out again. Salata proudly notes that 95 percent of the material used was from the same era. He can point out pieces around the building that were salvaged from houses in the area. The door, he notes, was already in his collection. Salata called on sign-painter Tom Colla to recreate a Faber’s logo as well as Schwinn logos on an adjoining building in 2015. The faded word “bicycles” visible on the building’s side is original — the wooden siding was saved and replaced close to its original location.
The building’s most recognizable feature, the cupola, had to be recreated from photographs. There’s one last piece to add, Salata said: a horseshoe below the front door — matching one in a photograph he has of Jacob Faber in front of his shop.
The list of people Salata credits with helping bring Faber’s back to life is long, and it includes his wife, Suzanne Salata, as well as historian Charlene Duval, Brad Pawloski of Garden City Construction, architectural illustrator Barney Davidge, Rich Sanchagrin of Grand Prix Glass and architect Brad Cox.
But a crazy idea like bringing Faber’s Cyclery back to life needs someone with passion at the helm, and that was Jim Salata. I look forward to toasting his vision when he finally gets the saloon open.
BIKING ON: Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Shiloh Ballard announced her plans to ride off into the sunset, as least as far as leading the bike advocacy group is concerned. Ballard, who took the handlebars of the organization in 2015, says she’ll stay on until a replacement is found.
During her tenure, Ballard has fought vociferously for the rights of cyclists throughout the valley, stressing both bike safety and using bikes as a regular means of transportation. The results have been dramatic, with the number of bike crashes down significantly and the number of fatalities cut in half. There are now 46 miles of protected bike land and 2,000 miles of bike facilities — including shared lanes and boulevards — in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
CALLING IT A CAREER — OR TWO: There’s no doubting that Linda LeZotte put in more than her share of time for the community, retiring Dec. 2 after six years as a San Jose planning commissioner, eight years on the San Jose City Council and 12 years as a Santa Clara Valley Water District director. Add those 26 years of public service to her 40 years as an attorney, and that’s enough work for at least two people.
LeZotte was a glaring omission from my Thanksgiving column, in which I expressed my gratitude for Santa Clara County elected officials who were terming out. My only defense is that I never expected her to retire.
CIRCLE THE DATE: The San Jose Sharks Foundation is bringing back Sampling with the Sharks, its immensely popular wine-tasting fundraiser, to a new venue, Tech CU Arena, on Feb. 21, 2023. There’ll be lots of Northern California wines to taste, along with Sharks players and coaches to mingle with. There’s also a live auction, and one of the items has a fun twist: The winner will immediately leave Sampling with the Sharks to watch the Eagles concert that night at SAP Center from a suite.
Early-bird tickets are $375 — for guests 21 years and older that includes wine and appetizers — but that price goes away at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Go to www.sharksfoundation.org to reserve a spot.
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