The news this week that beloved jazz club Cafe Stritch would not be reopening — after being closed for nearly two years during the COVID-19 pandemic — is a gut punch not only to its longtime fans but to downtown San Jose itself.

Cafe Stritch was opened by the Borkenhagen family in 2013, occupying the same physical space as their previous restaurant venture, Eulipia, but with an entirely different atmosphere. Where Eulipia had evolved into a fine-dining, white-tablecloth establishment during its 35-year run, Stritch felt casual and lived-in — ironically a throwback to the vibe at Eulipia in its early days, I was told.

Once Cafe Stritch found its balance, it became a hub for downtown activity, hosting jazz shows and open mic nights on South First Street. It was where people met for a bite and a drink before heading off to City Lights, San Jose Stage or Opera San Jose. You could count on a line out the door to hear artists perform Saturday night sets during San Jose Jazz SummerFest. Boisterous audiences gathered on normally quiet Monday nights for ShakesBEERience, watching a cavalcade of Bay Area actors perform staged readings of the Bard, jumping around tables and giving soliloquies from the balcony — often with a pint of beer or glass of wine in hand.

And then there was Rahsaanathon, the annual tribute each August to Rahsaan Roland Kirk — whose music inspired the creation of both Eulipia and Cafe Stritch — featuring artists including Steve Turre, James Carter and Betty Neals. Every performance felt magical.

Beyond that, Cafe Stritch played host to nonprofits and other groups that needed event space and provided catering for countless others. (My wife, Amy, held an event there for several years collecting donations of pads and tampons that HomeFirst would distribute to homeless women and girls. Cafe Stritch donated the space, appetizers and wine every year.)

Given all that, Cafe Stritch’s closing should be a wake-up call to downtown San Jose. Not everything is going back to the way it was before COVID. For downtown to survive — let alone thrive — it needs more spaces like Cafe Stritch, gathering spots that create community (and if they serve a burger, that’s a bonus).

Former Stritch general manager Andrew Saman is opening a new venture in the space called Mama Kin, a name that also has some musical lineage to it if you know the Aerosmith song. I don’t expect it to be everything Cafe Stritch was, but I’m looking forward to going there. And I hope it and other new spots that open in a post-COVID world can help keep Cafe Stritch’s spirit alive in downtown San Jose.

CMT San Jose actors and alumni perform a number from “Les Miserables” during “Studio 54,” a fundraising gala held at CMT San Jose’s Creative Arts Center on Saturday, Feb.5, 2022. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group) 

BEST OPEN HOUSE EVER: CMT San Jose put together a fun daylong event last Saturday for hundreds of supporters with “Studio 54,” a fundraising gala that also served as a showcase for the youth theater company’s new Creative Arts Center on Parkmoor Avenue.

Artistic Director Kevin Hauge told me it was a lot of fun — but also a lot of work — to put together what amounted to four events, two during the day and two in the evening. Each progressive event took a group of 60 guests through two rehearsal studios and the scene/costume shop. Each stop featured a separate show with CMT actors and alumni performing numbers from shows including “Rent,” “American Idiot,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Chicago,” and “Les Misérables.” That last one, by the way, will be produced at the Montgomery Theatre in March as part of CMT’s 54th season. You can check out what they’re up to at www.cmtsj.org.

BEHIND ‘THE HOLLOW’: If you’ve seen “The Hollow,” which opened at City Lights Theater Company in downtown San Jose over the weekend, you were probably blown away by the impressive set design and props used to recreate a 1940s English country house with a cast of 12 going in and out. Well, you can peek behind the curtain thanks to City Lights’ streaming series, The Next Stage, which will feature director Doll Piccotto and props designer Karen Leonard providing a deeper look at the show. Leonard will even explain how she made the definitely inedible chocolate treats used on stage.

“Tales and Treats from ‘The Hollow'” will be streamed on Zoom at 7 p.m. Feb. 9. It’s free to watch, but you need to register for a link at www.cltc.org/tickets.