It’s “Best of” Season in the local newspaper world, with the publication last month of the Metro’s Best of Silicon Valley list and the beginning this week of balloting in the “Best of Willow Glen” version compiled by the WG Resident.

The Metro list is an interesting glimpse into how the rest of Silicon Valley sees us … through the local merchants that help define our neighborhood. Here are the WG businesses that made Metro’s “Best of Silicon Valley.” Metro published the top-three in each category, so the actual ranking is shown here in parentheses:

Best of Food & Sustenance

• Taiwan Restaurant — Best Chinese (#1) … Lincoln Avenue in Downtown WG
• Sushi Kazoo — Best Japanese (#1) and Best Sushi (#1) … Multiple South Bay locations, including one inside WG’s Garden Theater
• Tlaquepaque — Best Mexican (#2) … Multiple WG locations, including Lincoln & Curtner, Willow Street
• El Rancho — Best Taqueria (#3) … 1401 Almaden Road (at Alma) … close enough to WG
• Bill’s Cafe — Best Breakfast (#2) … Willow Street near Lincoln, although the Rosegarden location is probably pretty good, too.
• Aqui Cal-Mex — Best Patio (#3) and Best Margarita (#3) … Original location is on Lincoln Avenue in Downtown WG
• Pizza My Heart — Best Pizza (#3) … Lincoln Avenue near Minnesota, and everywhere else too.
• Mojo Burger — Best Burger (#1) again … Bird Avenue at Minnesota/Alma
• Dick’s Bakery — Best Bakery (#1) … Meridian Avenue at Hamilton
• Flour Flower — Best Desserts (#2) 896 Willow Street, near Bird
• Willow Glen Frozen Yogurt — Best Ice Cream (#3) … corner of Lincoln and Willow in Downtown WG
• La Villa — Best Deli/Sandwich Shop (#1) … Lincoln Avenue Downtown
• Cardinal Lounge — Best Late-Night Eats (#1) … Meridian Avenue at Hillsdale

Best of Shopping & Services

• Willow Glen Bicycles — Best Bicycle Shop (#1) … Willow Street at Lincoln Avenue
• Scott’s Super Video — Best Video/DVD Rental (#1) Willow Street at Bird Avenue
• Hjinx Comics — Best Comics Store (#1) … Lincoln Avenue at Malone Road
• Alchemy Hair Studio — Best Hair Salon (#3) … Metro says they have “multiple locations” without mentioning that both of them are on Lincoln Avenue, one at Broadway and the other close to Minnesota
• Peninsula Beauty — Best Beauty Supply (#2) Lincoln Avenue downtown
• Grapevine — Best Wine Shop (#2) Lincoln Avenue near Minnesota
• Willow Glen Dentistry — Best Dentist (#3) … on Lincoln Avenue attached to Bank of America
• Willow Glen Hardware — Best “Home Depot Alternative” (#3) aka ACE Hardware, on Lincoln at Curtner
• Fleurish — Best Gift Store (#1) … loving their newish location on Lincoln Avenue in Downtown WG
• Domus — Best Kitchen/Cooking Store (#1) and Best Gift Store (#3) … Technically awarded to the Los Gatos location, but now also located on Lincoln at Minnesota
• Hicklebees — Best Local Bookstore (#2) … Lincoln Avenue near Willow Glen Books
• Willow Glen Books — Best Local Bookstore (#3) … Lincoln Avenue near Hicklebees

Hicklebees and WG Books are still battling each other in the same category for Metro. Other, more sensible publications long ago separated these two combatants.

Best of Love & Romance

• Mann’s Jewelers — Best Jewelry Store (#2) … Lincoln Avenue

Whew! we just made it in to his category … no thanks to Dan Mokma.

Interestingly, there were several whole categories where WG went completely unrepresented, including Arts & Culture and Fashion, the latter of which was devoted entirely to worshiping to Santana Row, despite the presence of several quality retailers in WG. Whatever.

And while Aqui’s Best Margarita shows up in the Music & Nightlife list, but that was probably thanks to their other locations where there is actual nightlife.

Well, not exactly 10,000 individuals … but it’s very impressive nonetheless:

SeniorNet Willows to Hit a Milestone

On Saturday, October 4, when SeniorNet Willows has computer class registration for the upcoming session, it will sign-up its 10,000th student for class. This Learning Center began in March, 1994 and since then has gone on to have 10,000 students take a class from the program.

To celebrate this event, we will give student number 10,000 a free SeniorNet membership and a year’s worth of free classes at SeniorNet Willows.

So, if you have been looking for a reason to take a computer class, here is another one.

SeniorNet’s Willow Glen “Cyberschool” sign-up for the next session will be held this Saturday, October 4, beginning at 9:00 am at the Willows Senior Center. Prospective students can enroll for all classes except the “Intro to Computers” classes (registration for the Intro class begins Saturday at 10:30 a.m)

Topics offered this session include primers on Photoshop Elements,word processing, genealogy searches, Windows XP, Google searches, email, file management, digital photography, and iPods & iTunes. They also offer something called the “Best of Internet” … which undoubtedly includes WGx, right?

Well, if you still haven’t found a reason to visit Elva’s Coffee Stop (website by WGx), maybe this is your big chance. WG’s best Community-Involved Business is at it again this week, collecting coffee donations for troops stationed overseas.

Elva’s Operation Coffee & Cookies drive ends Sunday! Don’t miss out!

Elva and her crew have begun grinding coffee for the bags, with the lion share of the project set to wrap-up this weekend. The response has been so great, that Elva is worried her coffee grinders will conk out … thus the early start!

While everyone else is agog over the nation’s Top Ten Insanely Priced Neighborhoods — or whatever it was that Forbes was using to sell magazines — local realtor CJ Braziel provides her own Top Ten list derived solely from actual homes for sale in Willow Glen.

She’s got her own Top Ten Bank Owned Properties in Willow Glen, wherein she compiles a list that will surely fascinate your neighbors and attract readers to her new weblog. Of course, WG only has seven foreclosed homes on the market, so her list certainly avoids controversy.

Actually, CJ’s post does a great job relaying her own experiences working on foreclosure properties, and then she provides her own suggestions for buyers interested in pursuing that route. Check it out!

UPDATED: The Finale might actually be Thursday, August 7 … the sneaky FOX Network went with a two-part rating-booster Finale, and might award a winner tonight.

Hey, whatever happened to that Katee Shean kid? She grew up in WG and was on that Fox dancing show … you know the one …?

Well, it turns out that she can still dance!

The network will air the show’s “Top 4 Finale” Episode on Wednesday, August 6 … and Katee is among the Top 4 Finalists. A quick scan of the Internet reveals little about Katee’s chances for winning, other than she does, in fact, have chance.

Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately if you are already a home owner here – the list is of America’s Most Overpriced ZIP Codes, and 95125 comes in at #10:

To live there, residents are paying the city’s highest prices relative to what they could pay to rent similar properties in the same area. When you compare mortgage payments to the value of a similar home on the rental market, the price to buy is 26.1 times higher, one of the biggest differences in the country.

Willow Glen is one example of a neighborhood where homeowners are still taking chances on future appreciation–and paying a premium above and beyond their neighbors for that confidence.

If you can get past the article’s confusing opening reference to car license plates and worshiped deities, there may be some information to be gained. Or maybe not.

Those in the know call it SYTYCD, but you can call it So You Think You Can Dance, airing on Wednesdays (mostly) this summer on FOX.

And if you haven’t heard already, you should be cheering for Katee Shean. The 20-year-old contestant hails from Willow Glen’s Palm Haven neighborhood:

Palm Haven’s own Katee Shean on FOX TV!

Katee Taira Shean was born and raised in San Jose, CA. She is a graduate of Pioneer High School and has completed her sophomore year at Chapman University in Orange, CA. She started dancing at the age of 4. She auditioned for the “So You Think You Can Dance” television show in Los Angeles. Additional auditions with thousands of other hopeful candidates were held in major cities throughout the country. She was one of 200 dancers selected to advance to the next level of competition held in Las Vegas. After a week of grueling competition, 20 dancers remained.

Of course, it’s not the first time Katee’s been competing for prize money … she won a $10,000 scholarship two years ago when she competed in a famous annual Beach Blanket Babylon scholarship contest.

Katee also teaches dance in Southern California while attending college. If you’ve missed the news so far, the magic of the internet will allow you to catch-up by viewing video of Katee’s various dance routines.

Katee’s dad has been doing his part, distributing fliers (seen here posted inside Willow Street) encouraging everyone to vote! And in case you were planning on voting early and often … in order to vote for Katee, you have be watching the show’s broadcasts, during which you get to call a specific toll-free number to cast your vote.

This fancy envelope full of coupons arrives in mailboxes this week, and what a pretty envelope it is, too!

At first glance, it looks like the company that provides this advertising service has taken a lot of time to stitch together beautiful full-color pictures of Willow Glen Elementary School, scenic Lincoln Avenue downtown (complete with our neon pedestrian signs), and even the famous corner of Willow Glen Way & Lincoln Avenue.

Did WGx mention it’s a beautiful envelope? Too bad it spells Willow Glen incorrectly. Throughout the mailer, it’s “Willow Glenn” repeatedly and consistently.

Oh and by the way, they are a local company, too. Or they say they are anyway.

Best Value Coupons, Inc is a locally owned family business. We are committed to providing a quality product and service to the clients we serve and the community we live.

Their marketing phone number is in the 408 area code, but the envelope bears a mailing permit from Phoenix (Phoenixx?). It certainly couldn’t be the first time someone living right here in WGn spelled the name of our fair neighborhood incorrectly. Happens all of the time, according to WGx’s own search logs and website stats system.

And while we’re pondering the company’s attention to detail, one of the advertising inserts inside is for the Best Value Coupons service itself, wherein they further define Willow Glenn as the zip codes 95125 and 95118, curiously ignoring our friends who live in 95124 (or even the fringes of Campbell’s 95008).

Sorry neighbors … you don’t get to take advantage of Willow Glenn’s Best Values.

[sitethumb://www.willowglenextra.com/elvas]Elva’s Coffee Stop … now serving in Sacramento? … uh, no … but Frank & Elva were at the State Capitol a few days ago accepting an award from California Assembly member Jim Beall.

Elva’s Coffee Stop was honored as “California Small Business of the Year� for District #24. Frank and Elva Acevedo received this special recognition from local legislator, Jim Beall, Jr. to applaud a single district-based small business for exemplifying the contributions for the California’s 3.7 million Small business owners to the California economy.

This is only the latest recognition of Elva’s prowess both in coffee brewing and in community volunteerism. The Coffee Stop has been WG Residents’ “Best Community-Involved Business” two years running, and is also last year’s “Best Coffee.”

Beall, meanwhile, became a little more famous recently for proposing an increase in the state’s excise tax on beer. WGx assumes that a caffeine tax is not in the works.

As promised, WGx is proud to provide Twitter-based up-to-the-minute text message updates from the Willow Glen Relay for Life, the 24-hour marathon Saturday-Sunday, at the Willow Glen high School track: (more…)