Pipe organs in San Jose, CA?

[dll927]

Just out of curiosity, is there anyone available here who is aware of what the organ situation is is San Jose? Being the third-largest city in the state (after L.A. and San Diego), there ought to be something worthwhile by now.

I raise the question because I attended S. J. State in the second half of the 1950's and was, for a while, assistant organist at Westminster Presbyterian. At that time, San Jose had very little to offer in the way of decent pipe organs. First Methodist and Trinity Episcopal had the only organs ever used for concerts, and neither of those was much to write home about. During the time I was around, First Presbyterian put in a new Hilgreen-Lane, but I'm not sure it was all that much, either.

I'm talking about 50 years ago, and some of the churches around in those days are no longer in existence, at least not in the same buildings. So does anyone have a handle on the current conditions?

[dll927]

San Jose had an AGO chapter way back in the '50s, so there still must be somebody alive up there. Is nobody reading, or isn't there anything to write about?

[Krummhorn]

Hi dll927,

I've been searching for information. So far, no major organ installations in that area. Google indicates a theater organ in a pizza place, but I know for a fact that restaurant closed up a year ago, as I went through San Jose as part of a vacation trip.

The organist who played there is a member of this forum see --> aeroscore, and could possibly be a good source of information. He hasn't been online here in almost a year, but there is some contact info on his profile page.

There is a website for the San Jose Chapter of the AGO. A newsletter for the current month (Nov 2008) is there for perusing.

ATOS (American Theatre Organ Society) has listed the Sierra Chapter as being the closest (Rocklin, CA, NE of Sacramento) point of contact to San Jose for that organization. Perhaps they may also be a resourse for information.

Hope this helps some in your search. In the meantime, I'll keep prowling the web for anything else to contribute here.