The recent issue of Silicon Valley Metro had a blurb about the A’s/Earthquakes new South Bay office, which is due to open in downtown San Jose soon. The location? The ground floor of the Fairmont San Jose, of course. I wonder if the employees get free vouchers to eat at one of Lew Wolff’s restaurants nearby?

The office is located in the middle of a pedestrian mall called Paseo de San Antonio, which acts as a “bridge” between SJSU and Plaza de Cesar Chavez. The Fairmont actually occupies both sides of an entire block of Paseo de San Antonio thanks to an annex built a few years back. (I imagine that Lew once had dreams about holding victory rallies out on the Plaza’s stage. Maybe he still does?)

When the announcement was first made about the new Earthquakes group setting up shop downtown, there was no mention of the A’s involvement. These days, however, it seems like everything is co-branded (ESPN on ABC? What?) so it only makes sense for the A’s to have a presence.

From looking at the picture above, the missing piece appears to be the Earthquakes logo. That must be tied up in licensing somehow, and since the A’s technically don’t own the Quakes yet, they don’t have rights to the logo. The A’s logo is quite striking, and given the frequent talk of territorial rights, seems like… an invasion of sorts.

But wait, there’s more!

The vinyl window coverings shield anything that’s inside from view, but the office’s location next to an entrance to the hotel must mean there’s another entrance to the office somewhere… Eureka!

And it would appear that there’s just a little crack of light coming the edge of the curtain on the left door. Let’s take a look at what’s in there.

As the Metro blurb noted, it’s a wall-sized matte photo of a crowd. I couldn’t get a good picture of the other stuff I saw: maple cabinetry, halogen lamps. It’s starting to feel like a condominium sales center (physical stadium models and video flythroughs included) with a hint of boutique retail.

Historical footnote: For those wondering if this is some sort of territorial rights violation, remember that the A’s once had multiple “A’s Clubhouse” team stores. IIRC, there were locations at malls throughout the East Bay. There was one other location: the Great Mall in Milpitas. The stores closed sometime in the late 90’s or a few years ago.