The Garden Theater opened at 1165 Lincoln Avenue on June 22, 1949, as a neighborhood movie house. It showed its last film in 1988. A year later the building became retail space. The marquee signage out front was kept and later restored. Inside, the theater was gutted and rebuilt as an office and retail mall. The building hasn't been a cinema for almost four decades. Even so, it's the room where the second half of Willow Glen's 2026 holiday season will take place.
The Willow Glen Business Association's calendar from October through December starts outdoors on the sidewalks between Minnesota Avenue and Willow Street. By November it has moved into the Garden Theater, and most of December runs out of the same building. Following that move makes the season easier to plan. It also helps to know which version of the calendar to trust, since the association's summary page and its own event detail pages don't always agree.
Why the theater keeps showing up on the calendar
Today the building is a mixed-use property, with restaurant and retail space on the ground floor and offices upstairs. What it does offer is a second-floor room that the association already uses for events. WellFest, held February 1, 2026, used that space. The event page listed the 1165 Lincoln address and described activities in the second-floor room.
That matters as the days get shorter. Glen Fest, held September 26, used the Bank of America lot at 1245 Lincoln Avenue for food vendors, beer and wine, live music and a kids' area. That works in September. The November and December events are a better fit for a building with a roof and a heater, and on the 2026 schedule several of them are booked inside the old theater.
The Preservation Action Council of San Jose has the building's full history as part of its signs project. It's worth reading if you've walked past the marquee for years without knowing the dates behind it.
October stays on the sidewalk
The last outdoor event of the season is Trick or Treat Along Lincoln Avenue on Friday, October 30, 2026. Participating businesses from Minnesota Avenue to Willow Street hand out candy and other treats along Lincoln. The association asks families to move clockwise around the route for safety and to keep the flow moving. There are two sessions:
- Session 1, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: toddlers
- Session 2, 3 to 4:30 p.m.: school-age children
The event is open to the public. The association is also looking for volunteers to work as crossing guards and sidewalk monitors at both sessions, and it asks anyone interested to apply as soon as possible. Halloween itself falls on Saturday this year, so the Lincoln Avenue route comes the day before.
If you're staying downtown after the 3 p.m. session, Copita Tequileria y Comida at 1098 Lincoln Avenue is a two-floor Mexican restaurant with a rooftop bar, a tequila and mezcal list, and a gluten-free menu. Joanne Weir and Larry Mindel are behind it, and managing partner Amy Svendberg is part of the team.
The association's homepage still advertises a Copita "Grand Opening Oct. 30 at 5pm" with no year attached. That opening was in 2023. Eater San Francisco reported that Copita opened on Monday, October 30, 2023. No launch event is scheduled for October 30, 2026. The restaurant simply happens to have opened on the same date three years ago.
November moves indoors
The Garden Theatre Fall Makers Market takes over the building on November 8 from noon to 4 p.m. The association presents it with San Jose Makers. The listing promises more than 20 local artists and makers, and admission is free. That page gives the month and day but no year. The index lists the market among this season's events, and November 8 falls on a Sunday in 2026. The association's summary page describes it as "coming back," which makes it a returning event, now hosted in the historic theater.
November is also where the summary calendar first runs into trouble. The events index lists Small Business Saturday as "11/29 (All Day)" without a year. In 2026, Thanksgiving falls on November 26, so the Saturday after it is November 28. The "11/29" entry matches the 2025 calendar. If you plan to shop Lincoln Avenue that weekend, go with the Saturday after Thanksgiving and check for an updated listing from the association before you go.
December runs through 1165 Lincoln
December has the most events, and it's also where the summary index and the detail pages disagree most. Here is the month in date order, using the detail pages:
- Holiday Bubbly Walk, Saturday, December 5, 2026, 2 to 5 p.m. A sparkling wine tasting and holiday shopping walk along Lincoln Avenue. Check-in is at 1245 Lincoln Avenue, the same lot Glen Fest used. As of the end of September, tickets weren't available yet.
- Selfies with Santa, December 12, 13, 19 and 20, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Held at the Garden Theater, 1165 Lincoln Avenue. It's free, with donations accepted. The Santa pages don't print a year, but all four dates fall on weekends in 2026.
- Holiday Trolley Rides, date to be announced. The association says the trolley tradition is coming back, but no dates have been set and tickets aren't on sale yet.
The Santa dates are where the two pages conflict. The monthly list at the top of the events index shows "12/13,14,19,20." The detailed entry lower on the same page, and the Selfies with Santa page itself, both show December 12 and 13, then December 19 and 20. December 13 and 14 were a Saturday and Sunday in 2025. In 2026 those dates are a Sunday and a Monday. The detail page lines up with this year's weekends. The top line appears to be left over from last year.
The two December dates confirmed at the Garden Theater are both Santa weekends. The Bubbly Walk and the Makers Market fill in the rest, and together they make the theater, the lot at 1245 Lincoln and the sidewalk between them the center of the month.
A quick test for checking any date
Because of these mismatches, it helps to know which page to trust before you put something on the family calendar. The association marks its own index "subject to change," and the index includes a few entries copied over from earlier years. The individual event pages are more reliable. They list the exact dates and times and say whether tickets are on sale. Some print the year 2026 and some don't.
To compare the two:
| What you're checking | Summary index | Event detail page |
|---|---|---|
| Trick or Treat | "10/30" | October 30, 2026, with both session times |
| Makers Market | "11/8" | November 8, noon to 4 p.m., free |
| Small Business Saturday | "11/29," no year | No 2026 page found; the Saturday after Thanksgiving is Nov. 28 |
| Bubbly Walk | "12/5" | December 5, 2026, 2 to 5 p.m. |
| Selfies with Santa | "12/13,14,19,20" | Dec. 12–13 and 19–20, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| Trolley Rides | "TBD" | TBD, tickets not yet available |
Whenever the two disagree, the detail page has the date that matches the 2026 calendar. One more check is to confirm the day of the week. Every confirmed date for this season lands on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, so a date that falls midweek is worth looking up again.
The one standing date
One event on the Willow Glen calendar never changes from week to week. The Willow Glen Farmers' Market runs every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Willow Glen Elementary, 1425 Lincoln Avenue. The Urban Village Farmers' Market Association runs it year-round, rain or shine. The association's 2026 market calendar lists individual closure days for its markets, and Willow Glen isn't among the closures shown. That page is undated, so check it again close to any holiday weekend.
The market's location ties the season together. It sits farther along Lincoln at 1425, past the Garden Theater at 1165. On Saturday, December 5, you can go to the market in the morning and still make the 2 p.m. start of the Bubbly Walk. On the 12th and 19th, the market and the Santa sessions overlap between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Families planning both on those Saturdays will want to choose which one to visit first.
Living near Lincoln Avenue means the street's calendar shapes your weekends. If you've been thinking about what that walkability is worth to a buyer when it's time to sell, or what it would cost to buy within walking distance of the Garden Theater marquee, Rajiv Kohli can walk you through recent Willow Glen sales and give you a free home valuation. Schedule a consultation whenever it suits you, whether that's this holiday season or after.
