San Jose cultural leader’s death shocks community

Chris Esparza always wanted to run a nightclub in his hometown of San Jose, friends and business partners told San José Spotlight — and not only did he make it happen, he went on to shape the city’s cultural image through decades of event organizing within the growing Mexican American community.

Esparza, 57, died unexpectedly over the weekend. His cause of death is unknown. He was the community development director for the School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza. The people who knew Esparza best said they have no doubt his legacy will be kept alive by those who came up under his wing.

Esparza founded his flagship business management consulting firm Giant Creative Services at the turn of the century. He told San Jose State’s Mosaic Atlas in 2022 that he had 10 to 15 clients per year before deciding to sell the company in favor of a more permanent position with the School of Arts and Culture post-pandemic. Jessica Paz-Cedillos, the school’s co-executive director, said she and her colleagues held a healing circle for the team Monday morning after learning of Esparza’s passing.

“Chris is a giant. He has a kind, kind heart and meant so much to so many people,” she told San José Spotlight. “He was a visionary. And when you think about San Jose, when you think about the creative sector, when you think about event life, this man had his hand in all of it and it’s a huge loss for the Mexican Heritage Plaza, for the Mayfair community, for East San Jose — for San Jose.”

Longtime East San Jose leader and community organizer Darlene Tenes said she and Esparza were among those who organized the city’s first major Día De Los Muertos event in downtown about 25 years ago. It was a time before the cultural holiday was widely known outside of the Mexican American community.

Esparza’s friends and business partners said he was always finding ways to advance the culture in San Jose.

He worked as bouncer at concert venues in cities such as San Francisco throughout the late 1980s before meeting a DJ from England named Chris Elliman. The two would run nightclubs together just a few years later.

“Chris always wanted his own nightclub, but he wanted to do it back in his hometown of San Jose,” Elliman told San José Spotlight. “He and I did two.”

Fil Maresca, founder of Filco Events, said he hired Esparza to work as a bouncer at his club and he helped ensure the safety of the club goers by working in collaboration with nearby venues.

In a time when San Francisco was seen as the hub of nightlife, Maresca said Esparza lit up the SoFA district and put San Jose on the map.

“He was always committed with making San Jose a better place,” Maresca told San José Spotlight. “He had a smart mind, a cool head and a good heart, all three.”

Along with running the jazz club Ajax Lounge and throwing events at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, Elliman and Esparza would go on to co-own Fuel 44 at the corner of Post Street and Almaden Boulevard in downtown.

The club closed in 2001 when Elliman said their rent rose exponentially amid the dot-com boom in Silicon Valley. That’s when the two men met their forks in the road and the longtime business partners transitioned into longtime friends.

Now living in Portland, Oregon, Elliman said he goes back to the city where it all started once a year, and coffee with Esparza became a regular custom.

“We talk about life, not about the past, but about where we’re going. It’s been a long friendship and partnership, so it’s a personally sad loss for me,” Elliman told San José Spotlight. “There’s a saying out there that if you don’t end up with a few good stories, then you missed the point of living life. I’m going to tell you that in just the time Chris and I shared — he has more than enough stories.”