Our Hours

Monday - Friday

11am to 4pm

Saturday

By Appointment

Closed Sundays

The story

The Art Boutiki is the brainchild of comic book publisher Dan Vado. Founded in 1986, SLG Publishing has launched the careers of many well known comic book creators including Jhonen Vasquez, Evan Dorkin, Gene Luen Yang and John "Derf" Backderf. Located in a large downtown San jose warehouse, The Art Boutiki itself was born of the aftermath of two great crashes, the first being when a drunk driver smashed into the front of the building and destroyed the front half of it. Then came The Great Recession of 2008 which made the need for a giant warehouse less of a need. Rather than abandon the space The Vado Family decided to try and do something a little bit different with it.

First, they updated the look of the comic store and re-branded it as the Art Boutiki. Soon Art Boutiki started participating in the South First Friday Art Walk, during which they would sometimes host live music events. At first, live music was limited to the First Friday Art Walk, but that quickly changed as more and more musicians began asking Art Boutiki to host shows for them. Gradually, Vado and his family improved the old space and started booking  bands from San Jose  that had few options to play in the area, filling a huge gap in The Valley's music community. 

Eventually the downtown building was sold by the landlord, and Vado had to decide whether to shutdown his business or find somewhere new. With luck on their side, Vado and his family  found the current Race Street location and never looked back. Today, the Art Boutiki remains an all ages venue, but now also hosts a full cafe which serves food, beer and wine.  

What started as happenstance has become a calling.The Art Boutiki is the birthplace of many San Jose bands, and a home away from home for many touring bands, and the space plans to remain an incubator for the local community for years to come.