Enoteca La Storia — the popular Los Gatos wine bar — finally has arrived with its second location in San Jose’s Little Italy district near SAP Center. After several days of soft-opening events last week, the restaurant, bar and wine shop officially opened Tuesday.

Bringing Enoteca La Storia downtown has been the talk among Little Italy circles for years, and it should be a real shot in the arm for the cultural district wedged between Julian and St. John streets just west of Highway 87. Paesano’s restaurant and Bel Baccio coffee have been the stalwarts there, but Enoteca La Storia will add more evening activity to a literally shady corner that’s had Henry’s Hi-Life as its only bright spot for decades. This is very good news for the crowds heading to Sharks games and other arena events.

Owners Mike Guerra and Joe Cannistraci — who worked together at Vintage Wine Merchant in Santana Row before opening the first Enoteca La Storia — did a great job of transforming the 1925 building without losing its historic charm. The 5,000 square-foot space includes a spacious main wine bar and dining area — also serving beer and a food menu highlighted by New York-style pizza — along with a soccer-themed, family-friendly annex called Cafe Calcio. An outdoor courtyard should open next year.

The red-tile-roofed building, which is owned by Barry Swenson, most recently housed a glass-blowing studio and, before that, the All Amigo’s Alano Club. But it began life as the Italian-owned Alameda French Bakery. Back then, the building was on the corner of Pleasant and St. Augustine streets. (The building never moved; the street names changed.)

Three wooden bread peels were discovered in the building’s rafters during construction, and they’re on display above the racks of wine bottles for sale. Guerra said a member of the bakery family came by and presented them with the top of a wooden Alameda French Bakery box, an old bill of sale and a photo of the building back in those days. Cannistraci found prominent spaces for each.

“I think they appreciated that the building was home again to another family-run, Italian business,” Guerra said. The owners have also put a touch of their own history into the decor, with poster size family photos — including some showing the Santa Clara Valley of nearly a century ago.

IT WAS SO HOT…: You know the climate in San Jose must be good based on the reactions to this weekend’s scorching heat. The city hit a record 107 degrees on Saturday, forcing people to crank up the A/C and scramble for any shade they could find.

Marilee Jennings, executive director of the Children’s Discovery Museum downtown, said about 3,000 people came through the doors on Saturday, and they let in everyone they could to help them get out of the heat. And as the sweltering afternoon turned to evening, locals started booking up rooms at downtown hotels, making it seem more like a convention weekend than a holiday and taxing air conditioning systems.

SECOND CHANCES: People who attended Cancer CAREpoint’s Garden Party on Aug. 27 might have been surprised by the fundraising total I had in my Sunday column. Executive Director Rob Tufel said the Saratoga event brought in $780,000 for the nonprofit, chalking up the six-figure discrepancy to a typo on his part.

And Fernando Zazueta, who is launching the La Raza Historical Society of Santa Clara Valley, wants to clarify that the group’s Sept. 15 tour of downtown San Jose historical spots will be making only 10 stops. The walking map the group has put together has 24 locales that are significant to the city’s Latino history.