There goes another one. Fahrenheit, which originally billed itself as an ultra lounge but settled in more as a restaurant, will be closing its doors in downtown San Jose by the end of the month.

Executive chef and owner Danny Chu says the reason — and forgive me if you’ve heard this one before — is that his lease isn’t being renewed after 10 years on the corner of South Third and San Fernando streets.

“I feel like San Jose is on a more rapid upswing than it has been in the past 10 years,” Chu said. “I feel like it’s really just now starting to happen, and now I have to go — unwillingly.”

Chu concedes a miscommunication led to him missing a deadline to renew his lease with Saratoga Capital last year but says he later confirmed his intent to stay in person. Saratoga told him last fall that it didn’t intend to renew his lease.

Kirk Kozlowski with Saratoga Capital told me he is working with a new tenant for the space, but nothing is final yet. In the meantime, Chu plans a farewell party on Aug. 22. After that, he’s going to take a break to regroup but says “I’ll be back somewhere soon.”

I know people who would tell me that Fahrenheit’s too expensive, too loud or too young (whatever that means). Everybody’s got their own preferences, after all. But Chu made it work for 10 years — including a few during an economic train wreck — and you’d think that would be worth something.

What message is downtown San Jose sending to potential restaurant and bar owners? It’s hard enough for a small business not to fail, but even if you make it, the rug might get pulled out from under you anyway.

SPOTLIGHT ON VALLCO: Cupertino’s Vallco mall — one of those shopping centers that seems to be just barely surviving on life support — will be the topic of the Cupertino Historical Society’s quarterly meeting Aug. 26 at Dynasty Seafood restaurant.

Given that historical societies usually talk about things in the past tense, this wouldn’t be a good sign for Vallco’s future. But it’s the future that the speaker, Reed Moulds, managing director for Sand Hill Property Co., is going to talk about.

Moulds is the project executive for the revitalization of Vallco in Cupertino — which could qualify as the hardest job in Silicon Valley — and he’ll talk about the shopping center’s history, his company’s recent six-month community engagement process and what the future holds.

The 6 p.m. talk is free. RSVP by calling 408-973-1495 or emailing cuphistsociety@sbcglobal.net.

LOS GATOS GOES TO D.C.: Two years ago, Los Gatos Morning Rotary’s Lighting for Literacy engineer team Doug McNeil and Jess Salem were honored at the White House for their innovative approach to create a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) humanitarian project for middle school students. The project — which provides sustainable, renewable light sources for countries and communities that aren’t on the grid — is being deployed in several countries, and McNeil and Salem were back in Washington, D.C., last month.

The Lighting for Literacy team was invited to a symposium on STEM mentoring and volunteering at the White House Complex, where the project was also a finalist — nominated by SanDisk — for the US2020 STEM Mentoring Awards.

To their surprise, they were in a hallway in the White House when they ran into Jonathan Knowles, a senior adviser with Autodesk and fellow Los Gatos resident, who also had been visiting.

SOUNDS OF SINATRA: With 2015 marking the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth, the Stroke Awareness Foundation has a sure hit on its hands with Frank Sinatra Jr. coming to San Jose on Oct. 10 to sing many of his dad’s famous songs. He’s got the perfect venue — the California Theatre — and Sinatra Jr. will be backed by a 45-piece Symphony Silicon Valley orchestra.

Tickets are $150 each and can be purchased starting Monday at www.strokeinfo.org or by calling the Symphony Silicon Valley box office at 408-286-2600, ext. 23.

FULL STEAM AHEAD: Steampunk will meet Silicon Valley at the San Jose Museum of Art’s annual fundraising gala, “Full Spectrum 2015: Steampowered,” on Sept. 12. It’s a clever play on words as the event celebrates the power of adding arts to STEM to produce “STEAM” as well as the fun world of steampunk, a sci-fi genre that blends modern tech with 19th-century industrial aesthetics.

The decor and entertainment will use the Silicon Valley/steampunk combination as its cue, and guests are encouraged to dress in steampunk attire, which is perhaps best described as “futuristic Victorian.” Chef Jarad Gallagher of Mountain View’s Chez TJ will be designing the dinner menu. No word on whether he’s steaming anything.

Tickets, which are on sale until Aug. 28, are $500 each and available at http://sjmusart.org/event/full-spectrum-2015-steampowered or by calling 408-291-5372.

TWENTY BY TWENTY: Ric Bretschneider somehow talked me into participating with six other brave souls at his latest Pecha Kucha Night at downtown San Jose’s Cafe Stritch on Tuesday. “Pecha kucha” is a presentation style featuring 20 slides shown for 20 seconds apiece. Sometimes it’s informative, sometimes it’s funny, and it’s almost always entertaining to watch.

The theme of the show is “Lie to Me,” which does provide a certain opportunity to embellish a good story. Admission is free, and more details are available at www.pechakucha-sj.com.

STORMY WORDS: Nils Peterson, Santa Clara County’s first poet laureate, shared what he called “a little poem for our time and place,” inspired by Thursday night’s oddly timed weather, which included quite a bit of lightning. It’s titled “In the Midst of a Drought — California.”

Overcast — heavy air,

distant sound of rolling thunder.

A few fat drops fall on the skylight.

That’s it for the summer.

Contact Sal Pizarro at spizarro@mercurynews.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/spizarro.