The neon sign that welcomed shoppers to Mel Cotton’s Sporting Goods has been spared the wrecking ball and will have a home at History San Jose’s Collections Center.

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Virtual spin on San Jose’s Mexican Independence Day celebration The famed outdoors emporium closed its doors last year after 70 years of outfitting the South Bay with camping gear, skiing equipment and the like. The building on West San Carlos Street is being razed to make room for a Smart & Final. But the new property owner, San Carlos 1 LLC, donated the neon “Mel Cotton’s Open” sign to History San Jose, and Jim Salata‘s Buccaneer Demolition delivered the piece to the nonprofit museum’s warehouse on Wednesday afternoon.

It’s good news that the sign didn’t wind up in a scrap yard, as many similar objects have decades of development and redevelopment. We can only hope that a safe place can be found for the endangered Stephens Meat Dancing Pig near Diridon Station, the Orchard Supply Arrow sign on West San Carlos street or the iconic but deteriorating Firato Ravioli sign on Santa Clara Street.

I do wish, however, that there was a way to put the Mel Cotton’s sign and others on display for the public to see, all restored to their original glory.

Until then, we can enjoy them through the San Jose Signs Project — a wonderful collection curated by Heather Davis of the city’s neon beauties — and an upcoming History San Jose exhibit, “Sign of the Time,” that will feature the work of sketch artist Suhita Shirodkar. She’s created color sketches of a bevy of recognizable signs, from Original Joe’s downtown to the now-extinct Bold Knight sign on Monterey Road. The exhibit is scheduled to open early next year, but you can see Shirodkar’s work at www.vintagesignsanjose.com.

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DOCUMENTARIES 101: Budding filmmakers or just any fan of documentaries may want to check out “Documentary Filmmaking: Live Case Study,” a free workshop at downtown San Jose’s Hammer Theatre Center on Saturday.

The Digital Filmmaking Program at Santa Clara University has partnered with the Sundance Institute to host the daylong master class, which will include a screening of director Richard Ray Perez‘s Cesar Chavez documentary, “Cesar’s Last Fast.” Panels will explore how the film was created and edited, how the music was created for it and how the marketplace for docs is changing. The panelists include Stanford professor and filmmaker Jan Krawitz, composer Ed Bargularena, SCU professor and filmmaker Michael Whalen and indie filmmaker Tricia Creason-Valencia, who directed “Changing Boundaries: The History of San Jose.”

Get more information and RSVP at documentaryfilmworkshopsanjose.splashthat.com.

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AROUND THE WORLD AT MUNI: There’ll be a smorgasbord of culture at Municipal Stadium this weekend as the San Jose Giants celebrate three cultural heritage nights while playing Visalia this weekend. The 11th annual Hawaiian-themed A Giant Luau returns Friday night, with hula dancers, island tunes and a pig-roasting ceremony at Turkey Mike’s BBQ. The food and music changes up for Italian Night on Saturday, and then Asian-themed booths and decor will be set up for Japanese Heritage Night on Sunday. Get your passports — I mean, tickets — at www.sjgiants.com.