Over the Thanksgiving holiday—as a change of pace from our regular critical analyses and discussions of problems—I thought we might have an open forum on what our bloggers like best about living in San Jose and Santa Clara County. In the heat of our political and ideological battles, we sometimes forget how fortunate we are to live in such a special place. I’ll go first to start things off.
At the top of my list is the Santa Clara County system of parks that surround the city—especially Calero and Almaden Quicksilver, both within minutes of downtown. The well-maintained trails guide hikers through some beautiful scenery and wildlife. We are lucky to have so many parks in the system and each has its own unique set of characteristics to recommend it. The Rose Garden and Kelly Park (including History Park) are favorites for the urban park experience.
The newly-restored California Theater and its Palo Alto sibling, the Stanford Theater, make going to the movies a real experience. You can understand how exciting going to the pictures would have been in the 1920s, especially when they crank up the restored vintage “might Wurlitzer” organs. The California is also home to our symphony and opera company and is the perfect place for them. The Petit Trianon on Fifth Street is as good a small concert hall for chamber music as can be found anywhere in the world. I am also glad that the Camera 12 is here, bringing a full selection of the latest releases and art films downtown.
One of my favorite hangouts is the San Jose Museum of Art; and, even though it doesn’t have free admission anymore, it’s well worth the annual membership of $30. There are always interesting exhibitions worth seeing several times (like the recent one of works by Jennifer Steinkamp), and the lectures and other events make for frequent visits.
Of the festivals and public events that pepper the yearly calendar, my absolute favorite is Cinequest. Many of the independent films first shown at the festival go on to great success in general release. Cinequest is well organized and every year there are excellent events with directors, actors, writers and composers that give local attendees a close-up view of the art of film making. It gives a real buzz to downtown for two weeks. So does the Jazz Festival in August which is also a can’t-miss event for me.
Finally, I love the advantages that our diverse ethnic population brings to the city and county. Within walking distance of my downtown lair there is every conceivable type of restaurant and cultural event, delivering a big slice of the world right to my doorstep.
Now, it’s your turn—but please save the cribbing for next week.
What’s so great about San Jose? Its future. San Jose is a blank slate. It will be a great city. Presently, it is a suburb, purposely without purpose or any real plan, which has allowed just anyone to take it anywhere, which is where it is. But, as Tom McEnery noticed, the recent election is the biggest the town has ever had. A smart, well qualified mayor and several talented council members have ended nudge, nudge, wink wink no-talent local well-ensconced manipulators—against all odds—and will take us to a better place. San Jose’s past as the Valley of the Heart’s Delight, Ag Central, thousands of acres of blossom perfume and glorious color, the basis for a unique, thriving downtown and wonderful neighborhoods, the Alameda, Rose Garden, William St. Park has been a force with a death grip on any meaningful future. San Jose State, long a sleepy commuter campus, is a harbinger: a dense dorm community there will do more for downtown than a confused Redevelopment Agency and wasted billions. Even Orchard Supply has done a great job in taking us from a fun past picking prunes, to an expansive future—bringing the San Jose hardware vision even to LA. On the other hand, the current Strong Neighborhood strategy is the essence of the suburb hangover. Which neighborhood is the strongest? Where will that go? What ID for San Jose will that produce? A Strong Downtown Initiative, long elusive, will take care of the neighborhood problem—as will a smart city government—for a change. Let’s get on with it. Let’s think BIG.
George Green, Dowtown Property Owner, and Los Gatos resident—for the suburb experience.
Why S.J.?
* The counter at Original Joe’s
* My kids at Christmas in the Park
* Utter lack of pretention amongst all our neighbors
* Three Caltrain stations within a 10 minute bike ride of my house
* The new Rosegarden library
* Two weekend farmer’s markets within walking distance
* 50’s coffee shops that haven’t gentrified (cozy, panorma, cardinal)
* the bowling alleys at San Jose State
* radio station KKUP
* People taking care of older houses
* Every teacher and coach in the 408 area code.
Happy T-giving all!
Jack – Thanks for this challenge to recount the many positive aspects of living in our area. It’s not hard to do.
I share Jack’s appreciation of the numerous transformations and opportunities in downtown, but that’s just a starting point.
In my lifetime it has been amazing experience to witness the transformation of a suburban area with a dying agricultural economy to the world center of innovation. What a ride, and we got to be smack dab in the center of it all!
Along the way the valley has grown, a cause for legitimate concern. However that growth has brought the influx of some of the smartest, and in my experience the nicest, people from all over the world.
Count this chronic malcontent as one who appreciates the ethnic diversity the technology industry has brought to the area. In my view the positives far outweigh the negatives. So far.
I also want our leaders to strike a reasonable balance between growth and preservation. Some of us enjoy buying fresh fruit from the farmer who grew it, hiking among redwoods just a few miles from home or enjoying the sweeping vistas from Mt. Hamilton Road.
Happy Thanksgiving!
San Jose is great for many reasons. I’m probably biased because I am a San Jose native. Other than that, it might be because I can get the best mexican food from great little hole-in-the-wall restaurants, as well as the best tamales from a lady and her daughter that sell in my Burbank neighborhood. Perhaps it is the memories of the orchards lining Union Avenue in Cambrian Park and the blossoms all around that I recall as a child. Maybe it is the great smell of garlic wafting up from Gilroy that I can smell as I get in my car to go to work. San Jose might be great because of the community feeling, such as Willow Glen’s Neighborhood Christmas Carriage Rides. To sum it up, San Jose is great because of the people who get involved. I’m proud to call it home!
For thirty years I thought this valley was becoming increasingly unattractive and difficult to live in. There were a times we gave serious consideration to moving to a less crowded, slower and more civilized town. As the kids grew older and I had a chance to visit places like Hong Kong, Taipei, Soul, Tokyo, London, Paris and areas of Europe, I came to think that this is not that bad.
Then came that dreaded step into retirement, where one waits to die… NOT. It was not until then I truly began to discover and appreciate San Jose, the Valley and what we have here. And I was born in this town. I could rattle on for pages, but this is the short list.
Fall colors in and around the valley
Mexican restaurants
Climbing Mt. Hamilton on bike
Neighborhood wild life
Starbucks everywhere
Coyote Trail
Willow Glenn
Hiking up to Priest Rock
The weather
Chinese and Vietnamese food
Climbing Montebello on a bike
AMT musical theater productions
Elderberry harvest along Guadalupe River
Trader Joe’s
Guadalupe River levee trail to the bay
Mission City Coffee Roasting
Deer, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, rabbits, etc.
Colorful history of San Jose and the Valley
Wealth of techology
Climbing Kings Mountain Rd. on a bike
Lu’s Donuts (before it closed)
Wild turkeys
San Jose PD and Fire Dept.
Nearby Pacific Ocean and coastal region
Fry’s
Mountain bike trails
Down Town
Nice people
Climbing Sierra Rd. on a bike
Museums and art
Fresh cherries, apricots, prunes, figs and now persimmons
Wild boar
Neat neighborhoods
Alviso levee trails and bird life
Farmers markets
Climbing Metcalf Rd. on a bike
The voters who on November 7th said enough is enough.
Chuck Reed who had the courage and the heart to clearly state the rules and play by the rules.
It sure is a shame that you newcomers are unable to experience the valley as I did, but despite the expense of living here, it is still the greatest place on earth. Each of you , those who arrived here after my war, have added something. Even those who have tried to re-create the place that they came from. The so called minorities have added bits of their culture and have improved the food available (except the tamales). While we had the somewhat large Spanish community, and a few small ethnic groups here before the war, there were hardly any people from the east or near east. The Asian continents were represented only by Chinese and Japanese. One just has to look at the “restaurant” section of the Yellow Pages to note the influence this migration has had on our valley.
The re-creation of the old country was seen generally in the neighborhoods. Homes built on two lots so a garden could be planted to grow the produce that was familiar. The old restaurants were French, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, but not Tex-Mex, with a few steak houses thrown in to the mix. The valley has changed, become worldly, lost an identify, gained another.
The Valley of Hearts Delight was a small place when I was born there. San Jose was maybe thirty thousand people. We could hunt quail in the Coyote Creek bottoms, shoot ducks in the swamp land that was east of where 101 is, at the end of San Antonio Street and out on Tully Road. There were more ducks to be had out around Alviso in the salt marshes where the sewer plant is now located, and around the sweet water ponds north and west of Milpitas where the waste is disposed of, near where the old General Motors Plant is located. We poached deer above Alum Rock Park. We played golf at the old Hillview public course where East Ridge is now located, or tennis at Senator Phelan’s San Jose Tennis Club that was out next to where Spartan Stadium was to be built. If we became members of the San Jose High golf team, we would play at the San Jose Country Club, and we could play Pebble Beach for $2.50 as juniors. But, we could not play the golf course at the Pogo Nip Polo Club over toward Santa Cruz. Pasatiempo was only for WASPS.
Anyway, growing up in the ‘twenties and “thirties was fun! We didn’t think about mercury poisoning while we fished in the Almaden Creek for trout, or in the Uvas Creek or in the Los Gatos Creek in the delightful little park that they destroyed to build Highway 17. We took the fish home and ate them! We didn’t know what mercury poisoning was! I always thought that I was dingy because I was “flak happy.” Maybe it is mecury poisoning!
God, I wish I could think that positively.
However we do know this for sure, it isn’t any of the following:
A competent and focused govt.
A public serving and friendly police dept.
Affordable housing
Fair utility prices
A modern and a model airport.
Friendly and non-pretentious neighbors-you obviously do not have a female lawyer for a neighbor.
A thriving nightlife
It does however have nice weather and a great economy.
And there you have it… Happy Tday to all.
American Infidel is in the NOW. So many on this blog extol the unquestionably wonderful past of San Jose. But it’s gone, sadly. Even modern Willow Glen is just pretend—NOT the neighborhood it was at it’s peak. And the other great “neighborhoods” aren’t—they’re collections of houses, many quite remarkable still. The Rose Garden is a neighborhood in the same way Willow Glen is a neighborhood?
Story and King?? Can’t ever catch trout in Los Gatos Creek again. And diversity doesn’t make San Jose San Jose all by itself. In Prague two years ago, everyone there knew about Sunnyvale, Mt. View, Cupertino, but San Jose? Not too sure. Costa Rica? Is Santa Clara a neighborhood? Sobrato’s Big Blue bldg. dominates the SJI Blog header.
It’s the future. Big, bold—empty. A great new
bold city govt. would sell the stupid “new”
“City Hall” to Tiffany’s for a jewelry store so there’s a reason to go downtown, and move into Big Blue. Just a thought for a new, heavy duty San Jose as a great destination. George Green, Downtown Property Owner
Thanks, George. I hope you are not a downtown business property owner. What this city has done to its businesses downtown borders on criminal.
Funny, San Jose is the littliest big city I have ever seen. Actually this is a just one big company town. No soul, just a collection of homes and neighborhoods for the silicon valley workers. However if you want to see a top notch concert, San Jose/Bay Area certainly provides the venue and delivers.
I have to give it that.
Maybe Chuck Reed will deliver but I am not holding my breath.
San Jose is not so great, it’s just close to a lot of places that are.
San Jose is not so great, however it is close to places that are.
There is so much to love about San Jose. I agree with many of the things listed and would like to add the following. The Peralta Adobe and Fallon House, the carousel on the Guadelupe River, all the interesting historic buildings that give this city character, the people at places like PAC SJ, the Landmarks Commission, History San Jose, the Pioneers and VPA that fight to save that character, Japan Town, the Firefighters collection, all the old-time family owned buisnesses that have stayed here for generations like Bischoffs and Normindons, people that were not affraid to stand up to a little bully mayor, Sobratto for building a beautiful new building and holding out for a corporate headquaters, the San Jose Giants, San Jose State for trying to improve, Willow Glen for thinking big while trying to feel small, and finally all those who care about San Jose enough to speak to change all that is bad, work to build all that is needed and fight to preserve all that is worth saving.
Here’s what is so great about San Jose in this post Nov. 7th world:
<b>Chuck Reed
Pete Constant
Sam Liccardo/b>
That was once said about Ron Gonzales some years back….
I did however enjoy his sidewalk repair campaign promise. I did very well there.
Time will tell here… Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
The greatest thing about San Jose is the ability to maintain a small town feel, with a big city population. The ability for San Jose to do this (without trying) has made it possible for it’s residents to achieve a quality of life unheard of in any other city comparable in size.
I know some people want San Jose to be glamorous like San Francisco; that’s never going to happen. Our downtown is in the flight path of our airport, ristricting the hight of our office towers to 24 stories. There will never be anything glamorous about a bunch of stubby office buildings downtown. San Jose’s glamour is in our history, parks system, our neighborhoods, our ability to embrace a diverse community, our future as we improve from past mistakes, and make a stronger commitment to the arts and our community members with the greatest needs.
Sorry, but I don’t that small town feel is intentional. This city needs to grow up and face its issues. Garbage and cable are about to go up again, more gouging.
Hi, I’m back after my maternity leave.
I second the nomination of the county parks, but want to throw in the city parks too. My kids and I have found numerous geocaches and taken glorious hikes in all of these parks.
We also love Christmas in the Park, the Tech Museum, and the Children’s Discovery Museum.
There are many more things but I wanted to throw these out there.
#16:
The City doesn’t raise your cable rates. The City doesn’t even have a franchise agreement with Comcast.
What’s great about SJ (Downtown SJ)?
* Guadalupe River Park Trail
* San Pedro Cinema
* Music in the Park
* Jazz Festival
* SJ Sharks
* SJ Stealth
* SJ Rep
* The Loft Bistro & Bar
* Trials Pub
* Teske’s Germainia
* Japantown
* Poor House Bistro
* The construction of upscale new residences
* Freeway access
* Light Rail & CalTrain
* 4th of July Fireworks
* Museum of Art
* Tech Museum
* Childrens Discovery Museum
* Christmas in the Park
* Downtown Ice Skating
* The SJ Grand Prix
* The SJ Rock & Roll Half Marathon
* Doggie Doo-doo bags on the trails and in the parks
I could go on…but folks, you should go out and check these things out yourself. SJ has lots to offer, and it’s getting better all the time.
Cheers!
#19
Very well known… Maybe it should be as this city has one of the highest priced cable companies in the country. Not a plus, however no one mentioned Santana Row.
The City allows the cable rates to increase. Just as they have when they did have an agreement. The city has not protected the consumer from the cable company’s outrageous ongoing increases. I switched to satellite many years ago. The city loses its fee but I gained a much more fare rate structure without constant increases.
Actually I am waiting for their next cable increase as I have made a promise to my myself. One more increase and its satellite for me. It would be nice if others could do the same thing. San Jose’s cable company has been robbing us for over 25 years now.
The city has never even thought of lifting a finger to help us. Now the garbage companies are chiming in, nice.