San Jose, California
Encyclopedia
San Jose is the third-largest city in California
, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat
of Santa Clara County
which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay
. The San Jose/Silicon Valley
area is a major component of the greater San Francisco Bay Area
, a region of 7.5 million people and the sixth largest metropolitan area (CSA
) in the United States.
San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first town in the Spanish colony
of Nueva California, which later became Alta California
. The city served as a farming community to support Spanish military installations at San Francisco and Monterey
. When California gained statehood in 1850, San Jose served as its first capital.
After more than 150 years as a small farming city, San Jose and the surrounding Santa Clara Valley
became the last (and largest) contiguous area of undeveloped land surrounding the San Francisco Bay
. San Jose experienced increased demand for housing from soldiers and veterans returning from World War II
. San Jose then continued its aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s by annexing more land area. The rapid growth of the high-technology and electronics industries further accelerated the transition from an agricultural center, to an urbanized metropolitan area.
By the 1990s, San Jose's location within the booming local technology industry earned the city its nickname, Capital of Silicon Valley. San Jose now maintains global city
status and is the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area in terms of population, land area, and industrial development. The U.S. Census Bureau reported the population of the city to be 945,942 as of the 2010 Census.
Native Americans. The first lasting European presence began with a series of Franciscan
missions
established from 1769 by Father Junípero Serra
. On orders from Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa
, Spanish Viceroy of New Spain, San Jose was founded by Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga
as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (in honor of Saint Joseph
) on November 29, 1777, to establish a farming community. The town was the first civil settlement in Alta California
.
In 1797, the pueblo was moved from its original location, near the present-day intersection of Guadalupe Parkway and Taylor Street, to a location in what is now Downtown San Jose
. San Jose came under Mexican rule
in 1821 after Mexico broke with the Spanish crown. It then became part of the United States, after it capitulated in 1846 and California was annexed. Soon afterwards, on March 27, 1850, San Jose became the second incorporated city in the state (after Sacramento), with Josiah Belden
its first mayor. The town was the state's first capital, as well as host of the first and second sessions (1850–1851) of the California Legislature. Today the Circle of Palms Plaza
in downtown is the historical marker for the first state capital.
Though not impacted as severely as San Francisco, San Jose suffered damage from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
. Over 100 people died at the Agnews Asylum (later Agnews State Hospital) after its walls and roof collapsed, and the San Jose High School's three-story stone-and-brick building was also destroyed. The period during World War II was a tumultuous time. Japanese American
s primarily from Japantown
were sent to internment camps, including the future mayor, Norman Mineta
. Following the Los Angeles zoot suit riots
, anti-Mexican violence took place during the summer of 1943. The entire region prepared for the beginning of the war.
As World War II started, the city's economy shifted from agriculture (the Del Monte
cannery was the largest employer) to industrial manufacturing with the contracting of the Food Machinery Corporation (later known as FMC Corporation) by the United States War Department to build 1000 Landing Vehicle Tracked
. After World War II, FMC (later United Defense
, and currently BAE Systems
) continued as a defense contractor
, with the San Jose facilities designing and manufacturing military platforms such as the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier
, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and various subsystems of the M1 Abrams
. IBM
established its West Coast headquarters in San Jose in 1943 and opened a downtown research and development facility in 1952. Both would prove to be harbingers for the economy of San Jose, as Reynold Johnson and his team would later invent RAMAC, as well as the Hard disk drive, and the technological side of San Jose's economy grew.
During the 1950s and 1960s, city manager A. P. "Dutch" Hamann
led the city in a major growth campaign. The city annexed adjacent areas, such as Alviso and Cambrian Park, providing large areas for suburbs. An anti-growth reaction to the effects of rapid development emerged in the 1970s championed by mayors Norman Mineta
and Janet Gray Hayes
. Despite establishing an urban growth boundary
, development fees, and incorporations of Campbell
and Cupertino
, development was not slowed, but rather directed into already incorporated areas. San Jose's position in Silicon Valley
triggered more economic and population growth, which led to the highest housing costs increase in the nation, 936% between 1976 and 2001. Efforts to increase density continued into 1990s when an update of the 1974 urban plan kept the urban growth boundaries intact and voters rejected a ballot measure to ease development restrictions in the foothills. Sixty percent of the housing built in San Jose since 1980 and over three-quarters of the housing built since 2000 have been multifamily structures, reflecting a political propensity toward Smart Growth
planning principles.
adopted San José, with the diacritical mark
on the "e", as the spelling of the city name on the city seal, official stationery, office titles and department names. Also, by city council convention, this spelling of San José is used when the name is stated in both upper- and lower-case letters, but not when the name is stated only in upper-case letters. The accent reflects the Spanish version of the name, and the dropping of accents in all-capital writing is typical in Spanish. The name is still more commonly spelled without the diacritical mark as San Jose. The official name of the city remains City of San Jose with no diacritical mark, according to the City Charter. However, the City's website uses San José.
]
San Jose is located at 37.335278°N 121.891944°W.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 180 square miles (466.2 km²), of which 3.4 square miles (8.9 km²; 1.91%) is water.
San Jose lies between the San Andreas Fault
, the source of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and the Calaveras Fault
. San Jose is shaken by moderate earthquakes, above four on the Richter Scale, on average of one to two times a year. These quakes originate just east of the city on the creeping section of the Calaveras Fault, which is a major source of earthquake activity in Northern California. On April 14, 1984, at 1:15 pm, local time a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Calaveras Fault near San Jose's Mount Hamilton. The most serious earthquake, in 1906, damaged many buildings in San Jose as described earlier. Earlier significant quakes rocked the city in 1839, 1851, 1858, 1864, 1865, 1868
, and 1891. The Daly City Earthquake of 1957 caused some damage. The Loma Prieta earthquake
of 1989 also did some damage to parts of the city. The other faults near San Jose are the Monte Vista Fault and the Hayward Fault Zone
.
The Guadalupe River
runs from the Santa Cruz Mountains
(which separate the South Bay from the Pacific Coast) flowing north through San Jose, ending in the San Francisco Bay at Alviso. Along the southern part of the river is the neighborhood of Almaden Valley, originally named for the mercury mines which produced mercury needed for gold extraction from quartz
during the California Gold Rush
as well as mercury fulminate blasting caps and detonators for the U.S. military from 1870 to 1945.
The lowest point in San Jose is 13 feet (4 m) below sea level at the San Francisco Bay in Alviso; the highest is 4,372 feet (1,333 m) at Copernicus Peak, Mount Hamilton
, which is technically outside the city limit. Due to the proximity to Lick Observatory
atop Mount Hamilton, San Jose has taken several steps to reduce light pollution
, including replacing all street lamps and outdoor lighting in private developments with low pressure sodium lamps. To recognize the city's efforts, the asteroid
6216 San Jose
was named after the city.
San Jose lies close to the Pacific Ocean and close to San Francisco Bay
(a small portion of its northern border touches the bay). Santa Clara Valley
is the population center of the Bay Area, and like the hub and spokes of a wheel, surrounding communities emanate outwards from the valley. This growth in part, has shaped the greater Bay Area as it is today in terms of geographic population distribution
and the trend of suburbanization away from the valley.
There are four distinct valleys in the city of San Jose: Almaden Valley, situated on the south-west fringe of the city; Evergreen Valley to the south-east, which is hilly all through-out its interior; Santa Clara Valley, which includes the flat, main urban expanse of the South Bay; and the rural Coyote Valley, to the city's extreme southern fringe.
. San Jose has 300+ days of sunshine and an average daily high temperature of 73 °F (22.8 °C) annually. Although San Jose lies inland and does not front the Pacific Ocean like San Francisco, it is surrounded on three sides by mountains. Because of this, the city is somewhat more sheltered from rain, giving it a semiarid feel with a mean annual rainfall of 14.4 inches (366 mm), compared to some other parts of the Bay Area, which can get about three times that amount.
January's average high is 60 °F (15.6 °C) and average low is 42 °F (5.6 °C). July's average high is 84 °F (28.9 °C) and average low is 57 °F (13.9 °C). The highest temperature ever recorded in San Jose was 112 °F (44.4 °C) on July 19–23, 2006; the lowest was 20 °F (-6.7 °C) in December 1990. Temperature fluctuations between night and day can vary as little as 10 °F to 12 °F (a fluctuation range of 5.5 °C to 6.6 °C), meaning that its climate does not experience huge temperature drops or rises like some other parts of California.
With the light rainfall, San Jose and its suburbs experience about 300 full or partly sunny days a year. Rain occurs primarily in the months from November through April or May. During the winter and spring, hillsides and fields turn green with grasses and vegetation, although deciduous
trees are few. With the coming of the annual hot summer dry period, the vegetation dies and dries, giving the hills a golden cover, which unfortunately also provides fuel for frequent grass fires.
Measurable precipitation falls in downtown San Jose on an average of 50 days a year. Annual precipitation has ranged from 6.12 inches (155.4 mm) in 1953 to 32.57 inches (827.3 mm) in 1983. The most precipitation in one month was 10.23 inches (259.8 mm) in February 1998. The maximum 24-hour rainfall was 3.6 inches (91.4 mm) on January 30, 1968. Although summer is normally quite dry in San Jose, a very heavy thunderstorm on August 21, 1968, brought 1.92 inches (48.8 mm) of rain, causing some flooding.
The snow level drops as low as 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level, or lower, occasionally coating nearby Mount Hamilton
, and less frequently the Santa Cruz Mountains
, with snow that normally lasts a few days. This sometimes snarls traffic traveling on State Route 17 towards Santa Cruz
. Snow rarely falls in San Jose; the most recent snow to remain on the ground was on February 5, 1976, when many residents around the city saw as much as 3 inches (7.6 cm) on car and roof tops. The official observation station measured only 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) of snow.
Like most of the Bay Area, San Jose is made up of dozens of microclimate
s. Downtown San Jose experiences the lightest rainfall in the city, while South San Jose, only 10 miles (16 km) distant, experiences more rainfall and somewhat more extreme temperatures.
or separate municipalities that were later annexed by the city. The city is generally divided into the following areas: Downtown San Jose
, Central, West San Jose, North San Jose, East San Jose
, and South San Jose
.
Some well-known communities within San Jose include Downtown San Jose
, Japantown
, Rose Garden
, Sunol-Midtown
, Willow Glen
, Naglee Park
, Burbank
, West San Jose, Winchester
, Alviso
, East Foothills
, Alum Rock
, Little Portugal
, Blossom Valley
, Cambrian
, Almaden Valley
, Silver Creek Valley
, Evergreen Valley
, Edenvale
, Santa Teresa
, Seven Trees
, Coyote Valley
.
, History Park at Kelley Park
, Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph
, Plaza de César Chávez
, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
, Mexican Heritage Plaza
, Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
, Lick Observatory
, Hayes Mansion
, HP Pavilion at San Jose, De Anza Hotel
, San Jose Improv
, San Jose Municipal Stadium
, Spartan Stadium
, Japantown San Jose
, Winchester Mystery House
, Raging Waters
, Circle of Palms Plaza
, San Jose City Hall
, San Jose Flea Market
, and The Tech Museum of Innovation
.
was 5,256.2 people per square mile (2,029.4/km²). The racial makeup of San Jose was 404,437 (42.8%) White, 303,138 (32.0%) Asian (10.6% Vietnamese
, 6.7% Chinese
, 5.6% Filipino
, 4.6% Indian
, 1.2% Korean
, 1.2% Japanese
, 0.4% Cambodian
, 0.2% Pakistani
, 0.1% Laotian
), 30,242 (3.2%) African American, 8,297 (0.9%) Native American, 4,017 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 148,749 (15.7%) from other races
, and 47,062 (5.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 313,636 persons (33.2%). Among the Hispanic population, 28.2% are Mexican
, 0.7% Salvadoran
, 0.5% Puerto Rican
, and 0.3% Nicaraguan
.
The Census reported that 932,620 people (98.6% of the population) lived in households, 9,542 (1.0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 3,780 (0.4%) were institutionalized.
There were 301,366 households, out of which 122,958 (40.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 162,819 (54.0%) were opposite-sex married couples
living together, 37,988 (12.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 18,702 (6.2%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 16,900 (5.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
, and 2,458 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 59,385 households (19.7%) were made up of individuals and 18,305 (6.1%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09. There were 219,509 families
(72.8% of all households); the average family size was 3.54.
The population was spread out with 234,678 people (24.8%) under the age of 18, 89,457 people (9.5%) aged 18 to 24, 294,399 people (31.1%) aged 25 to 44, 232,166 people (24.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 95,242 people (10.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.2 years. For every 100 females there were 101.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.8 males.
There were 314,038 housing units at an average density of 1,745.0 per square mile (673.7/km²), of which 176,216 (58.5%) were owner-occupied, and 125,150 (41.5%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.6%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.3%. 553,436 people (58.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 379,184 people (40.1%) lived in rental housing units.
of 2000, there were 894,943 people, 276,598 households, and 203,576 families residing in the city.
The population density
was 5,117.9 people per square mile (1,976.1/km²). There were 281,841 housing units at an average density of 1,611.8 per square mile (622.3/km²). Of the 276,598 households, 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were married couples
living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.4% were non-families. 18.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.20 and the average family size was 3.62.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 103.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.5 males.
According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was the highest in the U.S. for any city with more than a quarter million residents with $76,963 annually. The median income for a family was $86,822. Males had a median income of $49,347 versus $36,936 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,697. About 6.0% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.3% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.
San Jose and the rest of the Bay Area is home to many Christian congregations, including large Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
churches, Mormon
s, and Jehovah's Witnesses
, alongside centers of Jewish, Hindu
, Islam
ic, Buddhist
and Sikh
faiths, among numerous other religious communities.
A high percentage of foreign-born residents (39.0% of the population) live in the city. These include many high-tech workers from East
and South Asia, Eastern European immigrants, as well as poorer immigrants from Latin America, many of whom can be found in the large, multi-generational barrio
Alum Rock district. San Jose has the largest Vietnamese
population of any city in the world outside of Vietnam
.
The people from these countries have settled in the city and across the Santa Clara Valley primarily during the last three or four decades.
The large concentration of high-technology engineering, computer, and microprocessor companies around San Jose has led the area to be known as Silicon Valley
. As the largest city in the valley, San Jose has billed itself "the capital of Silicon Valley." Area schools such as the University of California, Berkeley
, University of California, Santa Cruz
, San Jose State University
, San Francisco State University
, California State University, East Bay
, Santa Clara University
, and Stanford University
pump thousands of engineering and computer science graduates into the local economy every year.
High economic growth during the tech bubble
caused employment, housing prices, and traffic congestion to peak in the late 1990s. As the economy slowed in the early 2000s, employment and traffic congestion diminished somewhat. In the mid-2000s, traffic along major highways again began to worsen as the economy improved. San Jose had 405,000 jobs within its city limits in 2006, and an unemployment rate of 4.6%. In 2000, San Jose residents had the highest median household income of any city in the United States with a population over 300,000, and currently has the highest median income of any U.S. city with over 280,000 people.
San Jose lists many companies with 1,000 employees or more, including the headquarters of Adobe
, Altera
, Brocade Communications Systems
, Cadence Design Systems
, Cisco Systems
, eBay
, Sanmina-SCI, and Xilinx
, as well as major facilities for Hewlett-Packard
, Hitachi
, IBM
, Kaiser Permanente
and KLA Tencor
. Other large companies based in San Jose include Altera
, Atmel
, CEVA, Cypress Semiconductor
, Echelon
, Integrated Device Technology
, Micrel
, Netgear
, Novellus Systems
, Oclaro, Quantum, SunPower
, Supermicro
, Tessera Technologies
, TiVo
, Ultratech
, and VeriFone
. Sizable government employers include the city government, Santa Clara County
, and San Jose State University
. Acer's United States division has its offices in San Jose. Prior to its closing, Netcom had its headquarters in San Jose.
The cost of living in San Jose and the surrounding areas is among the highest in California and the nation. Housing costs are the primary reason for the high cost of living, although the costs in all areas tracked by the ACCRA Cost of Living Index
are above the national average. Despite the high cost of living in San Jose, households in city limits have the highest disposable income
of any city in the U.S. with over 500,000 residents.
San Jose residents produce more U.S. patents than any other city. Thirty-five percent of all venture capital
funds in the U.S. are invested in San Jose and Silicon Valley companies.
San Jose is a charter city
under California law, giving it the power to enact local ordinances that may conflict with state law, within the limits provided by the charter. The city has a council-manager government
with a city manager
nominated by the mayor and elected by the city council
.
The San Jose City Council
is made up of ten council members elected by districts, and a mayor elected by the entire city. During city council meetings, the mayor presides, and all eleven members can vote on any issue. The mayor has no veto powers. Council members and the mayor are elected to four-year terms; the even-numbered district council members beginning in 1994; the mayor and the odd-numbered district council members beginning in 1996. Council members and the mayor are limited to two successive terms in office, although a council member that has reached the term limit can be elected mayor, and vice versa. The council elects a vice-mayor from the members of the council at the second meeting of the year following a council election. This council member acts as mayor during the temporary absence of the mayor, but does not succeed to the mayor's office upon a vacancy.
The City Manager is the chief administrative officer of the city, and must present an annual budget
for approval by the city council. When the office is vacant, the Mayor proposes a candidate for City Manager, subject to council approval. The council appoints the Manager for an indefinite term, and may at any time remove the manager, or the electorate may remove the manager through a recall election
. Other city officers appointed by the council are the City Attorney, City Auditor, City Clerk, and Independent Police Auditor. In the state legislature
Like all California cities except San Francisco, both the levels and the boundaries of what the city government controls are determined by the local county Local Agency Formation Commission
(LAFCO). The goal of a LAFCO is to try to avoid uncontrolled urban sprawl
. The Santa Clara County LAFCO has set boundaries of San Jose's "Sphere of Influence" (indicated by the blue line in the map near the top of the page) as a superset of the actual city limits (the yellow area in the map), plus parts of the surrounding unincorporated county land, where San Jose can, for example, prevent development of fringe areas to concentrate city growth closer to the city's core. The LAFCO also defines a subset of the Sphere as an 'Urban Service Area' (indicated by the red line in the map), effectively limiting development to areas where urban infrastructure (sewers, electrical service, etc.) already exists.
San Jose is the county seat
of Santa Clara County
. Accordingly, many county government facilities are located in the city, including the office of the County Executive, the Board of Supervisors, the District Attorney's Office, eight courthouses of the Superior Court, the Sheriff's Office, and the County Clerk.
Districts, represented by Democrats
Ellen Corbett
, Joe Simitian
, and Elaine Alquist
, and Republican
Abel Maldonado
respectively, and in the 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 27th, and 28th Assembly
districts, represented by Democrats Bob Wieckowski
, Rich Gordon
, Paul Fong
, Nora Campos
, Jim Beall, Bill Monning
, and Anna M. Caballero
respectively. Federally, San Jose is located in California's 14th
, 15th
, and 16th
congressional districts, which have Cook PVIs
of D +18, D +14, and D +16 respectively, and are represented by Democrats Anna Eshoo
, Mike Honda
, and Zoe Lofgren
respectively.
Several state and federal agencies maintain offices in San Jose. The city is the location of the Sixth District of the California Courts of Appeal. It is also home to one of three courthouses of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
, the other two being in Oakland and San Francisco.
in six categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and auto theft. As of 2009, the city had the second lowest violent crime rate of any city with 500,000 or more residents, second only to Honolulu. However in 2011, homicides have surged surpassing 2010's number of homicides which was 20 and in 2011 is currently 28 as of August 2011.
Current mayor Chuck Reed
is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg
and Boston
mayor Thomas Menino
.
. As of 2008, there are seven sister cities:
Because the downtown area is in the flight path to nearby Mineta San Jose International Airport (also evidenced in the above panoramic), there is a height limit for buildings in the downtown area, which is under the final approach corridor to the airport. The height limit is dictated by local ordinances, driven by the distance from the runway and a slope defined by Federal Aviation Administration regulations. Core downtown buildings are limited to approximately 300 feet (91.4 m) but can get taller farther from the airport. There has been broad criticism over the past few decades of the city's architecture. Citizens have complained that San Jose is lacking in aesthetically pleasing architectural styles. Blame for this lack of architectural "beauty" can be assigned to the re-development of the downtown area from the 1950s onward, in which whole blocks of historic commercial and residential structures were demolished. Exceptions to this include the Downtown Historic District
, the De Anza Hotel
, and the Hotel Sainte Claire
, both of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places
for their architectural and historical significance.
Municipal building projects have experimented more with architectural styles than have most private enterprises. The Children's Discovery Museum, Tech Museum of Innovation, and the San Jose Repertory Theater building have experimented with bold colors and unusual exteriors. The new City Hall, designed by Richard Meier & Partners opened in 2005 and is a notable addition to the growing collection of municipal building projects.
Public art is an evolving attraction in the city. The city was one of the first to adopt a public art ordinance at 2% of capital improvement building project budgets, and the results of this commitment are beginning to have an impact on the visual landscape of the city. There are a considerable number of public art projects throughout the downtown area, and a growing collection in the newer civic locations in neighborhoods including libraries, parks, and fire stations. Of particular note, the Mineta Airport expansion is incorporating a program of Art & Technology into its development.
Within the early efforts at public art, there are notable controversies. Two examples include the statue of Quetzalcoatl
(the plumed serpent) in downtown which was controversial in its planning because some religious groups felt that it was pagan, and controversial in its implementation because many felt that the final statue by Robert Graham
did not closely resemble a winged serpent, and was more noted for its expense than its aesthetics. This has resulted in locals joking that the statue resembles a pile of feces
.
The statue of Thomas Fallon also met strong resistance from those who felt that people like him were largely responsible for the decimation of early native populations and Chicano
/Latino activists protested he captured San Jose by violent force in the Mexican-American war (1846) as well "repressed" historic documents of Fallon ordered the expulsion of most of the city's Californio
(early Spanish or Mexican) residents. In October 1991 after protests in part of Columbus Day
and Dia de la Raza celebrations, the Fallon statue plan was scrapped and the statue was stored in a warehouse in Oakland
for more than a decade. The statue was returned to public display in 2002, albeit in a less conspicuous location: Pellier Park, a small triangular patch formed by the merge of West Julian and West St. James streets.
In 2001, the city sponsored SharkByte, an exhibit of decorated shark
s, based on the mascot of the hockey team, the San Jose Sharks, and modeled after Chicago's display of decorated cows. Large models of sharks were decorated in a variety of clever, colorful, or creative ways by local artists and were then displayed for months at dozens of locations around the city. Many displays were removed early because of vandalism. After the exhibition, the sharks were auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity. The sharks can still be found in their new owners' homes and businesses.
In 2006, Adobe Systems
commissioned an art installation titled San Jose Semaphore by Ben Rubin, which is located at the top of its headquarters building. Semaphore is composed of four LED discs which "rotate" to transmit a message. The content of the San Jose Semaphore’s message remained a mystery until it was deciphered in August 2007. The visual art installation is supplemented with an audio track, transmitted from the building on a low-power AM station. The audio track provides clues to decode the message being transmitted.
The city is home to many performing arts companies, including Opera San Jose
, Symphony Silicon Valley
, Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, Children's Musical Theater of San Jose (recognized as the largest and most talented youth theatre company in the nation), the San Jose Youth Symphony
, the San Jose Repertory Theatre
, City Lights Theatre Company, The Tabard Theatre Company, San Jose Stage Company, and the now-defunct American Musical Theatre of San Jose
which was replaced by Broadway San Jose in partnership with Team San Jose
. San Jose also is home to the San Jose Museum of Art
, one of the nation's premiere Modern Art museums. The annual Cinequest Film Festival
in downtown has grown to over 60,000 attendees per year, becoming an important festival for independent films. The San Francisco Asian American Film Festival is an annual event, which is hosted in San Francisco, Berkeley
, and Downtown San Jose
. Approximately 30 to 40 films are screened in San Jose each year at the Camera 12 Downtown Cinemas. The San Jose Jazz Festival
is another of many great events hosted throughout the year.
The HP Pavilion at San Jose is one of the most active venues for events in the world. According to Billboard Magazine and Pollstar, the arena sold the most tickets to non-sporting events of any venue in the United States, and third in the world after the Manchester Evening News Arena
in Manchester
, England, and the Bell Centre
in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for the period from January 1 September 30, 2004. Including sporting events, the HP Pavilion averages 184 events a year, or roughly one event for every two days, which is significantly higher than the average for NHL arenas.
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In 2004, the San Jose Sports Authority hosted the U.S. Olympic team
trials for judo
, taekwondo
, trampolining
and rhythmic gymnastics
at the San Jose State Event Center. In August 2004, the San Jose Seahawk Rugby Football Club hosted the USA All-Star 7-Aside Rugby
Championships at Watson Bowl, east of Downtown. San Jose is also home to the St Joseph's Hurling Club
. In 2008, around 90 percent of the members of the United States Olympic team were processed at San Jose State University prior to traveling to the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing. The 2009 Junior Olympics for trampoline also were held here. In April 2009, it was announced San Jose State will host the 2011 American Collegiate Hockey Association
(ACHA) national tournament.
Rail service to and within San Jose is provided by Amtrak
(the Sacramento–San-Jose Capitol Corridor
and the Seattle–Los-Angeles Coast Starlight
), Caltrain
(commuter rail service between San Francisco and Gilroy
), ACE
(commuter rail service to Pleasanton
and Stockton
), and a local light-rail system connecting downtown to Mountain View
, Milpitas
, Campbell
, and Almaden Valley
, operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
(VTA). Historic streetcars from History Park
operate on the light rail lines in downtown during holidays. Long-term plans call for BART to be expanded to Santa Clara through Milpitas and San Jose from the current terminal in Fremont
. Originally, the extension was to be built all at once, but due to the recession, sales tax revenue has dramatically decreased. Because of this, the extension will be built in two phase. Phase 1 will extend service to a temporary terminal in north-eastern San Jose in 2018 at Berryessa station
. Construction has been approved and funded and will begin in Summer 2012 and connect with the Warm Springs
extension to southern Fremont. In addition, San Jose will be a major stop on the future California High Speed Rail
route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Diridon Station
(formerly Cahill Depot, 65 Cahill Street) is the meeting point of all regional commuter rail service in the area. It was built in 1935 by the Southern Pacific Railroad
, and was refurbished in 1994.
VTA
also operates many bus routes in San Jose and the surrounding communities, as well as offering paratransit
services to local residents. Additionally, the Highway 17 Express
bus line connects central San Jose with Santa Cruz
.
, two miles (3 km) northwest of downtown, and by Reid-Hillview Airport of Santa Clara County a general aviation
airport located in the eastern part of San Jose. San Jose residents also use San Francisco International Airport
, a major international hub located 35 miles (56 km) to the northwest, and Oakland International Airport
, another major international airport located 35 miles (56 km) to the north. The airport is also near the intersections of three major freeways, U.S. Route 101, Interstate 880
, and State Route 87
.
and one U.S. Route
. It is, however, the largest city in the country not served by a primary Interstate; most of the Interstate Highway Network was planned by the early 1950s well before San Jose's rapid growth decades later.
U.S. 101 runs south to the California Central Coast and Los Angeles, and then runs north up near the eastern shore of the San Francisco Peninsula
to San Francisco. I-280
also heads to San Francisco, but goes along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula. I-880
heads north to Oakland
, running parallel to the southeastern shore of San Francisco Bay
. I-680
parallels I-880 to Fremont
, but then cuts northeast to the eastern cities of the San Francisco Bay Area
.
Several state highways also serve San Jose: SR 17, SR 85
, SR 87
and SR 237
. Additionally, San Jose is served by a system of county-wide expressways, which includes the Almaden Expressway, Capitol Expressway, San Tomas Expressway, and Lawrence Expressway.
Several regional transportation projects have been undertaken in recent years to deal with congestion on San Jose freeways. This includes expansion of State Route 87
including more lanes near the downtown San Jose area. The interchange for I-280
connecting with I-680
and US 101, a rush-hour spot where the three freeways meet has been known to have high-density traffic similar to Los Angeles County interchanges.
Potable water is provided primarily by the private-sector San Jose Water Company, with some by the Great Oaks Water Company, and ten percent by the public-sector San Jose Municipal Water System. Great Oaks provides exclusively well water, while the other two provide water from multiple sources, including well water, and surface water from the Los Gatos Creek watershed, Santa Clara Valley Water District, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's Hetch Hetchy Reservoir
.
Garbage
, wastewater treatment, and recycling
services are overseen by the city of San Jose's Environmental Services Department. San Jose recycles 64% of its waste, an exceptionally high percentage that is attributed to the recycling program's accepting an unusually long list of recyclable items without requiring that materials be sorted. Among the items accepted are all types of plastic, aerosol cans and paint cans, foam packing materials, aluminum furniture, small metal appliances, pots and pans, and clean fabrics.
Wastewater treatment happens at the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, which treats and cleans the wastewater of more than 1,500,000 people that live and work in the 300+ square mile (780 km²) area encompassing San Jose, Santa Clara
, Milpitas, Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos
, Saratoga
, and Monte Sereno
.
About ten percent of the treated wastewater is sold for irrigation ("water recycling") in San Jose, Santa Clara, and Milpitas, through local water providers San Jose Municipal Water System, City of Milpitas Municipal Services, City of Santa Clara Water & Sewer Utility, Santa Clara Valley Water District, San Jose Water Company, and Great Oaks Water Company.
PG&E
provides residents natural gas and electricity service. Telephone communications are provided primarily by AT&T
, and cable television
is provided by Comcast
. Internet services are provided by several companies, but primarily by Comcast and AT&T.
. The largest is San Jose State University
, which was founded by the California legislature in 1862 as the California State Normal School, and is the founding campus of the California State University
(CSU) system. Located in downtown San Jose since 1870, the university enrolls approximately 30,000 students in over 130 different bachelor's and master's degree programs. The school enjoys a good academic reputation, especially in the fields of engineering, business, art and design, and journalism, and consistently ranks among the top public universities in the western region of the United States. San Jose State is one of only three Bay Area schools that fields a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Division I college football team; Stanford University
and U.C. Berkeley are the other two.
National Hispanic University
, with an enrollment of 600, offers associate and bachelor's degrees and teaching credentials to its students, focusing on Hispanic students.
California University of Management and Technology
(CALMAT) offers many degree programs, including MBA, Computer Science, Information Technology. Most classes are offered both online and in the downtown campus. Many of the students are working professionals in the Silicon Valley.
Lincoln Law School of San Jose
and University of Silicon Valley Law School
offer law degrees, catering to working professionals.
National University
maintains a campus in San Jose.
The San Jose campus of Golden Gate University
offers business bachelor and MBA
degrees.
San Jose's community college
s, San Jose City College
and Evergreen Valley College
, offer associate degrees, general education units to transfer to CSU and UC schools, and adult and continuing education programs. The West campus of Palmer College of Chiropractic
is also located in San Jose.
WestMed College is headquartered in San Jose and offers paramedic training, emergency medical technician training, and licensed vocational nursing programs.
The University of California, Santa Cruz
operates Lick Observatory
atop Mount Hamilton
.
Additionally, San Jose residents attend several other area universities, including Santa Clara University
, Stanford University
in Palo Alto
, Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley in Mountain View
and the University of California, Berkeley
. San Jose and South Bay residents also comprise large proportions of the student bodies at major California public universities, including UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC San Diego.
in 1943, San Jose students only attended San Jose High School
. Some of the city's history is embedded within these two high schools, which hold a Thanksgiving Day high school football game, called the "Big Bone." As of 2010, there are 127 elementary, 47 middle, and 44 high schools, of which are all public. Public education in the city is provided by four high school districts, fourteen elementary districts, and four unified school district
s (which provide both elementary and high schools).
In addition to the main San Jose Unified School District
(SJUSD), other nearby unified school districts of nearby cities are Milpitas Unified School District
, Morgan Hill Unified School District
, and Santa Clara Unified School District
.
Districts using the "feeder" system:
s to have the same boundaries. When San Jose began expanding, rural school districts became one of the major opponents, as their territory and tax base was taken by the city. The city's legislators pushed a bill through the California Legislature, removing that requirement, and ending much of the opposition. The result is a patchwork of local school districts in the areas annexed after 1954.
Private schools in San Jose are primarily run by religious groups. The Catholic Diocese of San Jose
has the second largest student population in the Santa Clara County, behind only SJUSD; the diocese and its parishes operate several schools in the city, including six high schools: Archbishop Mitty High School
, Bellarmine College Preparatory
, Notre Dame High School, Saint Francis High School
, St. Lawrence High School
, and Presentation High School
. Other private high schools not run by the Diocese include two Baptist
high schools, Liberty Baptist School
and White Road Baptist Academy
, one Non-Denominational Protestant
high school, Valley Christian High School (San Jose, California)
, and a nonsectarian K-12 Harker School
west of the city in the Blackford neighborhood.
combines the collections of the city's system with the San Jose State University main library. In 2003, construction of the library, which now holds more than 1.6 million items, was the largest single library construction project west of the Mississippi, with eight floors that result in more than 475000 square feet (44,128.9 m²) of space with a capacity for 2 million volumes.
The city has 21 neighborhood branches (17 of them open and not currently undergoing renovation or reconstruction) including the Biblioteca Latinoamericana which specializes in Spanish language works. The East San Jose Carnegie Branch Library
, a Carnegie library
opened in 1908, is the last Carnegie library in Santa Clara County still operating as a public library and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places
. As the result of a bond measure passed in November 2000, a number of brand new or completely reconstructed branches have been completed and opened. The four branches currently undergoing construction are the Calabazas Branch, the Educational Park Branch, the Seventrees Branch, and the Bascom Branch and Community Center. The yet-to-be-named brand new Southeast Branch is also planned, bringing the bond library project to its completion.
The San Jose system (along with the University system) were jointly named as "Library of the Year" by the Library Journal in 2004.
This large urban trail network, recognized by Prevention Magazine as the nation's largest, is linked to trails in surrounding jurisdictions and many rural trails in surrounding open space and foothills.
11's KNTV
is licensed to San Jose. San Jose is served by Greater Bay Area media. Media outlets in San Jose include the San Jose Mercury News
, San Francisco Chronicle
, The Oakland Tribune
and various smaller newspapers and magazines, thirty-four television stations, twenty-four AM radio stations, and fifty-five FM radio stations.
In April 1909, Charles David Herrold, an electronics instructor in San Jose, constructed a radio station to broadcast the human voice. The station "San Jose Calling" (call letters FN, later FQW), was the world's first radio station with scheduled programming targeted at a general audience. The station became the first to broadcast music in 1910. Herrold's wife Sybil became the first female "disk jockey" in 1912. The station changed hands a number of times before eventually becoming today's KCBS
in San Francisco. Therefore KCBS technically is the oldest radio station in the United States, and celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2009 with much fanfare.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. The San Jose/Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
area is a major component of the greater San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, a region of 7.5 million people and the sixth largest metropolitan area (CSA
Table of United States Combined Statistical Areas
thumb|An enlargeable map of the 125 [[Combined Statistical Area]]s of the [[United States]]The United States Office of Management and Budget has defined 125 Combined Statistical Areas for the United States of America...
) in the United States.
San Jose was founded on November 29, 1777, as El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first town in the Spanish colony
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
of Nueva California, which later became Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
. The city served as a farming community to support Spanish military installations at San Francisco and Monterey
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
. When California gained statehood in 1850, San Jose served as its first capital.
After more than 150 years as a small farming city, San Jose and the surrounding Santa Clara Valley
Santa Clara Valley
The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. Much of Santa Clara County and its county seat, San José, are in the Santa Clara Valley. The valley was originally known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its high concentration...
became the last (and largest) contiguous area of undeveloped land surrounding the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. San Jose experienced increased demand for housing from soldiers and veterans returning from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. San Jose then continued its aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s by annexing more land area. The rapid growth of the high-technology and electronics industries further accelerated the transition from an agricultural center, to an urbanized metropolitan area.
By the 1990s, San Jose's location within the booming local technology industry earned the city its nickname, Capital of Silicon Valley. San Jose now maintains global city
Global city
A global city is a city that is deemed to be an important node in the global economic system...
status and is the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area in terms of population, land area, and industrial development. The U.S. Census Bureau reported the population of the city to be 945,942 as of the 2010 Census.
History
Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by several groups of OhloneOhlone
The Ohlone people, also known as the Costanoan, are a Native American people of the central California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the area along the coast from San Francisco Bay through Monterey Bay to the lower Salinas Valley...
Native Americans. The first lasting European presence began with a series of Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
missions
Spanish missions in California
The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious and military outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christian faith among the local Native Americans. The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to...
established from 1769 by Father Junípero Serra
Junípero Serra
Blessed Junípero Serra, O.F.M., , known as Fra Juníper Serra in Catalan, his mother tongue was a Majorcan Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in Alta California of the Las Californias Province in New Spain—present day California, United States. Fr...
. On orders from Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, marqués de Valleheroso y conde de Jerena was a Spanish military officer, governor of Cuba, and viceroy of New Spain .-Beginning of his administration:He was governor of Cuba when he was named viceroy...
, Spanish Viceroy of New Spain, San Jose was founded by Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga
José Joaquín Moraga
José Joaquín de la Santísima Trinidad Moraga was an early explorer to Alta California...
as Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (in honor of Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
) on November 29, 1777, to establish a farming community. The town was the first civil settlement in Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
.
In 1797, the pueblo was moved from its original location, near the present-day intersection of Guadalupe Parkway and Taylor Street, to a location in what is now Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose is the central business district of San Jose, California, United States. The area is generally located north of Interstate 280 and east of Guadalupe Parkway, which roughly parallels the Guadalupe River. The region is bound to the north by U.S...
. San Jose came under Mexican rule
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
in 1821 after Mexico broke with the Spanish crown. It then became part of the United States, after it capitulated in 1846 and California was annexed. Soon afterwards, on March 27, 1850, San Jose became the second incorporated city in the state (after Sacramento), with Josiah Belden
Josiah Belden
Josiah Belden was an American pioneer and politician.-Life:Born in Connecticut, Belden was orphaned by the time he was 14. He later moved to St. Louis, Missouri and became a successful businessman. In 1841 he joined the Bartleson-Bidwell Party, the first organized emigrant party to use the...
its first mayor. The town was the state's first capital, as well as host of the first and second sessions (1850–1851) of the California Legislature. Today the Circle of Palms Plaza
Circle of Palms Plaza
The Circle of Palms Plaza is located in downtown San Jose, California. It is the location of California Historical Marker 461, the site of California's first state capital from 1849-1851...
in downtown is the historical marker for the first state capital.
Though not impacted as severely as San Francisco, San Jose suffered damage from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
. Over 100 people died at the Agnews Asylum (later Agnews State Hospital) after its walls and roof collapsed, and the San Jose High School's three-story stone-and-brick building was also destroyed. The period during World War II was a tumultuous time. Japanese American
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
s primarily from Japantown
Japantown, San Jose, California
Japantown is the portion of San Jose, California bounded by First Street to the west, 8th street to the east, Empire Street to the south and Taylor Street to the north; it is just north of Downtown San Jose. Japantown originally formed around the existing "Heinlenville" Chinatown settlement...
were sent to internment camps, including the future mayor, Norman Mineta
Norman Mineta
Norman Yoshio Mineta, is a United States politician of the Democratic Party. Mineta most recently served in President George W. Bush's Cabinet as the United States Secretary of Transportation, the only Democratic Cabinet Secretary in the Bush administration...
. Following the Los Angeles zoot suit riots
Zoot Suit Riots
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that erupted in Los Angeles, California between white sailors and Marines stationed throughout thehi c mlc city and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored...
, anti-Mexican violence took place during the summer of 1943. The entire region prepared for the beginning of the war.
As World War II started, the city's economy shifted from agriculture (the Del Monte
Del Monte Foods
Del Monte Foods is an American food production and distribution company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest producers, distributors and marketers of branded food and pet products for the U.S. retail market, generating approximately $3.6...
cannery was the largest employer) to industrial manufacturing with the contracting of the Food Machinery Corporation (later known as FMC Corporation) by the United States War Department to build 1000 Landing Vehicle Tracked
Landing Vehicle Tracked
The Landing Vehicle Tracked was a class of amphibious vehicles introduced by the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Army during World War II. Originally intended solely as cargo carriers for ship to shore operations, they rapidly evolved into assault troop and fire support vehicles as well...
. After World War II, FMC (later United Defense
United Defense
United Defense Industries was a United States defense contractor which is now part of BAE Systems Land and Armaments. This company produces combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and precision munitions.-History:...
, and currently BAE Systems
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
) continued as a defense contractor
Defense contractor
A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems...
, with the San Jose facilities designing and manufacturing military platforms such as the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier
M113 Armored Personnel Carrier
The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier that has formed the backbone of the United States Army's mechanized infantry units from the time of its first fielding in Vietnam in April 1962. The M113 was the most widely used armored vehicle of the U.S...
, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and various subsystems of the M1 Abrams
M1 Abrams
The M1 Abrams is a third-generation main battle tank produced in the United States. It is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of US military forces in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. The M1 is a well armed, heavily armored, and highly mobile tank designed for...
. IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
established its West Coast headquarters in San Jose in 1943 and opened a downtown research and development facility in 1952. Both would prove to be harbingers for the economy of San Jose, as Reynold Johnson and his team would later invent RAMAC, as well as the Hard disk drive, and the technological side of San Jose's economy grew.
During the 1950s and 1960s, city manager A. P. "Dutch" Hamann
A. P. Hamann
-External links:**...
led the city in a major growth campaign. The city annexed adjacent areas, such as Alviso and Cambrian Park, providing large areas for suburbs. An anti-growth reaction to the effects of rapid development emerged in the 1970s championed by mayors Norman Mineta
Norman Mineta
Norman Yoshio Mineta, is a United States politician of the Democratic Party. Mineta most recently served in President George W. Bush's Cabinet as the United States Secretary of Transportation, the only Democratic Cabinet Secretary in the Bush administration...
and Janet Gray Hayes
Janet Gray Hayes
Janet Gray Hayes was the mayor of San Jose, California from 1975 - 1983. She was both the first woman to be elected mayor San Jose, and the first woman elected mayor of any major city in the United States.-References:...
. Despite establishing an urban growth boundary
Urban growth boundary
An urban growth boundary, or UGB, is a regional boundary, set in an attempt to control urban sprawl by mandating that the area inside the boundary be used for higher density urban development and the area outside be used for lower density development.An urban growth boundary circumscribes an...
, development fees, and incorporations of Campbell
Campbell, California
Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...
and Cupertino
Cupertino, California
Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...
, development was not slowed, but rather directed into already incorporated areas. San Jose's position in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
triggered more economic and population growth, which led to the highest housing costs increase in the nation, 936% between 1976 and 2001. Efforts to increase density continued into 1990s when an update of the 1974 urban plan kept the urban growth boundaries intact and voters rejected a ballot measure to ease development restrictions in the foothills. Sixty percent of the housing built in San Jose since 1980 and over three-quarters of the housing built since 2000 have been multifamily structures, reflecting a political propensity toward Smart Growth
Smart growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl and advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a...
planning principles.
Name
On April 3, 1979, the San Jose City CouncilSan Jose City Council
San Jose City Council is the municipal government of the city of San Jose, California.- 2006 Elections :Primary Election, June 6, 2006Mayor Chuck Reed*Cindy ChavezCouncil District 1Jay JamesPete Constant*Ross Signorino...
adopted San José, with the diacritical mark
Diacritic
A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
on the "e", as the spelling of the city name on the city seal, official stationery, office titles and department names. Also, by city council convention, this spelling of San José is used when the name is stated in both upper- and lower-case letters, but not when the name is stated only in upper-case letters. The accent reflects the Spanish version of the name, and the dropping of accents in all-capital writing is typical in Spanish. The name is still more commonly spelled without the diacritical mark as San Jose. The official name of the city remains City of San Jose with no diacritical mark, according to the City Charter. However, the City's website uses San José.
Geography
San Jose is located at 37.335278°N 121.891944°W.
According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 180 square miles (466.2 km²), of which 3.4 square miles (8.9 km²; 1.91%) is water.
San Jose lies between the San Andreas Fault
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...
, the source of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and the Calaveras Fault
Calaveras Fault
The Calaveras Fault is a major branch of the San Andreas Fault located in northern California in the San Francisco Bay Area. To the east of the Hayward-Rodgers Creek fault, the Calaveras fault extends 123 km, splaying from the San Andreas fault near Hollister and terminating at Danville at its...
. San Jose is shaken by moderate earthquakes, above four on the Richter Scale, on average of one to two times a year. These quakes originate just east of the city on the creeping section of the Calaveras Fault, which is a major source of earthquake activity in Northern California. On April 14, 1984, at 1:15 pm, local time a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Calaveras Fault near San Jose's Mount Hamilton. The most serious earthquake, in 1906, damaged many buildings in San Jose as described earlier. Earlier significant quakes rocked the city in 1839, 1851, 1858, 1864, 1865, 1868
1868 Hayward earthquake
The 1868 Hayward earthquake was the last large earthquake to occur on the Hayward Fault Zone in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States. It caused significant damage throughout the region, and was known as the "Great San Francisco Earthquake" prior to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake...
, and 1891. The Daly City Earthquake of 1957 caused some damage. The Loma Prieta earthquake
Loma Prieta earthquake
The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time...
of 1989 also did some damage to parts of the city. The other faults near San Jose are the Monte Vista Fault and the Hayward Fault Zone
Hayward Fault Zone
The Hayward Fault Zone is a geologic fault zone capable of generating significantly destructive earthquakes. This strike-slip fault is about long, situated mainly along the western base of the hills on the east side of San Francisco Bay...
.
The Guadalupe River
Guadalupe River (California)
The Guadalupe River is a short river in California whose headwater creeks originate in the Santa Cruz Mountains near the summit of Loma Prieta and Mount Umunhum. The river mainstem now begins on the Santa Clara Valley floor at the northern end of Lake Almaden, which is fed by Los Alamitos Creek and...
runs from the Santa Cruz Mountains
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California, United States. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south,...
(which separate the South Bay from the Pacific Coast) flowing north through San Jose, ending in the San Francisco Bay at Alviso. Along the southern part of the river is the neighborhood of Almaden Valley, originally named for the mercury mines which produced mercury needed for gold extraction from quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
during the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
as well as mercury fulminate blasting caps and detonators for the U.S. military from 1870 to 1945.
The lowest point in San Jose is 13 feet (4 m) below sea level at the San Francisco Bay in Alviso; the highest is 4,372 feet (1,333 m) at Copernicus Peak, Mount Hamilton
Mount Hamilton (California)
Mount Hamilton is a mountain in California's Diablo Range, in Santa Clara County, California. Mount Hamilton, at is the tallest mountain overlooking Silicon Valley, and is the site of Lick Observatory, the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory. The various summits along its...
, which is technically outside the city limit. Due to the proximity to Lick Observatory
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...
atop Mount Hamilton, San Jose has taken several steps to reduce light pollution
Light pollution
Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excessive or obtrusive artificial light.The International Dark-Sky Association defines light pollution as:...
, including replacing all street lamps and outdoor lighting in private developments with low pressure sodium lamps. To recognize the city's efforts, the asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
6216 San Jose
6216 San Jose
6216 San Jose is a main belt asteroid. It orbits the Sun every 4.57 years.The minor planet was discovered on September 30, 1975 by S. J. Bus at the Palomar Observatory and given the provisional designation 1975 SJ. In 1998 was renamed San Jose to honor the city of San Jose, California, United...
was named after the city.
San Jose lies close to the Pacific Ocean and close to San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
(a small portion of its northern border touches the bay). Santa Clara Valley
Santa Clara Valley
The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. Much of Santa Clara County and its county seat, San José, are in the Santa Clara Valley. The valley was originally known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its high concentration...
is the population center of the Bay Area, and like the hub and spokes of a wheel, surrounding communities emanate outwards from the valley. This growth in part, has shaped the greater Bay Area as it is today in terms of geographic population distribution
Population geography
Population geography is a division of human geography. It is the study of the ways in which spatial variations in the distribution, composition, migration, and growth of populations are related to the nature of places. Population geography involves demography in a geographical perspective. It...
and the trend of suburbanization away from the valley.
There are four distinct valleys in the city of San Jose: Almaden Valley, situated on the south-west fringe of the city; Evergreen Valley to the south-east, which is hilly all through-out its interior; Santa Clara Valley, which includes the flat, main urban expanse of the South Bay; and the rural Coyote Valley, to the city's extreme southern fringe.
Climate
San Jose, like most of the Bay Area, has a Subtropical Mediterranean climateMediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
. San Jose has 300+ days of sunshine and an average daily high temperature of 73 °F (22.8 °C) annually. Although San Jose lies inland and does not front the Pacific Ocean like San Francisco, it is surrounded on three sides by mountains. Because of this, the city is somewhat more sheltered from rain, giving it a semiarid feel with a mean annual rainfall of 14.4 inches (366 mm), compared to some other parts of the Bay Area, which can get about three times that amount.
January's average high is 60 °F (15.6 °C) and average low is 42 °F (5.6 °C). July's average high is 84 °F (28.9 °C) and average low is 57 °F (13.9 °C). The highest temperature ever recorded in San Jose was 112 °F (44.4 °C) on July 19–23, 2006; the lowest was 20 °F (-6.7 °C) in December 1990. Temperature fluctuations between night and day can vary as little as 10 °F to 12 °F (a fluctuation range of 5.5 °C to 6.6 °C), meaning that its climate does not experience huge temperature drops or rises like some other parts of California.
With the light rainfall, San Jose and its suburbs experience about 300 full or partly sunny days a year. Rain occurs primarily in the months from November through April or May. During the winter and spring, hillsides and fields turn green with grasses and vegetation, although deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
trees are few. With the coming of the annual hot summer dry period, the vegetation dies and dries, giving the hills a golden cover, which unfortunately also provides fuel for frequent grass fires.
Measurable precipitation falls in downtown San Jose on an average of 50 days a year. Annual precipitation has ranged from 6.12 inches (155.4 mm) in 1953 to 32.57 inches (827.3 mm) in 1983. The most precipitation in one month was 10.23 inches (259.8 mm) in February 1998. The maximum 24-hour rainfall was 3.6 inches (91.4 mm) on January 30, 1968. Although summer is normally quite dry in San Jose, a very heavy thunderstorm on August 21, 1968, brought 1.92 inches (48.8 mm) of rain, causing some flooding.
The snow level drops as low as 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level, or lower, occasionally coating nearby Mount Hamilton
Mount Hamilton (California)
Mount Hamilton is a mountain in California's Diablo Range, in Santa Clara County, California. Mount Hamilton, at is the tallest mountain overlooking Silicon Valley, and is the site of Lick Observatory, the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory. The various summits along its...
, and less frequently the Santa Cruz Mountains
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California, United States. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south,...
, with snow that normally lasts a few days. This sometimes snarls traffic traveling on State Route 17 towards Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
. Snow rarely falls in San Jose; the most recent snow to remain on the ground was on February 5, 1976, when many residents around the city saw as much as 3 inches (7.6 cm) on car and roof tops. The official observation station measured only 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) of snow.
Like most of the Bay Area, San Jose is made up of dozens of microclimate
Microclimate
A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
s. Downtown San Jose experiences the lightest rainfall in the city, while South San Jose, only 10 miles (16 km) distant, experiences more rainfall and somewhat more extreme temperatures.
Cityscape
The city is divided into several geographical regions. Many of these regions were originally unincorporated communitiesUnincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
or separate municipalities that were later annexed by the city. The city is generally divided into the following areas: Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose is the central business district of San Jose, California, United States. The area is generally located north of Interstate 280 and east of Guadalupe Parkway, which roughly parallels the Guadalupe River. The region is bound to the north by U.S...
, Central, West San Jose, North San Jose, East San Jose
East San Jose
East San Jose is the name for several neighborhoods east of downtown San Jose, California. These neighborhoods include:* King and Story* Alum Rock* East Foothills* Little Portugal-Demographics:...
, and South San Jose
South San Jose
South San Jose is the name for a large geographic and cultural portion of San Jose, California lying south of downtown...
.
Some well-known communities within San Jose include Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose is the central business district of San Jose, California, United States. The area is generally located north of Interstate 280 and east of Guadalupe Parkway, which roughly parallels the Guadalupe River. The region is bound to the north by U.S...
, Japantown
Japantown, San Jose, California
Japantown is the portion of San Jose, California bounded by First Street to the west, 8th street to the east, Empire Street to the south and Taylor Street to the north; it is just north of Downtown San Jose. Japantown originally formed around the existing "Heinlenville" Chinatown settlement...
, Rose Garden
Rose Garden, San Jose, California
The Rose Garden neighborhood in San Jose, California, is a gentrified residential area, with significant commercial presence along its major streets...
, Sunol-Midtown
Sunol-Midtown, California
Midtown was a census-designated place and primarily residential area in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It has been annexed to San Jose...
, Willow Glen
Willow Glen, California
Willow Glen is a neighborhood of San Jose, California, in Santa Clara County. Geographically speaking, the Willow Glen neighborhood is centered around Lincoln Avenue, which was re-named from "Willow Glen Road" in 1865 shortly after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.By 1863 the small...
, Naglee Park
Naglee Park, San Jose, California
Naglee Park is a residential neighborhood within downtown San Jose and near San Jose State University. The general boundaries of the neighborhood are Santa Clara Street, 11th Street, Interstate 280, and Coyote Creek. The local high school is San Jose High Academy.Much of the Naglee Park...
, Burbank
Burbank, Santa Clara County, California
Burbank is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California. Part of the neighborhood has been annexed to San Jose, while the rest consists of unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. The population was 4,926 at the 2010 census...
, West San Jose, Winchester
Winchester (San Jose)
The Winchester area of San Jose, California gains its name from early resident Sarah Lockwood Winchester, a Connecticut native and heiress to fifty percent ownership of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, who built the famous Winchester Mystery House...
, Alviso
Alviso, San Jose, California
Alviso is a small community in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. It is located approximately south of Drawbridge, at the north end of San José where it meets the southern end of the San Francisco Bay and borders the nearby city of Milpitas....
, East Foothills
East Foothills, California
East Foothills is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and a neighborhood of San Jose. The population was 8,269 at the 2010 census. The area is more commonly referred to as East San Jose, and is located about 4 miles east of downtown San Jose...
, Alum Rock
Alum Rock, California
Alum Rock is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and a community of San Jose. The CDP, which excludes all annexed areas, had a population of 15,536 at the 2010 census. Alum Rock was named after a rock formerly thought to be composed of alum in nearby Alum...
, Little Portugal
Little Portugal, San Jose
Little Portugal is a small area of East San Jose that is bordered by 28th Street and King Road and essentially follows Alum Rock Avenue. In the heyday of the 1970s through the late 1990s there were many shops and restaurants to serve the Portuguese community of San Jose...
, Blossom Valley
Blossom Valley, San Jose, California
Blossom Valley is a neighborhood in the southern region of San Jose, California northeast of the Los Capitancillos Ridge that separates it from Almaden Valley. It is located east of Cambrian and northeast of Almaden neighborhoods. It is just northeast of the Los Capitancillos Ridge and the Almaden...
, Cambrian
Cambrian Park, San Jose, California
Cambrian Park is a census-designated place and neighborhood of San Jose, a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Cambrian Park was never incorporated as a town , and there was never a Post Office for Cambrian Park...
, Almaden Valley
Almaden Valley, San Jose, California
Almaden Valley is an upper-class neighborhood of about 37,000 in the southwestern portion of San Jose, California, USA, roughly equivalent to the 95120 ZIP Code. The neighborhood is south east of the town of Los Gatos, west of the Santa Teresa neighborhood of San Jose and south of Coleman Ave...
, Silver Creek Valley
Silver Creek Valley
Silver Creek Valley is a region located in southeast San Jose, California near the southern end of the city's Evergreen neighborhood.The neighborhood is bordered on the east by the Diablo Range foothills and is separated from the Edenvale and Blossom Valley neighborhoods by a small series of hills...
, Evergreen Valley
Evergreen, San Jose, California
The Evergreen area of San Jose, California, is a large district of Southeast San Jose, bounded by Tully Road to the north, US 101 to the west, San Felipe Road to the south and the East Foothills neighborhood on the eastern edge...
, Edenvale
Edenvale (San Jose)
Edenvale is a mostly residential area of South San Jose, California. It is one of the neighborhoods inside San Jose district 2. The Blossom Valley and Santa Teresa areas are considered to be south of Edenvale, and the Seven Trees area is considered north of Edenvale.-Parks:Parks, libraries and...
, Santa Teresa
Santa Teresa, San Jose, California
Santa Teresa is a neighborhood in the south of San Jose, California, USA. It is east of Almaden Valley, surrounding Santa Teresa Boulevard, with access to Highway 85...
, Seven Trees
Seven Trees, California
Seven Trees was a census-designated place in South San Jose and it was previously an unincorporated pocket in Santa Clara County, California, completely surrounded by San Jose...
, Coyote Valley
Coyote Valley
Coyote Valley is a large expanse of farmland, orchards and homes, approximately in size, located in a narrowing of the Santa Clara Valley, in the southernmost part of San Jose, California...
.
Landmarks
Important landmarks in San Jose include Children's Discovery Museum of San JoseChildren's Discovery Museum of San Jose
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose is located on Woz Way in downtown San Jose, California. Woz Way is named after Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, whose nickname is "Woz," and who was the single largest private donor during the original capital campaign that funded the...
, History Park at Kelley Park
History Park at Kelley Park
History Park at Kelley Park in San Jose, California, USA is designed as an indoor/outdoor museum, arranged to appear as a small US town might have in the early 1900s...
, Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph
Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph (San Jose)
-External links:* *...
, Plaza de César Chávez
Plaza de Cesar Chavez
Plaza de César Chávez is a 2.2-acre park in Downtown San Jose, California, USA, named after César Chávez in 1993. It is surrounded by South Market Street, across which is The Tech Museum of Innovation, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Circle of Palms Plaza and the Fairmont San Jose Hotel...
, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library is a 136 foot tall public library in Downtown San Jose, California, United States that opened on August 1, 2003. As of 2007, it is the largest library building in the western United States built in a single construction project with over 475,000 square feet ...
, Mexican Heritage Plaza
Mexican Heritage Plaza
The Mexican Heritage Plaza is a museum and cultural center in San José, California, USA that opened in 1999. It is operated by the City of San Jose....
, Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum , founded by the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, is a museum about Ancient Egypt located at AMORC's Rosicrucian Park in the Rose Garden neighborhood of San Jose, California, United States....
, Lick Observatory
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...
, Hayes Mansion
Hayes Mansion
The Hayes Mansion is a hotel resort in San Jose, California, United States. It was constructed originally as a mansion and has been referred to as one of the best examples of late 19th-century Mediterranean Revival architecture the Santa Clara Valley...
, HP Pavilion at San Jose, De Anza Hotel
De Anza Hotel
The De Anza Hotel is a hotel in San Jose, California. At ten stories, it once was the tallest hotel in the San Jose central business district, prior to the construction of Hilton, Fairmont, and Marriott hotels. Significant for its architectural style, it is one of San Jose's few Zig Zag Moderne ...
, San Jose Improv
San Jose Improv
The San Jose Improv is a comedy club located in San Jose, California.-History:Formerly known as the Jose Theater, built in 1904, is the oldest theater in San Jose, located on Second Street, near San Fernando Street. Construction of the Jose was started in 1903, under the ownership of David Jacks,...
, San Jose Municipal Stadium
San Jose Municipal Stadium
The San Jose Municipal Stadium, or Muni Stadium in common usage, is the home of the minor league baseball San Jose Giants, the Advanced A league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants located in San Jose, California. The Giants play in the northern division of the California League...
, Spartan Stadium
Spartan Stadium (San Jose)
Spartan Stadium, located in San Jose, California, is the official stadium of the San José State University Spartans athletics teams. It is currently the home of the Spartan football and soccer teams....
, Japantown San Jose
Japantown, San Jose, California
Japantown is the portion of San Jose, California bounded by First Street to the west, 8th street to the east, Empire Street to the south and Taylor Street to the north; it is just north of Downtown San Jose. Japantown originally formed around the existing "Heinlenville" Chinatown settlement...
, Winchester Mystery House
Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House is a well-known mansion in California. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. It was continuously under construction for 38 years and is reported to be haunted. It now serves as a tourist attraction...
, Raging Waters
Raging Waters
Raging Waters is the name of three water theme parks located in Sacramento, San Dimas, and San Jose, California. They are the largest water parks in the state of California. The three parks are owned by Palace Entertainment but each contains different attractions...
, Circle of Palms Plaza
Circle of Palms Plaza
The Circle of Palms Plaza is located in downtown San Jose, California. It is the location of California Historical Marker 461, the site of California's first state capital from 1849-1851...
, San Jose City Hall
San Jose City Hall
The current City Hall of San José California was opened to the public on October 15, 2005, and is located at 200 East Santa Clara Street, San José, California. It was designed by Richard Meier.- History :...
, San Jose Flea Market
San Jose Flea Market
The San Jose Flea Market, located in the heart of the Silicon Valley, was founded by George Bumb Sr. in March 1960. His idea to open a flea market sparked while working in the solid waste and landfill business. He witnessed an abundance of treasures thrown away every day and realized he could make...
, and The Tech Museum of Innovation
The Tech Museum of Innovation
The Tech Museum of Innovation, or simply The Tech, is a museum located in the heart of Silicon Valley, in downtown San Jose, California USA.-History:...
.
Demographics
2010
The 2010 United States Census reported that San Jose had a population of 945,942. The population densityPopulation density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 5,256.2 people per square mile (2,029.4/km²). The racial makeup of San Jose was 404,437 (42.8%) White, 303,138 (32.0%) Asian (10.6% Vietnamese
Vietnamese American
A Vietnamese American is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American group....
, 6.7% Chinese
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
, 5.6% Filipino
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
, 4.6% Indian
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
, 1.2% Korean
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...
, 1.2% Japanese
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
, 0.4% Cambodian
Cambodian American
A Cambodian American is an American who is born, raised, or from Cambodia usually of Khmer descent but also including Chinese Cambodians, Vietnamese Cambodians, Cham people and other ethnicities of Cambodia...
, 0.2% Pakistani
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
, 0.1% Laotian
Laotian American
A Laotian American is a resident of the United States who was originally from Laos, a person of Laotian descent residing in America, or a citizen born in the United States whose parents were originally from Laos. Laotian Americans are included in the larger category of Asian Americans...
), 30,242 (3.2%) African American, 8,297 (0.9%) Native American, 4,017 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 148,749 (15.7%) from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 47,062 (5.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 313,636 persons (33.2%). Among the Hispanic population, 28.2% are Mexican
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
, 0.7% Salvadoran
Salvadoran American
Salvadorian Americans are citizens or residents of the United States of Salvadoran descent. As of 2010 there are 1.6 million Salvadoran Americans in the United States, the fourth-largest Hispanic community by nation of ancestry.They are also known as the nicknamed Salvi people in the USA,...
, 0.5% Puerto Rican
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
, and 0.3% Nicaraguan
Nicaraguan American
Nicaraguan American are Americans of Nicaraguan ancestry who were born in or have immigrated to the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 177,684 Americans of full or partial Nicaraguan ancestry living in the U.S...
.
The Census reported that 932,620 people (98.6% of the population) lived in households, 9,542 (1.0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 3,780 (0.4%) were institutionalized.
There were 301,366 households, out of which 122,958 (40.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 162,819 (54.0%) were opposite-sex married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 37,988 (12.6%) had a female householder with no husband present, 18,702 (6.2%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 16,900 (5.6%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
POSSLQ
POSSLQ is an abbreviation for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters," a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households....
, and 2,458 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 59,385 households (19.7%) were made up of individuals and 18,305 (6.1%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.09. There were 219,509 families
Family (U.S. Census)
A family or family household is defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state...
(72.8% of all households); the average family size was 3.54.
The population was spread out with 234,678 people (24.8%) under the age of 18, 89,457 people (9.5%) aged 18 to 24, 294,399 people (31.1%) aged 25 to 44, 232,166 people (24.5%) aged 45 to 64, and 95,242 people (10.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.2 years. For every 100 females there were 101.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.8 males.
There were 314,038 housing units at an average density of 1,745.0 per square mile (673.7/km²), of which 176,216 (58.5%) were owner-occupied, and 125,150 (41.5%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.6%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.3%. 553,436 people (58.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 379,184 people (40.1%) lived in rental housing units.
2000
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 894,943 people, 276,598 households, and 203,576 families residing in the city.
The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 5,117.9 people per square mile (1,976.1/km²). There were 281,841 housing units at an average density of 1,611.8 per square mile (622.3/km²). Of the 276,598 households, 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.4% were non-families. 18.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.20 and the average family size was 3.62.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 103.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.5 males.
According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was the highest in the U.S. for any city with more than a quarter million residents with $76,963 annually. The median income for a family was $86,822. Males had a median income of $49,347 versus $36,936 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,697. About 6.0% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.3% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.
San Jose and the rest of the Bay Area is home to many Christian congregations, including large Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox
Orthodoxy
The word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...
churches, Mormon
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
s, and Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, alongside centers of Jewish, Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic, Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Sikh
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
faiths, among numerous other religious communities.
A high percentage of foreign-born residents (39.0% of the population) live in the city. These include many high-tech workers from East
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
and South Asia, Eastern European immigrants, as well as poorer immigrants from Latin America, many of whom can be found in the large, multi-generational barrio
Barrio
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...
Alum Rock district. San Jose has the largest Vietnamese
Vietnamese American
A Vietnamese American is an American of Vietnamese descent. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American group....
population of any city in the world outside of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
The people from these countries have settled in the city and across the Santa Clara Valley primarily during the last three or four decades.
Economy
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
. As the largest city in the valley, San Jose has billed itself "the capital of Silicon Valley." Area schools such as the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, University of California, Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
, San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
, San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, California State University, East Bay
California State University, East Bay
California State University, East Bay is a public university located in the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The university, as part of the 23-campus California State University system, offers over 100 areas of study...
, Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...
, and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
pump thousands of engineering and computer science graduates into the local economy every year.
High economic growth during the tech bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
caused employment, housing prices, and traffic congestion to peak in the late 1990s. As the economy slowed in the early 2000s, employment and traffic congestion diminished somewhat. In the mid-2000s, traffic along major highways again began to worsen as the economy improved. San Jose had 405,000 jobs within its city limits in 2006, and an unemployment rate of 4.6%. In 2000, San Jose residents had the highest median household income of any city in the United States with a population over 300,000, and currently has the highest median income of any U.S. city with over 280,000 people.
San Jose lists many companies with 1,000 employees or more, including the headquarters of Adobe
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
, Altera
Altera
Altera Corporation is a Silicon Valley manufacturer of PLDs . The company offered its first programmable logic device in 1984. PLDs can be reprogrammed during the design cycle as well as in the field to perform multiple functions, and they support a fairly fast design process...
, Brocade Communications Systems
Brocade Communications Systems
Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. , based in Silicon Valley , is a vendor of storage area network hardware and software. The company also designs, manufactures, and sells networking products and management applications for local, metro, and wide area networks...
, Cadence Design Systems
Cadence Design Systems
Cadence Design Systems, Inc is an electronic design automation software and engineering services company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc...
, Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
, eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, Sanmina-SCI, and Xilinx
Xilinx
Xilinx, Inc. is a supplier of programmable logic devices. It is known for inventing the field programmable gate array and as the first semiconductor company with a fabless manufacturing model....
, as well as major facilities for Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, Hitachi
Hitachi
Hitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
and KLA Tencor
KLA Tencor
KLA-Tencor Corporation is a supplier of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. These technologies serve the semiconductor, data storage, LED, photovoltaic, and other related nanoelectronics industries...
. Other large companies based in San Jose include Altera
Altera
Altera Corporation is a Silicon Valley manufacturer of PLDs . The company offered its first programmable logic device in 1984. PLDs can be reprogrammed during the design cycle as well as in the field to perform multiple functions, and they support a fairly fast design process...
, Atmel
Atmel
Atmel Corporation is a manufacturer of semiconductors, founded in 1984. Its focus is on system-level solutions built around flash microcontrollers...
, CEVA, Cypress Semiconductor
Cypress Semiconductor
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation is a Silicon Valley-based semiconductor design and manufacturing company founded by T. J. Rodgers and others from Advanced Micro Devices. It was formed in 1982 with backing by Sevin Rosen and went public in 1986. The company initially focused on the design and...
, Echelon
Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation is an American company which designs control networks to connect machines and other electronic devices, for the purposes of sensing, monitoring and control....
, Integrated Device Technology
Integrated Device Technology
Integrated Device Technology, Inc. is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, that designs, manufactures, and markets low-power, high-performance mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for the advanced communications, computing, and consumer industries. The company...
, Micrel
Micrel
Micrel Incorporated, founded in 1978, is a global manufacturer of integrated circuits with corporate headquarters in San Jose, California. Micrel has been a publicly traded corporation since December 1994...
, Netgear
Netgear
Netgear is a U.S. manufacturer of computer networking equipment and other computer hardware....
, Novellus Systems
Novellus Systems
Novellus Systems Inc. develops, manufactures, sells, and services semiconductor equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. It is a leading supplier of chemical vapor deposition , plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition , physical vapor deposition , electrochemical deposition ,...
, Oclaro, Quantum, SunPower
SunPower
SunPower Corporation designs and manufactures high-efficiency crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, roof tiles and solar panels based on a silicon all-back-contact solar cell invented at Stanford University. SunPower Corporation is publicly traded on the NASDAQ as SPWRA and SPWRB...
, Supermicro
Supermicro
Super Micro Computer, Inc. or Supermicro designs, develops, manufactures and sells servers based on the x86 architecture. The company's offerings include rackmount, tower server and blade server systems, high-end workstations, storage server systems, motherboards, chassis, and server components...
, Tessera Technologies
Tessera Technologies
Tessera Technologies, Inc. is a San Jose, California-based technology founded in 1990. The company is focused on miniaturization technologies and has licensed its chip packaging technology to numerous semiconductor manufacturers, including Intel and Samsung Electronics.Tessera has been embroiled in...
, TiVo
TiVo, Inc.
Tivo, Inc. is an American corporation whose primary product is the marketing and subscription services for its Tivo branded digital video recorder.-History:...
, Ultratech
Ultratech, Inc.
Ultratech, Inc. is a publicly-traded international technology company based in San Jose, California which supplies equipment to global semiconductor fabrication plants, and also makes industry-leading tools for nanotechnology applications by optical networking, data storage and automotive and...
, and VeriFone
VeriFone
VeriFone is a company that makes point-of-sale equipment. It was founded and incorporated in Hawaii in 1981, and named itself after its first product, the name standing for Verification telephone....
. Sizable government employers include the city government, Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
, and San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
. Acer's United States division has its offices in San Jose. Prior to its closing, Netcom had its headquarters in San Jose.
The cost of living in San Jose and the surrounding areas is among the highest in California and the nation. Housing costs are the primary reason for the high cost of living, although the costs in all areas tracked by the ACCRA Cost of Living Index
ACCRA Cost of Living Index
The ACCRA Cost of Living Index is a measure of living cost differences among urban areas in the United States compiled by the Council for Community and Economic Research. First published in 1968, the index compares the price of goods and services among areas that participate in their surveys...
are above the national average. Despite the high cost of living in San Jose, households in city limits have the highest disposable income
Disposable income
Disposable income is total personal income minus personal current taxes. In national accounts definitions, personal income, minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income...
of any city in the U.S. with over 500,000 residents.
San Jose residents produce more U.S. patents than any other city. Thirty-five percent of all venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
funds in the U.S. are invested in San Jose and Silicon Valley companies.
Top employers
According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:| # | Employer | # of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | County of Santa Clara Santa Clara County, California Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley... |
15,360 |
| 2 | Cisco Systems Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$... |
11,600 |
| 3 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
7,460 |
| 4 | City of San Jose | 6,620 |
| 5 | San Jose State University San José State University San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States... |
3,100 |
| 6 | eBay EBay eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide... |
3,000 |
| 7 | Hitachi Hitachi Hitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family... |
2,900 |
| 8 | San Jose Unified School District San Jose Unified School District San Jose Unified School District is a K-12 school district in Santa Clara County, California. It serves a large portion of the city of San Jose, California with a student population of approximately 32,000.-List of schools:... |
2,690 |
| 9 | Xilinx Xilinx Xilinx, Inc. is a supplier of programmable logic devices. It is known for inventing the field programmable gate array and as the first semiconductor company with a fabless manufacturing model.... |
2,340 |
| 10 | Sanmina-SCI | 2,170 |
| 11 | Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield... |
2,120 |
| 12 | Adobe Systems Adobe Systems Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States... |
2,000 |
| 13 | Good Samaritan Hospital Good Samaritan Hospital (San Jose) Good Samaritan Hospital is an acute care hospital in San Jose, California. It contains centers for treatment of stroke and chest pain, as well as a large maternity ward... |
1,850 |
| 14 | KLA Tencor KLA Tencor KLA-Tencor Corporation is a supplier of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. These technologies serve the semiconductor, data storage, LED, photovoltaic, and other related nanoelectronics industries... |
1,770 |
| 15 | Cadence Design Systems Cadence Design Systems Cadence Design Systems, Inc is an electronic design automation software and engineering services company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc... |
1,560 |
Law and government
Local
Charter city
A charter city is a city in which the governing system is defined by the city's own charter document rather than by state, provincial, regional or national laws. In locations where city charters are allowed by law, a city can adopt or modify its organizing charter by decision of its administration...
under California law, giving it the power to enact local ordinances that may conflict with state law, within the limits provided by the charter. The city has a council-manager government
Council-manager government
The council–manager government form is one of two predominant forms of municipal government in the United States; the other common form of local government is the mayor-council government form, which characteristically occurs in large cities...
with a city manager
City manager
A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a council-manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief executive officer or chief administrative officer in some municipalities...
nominated by the mayor and elected by the city council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
.
The San Jose City Council
San Jose City Council
San Jose City Council is the municipal government of the city of San Jose, California.- 2006 Elections :Primary Election, June 6, 2006Mayor Chuck Reed*Cindy ChavezCouncil District 1Jay JamesPete Constant*Ross Signorino...
is made up of ten council members elected by districts, and a mayor elected by the entire city. During city council meetings, the mayor presides, and all eleven members can vote on any issue. The mayor has no veto powers. Council members and the mayor are elected to four-year terms; the even-numbered district council members beginning in 1994; the mayor and the odd-numbered district council members beginning in 1996. Council members and the mayor are limited to two successive terms in office, although a council member that has reached the term limit can be elected mayor, and vice versa. The council elects a vice-mayor from the members of the council at the second meeting of the year following a council election. This council member acts as mayor during the temporary absence of the mayor, but does not succeed to the mayor's office upon a vacancy.
The City Manager is the chief administrative officer of the city, and must present an annual budget
Budget
A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
for approval by the city council. When the office is vacant, the Mayor proposes a candidate for City Manager, subject to council approval. The council appoints the Manager for an indefinite term, and may at any time remove the manager, or the electorate may remove the manager through a recall election
Recall election
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
. Other city officers appointed by the council are the City Attorney, City Auditor, City Clerk, and Independent Police Auditor. In the state legislature
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
Like all California cities except San Francisco, both the levels and the boundaries of what the city government controls are determined by the local county Local Agency Formation Commission
Local Agency Formation Commission
A Local Agency Formation Commission is one of several decision making government entities in California with the responsibility to decide boundary issues pertaining to city and county lands, including spheres of influence, and issues about the annexation of county lands into a city or special...
(LAFCO). The goal of a LAFCO is to try to avoid uncontrolled urban sprawl
Urban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
. The Santa Clara County LAFCO has set boundaries of San Jose's "Sphere of Influence" (indicated by the blue line in the map near the top of the page) as a superset of the actual city limits (the yellow area in the map), plus parts of the surrounding unincorporated county land, where San Jose can, for example, prevent development of fringe areas to concentrate city growth closer to the city's core. The LAFCO also defines a subset of the Sphere as an 'Urban Service Area' (indicated by the red line in the map), effectively limiting development to areas where urban infrastructure (sewers, electrical service, etc.) already exists.
San Jose is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
. Accordingly, many county government facilities are located in the city, including the office of the County Executive, the Board of Supervisors, the District Attorney's Office, eight courthouses of the Superior Court, the Sheriff's Office, and the County Clerk.
State and federal
San Jose is located in the 10th, 11th, 13th, and 15th SenateCalifornia State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...
Districts, represented by Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Ellen Corbett
Ellen Corbett
Ellen Marie Corbett is a Democratic politician from San Leandro, California. She is currently serving her second term in the California State Senate. Corbett represents the 10th District, which includes San Leandro, Hayward, Pleasanton, Union City, Fremont, Newark, Milpitas and part of San Jose...
, Joe Simitian
Joe Simitian
Saren Joseph Simitian is a Democratic California State Senator elected in 2004. Simitian represents the 11th Senate District, which encompasses all or part of 13 cities in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties....
, and Elaine Alquist
Elaine Alquist
Elaine Kontominas Alquist is currently a Democratic State Senator from California's 13th Senate District...
, and Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Abel Maldonado
Abel Maldonado
Abel Maldonado is an American politician who was the 48th Lieutenant Governor of California. On November 23, 2009, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Maldonado as his nominee for Lieutenant Governor to fill the vacancy created by John Garamendi's election to the United States House of...
respectively, and in the 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 27th, and 28th Assembly
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
districts, represented by Democrats Bob Wieckowski
Bob Wieckowski
Bob Wieckowski is an American attorney and politician in California. He was elected November 2, 2010 to the California State Assembly to represent the 20th District, which includes the cities of Fremont, Newark, Union City, and Milpitas, as well as portions of San Jose, Pleasanton, Hayward, and...
, Rich Gordon
Rich Gordon
Richard S. Gordon is an American politician from Menlo Park, California who currently serves in the California State Assembly representing the 21st district...
, Paul Fong
Paul Fong
Paul Fong is a Democratic California State Assembly member from California's 22nd State Assembly district. Prior to being elected to the assembly, he served as a Foothill De Anza Community College District Trustee....
, Nora Campos
Nora Campos
Nora Campos is a California State Assembly member representing the 23rd district. She was formerly elected to the San Jose City Council in a special election in March 2001 and was twice overwhelmingly re-elected to represent the residents of District 5, allowing her to represent her community on...
, Jim Beall, Bill Monning
Bill Monning
William "Bill" Monning is an American educator, lawyer and politician. Monning was elected to the California State Assembly from the 27th Assembly District in the 2008 Assembly election....
, and Anna M. Caballero
Anna M. Caballero
Anna Marie Caballero is Secretary of the California State and Consumer Services Agency. She was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown on March 22, 2011. She was a Democratic member of the California State Assembly who was elected to serve the 28th Assembly district in November 2006 and ran unopposed...
respectively. Federally, San Jose is located in California's 14th
California's 14th congressional district
California's 14th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. It is located between San Francisco and San Jose. The district includes portions of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties and most notably contains part of Silicon Valley. Major cities in...
, 15th
California's 15th congressional district
California's 15th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that covers part of Santa Clara County west of San Jose and includes the cities of Los Gatos and Cupertino in Silicon Valley...
, and 16th
California's 16th congressional district
California's 16th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that covers part of Santa Clara County and includes much of central San Jose.The district is currently represented by Democrat Zoe Lofgren....
congressional districts, which have Cook PVIs
Cook Partisan Voting Index
The Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...
of D +18, D +14, and D +16 respectively, and are represented by Democrats Anna Eshoo
Anna Eshoo
Anna Georges Eshoo is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, which includes part of Silicon Valley, includes the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto...
, Mike Honda
Mike Honda
Michael Makoto "Mike" Honda is an American Democratic Party politician. He currently serves as the U.S. Representative for , encompassing western San Jose and Silicon Valley...
, and Zoe Lofgren
Zoe Lofgren
Zoe Lofgren is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1995. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in San Jose.-Early life, education, and early career:...
respectively.
Several state and federal agencies maintain offices in San Jose. The city is the location of the Sixth District of the California Courts of Appeal. It is also home to one of three courthouses of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San...
, the other two being in Oakland and San Francisco.
Crime
Crime in San Jose has been, and continues to be lower than in other large American cities. Like most large cities crime levels have fallen significantly after rising in the 1980s. Today it is ranked as one of the safest cities in the country with a population over 500,000 people. The designation is based on crime statistics reported to the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
in six categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and auto theft. As of 2009, the city had the second lowest violent crime rate of any city with 500,000 or more residents, second only to Honolulu. However in 2011, homicides have surged surpassing 2010's number of homicides which was 20 and in 2011 is currently 28 as of August 2011.
Current mayor Chuck Reed
Chuck Reed
Charles Rufus "Chuck" Reed is the current Mayor of San Jose, California.-Biography:Reed was born in Garden City, Kansas. Reed's high school basketball team became Kansas State Champions despite being from a very small, rural school. He joined the United States Air Force in 1970 after attending the...
is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a coalition of over 600 mayors who support a number of gun control initiatives that the group calls "commonsense reforms" to fight illegal gun trafficking and gun violence in the United States...
, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
mayor Thomas Menino
Thomas Menino
Thomas Michael "Tom" Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor...
.
Sister cities
The Office of Economic Development coordinates the San Jose Sister City Program which is part of Sister Cities InternationalSister Cities International
Sister Cities International is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between United States and international communities. More than 2,000 cities, states and counties are partnered in 136 countries around the world...
. As of 2008, there are seven sister cities:
Arts and architecture
Downtown Historic District (San Jose, California)
The Downtown Historic District of San Jose, California is a designated U.S. Historic District area of the city roughly the size of one square block. It is bounded by S. First Street to the west, E. San Fernando Street to the south, S. Third Street to the east, and E. Santa Clara Street to the...
, the De Anza Hotel
De Anza Hotel
The De Anza Hotel is a hotel in San Jose, California. At ten stories, it once was the tallest hotel in the San Jose central business district, prior to the construction of Hilton, Fairmont, and Marriott hotels. Significant for its architectural style, it is one of San Jose's few Zig Zag Moderne ...
, and the Hotel Sainte Claire
Hotel Sainte Claire
The Hotel Sainte Claire is a hexagonal six-story hotel in downtown San Jose, California, one of the city's most recognized architectural landmarks...
, both of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
for their architectural and historical significance.
Municipal building projects have experimented more with architectural styles than have most private enterprises. The Children's Discovery Museum, Tech Museum of Innovation, and the San Jose Repertory Theater building have experimented with bold colors and unusual exteriors. The new City Hall, designed by Richard Meier & Partners opened in 2005 and is a notable addition to the growing collection of municipal building projects.
Public art is an evolving attraction in the city. The city was one of the first to adopt a public art ordinance at 2% of capital improvement building project budgets, and the results of this commitment are beginning to have an impact on the visual landscape of the city. There are a considerable number of public art projects throughout the downtown area, and a growing collection in the newer civic locations in neighborhoods including libraries, parks, and fire stations. Of particular note, the Mineta Airport expansion is incorporating a program of Art & Technology into its development.
Within the early efforts at public art, there are notable controversies. Two examples include the statue of Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
(the plumed serpent) in downtown which was controversial in its planning because some religious groups felt that it was pagan, and controversial in its implementation because many felt that the final statue by Robert Graham
Robert Graham (sculptor)
Robert Graham was a sculptor based in the state of California in the United States. His monumental bronzes commemorate the human figure and are featured in public places across America.-Biography:...
did not closely resemble a winged serpent, and was more noted for its expense than its aesthetics. This has resulted in locals joking that the statue resembles a pile of feces
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
.
The statue of Thomas Fallon also met strong resistance from those who felt that people like him were largely responsible for the decimation of early native populations and Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
/Latino activists protested he captured San Jose by violent force in the Mexican-American war (1846) as well "repressed" historic documents of Fallon ordered the expulsion of most of the city's Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
(early Spanish or Mexican) residents. In October 1991 after protests in part of Columbus Day
Columbus Day
Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday...
and Dia de la Raza celebrations, the Fallon statue plan was scrapped and the statue was stored in a warehouse in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
for more than a decade. The statue was returned to public display in 2002, albeit in a less conspicuous location: Pellier Park, a small triangular patch formed by the merge of West Julian and West St. James streets.
In 2001, the city sponsored SharkByte, an exhibit of decorated shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s, based on the mascot of the hockey team, the San Jose Sharks, and modeled after Chicago's display of decorated cows. Large models of sharks were decorated in a variety of clever, colorful, or creative ways by local artists and were then displayed for months at dozens of locations around the city. Many displays were removed early because of vandalism. After the exhibition, the sharks were auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity. The sharks can still be found in their new owners' homes and businesses.
In 2006, Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
commissioned an art installation titled San Jose Semaphore by Ben Rubin, which is located at the top of its headquarters building. Semaphore is composed of four LED discs which "rotate" to transmit a message. The content of the San Jose Semaphore’s message remained a mystery until it was deciphered in August 2007. The visual art installation is supplemented with an audio track, transmitted from the building on a low-power AM station. The audio track provides clues to decode the message being transmitted.
The city is home to many performing arts companies, including Opera San Jose
Opera San Jose
Opera San José is the professional opera company in San Jose, California, United States, founded in 1984 by Irene Dalis. In 1988, it formed a resident company of principal artists, for which it has purchased fourteen apartment units to provide rent-free accommodation...
, Symphony Silicon Valley
Symphony silicon valley
Symphony Silicon Valley is the professional symphony orchestra of San Jose and the South Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Founded in 2002 following the demise of the San Jose Symphony, the orchestra debuted to rave reviews and standing ovations on November 23, 2002 at the San Jose Center...
, Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, Children's Musical Theater of San Jose (recognized as the largest and most talented youth theatre company in the nation), the San Jose Youth Symphony
San Jose Youth Symphony
The San Jose Youth Symphony is a non-profit youth orchestra located in San Jose, California.SJYS was founded in the year 1951. It was originally part of the San Jose Symphony as the San Jose Symphony Youth Orchestra...
, the San Jose Repertory Theatre
San Jose Repertory Theatre
The San Jose Repertory Theatre was founded in 1980 by James P. Reber as the first resident professional theatre company in San Jose, California, and is currently the largest non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay...
, City Lights Theatre Company, The Tabard Theatre Company, San Jose Stage Company, and the now-defunct American Musical Theatre of San Jose
American Musical Theatre of San Jose
The American Musical Theatre of San Jose was a professional non-profit musical theatre company in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1934 as the San Jose Light Opera Association, a light opera company...
which was replaced by Broadway San Jose in partnership with Team San Jose
Team San Jose
Team San Jose is a non-profit management corporation launched in 2004 to promote tourism in San Jose, California...
. San Jose also is home to the San Jose Museum of Art
San Jose Museum of Art
The San Jose Museum of Art is an art museum in Downtown San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1969, the museum hosts a large permanent collection emphasizing West Coast artists of the 20th- and 21st-century. It is located next to the Circle of Palms Plaza and Plaza de César Chávez...
, one of the nation's premiere Modern Art museums. The annual Cinequest Film Festival
Cinequest Film Festival
The Cinequest Film Festival is an annual independent film festival held in San Jose, California. The festival highlights the work of new film makers....
in downtown has grown to over 60,000 attendees per year, becoming an important festival for independent films. The San Francisco Asian American Film Festival is an annual event, which is hosted in San Francisco, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, and Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose
Downtown San Jose is the central business district of San Jose, California, United States. The area is generally located north of Interstate 280 and east of Guadalupe Parkway, which roughly parallels the Guadalupe River. The region is bound to the north by U.S...
. Approximately 30 to 40 films are screened in San Jose each year at the Camera 12 Downtown Cinemas. The San Jose Jazz Festival
San Jose Jazz Festival
The San José Jazz Festival is an annual jazz festival organized by the San Jose Jazz Society and held in downtown San Jose, California, USA. The festival was established in 1990, and is mainly outdoors....
is another of many great events hosted throughout the year.
The HP Pavilion at San Jose is one of the most active venues for events in the world. According to Billboard Magazine and Pollstar, the arena sold the most tickets to non-sporting events of any venue in the United States, and third in the world after the Manchester Evening News Arena
Manchester Evening News Arena
The Manchester Evening News Arena is an indoor arena situated in Manchester, England. It is adjacent to Manchester Victoria station near Corporation Street...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England, and the Bell Centre
Bell Centre
The Bell Centre , formerly known as the Molson Centre , is a sports and entertainment complex in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It opened on March 16, 1996 after nearly three years under construction...
in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for the period from January 1 September 30, 2004. Including sporting events, the HP Pavilion averages 184 events a year, or roughly one event for every two days, which is significantly higher than the average for NHL arenas.
Sports
| Club | Sport | Founded | League | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose Sharks San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League... |
Hockey Hockey Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:... |
1991 | National Hockey League National Hockey League The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States... : Western Conference Western Conference (NHL) The Western Conference is one of two conferences in the National Hockey League used to divide teams. Its counterpart is the Eastern Conference.... |
HP Pavilion at San Jose |
| San Jose Earthquakes San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada.... |
Soccer | 1995 | Major League Soccer Major League Soccer Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada... : Western Conference |
Buck Shaw Stadium Buck Shaw Stadium Buck Shaw Stadium is a 10,300-seat soccer stadium at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. The stadium is the current home of the Santa Clara Broncos soccer teams and was the former home of the now defunct Santa Clara football team as well as the Santa Clara baseball team. The baseball... |
| San Jose SaberCats San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats are a professional arena football team in the Arena Football League. They began play as a 1995 expansion team. They played in the Western Division of the American Conference. Their final coach in the original Arena Football League was Darren Arbet, who will be a part of the... |
Arena football Arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game.... |
1995 | Arena Football League Arena Football League The Arena Football League is the highest level of professional indoor American football in the United States. It is currently the second longest running professional football league in the United States, after the National Football League. It was founded in 1987 by Jim Foster... (West Division) |
HP Pavilion at San Jose |
| San Jose Giants San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a minor league baseball team in San Jose, California, USA. They are a Class A - Advanced team in the Northern Division of the California League, and have been a farm team of the San Francisco Giants since 1988. Home games are played at San Jose Municipal Stadium... |
Baseball | 1988 | California League California League The California League is a Class A Advanced minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High-A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth... |
San Jose Municipal Stadium San Jose Municipal Stadium The San Jose Municipal Stadium, or Muni Stadium in common usage, is the home of the minor league baseball San Jose Giants, the Advanced A league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants located in San Jose, California. The Giants play in the northern division of the California League... |
| Real San Jose Real San Jose Real San Jose is an American soccer team based in San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 2006, the team plays in National Premier Soccer League , a national amateur league at the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Northwest Division.The team plays its home games in the... |
Soccer | 2007 | National Premier Soccer League National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League is a United States soccer league recognized by the United States Soccer Federation and FIFA as a Division IV league... |
Yerba Buena High School Yerba Buena High School Yerba Buena High School is a public comprehensive four-year high school located in the East San Jose area of San Jose, California, USA. It has been the safest school in the East Side Union High School District for three consecutive years and its athletic teams are well-known... |
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
trials for judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
, taekwondo
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
, trampolining
Trampolining
Trampolining is a competitive Olympic sport in which gymnasts perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. These can include simple jumps in the pike, tuck or straddle position to more complex combinations of forward or backward somersaults and twists....
and rhythmic gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which individuals or teams of competitors manipulate one or two pieces of apparatus: rope, clubs, hoop, ball, ribbon and Free . An individual athlete only manipulates 1 apparatus at a time...
at the San Jose State Event Center. In August 2004, the San Jose Seahawk Rugby Football Club hosted the USA All-Star 7-Aside Rugby
Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...
Championships at Watson Bowl, east of Downtown. San Jose is also home to the St Joseph's Hurling Club
St Joseph's Hurling Club
St Joseph's Hurling Club was established in the mid 1990s and has been a social focal-point for the Irish community in Silicon Valley in California, USA, since then. It began as a junior club and grew in strength until its victory in the San Francisco Bay Area Hurling Championship in 2002...
. In 2008, around 90 percent of the members of the United States Olympic team were processed at San Jose State University prior to traveling to the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing. The 2009 Junior Olympics for trampoline also were held here. In April 2009, it was announced San Jose State will host the 2011 American Collegiate Hockey Association
American Collegiate Hockey Association
The American Collegiate Hockey Association is the national governing body of non-varsity college ice hockey in the U.S. The organization provides structure, regulations, promotes the quality of play, sponsors National Awards and National Tournaments....
(ACHA) national tournament.
Public transportation
Rail service to and within San Jose is provided by Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
(the Sacramento–San-Jose Capitol Corridor
Capitol Corridor
The Capitol Corridor is a 168-mile passenger train route operated by Amtrak in California. Because it is fully supported by the state, the Capitol Corridor operates under Amtrak California. It runs from the San Francisco Bay Area to Sacramento, roughly parallel to Interstate 80...
and the Seattle–Los-Angeles Coast Starlight
Coast Starlight
The Coast Starlight is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States. It runs from King Street Station in Seattle, Washington, to Union Station in Los Angeles, California. The train's name was formed as a merging of two of Southern Pacific's train names, the Coast...
), Caltrain
Caltrain
Caltrain is a California commuter rail line on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley in the United States. The northern terminus of the rail line is in San Francisco, at 4th and King streets; its southern terminus is in Gilroy...
(commuter rail service between San Francisco and Gilroy
Gilroy, California
Gilroy is the southernmost city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 48,821 at the 2010 census. Gilroy is well-known for its garlic crop and for the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, featuring various garlicky foods, including garlic ice cream. Gilroy also produces...
), ACE
Altamont Commuter Express
The Altamont Commuter Express is a regional rail service in California connecting Stockton with San Jose....
(commuter rail service to Pleasanton
Pleasanton, California
Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, incorporated in 1894. It is a suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about east of Oakland, and west of Livermore. The population was 70,285 at the 2010 census. In 2005 and 2007, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in...
and Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
), and a local light-rail system connecting downtown to Mountain View
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
, Milpitas
Milpitas, California
Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is a suburb of the major city of San Jose, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of State Route 237 and generally between Interstates 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south...
, Campbell
Campbell, California
Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...
, and Almaden Valley
Almaden Valley, San Jose, California
Almaden Valley is an upper-class neighborhood of about 37,000 in the southwestern portion of San Jose, California, USA, roughly equivalent to the 95120 ZIP Code. The neighborhood is south east of the town of Los Gatos, west of the Santa Teresa neighborhood of San Jose and south of Coleman Ave...
, operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is a special-purpose district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California, United States...
(VTA). Historic streetcars from History Park
History Park at Kelley Park
History Park at Kelley Park in San Jose, California, USA is designed as an indoor/outdoor museum, arranged to appear as a small US town might have in the early 1900s...
operate on the light rail lines in downtown during holidays. Long-term plans call for BART to be expanded to Santa Clara through Milpitas and San Jose from the current terminal in Fremont
Fremont (BART station)
Fremont is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station that serves Fremont, California. The elevated island platform serves as the southernmost terminal station of BART's Fremont line, which is served by trains on the Fremont - Daly City Line, which runs daytimes Monday-Saturday, and the Richmond - Fremont...
. Originally, the extension was to be built all at once, but due to the recession, sales tax revenue has dramatically decreased. Because of this, the extension will be built in two phase. Phase 1 will extend service to a temporary terminal in north-eastern San Jose in 2018 at Berryessa station
Berryessa (BART station)
Berryessa BART station is a future Bay Area Rapid Transit station scheduled to begin construction in the summer of 2012 and open in 2018 in San José, California as part of the Silicon Valley BART extension...
. Construction has been approved and funded and will begin in Summer 2012 and connect with the Warm Springs
Warm Springs (BART station)
Warm Springs will be an at-grade BART station in Fremont. Construction on the station began in fall 2010; it is scheduled to open in late 2015....
extension to southern Fremont. In addition, San Jose will be a major stop on the future California High Speed Rail
route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Diridon Station
Diridon Station
Diridon Station is the central passenger rail depot for San Jose, California. It also serves as a transit hub for Santa Clara County and the Silicon Valley...
(formerly Cahill Depot, 65 Cahill Street) is the meeting point of all regional commuter rail service in the area. It was built in 1935 by the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
, and was refurbished in 1994.
VTA
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is a special-purpose district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California, United States...
also operates many bus routes in San Jose and the surrounding communities, as well as offering paratransit
Paratransit
Paratransit is an alternative mode of flexible passenger transportation that does not follow fixed routes or schedules. Typically mini-buses are used to provide paratransit service, but also share taxis and jitneys are important providers....
services to local residents. Additionally, the Highway 17 Express
Highway 17 Express
The Highway 17 Express is an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach route provided by a consortium of entities that provides regional service between San Jose and Santa Cruz County in the South Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area...
bus line connects central San Jose with Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
.
Air transportation
San Jose is served by Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International AirportSan Jose International Airport
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport is a city-owned public-use airport serving the city of San Jose in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is named for San Jose native Norman Yoshio Mineta, who was Transportation Secretary in the Cabinet of George W...
, two miles (3 km) northwest of downtown, and by Reid-Hillview Airport of Santa Clara County a general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
airport located in the eastern part of San Jose. San Jose residents also use San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...
, a major international hub located 35 miles (56 km) to the northwest, and Oakland International Airport
Oakland International Airport
Oakland International Airport , also known as Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, is a public airport located south of the central business district of Oakland, a city in Alameda County, California, United States...
, another major international airport located 35 miles (56 km) to the north. The airport is also near the intersections of three major freeways, U.S. Route 101, Interstate 880
Interstate 880
Interstate 880 is an Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area connecting San Jose and Oakland, running parallel to the southeastern shore of San Francisco Bay...
, and State Route 87
California State Route 87
State Route 87 , locally called Highway 87 or the Guadalupe Freeway, is a north–south state highway entirely within San Jose, California, United States. Its name was changed from Guadalupe Parkway in 2004 after its entire constructed length was upgraded to a freeway...
.
Freeways and highways
The San Jose area has a large freeway system, including three Interstate freewaysInterstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
and one U.S. Route
United States Numbered Highways
The system of United States Numbered Highways is an integrated system of roads and highways in the United States numbered within a nationwide grid...
. It is, however, the largest city in the country not served by a primary Interstate; most of the Interstate Highway Network was planned by the early 1950s well before San Jose's rapid growth decades later.
U.S. 101 runs south to the California Central Coast and Los Angeles, and then runs north up near the eastern shore of the San Francisco Peninsula
San Francisco Peninsula
The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is in Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain...
to San Francisco. I-280
Interstate 280 (California)
Interstate 280 is a 57-mile long north–south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It connects San Jose and San Francisco, running along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.I-280 from its northern end at King...
also heads to San Francisco, but goes along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula. I-880
Interstate 880
Interstate 880 is an Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area connecting San Jose and Oakland, running parallel to the southeastern shore of San Francisco Bay...
heads north to Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, running parallel to the southeastern shore of San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. I-680
Interstate 680 (California)
Interstate 680 is a north–south Interstate Highway in Northern California. It curves around the eastern cities of the San Francisco Bay Area from San Jose to Interstate 80 at Cordelia, bypassing cities along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay such as Oakland and Richmond while serving...
parallels I-880 to Fremont
Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...
, but then cuts northeast to the eastern cities of the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
.
Several state highways also serve San Jose: SR 17, SR 85
California State Route 85
State Route 85 is a freeway which connects Mountain View and southern San Jose. The entire freeway is named the West Valley Freeway. The majority of the route is also named the Norman Y. Mineta Highway, with the exception of the portion of Highway 85 passing through Saratoga which is named the CHP...
, SR 87
California State Route 87
State Route 87 , locally called Highway 87 or the Guadalupe Freeway, is a north–south state highway entirely within San Jose, California, United States. Its name was changed from Guadalupe Parkway in 2004 after its entire constructed length was upgraded to a freeway...
and SR 237
California State Route 237
State Route 237 runs from El Camino Real in Mountain View to Interstate 680 in Milpitas. It runs south of the San Francisco Bay, connecting the East Bay to the Peninsula.This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System....
. Additionally, San Jose is served by a system of county-wide expressways, which includes the Almaden Expressway, Capitol Expressway, San Tomas Expressway, and Lawrence Expressway.
Several regional transportation projects have been undertaken in recent years to deal with congestion on San Jose freeways. This includes expansion of State Route 87
California State Route 87
State Route 87 , locally called Highway 87 or the Guadalupe Freeway, is a north–south state highway entirely within San Jose, California, United States. Its name was changed from Guadalupe Parkway in 2004 after its entire constructed length was upgraded to a freeway...
including more lanes near the downtown San Jose area. The interchange for I-280
Interstate 280 (California)
Interstate 280 is a 57-mile long north–south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It connects San Jose and San Francisco, running along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.I-280 from its northern end at King...
connecting with I-680
Interstate 680 (California)
Interstate 680 is a north–south Interstate Highway in Northern California. It curves around the eastern cities of the San Francisco Bay Area from San Jose to Interstate 80 at Cordelia, bypassing cities along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay such as Oakland and Richmond while serving...
and US 101, a rush-hour spot where the three freeways meet has been known to have high-density traffic similar to Los Angeles County interchanges.
Major highways
.svg.png)
Interstate 280Interstate 280 (California)Interstate 280 is a 57-mile long north–south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It connects San Jose and San Francisco, running along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.I-280 from its northern end at King....svg.png)
Interstate 680Interstate 680 (California)Interstate 680 is a north–south Interstate Highway in Northern California. It curves around the eastern cities of the San Francisco Bay Area from San Jose to Interstate 80 at Cordelia, bypassing cities along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay such as Oakland and Richmond while serving....svg.png)
Interstate 880Interstate 880Interstate 880 is an Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area connecting San Jose and Oakland, running parallel to the southeastern shore of San Francisco Bay....svg.png)
U.S. Route 101
State Route 17
State Route 82California State Route 82State Route 82 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from U.S. Route 101 at Blossom Hill Road in San Jose to Interstate 280 in San Francisco following the San Francisco Peninsula...
State Route 85California State Route 85State Route 85 is a freeway which connects Mountain View and southern San Jose. The entire freeway is named the West Valley Freeway. The majority of the route is also named the Norman Y. Mineta Highway, with the exception of the portion of Highway 85 passing through Saratoga which is named the CHP...
State Route 87California State Route 87State Route 87 , locally called Highway 87 or the Guadalupe Freeway, is a north–south state highway entirely within San Jose, California, United States. Its name was changed from Guadalupe Parkway in 2004 after its entire constructed length was upgraded to a freeway...
State Route 130California State Route 130State Route 130 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California in Santa Clara County. The route runs between San Jose, California, and Mount Hamilton. Much of its length goes through the Diablo Range as Mount Hamilton Road where it is a narrow 2 lane highway...
State Route 237California State Route 237State Route 237 runs from El Camino Real in Mountain View to Interstate 680 in Milpitas. It runs south of the San Francisco Bay, connecting the East Bay to the Peninsula.This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System....
Walkability
A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked San Jose the nineteenth most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States.Utilities
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is a reservoir in Yosemite National Park, about northeast from the city of Merced, California. The reservoir has a capacity of and is formed by the concrete gravity O'Shaughnessy Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley on the Tuolumne River...
.
Garbage
Waste
Waste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
, wastewater treatment, and recycling
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
services are overseen by the city of San Jose's Environmental Services Department. San Jose recycles 64% of its waste, an exceptionally high percentage that is attributed to the recycling program's accepting an unusually long list of recyclable items without requiring that materials be sorted. Among the items accepted are all types of plastic, aerosol cans and paint cans, foam packing materials, aluminum furniture, small metal appliances, pots and pans, and clean fabrics.
Wastewater treatment happens at the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, which treats and cleans the wastewater of more than 1,500,000 people that live and work in the 300+ square mile (780 km²) area encompassing San Jose, Santa Clara
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
, Milpitas, Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos
Los Gatos, California
The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...
, Saratoga
Saratoga, California
Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. It is located on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley, directly west of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay area. The population was 29,926 at the 2010 census....
, and Monte Sereno
Monte Sereno, California
Monte Sereno is a city in Santa Clara County, California, USA. The population was 3,341 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, about 10 miles southwest of San Jose and is immediately northwest of Los Gatos. The city is named for the 2249 ft...
.
About ten percent of the treated wastewater is sold for irrigation ("water recycling") in San Jose, Santa Clara, and Milpitas, through local water providers San Jose Municipal Water System, City of Milpitas Municipal Services, City of Santa Clara Water & Sewer Utility, Santa Clara Valley Water District, San Jose Water Company, and Great Oaks Water Company.
PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company , commonly known as PG&E, is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of the northern two-thirds of California, from Bakersfield almost to the Oregon border...
provides residents natural gas and electricity service. Telephone communications are provided primarily by AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, and cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
is provided by Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
. Internet services are provided by several companies, but primarily by Comcast and AT&T.
Colleges and universities
San Jose is home to several colleges and universitiesUniversity
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
. The largest is San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
, which was founded by the California legislature in 1862 as the California State Normal School, and is the founding campus of the California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
(CSU) system. Located in downtown San Jose since 1870, the university enrolls approximately 30,000 students in over 130 different bachelor's and master's degree programs. The school enjoys a good academic reputation, especially in the fields of engineering, business, art and design, and journalism, and consistently ranks among the top public universities in the western region of the United States. San Jose State is one of only three Bay Area schools that fields a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Division I college football team; Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and U.C. Berkeley are the other two.
National Hispanic University
National Hispanic University
The National Hispanic University is a small, private university located in East San Jose, California. The university is nonsectarian and coeducational with 700 undergraduate students...
, with an enrollment of 600, offers associate and bachelor's degrees and teaching credentials to its students, focusing on Hispanic students.
California University of Management and Technology
California University of Management and Technology
California University of Management and Technology or CALMAT is a tertiary education provider in Silicon Valley.Programs and courses at CALMAT are designed to support both full-time and part-time students...
(CALMAT) offers many degree programs, including MBA, Computer Science, Information Technology. Most classes are offered both online and in the downtown campus. Many of the students are working professionals in the Silicon Valley.
Lincoln Law School of San Jose
Lincoln Law School of San Jose
Lincoln Law School of San Jose is a private, non-profit law school in San Jose, California. It is an independent institution, formerly a part of Lincoln University.-History:The school traces its roots to 1919 when Dr...
and University of Silicon Valley Law School
University of Silicon Valley Law School
The University of Silicon Valley Law School is registered with the California Committee of Bar Examiners as a private law school with offices located in Gilroy, California...
offer law degrees, catering to working professionals.
National University
National University (California)
National University , founded in 1971, is a comprehensive, nonsectarian, independent, accredited, non-profit private university headquartered in La Jolla, California, United States, with academic degree programs offered at campuses located throughout the state, one in Henderson, Nevada, and...
maintains a campus in San Jose.
The San Jose campus of Golden Gate University
Golden Gate University
Golden Gate University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in the South of Market district, immediately south of the Financial District of downtown San Francisco, California...
offers business bachelor and MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
degrees.
San Jose's community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
s, San Jose City College
San Jose City College
San Jose City College, founded in 1921, is a community college located in the city of San Jose, Santa Clara County, California.San Jose City College was originally called San Jose Junior College and operated in downtown San Jose, California...
and Evergreen Valley College
Evergreen Valley College
Evergreen Valley College is a community college located on in the southeastern foothills of San José, Santa Clara County, California. As of Fall 2008, more than 8,000 students from more than 70 countries were enrolled....
, offer associate degrees, general education units to transfer to CSU and UC schools, and adult and continuing education programs. The West campus of Palmer College of Chiropractic
Palmer College of Chiropractic
Palmer College of Chiropractic is a chiropractic school located in Davenport, Iowa. It was established in 1897 by Daniel David Palmer and is considered "The Fountainhead" as it was the first school of chiropractic in the world. For many years, Palmer College of Chiropractic was the world's largest...
is also located in San Jose.
WestMed College is headquartered in San Jose and offers paramedic training, emergency medical technician training, and licensed vocational nursing programs.
The University of California, Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
operates Lick Observatory
Lick Observatory
The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...
atop Mount Hamilton
Mount Hamilton (California)
Mount Hamilton is a mountain in California's Diablo Range, in Santa Clara County, California. Mount Hamilton, at is the tallest mountain overlooking Silicon Valley, and is the site of Lick Observatory, the first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory. The various summits along its...
.
Additionally, San Jose residents attend several other area universities, including Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
, Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley in Mountain View
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
and the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. San Jose and South Bay residents also comprise large proportions of the student bodies at major California public universities, including UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC San Diego.
Primary and secondary education
Up until the opening of Lincoln High SchoolAbraham Lincoln High School (San Jose, California)
Abraham Lincoln High School is a high school in the San Jose Unified School District. It is a magnet school for "Academic, Visual, and Performing Arts". The current principal is Matt Hewitson....
in 1943, San Jose students only attended San Jose High School
San Jose High Academy
San José High School is the second oldest public high school in California and was founded in 1863. The school mascot is the Bulldog.In 1985, the school was renamed San Jose Academy as part of the federal magnet schools concept, but on March 25, 2010, it returned to its original name, San José...
. Some of the city's history is embedded within these two high schools, which hold a Thanksgiving Day high school football game, called the "Big Bone." As of 2010, there are 127 elementary, 47 middle, and 44 high schools, of which are all public. Public education in the city is provided by four high school districts, fourteen elementary districts, and four unified school district
Unified school district
A unified school district or unit school district is a school district which includes both primary school and high school under the same district control....
s (which provide both elementary and high schools).
In addition to the main San Jose Unified School District
San Jose Unified School District
San Jose Unified School District is a K-12 school district in Santa Clara County, California. It serves a large portion of the city of San Jose, California with a student population of approximately 32,000.-List of schools:...
(SJUSD), other nearby unified school districts of nearby cities are Milpitas Unified School District
Milpitas Unified School District
The Milpitas Unified School District operates nine elementary schools , two junior high schools , and three high schools in Milpitas, California, USA...
, Morgan Hill Unified School District
Morgan Hill Unified School District
The Morgan Hill Unified School District operates ten elementary schools , three middle schools , and three high schools in the greater San Jose, California area. The district has 400 FTE teachers serving 8809 students...
, and Santa Clara Unified School District
Santa Clara Unified School District
The Santa Clara Unified School District operates sixteen elementary schools , three middle schools , three high schools , and one K-12 school in Santa Clara, California, the Alviso neighborhood of San Jose, and parts of Sunnyvale teaching 14451 students...
.
Districts using the "feeder" system:
- Campbell Union High School DistrictCampbell Union High School DistrictThe Campbell Union High School District, referred to as the CUHSD, is a school district in the greater San Jose, California, USA area, including Campbell and Saratoga. Its five main campuses, Branham, Del Mar, Leigh, Prospect, and Westmont, serve more than 7800 students, and employ 550 teachers and...
receives students from:- CambrianCambrian School DistrictThe Cambrian School District operates four elementary schools , one middle school and one alternative school in San Jose, California, USA. The district has 147 teachers serving 3,041 students.Note: Based on 2006-07 school year data...
- Campbell UnionCampbell Union School DistrictThe Campbell Union School District is an American school district for Primary schools in the greater San Jose, California area. It was established in 1921. As of 2010, it served the communities of Campbell, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, San Jose, and Santa Clara...
- Luther BurbankLuther Burbank School DistrictThe Luther Burbank School District is located in San Jose, California, USA.-Elementary schools:*Luther Burbank Elementary School serves 440 students in kindergarten through grade eight, as well as 70 preschoolers. As of the 2003/2004 school year, 85 percent of the student body was Hispanic, 5...
- MorelandMoreland School DistrictThe Moreland School District operates four K-5 grade elementary schools, one K-8 school, and one grade 6-8 middle school in San Jose, California, United States. The district's FTE teachers serve around 4,025 ADA students. It was established in 1851, the oldest known rural school district in...
- Union School DistrictUnion School District, San JoseThe Union School District operates six elementary schools and two middle schools in the greater San Jose, California, USA area. The district serves 4400 students...
.
- Cambrian
- East Side Union High School DistrictEast Side Union High School DistrictThe East Side Union High School District administrates 18 high schools with a combined enrollment of approximately 24,500 students in the area of San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. The schools include 11 comprehensive or traditional and 7 alternative high school programs. An Adult Education...
receives students from:- Alum Rock UnionAlum Rock Union School DistrictThe Alum Rock Union School District operates nineteen elementary schools and seven middle schools in the greater San Jose, California, USA area.-External links:* * Alum Rock, California...
- Berryessa UnionBerryessa Union School DistrictThe Berryessa Union School District operates eleven elementary schools and three middle schools in Berryessa, San Jose, California, USA...
- Evergreen ElementaryEvergreen Elementary School DistrictThe Evergreen School District operates fifteen elementary schools and three middle schools in San Jose, California, USA. The district has 564 teachers serving 12621 students.Notes: Partiality based on 2002-2003 school year data...
- Franklin-McKinleyFranklin-McKinley School DistrictThe Franklin-McKinley School District operates 14 elementary schools and two junior high schools in San Jose, California, USA. The district has 505 teachers serving 9953 students.School Facts...
- Mount Pleasant ElementaryMount Pleasant Elementary School DistrictThe Mount Pleasant Elementary School District operates five pre-high schools in San Jose, California, USA. The district has 143 teachers serving 2849 students.School FactsSchool NameStudentsFTE TeachersPupil/Teacher RatioLow gradeHigh grade...
- Oak Grove
- Orchard ElementaryOrchard Elementary School DistrictOrchard School District is an elementary public school district consisting about 1,100 students in one school, located in northeast San Jose, California.-External links:* * * at greatschools.net...
- Alum Rock Union
- Fremont Union High School DistrictFremont Union High School DistrictThe Fremont Union High School District is a school district in Northern California, serving Cupertino, most of Sunnyvale and parts of San Jose, Los Altos, Saratoga, and Santa Clara. As of 2004, it serves over 9,500 students...
receives students from:- Cupertino Union School DistrictCupertino Union School DistrictThe Cupertino Union School District covers the city of Cupertino, California, and parts of San Jose, Sunnyvale, Saratoga, Santa Clara, and Los Altos, California. The CUSD operates twenty elementary schools and five middle schools...
.
- Cupertino Union School District
- Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School DistrictLos Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School DistrictThe Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District is a high school district in the greater San Jose, California, USA area. It operates two high schools :Note: Based on 2002-2003 school year data....
receives students from- Los Gatos Union School DistrictLos Gatos Union School DistrictThe Los Gatos Union School District is a school district in Los Gatos, California, USA. It operates the following schools:Note: Based on 2002-2003 school year data-External links:*...
. - Stratford Middle School
- Saratoga Union School District
- Los Gatos Union School District
Annexation issue
Prior to 1954, California law required cities and school districtSchool district
School districts are a form of special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools.-United States:...
s to have the same boundaries. When San Jose began expanding, rural school districts became one of the major opponents, as their territory and tax base was taken by the city. The city's legislators pushed a bill through the California Legislature, removing that requirement, and ending much of the opposition. The result is a patchwork of local school districts in the areas annexed after 1954.
Private education
Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San José; in California is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It comprises Santa Clara County, and is led by a bishop. Its patron saints are Saint Joseph and Saint Clare of...
has the second largest student population in the Santa Clara County, behind only SJUSD; the diocese and its parishes operate several schools in the city, including six high schools: Archbishop Mitty High School
Archbishop Mitty High School
Archbishop Mitty High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school located in San Jose, California, USA. The school is named for the late Archbishop John Joseph Mitty, the fourth Archbishop of San Francisco. It was the first diocesan Catholic high school in the Santa Clara Valley...
, Bellarmine College Preparatory
Bellarmine College Preparatory
Bellarmine College Preparatory is an all-male, private secondary school located in San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1851, it is the oldest secondary school in California....
, Notre Dame High School, Saint Francis High School
Saint Francis High School (Mountain View)
Saint Francis High School, founded in 1954 by the Brothers of Holy Cross, is a Roman Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory secondary school located in Mountain View, CA. The Brothers of Holy Cross serve both on the faculty and on the Board of Directors...
, St. Lawrence High School
Saint Lawrence Academy
Saint Lawrence Academy, SL, a college-preparatory Roman Catholic high school in Santa Clara, California, USA, was founded in 1975. It stresses its small size, which translates to close interaction among students, administration, faculty, and counselors. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese...
, and Presentation High School
Presentation High School
Presentation High School is a private, Catholic, college preparatory school for girls established in 1962. It is owned and run by the Sisters of the Presentation, and operates within the Diocese of San Jose in California...
. Other private high schools not run by the Diocese include two Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
high schools, Liberty Baptist School
Private schools in San Jose, California
There are 50 private schools in San Jose, California, USA .School FactsSchool NameLow gradeHigh gradeStudentsFTE TeachersAchiever Christian Elementary SchoolK537120.6...
and White Road Baptist Academy
Private schools in San Jose, California
There are 50 private schools in San Jose, California, USA .School FactsSchool NameLow gradeHigh gradeStudentsFTE TeachersAchiever Christian Elementary SchoolK537120.6...
, one Non-Denominational Protestant
Non-denominational Christianity
In Christianity, nondenominational institutions or churches are those not formally aligned with an established denomination, or that remain otherwise officially autonomous. This, however, does not preclude an identifiable standard among such congregations...
high school, Valley Christian High School (San Jose, California)
Valley Christian High School (San Jose, California)
Valley Christian High School is a Christian secondary school located in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1956 by Dave Wallace. , the school principal is Mark A. Lodewyk...
, and a nonsectarian K-12 Harker School
The Harker School
The Harker School is a private, co-educational, non-profit college preparatory school in San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1893 as Manzanita Hall by Frank Cramer, Harker now has three campuses: Bucknall, Blackford, and Saratoga, named for the streets on which they lie. Bucknall is...
west of the city in the Blackford neighborhood.
San Jose library system
The San Jose Public Library system is unique in that the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. LibraryDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library is a 136 foot tall public library in Downtown San Jose, California, United States that opened on August 1, 2003. As of 2007, it is the largest library building in the western United States built in a single construction project with over 475,000 square feet ...
combines the collections of the city's system with the San Jose State University main library. In 2003, construction of the library, which now holds more than 1.6 million items, was the largest single library construction project west of the Mississippi, with eight floors that result in more than 475000 square feet (44,128.9 m²) of space with a capacity for 2 million volumes.
The city has 21 neighborhood branches (17 of them open and not currently undergoing renovation or reconstruction) including the Biblioteca Latinoamericana which specializes in Spanish language works. The East San Jose Carnegie Branch Library
East San Jose Carnegie Branch Library
The East San Jose Carnegie Branch Library is a Carnegie library in San Jose, California, USA. It opened in 1908, and is the last Carnegie library in Santa Clara County still operating as a public library. It is a part of the San José Public Library....
, a Carnegie library
Carnegie library
A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems...
opened in 1908, is the last Carnegie library in Santa Clara County still operating as a public library and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. As the result of a bond measure passed in November 2000, a number of brand new or completely reconstructed branches have been completed and opened. The four branches currently undergoing construction are the Calabazas Branch, the Educational Park Branch, the Seventrees Branch, and the Bascom Branch and Community Center. The yet-to-be-named brand new Southeast Branch is also planned, bringing the bond library project to its completion.
The San Jose system (along with the University system) were jointly named as "Library of the Year" by the Library Journal in 2004.
Attractions
Parks, gardens, and other outdoor recreational sites
- Almaden Quicksilver County ParkAlmaden Quicksilver County ParkAlmaden Quicksilver County Park is a 4,147 acres park that includes the grounds of former mercury mines adjacent to south San Jose, California, USA...
, 4147 acres (16.8 km²) of former mercury mines in South San Jose (operated and maintained by the County of Santa Clara, Parks and Recreation Department). - Alum Rock ParkAlum Rock ParkAlum Rock Park, founded in 1872, was the first municipal park in the U.S. state of California. Located in a valley in the Diablo Range foothills on the east side of San Jose, the 720 acre park offers 13 miles of trails, varying from fairly level along Penitencia Creek to sharp switchbacks...
, 718 acres (2.9 km²) in East San Jose, the oldest municipal park in California and one of the largest municipal parks in the United States. - Emma Prusch Farm ParkEmma Prusch Farm Park-History:The land for this farm park was donated by Emma Prusch to San Jose, California in 1962 to keep for agricultural purposes, and provides an introduction to farm life. The park is operated as a small farm by the City of San Jose, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services...
, 43.5 acres (176,000 m²) in East San Jose. Donated by Emma Prusch to demonstrate the valley's agricultural past, it includes a 4-H4-H4-H in the United States is a youth organization administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture , with the mission of "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development." The name represents...
barn (the largest in San Jose), community gardens, a rare-fruit orchard, demonstration gardens, picnic areas, and expanses of lawn. - Circle of Palms PlazaCircle of Palms PlazaThe Circle of Palms Plaza is located in downtown San Jose, California. It is the location of California Historical Marker 461, the site of California's first state capital from 1849-1851...
, a ring of palm trees surrounding a California state seal and historical landmark at the site of the first state capitol - Kelley ParkKelley ParkKelley Park in San Jose, California, USA is 156 acres , including diverse facilities such as Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, the Japanese Friendship Garden, History Park at Kelley Park, Portuguese Historical Museum, and Viet Museum within the history park...
, including diverse facilities such as Happy Hollow Park & ZooHappy Hollow Park & Zoo-External links:...
(a child-centric amusement park), the Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park)Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park)The Japanese Friendship Garden is a walled section of Kelley Park in San Jose, California, USA. Dedicated in October 1965, it is patterned after Japan's famous Korakuen Garden in Okayama . The three main ponds were stocked with koi sent from Okayama in 1966...
, History Park at Kelley ParkHistory Park at Kelley ParkHistory Park at Kelley Park in San Jose, California, USA is designed as an indoor/outdoor museum, arranged to appear as a small US town might have in the early 1900s...
, and the Portuguese Historical MuseumPortuguese Historical MuseumThe Portuguese Historical Museum in San Jose, California, USA opened in 1997, and is a replica of the first permanent império built in San Jose circa 1915...
within the history park - Overfelt GardensOverfelt GardensOverfelt Gardens is a park in San Jose, California, USA.-History:The land for the park was donated by Mildred Overfelt in 1959, in memory of her parents, William and Mary Overfelt, early San Jose pioneers that started grain and dairy farms in the 1860s....
, including the Chinese Cultural GardenChinese Cultural GardenThe Chinese Cultural Garden occupies of Overfelt Gardens park in San Jose, California. The addition of the Chinese Cultural Garden to Overfelt is primarily the work of Chinese immigrant Frank Lowe, his wife Pauline , and Dr... - Plaza de César ChávezPlaza de Cesar ChavezPlaza de César Chávez is a 2.2-acre park in Downtown San Jose, California, USA, named after César Chávez in 1993. It is surrounded by South Market Street, across which is The Tech Museum of Innovation, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Circle of Palms Plaza and the Fairmont San Jose Hotel...
, a small park in Downtown, hosts outdoor concerts and the Christmas in the Park display - Raging WatersRaging WatersRaging Waters is the name of three water theme parks located in Sacramento, San Dimas, and San Jose, California. They are the largest water parks in the state of California. The three parks are owned by Palace Entertainment but each contains different attractions...
, water parkWater parkA waterpark is an amusement park that features waterplay areas, such as water slides, splash pads, spraygrounds , lazy rivers, or other recreational bathing, swimming, and barefooting environments...
with water slideWater slideA water slide is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size...
s and other water attractions. This sits within Lake CunninghamLake CunninghamLake Cunningham Park is an artificial lake in East San Jose, California, near the Eastridge Mall and Eastridge Transit Center. It is not a geological feature recognized in the Geographic Names Information System . It is located on Capitol Expressway and stands next to Reid-Hillview Airport...
Park - Rosicrucian ParkRosicrucian ParkRosicrucian Park is the headquarters of the English Grand Lodge for the Americas of AMORC, located in San Jose, California. The park takes up nearly an entire city block and includes the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, the administration building for the Order, the Rosicrucian Planetarium, the...
, nearly an entire city block in the Rose Garden neighborhood; the Park offers a setting of Egyptian and Moorish architecture set among lawns, rose gardens, statuary, and fountains, and includes the Rosicrucian Egyptian MuseumRosicrucian Egyptian MuseumThe Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum , founded by the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, is a museum about Ancient Egypt located at AMORC's Rosicrucian Park in the Rose Garden neighborhood of San Jose, California, United States....
, Planetarium, Research Library, Peace Garden and Visitors Center - San Jose Flea MarketSan Jose Flea MarketThe San Jose Flea Market, located in the heart of the Silicon Valley, was founded by George Bumb Sr. in March 1960. His idea to open a flea market sparked while working in the solid waste and landfill business. He witnessed an abundance of treasures thrown away every day and realized he could make...
- San Jose Municipal Rose GardenSan Jose Municipal Rose GardenThe San Jose Municipal Rose Garden is a rose garden located at the intersection of Naglee Avenue and Dana Avenue, San Jose, California, in the Rose Garden neighborhood. It is open to the public daily without charge. Dogs are not allowed....
, 5½ acre (22,000 m²) park in the Rose Garden neighborhood, featuring over 4,000 rose bushes - Winchester Mystery HouseWinchester Mystery HouseThe Winchester Mystery House is a well-known mansion in California. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. It was continuously under construction for 38 years and is reported to be haunted. It now serves as a tourist attraction...
in San Jose.
Trails
San Jose's trail network offers over 53 miles (85.3 km) of recreational and commute trails throughout the City. The major trails in the network include:- Coyote Creek Trail
- Guadalupe River TrailGuadalupe River TrailThe Guadalupe River Trail is an pedestrian and bicycle path in the city of San Jose, California. The path runs along the banks of the Guadalupe River. The trail is currently composed of two discontinuous segments...
- Los Gatos Creek TrailLos Gatos Creek TrailThe Los Gatos Creek Trail is a 9.7-mile pedestrian and bicycle trail that runs through western Santa Clara County in California, from Lexington Reservoir in Los Gatos, California through Campbell, California to Meridian Avenue in San Jose, California alongside Los Gatos Creek...
- Los Alamitos Creek Trail
- Penitencia Creek Trail
- Silver Creek Valley Trail
This large urban trail network, recognized by Prevention Magazine as the nation's largest, is linked to trails in surrounding jurisdictions and many rural trails in surrounding open space and foothills.
Museums, libraries, and other cultural collections
- Children's Discovery Museum of San JoseChildren's Discovery Museum of San JoseChildren's Discovery Museum of San Jose is located on Woz Way in downtown San Jose, California. Woz Way is named after Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, whose nickname is "Woz," and who was the single largest private donor during the original capital campaign that funded the...
- History Park at Kelley ParkHistory Park at Kelley ParkHistory Park at Kelley Park in San Jose, California, USA is designed as an indoor/outdoor museum, arranged to appear as a small US town might have in the early 1900s...
- Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven StudiesIra F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven StudiesThe Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies serves as a museum, research center, and host of lectures and performances devoted solely to the life and works of Ludwig van Beethoven. It is the only institution of its kind in North America and holds the largest collection of Beethoven works and...
, home of the largest BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
collection outside Europe - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. LibraryDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. LibraryThe Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library is a 136 foot tall public library in Downtown San Jose, California, United States that opened on August 1, 2003. As of 2007, it is the largest library building in the western United States built in a single construction project with over 475,000 square feet ...
, the largest U.S. public library west of Mississippi River - Mexican Heritage PlazaMexican Heritage PlazaThe Mexican Heritage Plaza is a museum and cultural center in San José, California, USA that opened in 1999. It is operated by the City of San Jose....
, a museum and cultural center for Mexican Americans in the area - Portuguese Historical MuseumPortuguese Historical MuseumThe Portuguese Historical Museum in San Jose, California, USA opened in 1997, and is a replica of the first permanent império built in San Jose circa 1915...
- Rosicrucian Egyptian MuseumRosicrucian Egyptian MuseumThe Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum , founded by the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, is a museum about Ancient Egypt located at AMORC's Rosicrucian Park in the Rose Garden neighborhood of San Jose, California, United States....
, the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on display in the western United States, located at Rosicrucian ParkRosicrucian ParkRosicrucian Park is the headquarters of the English Grand Lodge for the Americas of AMORC, located in San Jose, California. The park takes up nearly an entire city block and includes the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, the administration building for the Order, the Rosicrucian Planetarium, the... - San Jose Museum of ArtSan Jose Museum of ArtThe San Jose Museum of Art is an art museum in Downtown San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1969, the museum hosts a large permanent collection emphasizing West Coast artists of the 20th- and 21st-century. It is located next to the Circle of Palms Plaza and Plaza de César Chávez...
- The Tech Museum of InnovationThe Tech Museum of InnovationThe Tech Museum of Innovation, or simply The Tech, is a museum located in the heart of Silicon Valley, in downtown San Jose, California USA.-History:...
- San Jose Steam Railroad Museum, proposed, artifacts and rolling stock are kept at the fairgrounds and Kelley Park
- History San José
- Old Bank of America Building a historic landmark
Sports and event venues
- HP Pavilion at San Jose—home of the NHLNational Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
's San Jose SharksSan Jose SharksThe San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
, and the AFL's San Jose SaberCatsSan Jose SaberCatsThe San Jose SaberCats are a professional arena football team in the Arena Football League. They began play as a 1995 expansion team. They played in the Western Division of the American Conference. Their final coach in the original Arena Football League was Darren Arbet, who will be a part of the... - San Jose Municipal StadiumSan Jose Municipal StadiumThe San Jose Municipal Stadium, or Muni Stadium in common usage, is the home of the minor league baseball San Jose Giants, the Advanced A league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants located in San Jose, California. The Giants play in the northern division of the California League...
, home of the minor league San Jose GiantsSan Jose GiantsThe San Jose Giants are a minor league baseball team in San Jose, California, USA. They are a Class A - Advanced team in the Northern Division of the California League, and have been a farm team of the San Francisco Giants since 1988. Home games are played at San Jose Municipal Stadium...
. - Spartan StadiumSpartan Stadium (San Jose)Spartan Stadium, located in San Jose, California, is the official stadium of the San José State University Spartans athletics teams. It is currently the home of the Spartan football and soccer teams....
, home of San Jose State University football, MLLMajor League LacrosseMajor League Lacrosse, or MLL, is a professional men's field lacrosse league that is made up of five teams in the United States and one team in Canada.- History :...
's San Francisco DragonsSan Francisco DragonsThe San Francisco Dragons were a professional field lacrosse team based in San Francisco and San Jose, California. From 2006–2008, they played in Major League Lacrosse and they ceased operations before the 2009 season due to the economic situation in the United States.-Franchise history:The San...
, and the previous home of Major League SoccerMajor League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
's San Jose EarthquakesSan Jose EarthquakesThe San Jose Earthquakes professional soccer team is located in the San Jose, California, United States suburb of Santa Clara, and participates in Major League Soccer , the top level soccer league in the United States and Canada....
. - San Jose Convention CenterSan Jose Convention CenterThe San Jose Convention Center is the main convention center for the city of San Jose, California. It is located in close proximity to several others of San Jose's convention and cultural structures. Its formal name is the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, in recognition of former mayor Tom...
—home of the CBAContinental Basketball AssociationThe Continental Basketball Association was a professional men's basketball league in the United States, which has been on hiatus since the 2009 season.- History :...
's San Jose Sky RocketsSan Jose Sky RocketsThe San Jose Sky Rockets were a 2005-2006 expansion team in the American Basketball Association . The team switched leagues from the ABA to the Continental Basketball Association over the spring of 2006 and was relocated to Minot, North Dakota....
until the team's departure in 2006 to North DakotaNorth DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
. - San Jose Jazz FestivalSan Jose Jazz FestivalThe San José Jazz Festival is an annual jazz festival organized by the San Jose Jazz Society and held in downtown San Jose, California, USA. The festival was established in 1990, and is mainly outdoors....
, held annually in downtown San Jose - San Jose ImprovSan Jose ImprovThe San Jose Improv is a comedy club located in San Jose, California.-History:Formerly known as the Jose Theater, built in 1904, is the oldest theater in San Jose, located on Second Street, near San Fernando Street. Construction of the Jose was started in 1903, under the ownership of David Jacks,...
, San Jose's oldest theater, home for the San Jose Improv Comedy ClubSan Jose ImprovThe San Jose Improv is a comedy club located in San Jose, California.-History:Formerly known as the Jose Theater, built in 1904, is the oldest theater in San Jose, located on Second Street, near San Fernando Street. Construction of the Jose was started in 1903, under the ownership of David Jacks,...
.
Other structures
- Cathedral Basilica of St. JosephCathedral Basilica of St. Joseph (San Jose)-External links:* *...
, the oldest parish in California - Lick ObservatoryLick ObservatoryThe Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by the University of California. It is situated on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, USA...
, home of what was once the largest telescopeTelescopeA telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
in the world - Sikh Gurdwara - San JoseSikh Gurdwara - San JoseThe Sikh Gurdwara or Sikh Gurdwara - San Jose was founded in San Jose, California, USA in 1985 by leaders of the then-rapidly growing Santa Clara Valley Sikh community. Initially they met in a rented community center, but soon bought a small building in east San Jose...
, the largest GurdwaraGurdwaraA Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....
(a SikhSikhA Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
temple) in the United States - Peralta AdobePeralta AdobeThe Peralta Adobe is the oldest building in San Jose, California, built in 1797. It is named after Luis María Peralta, its most famous resident. The original builder was probably Manuel González, an Apache Indian....
, a restored adobeAdobeAdobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
home showing the lifestyle of Spanish and Mexican California - Winchester Mystery HouseWinchester Mystery HouseThe Winchester Mystery House is a well-known mansion in California. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. It was continuously under construction for 38 years and is reported to be haunted. It now serves as a tourist attraction...
, a sprawling, 160-room Victorian mansion built by Sarah Winchester - Raging WatersRaging WatersRaging Waters is the name of three water theme parks located in Sacramento, San Dimas, and San Jose, California. They are the largest water parks in the state of California. The three parks are owned by Palace Entertainment but each contains different attractions...
, the largest water park in Northern California with 23 acres (93,077.8 m²) and millions of gallons of water
Media
NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
11's KNTV
KNTV
KNTV, channel 11, is the NBC owned-and-operated television station in the Bay Area market. It is licensed to San Jose, with its transmitter located on San Bruno Mountain, just south of San Francisco. It shares facilities in San Jose with NBC Universal sister station KSTS and CNBC's Silicon...
is licensed to San Jose. San Jose is served by Greater Bay Area media. Media outlets in San Jose include the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
, San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, The Oakland Tribune
The Oakland Tribune
The Oakland Tribune is a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group , a subsidiary of MediaNews Group...
and various smaller newspapers and magazines, thirty-four television stations, twenty-four AM radio stations, and fifty-five FM radio stations.
In April 1909, Charles David Herrold, an electronics instructor in San Jose, constructed a radio station to broadcast the human voice. The station "San Jose Calling" (call letters FN, later FQW), was the world's first radio station with scheduled programming targeted at a general audience. The station became the first to broadcast music in 1910. Herrold's wife Sybil became the first female "disk jockey" in 1912. The station changed hands a number of times before eventually becoming today's KCBS
KCBS (AM)
KCBS is an all-news radio station in San Francisco, California, that is a key West Coast flagship radio station of the CBS Radio Network and Westwood One. Its transmitter is located in Novato, California. KCBS currently has studios on Battery Street, where it shares the location with co-owned KPIX...
in San Francisco. Therefore KCBS technically is the oldest radio station in the United States, and celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2009 with much fanfare.
Cultural references to San Jose
- It is referenced in "Do You Know the Way to San JoseDo You Know the Way to San Jose"Do You Know the Way to San Jose" is a popular song written for Dionne Warwick by Burt Bacharach and Hal David . Introduced on the 1968 RIAA Certified Gold album Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" was issued as the follow-up single to the double-sided hit "...
", with lyrics by Hal DavidHal DavidHarold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...
and music by Burt BacharachBurt BacharachBurt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
. It became a Grammy-winning 1968 hit single (Pop #10, R&B #23) for Dionne WarwickDionne WarwickDionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, her version categorized Scepter RecordsScepter RecordsScepter Records is a record company founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg. She had just sold Tiara Records with The Shirelles for $4000 to Decca Records. When The Shirelles didn't produce any hits for Decca, they were given back to Greenberg, who promptly signed them. By 1961 Greenberg launched a...
12216; more than 100 other known recordings exist. - Michaela RoessnerMichaela RoessnerMichaela-Marie Roessner-Hermann is an American science-fiction writer publishing under the name Michaela Roessner. Born in San Francisco, she was raised in California, New York, Pennsylvania, Thailand, and Oregon...
's Vanishing Point, (Tor, New York, 1993, ISBN 0-312-85213-4) a post-apocalyptic novel, is largely set in San Jose. In the book, many South Bay survivors have gathered to live in the Winchester Mystery HouseWinchester Mystery HouseThe Winchester Mystery House is a well-known mansion in California. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. It was continuously under construction for 38 years and is reported to be haunted. It now serves as a tourist attraction...
and the nearby Century TheatresCentury TheatresCentury Theatres is a movie theater chain which operates many multiplexes in the western United States, primarily in California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. In recent years, it has expanded into the inter-mountain states, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, and parts of the Midwest...
dome. - British studio quartet The First ClassThe First ClassThe First Class was a British pop music studio-based group, put together by songwriter and record producer John Carter.-Career:The First Class was the studio creation of the British singer-songwriter John Carter and singers Tony Burrows and Chas Mills as an outlet for material Carter wrote with his...
had a 1974 Billboard #4 hit "Beach Baby", containing the lyric "We couldn't wait for graduation day, we took the car and drove to San Jose. That's where you told me that you'd wear my ring, I guess you don't remember anything." - A chapter in the book White FangWhite FangWhite Fang is a novel by American author Jack London. First serialized in Outing magazine, it was published in 1906. The story takes place in Yukon Territory, Canada, during the Klondike Gold Rush at the end of the 19th-century, and details a wild wolfdog's journey to domestication...
has some references to San Jose. - Artist Jeremy BlakeJeremy BlakeJeremy Blake was an American digital artist and painter. His work included projected DVD installations, Type C prints, and collaborative film projects.-Biography:...
referenced San Jose's Winchester Mystery HouseWinchester Mystery HouseThe Winchester Mystery House is a well-known mansion in California. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. It was continuously under construction for 38 years and is reported to be haunted. It now serves as a tourist attraction...
in his Winchester series. - A chapter in the book The Kite RunnerThe Kite RunnerThe Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it is Hosseini's first novel, and was adapted into a film of the same name in 2007....
mentions San Jose and the San Jose Flea Market. - The 2006 independent film Valley Of The Heart's Delight, featuring Pete PostlethwaitePete PostlethwaitePeter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
as a scheming newspaper publisher, is based on an actual kidnapping, murder, cover up, and mob lynching which took place in San Jose in 1933.
See also
- List of California public officials charged with crimes, San Jose
- List of people from San Jose, California
- List of school districts in Santa Clara County, California
- Origins of street names in San Jose, CaliforniaOrigins of street names in San Jose, California* Berryessa family: Berryessa Road* Julian Hanks: Julian Street * Charles White: White Road* James Frazier Reed: Reed Street** wife Margaret: Margaret Street** daughter Virginia: Virginia Street** daughter Marthe: Martha Street...
- San Jose Police Department
Further reading
- Beilharz, Edwin A.; and DeMers Jr., Donald O.; San Jose: California's First City; 1980, ISBN 0-932986-13-7
- The California Room, the San Jose Library's collection of research materials on the history of San Jose and Santa Clara Valley.
External links
- City of San Jose Official Website
- Experience San Jose – Convention and Visitors Bureau
- San Jose Wiki
- San Jose Library (partnership of the university and public libraries)
- Photos of San Jose—1975 vs. 2005
- San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
- Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley
- Pacific Neighbors San Jose Sister Cities Program
- San-Jose–Dublin Sister City Program
- San Jose and Santa Clara Election Information
- Santa Clara County: California’s Historic Silicon Valley, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
- San Jose Community Center Tour
- Trail network website