Downtown San Jose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Downtown San José is the central business district of San José, California, United States. The area is generally located north of Interstate 280 and east of Guadalupe Parkway, which roughly parallels Guadalupe River. The region is bound to the north by U.S. Route 101 and to the east by Coyote Creek.
The town was first settled in 1777, when the town of San José moved somewhat inland from its original location on the banks of the Guadalupe River. In 1850 San José incorporated to become California's first city and the location for California's first state Capitol. The area was a typical small city downtown until the aggressive expansion of San José into surrounding areas led by A. P. Hamann forced city spending to the outlying areas and led to downtown's decline. In the 1980s, mayor Tom McEnery, whose family owned several buildings in downtown, initiated significant redevelopment. Since its inception the San José Redevelopment Agency that has spent approximately $1.7 billion to revitalize the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. This has included since 2000 the innovative [Strong Neighborhoods Initiative] http://www.strongneighborhoods.org which involves residents in creating and implementing an action agenda to improve their own neighborhood.
Today San José is the third largest city in California behind Los Angeles and San Diego and the tenth largest city in the United States.
The ZIP code for the business district of downtown San José is 95113, and the residential area is covered by ZIP codes 95110, 95112 and 95113.
[edit] Business district
Downtown San José is noted for its pedestrian-friendly scale, with buildings not exceeding 27 stories in height (City Hall is 18 stories and the Fairmont Hotel are both 17 stories, with planned buildings up to 22-24 stories (Emporis.com)), due to its location near Mineta San José International Airport. Despite the height restrictions, the area is home to many of the city's landmarks, including the headquarters of Adobe Systems, BEA Systems, the San José Museum of Art, the Tech Museum of Innovation, the San José Museum of Quilts & Textiles, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. HP Pavilion at San José, just west of Guadalupe Parkway, is also normally considered to be "in" downtown.
Downtown is the home of several important network service providers and Internet service providers, many of them located in Market Post Tower. Although the cost of office and technical space is relatively high downtown, this is offset by the low cost of peering and internetworking, an effect of proximity to other networking companies.
Many of the public areas of downtown San José are covered by a public, free, Wi-Fi network, including the areas surrounding Plaza de César Chávez and San Pedro Square. Downtown is also the hub of the VTA's light rail system, and the home of the main campus of San José State University. Many of the 19th century buildings in central downtown are designated on the National Register of Historic Places, in particular the area surrounding St. James Park.
[edit] Residential district
The residential areas of Downtown San José are now both inside the downtown core and surrounding the core. With more than 27 recognized, active neighborhood associations San Jose takes pride in the civic engagement of its downtown residents. In spite of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake a number of neighborhoods retain their original, pre-1906 housing stock, these neighborhoods include the South University, Naglee Park, Hensley Historic District, Reed Historic District and Vendome neighborhoods. Downtown San José's early 20th century housing is diverse and includes Victorian, primarily smaller homes with a few fairly large gingerbread or Italianate-style Victorians, Craftsman, Mission and California Bungalow architecture in the neighborhoods surrounding the downtown core.
The downtown residential area consisted of primarily Caucasian residents through the mid-twentieth century, a notable exception was (in today's) the Northside Neighborhood where people of color were invited to establish their homes and their lives freely. With a vibrant African-American community and a Chinatown that grew into today's Japantown San Jose's Northside welcomed everyone and helped to form the inclusive, diverse and vibrant San José of today. Today San José is recognized as a plurality with no single ethnic majority, the Latino and Vietnamese American communities represent a significant percentage of the region's residents since the latter portion of the twentieth century; the Vietnamese-American population forms the largest Vietnamese immigrant population in the United States. Downtown San Jose has an array of housing options available, unique neighborhoods are readily recognized by downtown residents. Within the downtown there exist a number of low income neighborhoods as well as neighborhoods that have been gentrified such as Naglee Park, Hyde Park and Vendome area neighborhoods.
[edit] External links
- San Jose Downtown Association
- San Jose Redevelopment Agency
- National Park Service page about the San José Downtown Historic District
- San José McEnery Convention Center
- Downtown San Jose is at coordinates Coordinates:
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