Introducing San Jose
Although it’s a larger city and it anchors Silicon Valley, San Jose (lazily pronounced ‘sanno-zay’ by most of the locals) has always been in San Francisco’s shadow. It’s an old city that has only recently prospered and its downtown is small for a city of its size. Industrial parks, high-tech computer firms and look-alike housing developments have, in the past few decades, come to dominate the city’s landscape, taking over where farms, ranches and open spaces once spread between the bay and the surrounding hills. It sprawls over a frame of freeways and feels more like LA or Phoenix than its near neighbor to the north.
But San Jose is a culturally diverse city that’s packed full of historic buildings, excellent museums and an impressive number of fine restaurants and funky old bars. The city seems to shrug its shoulders at comparisons to San Francisco, and has taken a refreshingly modest approach to establishing its own cultural niche within the greater Bay Area. San Jose’s fun nightlife district is called SOFA (South of First Area), which clearly plays on SF’s SoMa and gets the upper hand in terms of wit. It’s on a stretch of 1st St south of San Carlos St and includes numerous nightclubs, restaurants, galleries and the historic 1927 California Theatre.
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A milkman, pushing a painted wooden cart loaded with milk cans, past a painted wall
- Eric Wheater
- Lonely Planet photographer
