Schmap San Jose and Silicon Valley Neighborhood Guide

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San Jose and Silicon Valley - Neighborhood Guide
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San Jose and Silicon Valley Home
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Given the number of towns and communities annexed by San Jose in the 1950s, to say nothing of the many neighboring cities considered part of the San Jose metropolitan area (and not even considering the larger sphere of Silicon Valley), exact definitions of the city's neighborhoods are all but impossible. San Jose residents will argue amongst themselves about where one community ends and another begins. What can be said with certainty is that the whole metropolis is a fascinating, dynamic and almost infinitely varied mosaic. We'll introduce you to some of San Jose's more important neighborhoods, as well as the neighboring cities and towns of greater Silicon Valley.

Downtown San Jose

An extensive 1980s facelift gave formerly downtrodden downtown San Jose a spate of five-star hotels and museums, a convention center, and an arena on par with any in America. All that was needed was a bit of refinement in the go-go 90s to give it the cosmopolitan air of a world-class city. Thriving, sophisticated, and unquestionably moneyed, downtown feels (if only because the rest of Silicon Valley is so decentralized) like the Capital of Silicon Valley. Looking out over the Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park, The Fairmont Hotel reigns over a bevy of beautiful luxury hotels; nearby are the stately Hyatt Sainte Claire and Hotel DeAnza. The very number of popular bars and restaurants, some of them very of-the-moment, present a challenge to the visitor. The galleries, coffeehouses and theaters of the SoFA (South of First Street) district give downtown a bit of SoMa/SoHo urban chic.

Among the recent additions to the civic and architectural profile of San Jose's downtown are the San Jose Arena (home rink of the NHL's San Jose Sharks), the massive San Jose McEnry Convention Center, the Tech Museum of Innovation, Children's Discovery Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose Center for Performing Arts, and San Jose Repertory Theater. In addition to being a cultural and entertainment magnet, San Jose's is a working downtown: software giant Adobe occupies Adobe Towers, which covers a highly conspicuous block of valuable real estate; the nearby Park Center Plaza is home to a number of financial and technical enterprises.

Downtown San Jose's parks give what could be a somewhat forbidding technopolis into a pleasantly human scale. The 210-year-old Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park is the original plaza of the first Spanish pueblo and the site of outdoor music festivals and other events. Spacious Guadalupe River Park and Gardens is an attractive work-in-progress, giving breathing space to an increasingly congested city center. St. James Park is interesting for its history (it was, among other things, the site of the last lynching to be held in California) but its denizens day and night are by and large the city's homeless.

Much like supposedly more rakish, cosmopolitan San Francisco, San Jose's downtown pretty much shuts down by 11pm most nights, though one can find activity here and there until 1am on weekends. The trafficked areas are generally safe both in the day and the evening, though one is advised against wandering too far off the beaten path; the city's ongoing urban renewal is by no means complete, and the edges of the city center can get a bit sketchy.

Willow Glen

Willow Glen is a small and attractive residential community with a reputation for some of San Jose's most beautiful homes, built mostly in the 1930s in the Southwestern, Colonial and Italian style. The community displays an undeniable civic pride with manicured lawns, well-tended flowers, and precious mailboxes. Willow Glen sits just southwest of downtown San Jose, yet has an engaging downtown of its own along Lincoln Avenue. One can stroll Lincoln Avenue for everything from coffee (Starbucks, Willow Glen Roasting Company) to billiards (Willow Glen Billiards) to a fair share of restaurants and attractive boutiques. Willow Glen is particularly noted for its antiques (The French Quarter and the inimitable Adopt-A-Doll being two of the most popular shops). Christmastime brings an exceptionally traditional holiday look to the area's houses and businesses.

Homes here tend to be rather pricey. A two-bedroom, 1,100-square-foot "fixer-upper" home could easily list for more than $700,000 (and close for even more than that), but then in the warped framework of Silicon Valley real estate, the prices barely rate raising an eyebrow.

Almaden Valley / Cambrian Park

Almaden Valley and Cambrian Park are nestled in the hills south of downtown San Jose, with an attractive view of the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Teresa Hills. These subdivisions feel different: they tend to be a good 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the San Jose metro area. Though there's little that could be called raw or undeveloped here, the development has been rapid and recent enough that one can still find a small farmhouse nestled between two outsized homes on the same street. On the one hand, these two subdivisions offer slightly lower housing rates and the opportunity to own a bit of land, and are near some beautiful, open country. On the other hand, their status as bedroom communities guarantee glacial traffic towards San Jose and Silicon Valley businesses to the north.

Santa Clara

The historic center of Santa Clara Valley, Santa Clara's Mission Santa Clara de Asis, was founded in 1777 by Father Junipero Serra. A small community of Californios and Ohlones sprang up around it, which has now swelled to about 100,000. The makeup of the population has changed, of course, as has almost everything else about this densely-packed city. Its southern half is residential and largely middle-class. To the north are industrial parks which house some of the real giants of the technology industry: 3Com, Intel, Yahoo!, National Semiconductor, Applied Materials, and Synoptics. The Mission is still there, however (the present building, dating from 1928, is the latest in a series of churches destroyed by floods, earthquakes, and fires), on the grounds of the University of Santa Clara.

San Jose West (Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino)

Known by some as the West Valley. Not actually part of San Jose, the Santa Clara County communities of Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell, and Cupertino all incorporated in the 1950s to escape annexation (See Historical Background). Saratoga (pop. 28,061) and Los Gatos (pop. 27,357) carefully maintain rusticated images, Saratoga as a genteel community of vineyards and gentlemen, and Los Gatos as a quaint, slightly raffish outpost of the maverick billionaires. Both are adamant about being called "towns"; both are very moneyed, and the money tends to be "old" money, which is to say from before 1989. The streets of Los Gatos and Saratoga are lined with Italian and British cars. Homes here are rivaled only by the sumptuous residences of Los Altos Hills. The downtown areas are crammed with exclusive boutiques, galleries, and upscale watering holes. All great places for people-watching.

Campbell (pop. 30,048) and Cupertino (pop. 40,263) are nestled between the borders of San Jose, Los Gatos and Saratoga. Each has a distinct downtown commercial district, but remain mostly residential, bedroom communities. People who move here tend to have children: the Cupertino School District is one of the best in the county. Cupertino is famous as the world headquarters of Apple Computer.

San Jose North (Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Los Altos, Palo Alto)

Just North of San Jose are the incorporated cities of Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Los Altos and Palo Alto (which is not even in Santa Clara County). With this constellation of cities, San Jose is right in the center of the Silicon Valley. For all practical purposes, however, the sprawling Los Angelesization of Santa Clara County (and the area's interconnected economy), make it a useful enough term.

Sunnyvale, with a population of 130,000, is Silicon Valley's second largest city. Though the median age of its residents is 34.5, Sunnyvale is largely without the kind of hopping nightlife you'd expect to find in a younger demographic. But then one would be hard-pressed to find nightlife or culture of any kind in Sunnyvale. What one would find is attractive parks, 17 of them, well-used by bicyclists, runners and inline skaters, and affordable homes. Relatively speaking, that is: the median price of a home in Sunnyvale is a mere $380,477, as compared to a Silicon Valley average of $500,000. Retail stores and service outlets along El Camino Real and in its two main shopping outlets (the Sunnyvale Town Center Mall and the Town and Country Shopping Center) take care of the basic necessities in this work-oriented bedroom community. The northern part of town is given over to the "campuses" of high-technology businesses, including Sunnyvale's primary employers: Advanced Micro Devices, and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space.

Mountain View (pop. 74,000) abuts Palo Alto to the south. Castro Street, the heart of its downtown district, boasts some of the best restaurants, and in greater variety, than almost anywhere else in Silicon Valley. Fresh sushi, complex Thai food, authentic New York-style pizza, and bounteous Indian buffets can all be found in one block here, along with a fairly lively nightlife. Houses in Mountain View tend to be a bit older than elsewhere in the Valley, and pricier, too, as are the rents in its many apartments and condominiums. Mountain View's parks, especially the 660-acre open-space preserve of Shoreline Park. Mountain View is home to Silicon Graphics, Netscape Communication, Sun Microsystems, Hewlitt Packard, and Intuit, among others.

Los Altos adjoins Mountain View and Sunnyvale along the west side of the valley. The homes here and especially in exclusive Los Altos Hills (a separate municipality) are quite expensive. It is not at all uncommon to spend over $2,000,000 on a home in an upscale Los Altos Hills neighborhood. Los Altos is home to 30,000 people, upscale retail shopping, and some light industry; the closest thing to a business Los Altos Hills' 9000 residents allow is Foothill Community College. The hills around to the west of Los Altos Hills are attractive and sparingly developed, if at all, with much of the land given to recreational open space.

Palo Alto (pop. 56,000), in San Mateo County, must be mentioned in any discussion of Silicon Valley, primarily because of Stanford University. One of the state's two premier universities (its perennial arch-rival, Cal, is to the northeast in Berkeley), Stanford, and Palo Alto, is really the cradle of the high-technology industry that grew up into contemporary Silicon Valley. (See Historical Background.) Stanford Research Park, on Page Mill Road, the world's first industrial park, is part of a long, close and successful relationship between the university and the electronics industry. The main Stanford campus is attractive and spacious. (Its uniform California Colonial architectural style stays just this side of monotonous.) Palo Alto today is upmarket, upscale, and expensive, with astronomically priced homes, but it's a great place to shop. With the trendiness of the college crowd and the taste of moneyed yuppies, the stores and excellent restaurants of well-scrubbed University Avenue always draw steady stream shoppers late into the evening. On warm summer nights, stores can be open quite late, in fact, and it's hard to think of a safer shopping district. Stanford Shopping Center drops any pretense of catering to the college crowd and stocks only the best at prices that...well, really, if you have to ask...

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Burbank

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States

Burbank, or the "Media Capital of the World," as it is frequently referred to, is situated in the eastern part of the San Fernando Valley just 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Its residents are mainly upper-middle class employees of the motion picture and media studios that abound in the area, including NBC, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Highly-ranked schools and hospitals attract many residents to the area, and locals and visitors alike enjoy the town's high standard of living. The Los Angeles Equestrian Center, the Starlight Bowl, fine restaurants, Downtown Burbank mall, "Burbank Village" shopping district, theatres, parks and libraries are all attractions of the area.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Ashley Dinges

Photo: Rebecca Feind

Campbell

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
Campbell and Cupertino are nestled between the borders of San Jose, Los Gatos and Saratoga. Each has a distinct downtown commercial district, but remain mostly residential communities. People who move here tend to have children, as these are excellent areas in which to raise a family. Children will delight in visiting Coyote Point, a museum offering educational experiences for children focusing on the interactions between people and nature. For older children and adults, the Winchester Mystery House is a fascinating historic home owned by the heir to the Winchester Fortune. Stairs that lead to the ceiling and doors opening onto blank walls are just a few of the bizarre features of this home.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Travis Harrison
Photo: azulOx

Cupertino

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
Campbell and Cupertino are nestled between the borders of San Jose, Los Gatos and Saratoga. Each has a distinct downtown commercial district, but remain mostly residential communities. People who move here tend to have children: the Cupertino School District is one of the best in the county. Cupertino is famous as the world headquarters of Apple Computer.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Arlette Thibodeau

Downtown San Jose

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
An extensive 1980s facelift gave formerly downtrodden downtown San Jose a spate of five-star hotels and museums, a convention center, and an arena on par with any in America. All that was needed was a bit of refinement in the go-go '90s to give it the cosmopolitan air of a world-class city. Thriving, sophisticated, and unquestionably moneyed, downtown feels (if only because the rest of Silicon Valley is so decentralized) like the capital of Silicon Valley. Looking out over the Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park, The Fairmont Hotel reigns over a bevy of beautiful luxury hotels; nearby are the stately Hyatt Sainte Claire and Hotel DeAnza. The very number of popular bars and restaurants presents a challenge to the visitor. The galleries, coffeehouses and theaters of the SoFA (South of First Street) district give downtown a bit of SoMa/SoHo urban chic.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Japantown

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
Also known as Nihonmachi, or J-town, California's Japantown is considered to be one of the last three remaining historical Japantowns in the United States. It is located just north of downtown San Jose, and acquired its name from the many Japanese Americans who settled here after returning from relocation camps during World War II. Japantown is an authentic ethnic neighborhood with many traditional Japanese restaurants to enjoy. Additional attractions include the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, several manju shops that create the popular Japanese confection, as well as a variety of restaurants and small shops.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Milpitas

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
Milpitas, a small northern suburb of San Jose, is a virtual melting pot of ethnicities and cultures. While predominatly Vietnamese, this middle-class community is filled with a mix of Filipinos, Chinese, Hispanics, Indians, African Americans and Caucasians. This diversity of residents has created a unique culture and strong sense of community in the area. Residents of Milpitas are strong supporters of the arts, which are promoted through the Milpitas Alliance for the Arts. Sculptures in local parks help residents to enjoy art both indoors and out, and the annual Milpitas Arts and Wine Festival is a tribute to the fantastic pairing of California wine and artistic creativity.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Hans Kim
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Mountain View

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
Mountain View abuts Palo Alto to the south. Castro Street, the heart of its downtown district, boasts some of the best restaurants, and in greater variety, than almost anywhere else in Silicon Valley. Fresh sushi, complex Thai food, authentic New York-style pizza, and bounteous Indian buffets can all be found in one block here, along with a fairly lively nightlife. Houses in Mountain View tend to be a bit older than elsewhere in the Valley, and pricier, too, as are the rents in its many apartments and condominiums. Mountain View has great parks, especially the 660-acre open-space preserve of Shoreline Park. Mountain View is home to Silicon Graphics, Netscape Communication, Google, Sun Microsystems, Hewlitt Packard, and Intuit, among others.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Sumit Chachra
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Palo Alto

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
Palo Alto, in San Mateo County, must be mentioned in any discussion of Silicon Valley, primarily because of Stanford University. One of the state's premier universities (its perennial arch-rival, Cal, is to the northeast in Berkeley), Stanford is really the cradle of the high-technology industry that grew up into contemporary Silicon Valley. Stanford Research Park, on Page Mill Road, the world's first industrial park, is part of a long, close and successful relationship between the university and the electronics industry. The main Stanford campus is attractive and spacious. Palo Alto today is upmarket, upscale, and expensive, but it's a great place to shop. With the trendiness of the college crowd and the taste of moneyed yuppies, the stores and excellent restaurants of well-scrubbed University Avenue always draw steady stream shoppers late into the evening.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Santa Clara

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
The historic center of Santa Clara Valley, Santa Clara's Mission Santa Clara de Asis, was founded in 1777 by Father Junipero Serra. A small community of Californios and Ohlones sprang up around it, which has now swelled to about 100,000. The makeup of the population has changed, of course, as has almost everything else about this densely-packed city. Its southern half is residential and largely middle-class. To the north are industrial parks which house some of the real giants of the technology industry: 3Com, Intel, Yahoo!, National Semiconductor, Applied Materials, and Synoptics. The Mission is still there, however (the present building, dating from 1928, is the latest in a series of churches destroyed by floods, earthquakes, and fires), on the grounds of the University of Santa Clara.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Silicon Valley

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
This famed portion of California is located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally dubbed "Silicon Valley" because of the large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers in the area, the name stuck and today represents the multitude of technological corporations doing business there. Considered the home-base for the recent dot-com revolution, the Valley is now dominated by internet and computer-oriented businesses. Thirty-two of the Fortune 500 companies are located in the Valley, including Google, Yahoo! and eBay. It is also a bustling university town, home to top-notch schools such as Stanford, Carnegie Mellon (west coast campus), San Jose State, and Santa Clara.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Sunnyvale

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
Sunnyvale is Silicon Valley's second largest city. Here you can find attractive parks well-used by bicyclists, runners and inline skaters. Retail stores and service outlets along El Camino Real and in its two main shopping outlets (the Sunnyvale Town Center Mall and the Town and Country Shopping Center) take care of the basic necessities in this work-oriented community. The northern part of town is given over to the "campuses" of high-technology businesses, including Sunnyvale's primary employers: Advanced Micro Devices, and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space. The only active military base in the San Francisco Bay area is located in Sunnyvale - the Onizuka Air Force Station, or "blue cube."

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Willow Glen

San Jose and Silicon Valley
United States
Willow Glen is a small and attractive residential community with a reputation for some of San Jose's most beautiful homes, built mostly in the 1930s in the Southwestern, Colonial and Italian style. The community displays an undeniable civic pride with manicured lawns, well-tended flowers, and precious mailboxes. Willow Glen sits just southwest of downtown San Jose, yet has an engaging downtown of its own along Lincoln Avenue. One can stroll Lincoln Avenue for everything from coffee (Starbucks, Willow Glen Roasting Company) to billiards (Willow Glen Billiards) to a fair share of restaurants and attractive boutiques. Willow Glen is particularly noted for its antiques (The French Quarter and the inimitable Adopt-A-Doll being two of the most popular shops). Christmastime brings an exceptionally traditional holiday look to the area's houses and businesses.

Review © 2007, Wcities

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Other Schmapplets in this city related to "San Jose and Silicon Valley - Neighborhood Guide"
San Jose and Silicon Valley
San Jose and Silicon Valley - Historical Background
San Jose and Silicon Valley - Where to Stay
San Jose and Silicon Valley - Dining & Drinking
San Jose and Silicon Valley - Art & Entertainment
Other nearby cities:
San Francisco (50 miles)
Berkeley (60 miles)
Monterey and Carmel (88 miles)
Napa Valley (122 miles)
San Jose and Silicon Valley (145 miles)
Sacramento (145 miles)
Yosemite (202 miles)
Lake Tahoe (261 miles)
Reno (309 miles)
Los Angeles (512 miles)

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