Journeys in Suburbia: Downtown San San Jose--Part 1: Cesar Chavez Park

Downtown San Jose
The R2-D2 building, the last hanging ground in California, and a statue that looks like feces.

Welcome to San Jose, we don't have major landmarks

Introduction
San Jose, California, is the tenth largest city in the United States, the third largest in the State of California, and the self-titled "Capitol of Silicon Valley".  However for its size and importance, San Jose is also really, really boring.

San Jose is a city of techies, and suburbanites. Far fewer people in the World have heard of poor, neglected, San Jose than to the smaller nearby city of San Francisco. Tourism inevitably revolves around two things: the ice hockey powerhouse that is the San Jose Sharks, and the architectural wonder/tourist trap that is the Winchester Mystery House.  Downtown is especially notorious, known to the locals as a region of seedy pawnshops and bars, an area that had declined for decades and no one knew what to do with.

Still, for anyone who finds themselves in Downtown San Jose with an interest in history and culture, there are a few treasures hidden away. Only a few short walks from hotels and convention centers are some interesting parts of California history, controversial public art, and different cultures.

Cesar Chavez Plaza with labeled locations described below. Yellow for history, Green for Public Art, Purple for Museums.

Part 1 will focus on the traditional center of San Jose, Cesar Chavez Plaza, and the sights around it.

 Scale: ***** Must Visit
          ****   Worth Detouring
          ***     If in the Area
          **       May be Worth Visiting-Once
          *         Interest only

1. Cesar Chavez Plaza ***

The center of Downtown San Jose is the Plaza de Cesar Chavez, named after the famed United Farm Workers (UFW) labor leader in 1993. It is the remnant of the old central square of Pueblo de San Jose.  San Jose (Saint Joseph) was established on the banks of the Guadalupe River nearby on November 29, 1777, the first permanent non-mission settlement in California. In 1797, the settlement moved to the area around what is now the Plaza. The Pueblo Plaza was in its heyday under Mexico, known for such things as bullfighting, racing, and a Californian-Mexican (Californio) game called "correr el gallo", where men on horseback would gallop over and try to pull up a greased chicken half-buried in the ground. Nowadays, while the Plaza de Cesar Chavez remains the cultural center of Downtown San Jose, it is nowhere as lively, mostly filled with children playing around a large, interactive fountain (careful, there have been outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis and salmonellosis), and hobos. During the wintertime, there is the popular Christmas in the Park, with exhibits, a large "giving tree", shops, and rides.

From the Fountain with its crowd of kids, take a path South through a nice tree-lined path lined with benches-and usually hobos sleeping on them.


A. Quetzalcoatl Statue ***

At the Southern end of the park is this squat brown statue. In 1988, after the Thomas Fallon Statue fiasco (addressed later), San Jose attempted again to add a little culture to its city. Employing famed sculptor Robert Graham, of Mexican heritage and who studied at San Jose State, the city paid some $500000 to commission the statue to Quetzalcoatl, the Mesoamerican plumed serpent god of  light, mercy, wind and knowledge.  The project immediately ran into controversy, with several versions rejected while Christian fundamentalists came to protest the pagan god and its (mistaken) association with sacrifice, warning of human sacrifices occurring in the night, and so on. The original plan, a large, sweeping bronze statue, was scrapped, to the fury of Graham.  The revised design was finally erected in the middle of the night and unveiled to some shock. The statue was made of brownish concrete, seemingly misaligned, and squat-, looking like a piece of excrement. The statue (also known as "Graham's revenge") is widely disliked (or looked with bemusement).


B. Hotel St. Claire *

Across the street to the right of the statue, this is a historical 1926 hotel on the National Register of Historic Places.  An ornate grand hotel said to be the most elegant between San Francisco and Los Angeles, it certainly looks nice, if you have the patience of passing heavy traffic.


C. San Jose Civic Auditorium *

 Around the corner on the right of the park is the Spanish Mission-Style 1934 , which for decades served as a venue for acts such as Duke Ellington, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and Jefferson Airplane. Presidents Herbert Hoover, and Ronald Reagan visited, as did President Richard Nixon, who was infamously met with a barrage of stones when he visited in 1970.  It has been recently restored.


D.  San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation **
Immediately behind the Civic Auditorium is this bright orange children's museum with various exhibits on science and technology, including a large IMAX theater.  It is certainly interesting for kids, but adults may find little of interest besides the IMAX and an occasional Special Exhibit. Tickets are $15 adult, $10 senior/student/child (3-17), with special exhibits an additional $12.

Cutting back across Cesar Chavez Plaza, you can see the large corner stone of San Jose's Old City Hall, a massive, gaudy two-story Victorian built in 1887 and torn down in 1958. San Jose has very little sense of preserving anything, so everything looks boring. Anyways..


E. Fairmont San Jose *
Facing you is the Fairmont. It is built on the site of California's first state capitol, a small two-story adobe building with the state assembly on the top floor and the senate on the bottom.  No one likes it, and they quickly move. San Jose thus becomes the Capital of the State of California from 13 Nov 1849 (before a state) to 1 May 1851. A small, neglected marker stands nearby to commemorate the location. In the 1860s the Chinese began moving in, and the area immediately dropped in respectability. In 1887 a fire, probably arson, burned down this Chinatown and the people were driven out.


F. Circle of Palms Plaza*

To the left of the Fairmont is this plaza in front of the San Jose Museum of Art.  The circle of palms surrounds a much larger marker commemorating California's First State Capitol.  Honestly that's a lot more commemorations than probably went into founding the State Capitol. During the winter, a popular ice-skating rink is located here.


G. San Jose Museum of Art***

The San Jose Museum of Art is an interesting museum of modern California Art.  Constructed in 1892 as a post office, this building once served that function until 1937, then became the library of San Jose before finally becoming part of the Museum of Art, which displays mainly modern California artwork. It features a large collection of sculptures and paintings. The newer section was constructed in 1991.Tickets are $8 adults/$5 Students and Seniors.


H. Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph ***

 To the North of Cesar Chavez Plaza is this impressive church . Originally built in 1803 as the first non-mission parish in California, St. Joseph's Church has been damaged by fire and earthquakes and rebuilt five times, finally completing this version in 1885.  In 1985 the church was elevated to a cathedral for the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Jose, and in 1997 it was elevated to a minor basilica.  The cathedral is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a local landmark.