Downtown San Jose
The R2-D2 building, the last hanging ground in California, and a statue that looks like feces.
Scale: ***** Must Visit
**** Worth Detouring
*** If in the Area
** May be Worth Visiting-Once
* Interest only
6. San Pedro Square***
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| Didn't Last |
San Pedro Square is an up-and-coming area with a thriving nightlife. It seems popular with Sharks Fans. Ironically, there does not appear to be an actual "square" in San Pedro Square; instead San Pedro Street and the San Pedro Square Market form the center of this area.
Begin at the intersection of Santa Clara Street and San Pedro Street, which is graced with a large gate.
Occasionally the gate is dressed up with Sharks paraphernalia, especially if San Jose's beloved hockey team is doing well in the season.
A. San Pedro Square Market ***
San Pedro Square Market is a relatively new addition to Downtown San Jose. Modeled similar to other markets in say, San Francisco, Oakland or Napa, this complex is a mixture of small shops and restaurants, ranging from Asian noodles to steak bistros to pizzas, as well as a barber shop and other trendy little stores. Sometimes live music plays, and the whole thing opens until midnight, inviting you to find a place to eat or drink, and enjoy the night.
If you are outside, drinking your coffee in the courtyard, you might see the small building from which San Jose arose.
B. Peralta Adobe **
Pueblo San Jose was founded by José Joaquín Moraga on November 29, 1777, as the first pueblo not associated with a mission, though it was only 5km away from Mission Santa Clara.
Built in 1797, this adobe house is the oldest surviving building in San Jose and the last remnants of Pueblo San Jose. It was first occupied by the family of Manuel Gonzalez, who arrived with the 1776 De Anza Expedition, then passed on to the Luís María Peralta, a Spanish soldier who had been rewarded with the massive Rancho San Antonio, one of the largest land grants in California.
Across the street from the San Pedro Market, is a house, seemingly out of place in this small-industry section of the city.
C. Thomas Fallon House **
This was the home of early Anglo pioneer Thomas Fallon. Fallon joined Lt John Fremont's 1846 Expedition to California, eventually dropping out and settling around Santa Cruz. Fallon joined the Bear Flag Revolt the same year, leading 22 men across the Santa Cruz Mountains to seize the Pueblo of San Jose without bloodshed on July 11, 1846. During the California Gold Rush, Fallon made a tidy profit selling picks to the miners in the Sierra Foothills, eventually becoming a wealthy individual in Santa Cruz. After moving to Texas, Fallon moved his family to San Jose, where he built this house in 1855. Fallon was elected mayor of San Jose in 1859, and remained a generally respectable political figure (his wife filed for divorce in 1876 after finding Thomas in a compromising position with the family maid).
Continuing North up San Pedro Street, you'll come to a busy intersection at St. James Street. A group of statues are dramatically arranged in the center meridian.
D. Thomas Fallon Statue **
Commissioned in 1988, the statues celebrate Fallon raising the American Flag over San Jose and was supposed to be erected over Caesar Chavez Park. However the statue ran into immediately controversy as the Latino population of San Jose objected to what they saw as a celebration of American Imperialism during the Mexican War, and of some of Fallon's person actions. The statue was placed in a storage while other statues celebrating the multicultural nature of San Jose were erected-like that one feces-Quetzalcoatl
. In 2002, the statue was finally erected at one end of downtown, far from everything else.
There area has some nice places to eat; this would be a good stop if you get hungry exploring the wonders of Downtown.
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