Journeys in Suburbia: Downtown San Jose--Part 4: Business District

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

4. Business District
Bordered by Santa Clara and San Fernando, the area between 1st and 4th Streets was in recent decades the business center for downtown San Jose, though these days people seem to be spending more time towards Cesar Chavez Park. It also gives local's the general perception of downtown: seedy, dirty, an area of small corner stores and pawnshops.  Generally you are here doing something, like getting money from a bank, or going somewhere, like waiting for the VTA.  Usually it's the latter.

Head West on Santa Clara St., one of the busiest streets in Downtown San Jose.


A. Odd Fellows Building.

Built in 1884, this building, originally under the IOOC, is now part of Frank Coca's Furniture store, which has been there since 1957. While Frank has preserved the general facade, he occasionally gets into spats with historical societies and municipal agencies over his unilateral changes to the building.


B. New Century Block

Built in 1880 by Adolf Pfister, a businessman who would become San Jose's mayor three times.


C. Bank of Italy Building

Built in 1925, this Mediterranean-revival skyscraper was one of the first in San Jose.  Amadeo Giannini was an Italian-American resident of the city, and after establishing the Bank of Italy in San Francisco, he next expanded here. Bank of Italy would eventually become the Bank of America. The building is no longer part of BoA however.

Also I hate BoA.

Turn down South on First St.  Take a right at Post St.  Post Street was once known as El Dorado Street and was a notorious red light district, with brothels, saloons, and Chinese laundries.


D. Glein-Fenerin Building

Built in 1873, this colorful Italinate building is the oldest in San Jose's downtown, once in the middle of the city's notorious red-light district of El Dorado St (Now Post St). It has been a saloon most of its life, and early on the upper floors served as residences for ladies (of the night).
To the right of this building is an alley.  There, Brooke Harte was kidnapped on 9 Nov 1933 while retrieving his car by Thomas Thurmond and John Holmes. 

Journeys in Suburbia: Downtown San Jose--Part 3: City Hall

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

3. City Hall****
Built in 2005 by Richard Meier to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient, utilizing natural light and shading, City Hall was made up of an open 18-story building with a large rotunda as an entrance.  It opened to mixed reviews, with some negatively comparing the rotunda to R2-D2.  Still, most seem to have accepted the unique building as part of the cityscape.

San Jose does not have a good history with its city halls.  From 1889 to 1958, the gaudy red Victorian stood in Cesar Chavez Plaza.  After 1958, the old building was demolished and City Hall moved to some colorless office spaces.  That evidently is gone too.

A pair of peregrine falcons, Clara and Esteban Colbert (named after a character in the Colbert Report), resided in the complex starting in 2009, until Estaban was driven off in a dramatic fight with upstart rival Fernando El Cohete (the Rocket).  Fernando took over the nest and Clara, while Estaban apparently reestablished himself on a perch in San Jose State.
Falconcam blog: http://sanjose.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=91