Last Saturday I took myself on a little tour of San José, the self-proclaimed capital of Silicon Valley.
San José lies at the foot of the peninsula, and about 50 miles south of San Francisco. Like me, you may be surprised to learn that this city is not only the 10th largest in the US, but also more populated than it’s more famous Bay Area counterpart, San Francisco. According to the FBI, it is also America’s safest city.
There seems to be a huge amount of investment over recent years with a new city hall, library, light rail system, recreational areas, arena, and possibly more investment on the way given the continuing construction work I could see. The downtown area has been beautifully landscaped and maintained, and alongside the newer office blocks (notably those of Adobe), there are still a lot of the older styled buildings you would expect to see in any American city.
Ordinarily, I would fall in love with a city such as this, but there was something very unusual about San José. I visited during a Saturday afternoon during a rare spell of sunshine (the weather has been decidedly un-Californian during my stay), yet the streets seemed deserted, and those residents I could see, gave the place a definite ghetto vibe. It certainly didn’t feel like the safest city in America, and I felt a little unnerved when taking photos.
Oh lovely, now I have Dionne Warwick in my head. Do do do do do dododododo. La lalalala la la la lala la.
I visited San Jose a couple years ago and felt the same way. There seemed to be a lot of new construction near my hotel -- movie theatre, restaurants, etc -- but not many people. I thought perhaps I was in a tourist area and it was off-season. Did you see the Winchester House?