San Jose population tops one million (Los Angeles, San Francisco: 2015, neighborhood, living)

[golden eagles fan]

San Jose is now a millionaire city, according to the US Census Bureau. They estimate the city's population to be at 1,015,000, giving California three cities with at least a million.

Ten U.S. Cities Now Have 1 Million or More People

[aramax666]

I think its great . It will have its challenges . Especially with housing. Million isnt too bad.

[golden eagles fan]

I've never been to San Jose. Does it feel like a big city.

[aramax666]

No. Not in most places. It has a downtown, with skyscrapers. But a vast majority of it is spread out. Most buildings are 3-4 Stories tall or lower. Plenty of parking at most places, restaurants, malls, etc. It is busy, with lots freeways criss-crossing it. But its not particularly dense. You can be close to the hills in certain places. And access to amenities are always close. In all its a good size, not too big, but growing fast.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by golden eagles fan

I've never been to San Jose. Does it feel like a big city.

I don't think so. It does have a downtown, but it is not very impressive for a city over a million people. I think its partially due to height restrictions from the nearby airport, partially due to the Silicon Valley culture (e.g., better to be in spread out office parks than skyscrapers) and partially due to the fact that there really isn't a reason to go downtown if not for work. It has a few things there, but not what you'd expect for a city of over $1M. Same goes for the airport....pretty tiny for a city of its size.

Most of the surrounding areas are strip malls and sprawl. Seems like what you'd expect in the San Fernando Valley of LA. Willow Glen has a nice little neighborhoodly vibe, but I can't think of a lot of other areas in SJ with that.

The other big issue is that due to its proximity to SF, it seems like the life is sucked away from SJ. SF is where all the tourists go, where all the media is from (except for one tv station), where the big airport is, where it is cool for young people to hang out, etc.

Personally, I'm not a fan of SJ. Even when I lived in the Silicon Valley, I preferred some of the other communities to SJ proper. There was rarely a reason for me to go into SJ, as it didn't have the aura of a big city, as you have with SF. However, it still has all the crowds, expense and lame techy culture. No thanks.

[blauskies]

Just what a difficult housing market needs to hear.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

I don't think so. It does have a downtown, but it is not very impressive for a city over a million people. I think its partially due to height restrictions from the nearby airport, partially due to the Silicon Valley culture (e.g., better to be in spread out office parks than skyscrapers) and partially due to the fact that there really isn't a reason to go downtown if not for work. It has a few things there, but not what you'd expect for a city of over $1M. Same goes for the airport....pretty tiny for a city of its size.

You don't have to "think", the airport "is" the only reason why downtown is height-limited. The airport was built in the 50's and the planners of San Jose forgot to put it out of the way of Downtown when the annexation/expansion started. We had a chance of doing something about it in the mid 90's when expansion for the airport was going through planning, but the leadership at that time is still very small-town-minded and did not think ambitiously enough. Failure of leadership with small-town mentality is a hallmark of San Jose' political scene, with detrimental results. Besides Hamann and possibly McEnery, there really isn't any mayor/manager of San Jose that was inspiring, to say the least. Not Hayes, not Mineta, not Hammer, and certainly not the scum Gonzales.

And there are many reasons to go to Downtown San Jose besides work. In fact it was a vibrant scene in the dot com boom days, and also the housing-price run up prior to the crash. Clubs of all kinds existed out the wazoo during those times, and it was always crowded then. I was there during those times and it was a wild ride. Nowadays the scene has changed to more of a mellower vibe, with lounges and bars and craft beer halls rather than clubs. There are also a wide range of performance arts still alive in Downtown. Of course, there are residents as well, more now than ever due to the increasing housing push in Downtown.

Do you live in San Jose or visit it a lot? You seem to be neither...

Most of the surrounding areas are strip malls and sprawl. Seems like what you'd expect in the San Fernando Valley of LA. Willow Glen has a nice little neighborhoodly vibe, but I can't think of a lot of other areas in SJ with that.

Most of the surrounding areas also has their own little gems. San Jose has the largest and most beautiful Sikh and Buddhist temples in the inner Bay Area (barring the massive Kim Son monastery in Watsonville south of SJ). It also has the largest Japanese garden in the Bay Area. Besides Willow Glen, you also have Japantown, The Alameda, Santana Row, a little Hispanic "downtown/center" on Willow Street, Little Portugal to the immediate east of Downtown, and of course the two huge Vietnamese nodes centered around Lion Plaza and Grand Century. They're all walkable with varying degrees of vibrancy, with probably the Vietnamese area easily being the most trafficked and crowded.

Once again, I ask, do you live in San Jose or visit a lot? You seem to be neither...

The other big issue is that due to its proximity to SF, it seems like the life is sucked away from SJ. SF is where all the tourists go, where all the media is from (except for one tv station), where the big airport is, where it is cool for young people to hang out, etc.

I wouldn't say life is sucked away from SJ, there are plenty of us here who enjoy it without having to hike an hour up north to that little hamlet. For the uninspired, SF will always be there for them. But there are many of us who enjoy things here as well. Do we go to SF? Why not, once in a while we all go, it's a beautiful city after all, and we visit it like we would visit any other beautiful cities around the world.

But life doesn't get sucked away from SJ. Far from it my friend.

Once again, I ask, do you live in San Jose or visit a lot? You seem to be neither...

Personally, I'm not a fan of SJ. Even when I lived in the Silicon Valley, I preferred some of the other communities to SJ proper. There was rarely a reason for me to go into SJ, as it didn't have the aura of a big city, as you have with SF. However, it still has all the crowds, expense and lame techy culture. No thanks.

I believe this is the reason for your perception of San Jose. You don't live here, and have rarely visited. Looks like I got my answer to my questions You don't know San Jose at all, but comments on it as if you do.

Now, "lame" techy culture? Well....the San Francisco tech folks can be annoying, as they were in the dot com boom as well, but most of us tech folks in the San Jose area are normal and humble people, just trying to make a living and contributing to our community. I do not see a reason why that would be seen as "lame".

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by golden eagles fan

I've never been to San Jose. Does it feel like a big city.

It doesn't feel like the prototypical "big city" that you see with skyscrapers and dense urban core. It is a spread out big city, more akin to a smaller Los Angeles or San Antonio or Phoenix--basically sprawling cities with a small and moderately-dense urban core.

it is still a very large city, by any definitions. To drive from the northern end to the southern end will take you close to half an hour on the highway. Inside roads at night in sparse traffic will take you a bit more than an hour.

It is also a newer city, so it is not blessed with a ton of older architecture outside of Downtown and Rose Garden (and the majority of whatever was there were razed in the 80's). It is also flat in terms of geography, so it does not have those romantic bodies of water for scenery (save for Almaden Lake, the Evergreen Pond, and certain sections of the Guadalupe). It is, however, surrounded by hills and mountains, and views from the hills are generally what constitute for romantic scenery in San Jose.

It is a city of relentless neighborhood malls and huge malls that define their regions (Westgate & Santana Row & Valley Fair in west San Jose, Eastridge in east San Jose, Oakridge & Almaden Plaza in south San Jose. It is a city of cars, with the requisite car culture ie car modifications and illegal street racing that comes with wide open roads and flowing highways. It is also city of housing sprawl, typical of the time when San Jose grew up, though the sprawl has more or less stopped by the 70's, and with the last big chunk happening in the southeastern part of the city (95138 and 95135) in the 90's and early 2000's. Nowadays, 97% of San Jose's housing are of the multi-family variety and all are pretty much infill areas.

Unlike much of the Bay Area, which is generally a "coastal" culture where the Bay and the sea are intertwined with the people, the South Bay/San Jose area is more of an "inland" culture where the land are more intertwined with the people--orchards, fruits, wineries, etc. Whereas many cities talk up their "urban gardens", San Jose has "urban farms", with the largest ones at Martial Cottle Park and Emma Prusch Farm.

Mind you, an "inland" culture does not mean that San Jose is a land-locked city. It has access to the Bay via the Alviso harbor at the northern end of the city.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

Do you live in San Jose or visit it a lot? You seem to be neither...

I visited SJ quite a bit when I lived in the Silicon Valley. Wouldn't want to live there and didn't really care for it in general. Glad you love your city so much, but not everyone thinks its a great place.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

I visited SJ quite a bit when I lived in the Silicon Valley. Wouldn't want to live there and didn't really care for it in general. Glad you love your city so much, but not everyone thinks its a great place.

I'm glad you don't really care much for San Jose, yet still think much of it to offer your two cents on a place you barely know and don't care for. Thank you, but next time you can keep your pennies, as San Jose housing is so expensive that your pennies won't help much