SJ Skyline? (San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland: hotels, live, stats)

[japster28]

Why doesn't San Jose have a bigger skyline? For a city of over 1,000,000 people I always wondered why SF/Oakland skyline seems to be larger then SJ.
Can any of you CA natives tell me?

[vdy1985]

Simple reason is that the SJ airport is right next to downtown. Basically planes have to fly over downtown to land, which creates a height restriction for downtown buildings. I always wondered what SJ would look like if SJ airport was located somewhere else.

Regardless, Downtown SJ has been building many buildings and filled in quite well. It just lacks height.

Here is a picture I took about 2 weeks ago after the rain. Looking west towards Downtown from the Evergreen foothills.

[hsw]

Skylines are a 20th century phenom, when cos. were more often based in a tower in some CBD and workers didn't have mobile computing, telecommuting, videoconferencing, etc etc

In modern era, most of world's highest-paid both live and work in suburbs

Many of world's most valuable cos. (Apple, Google, HP, Intel, etc etc) are based in various low-lying suburban campuses around PaloAlto area

And most of world's biggest VCs are based in modest, 3-4 story suburban offices along SandHillRd in Menlo

Ironically, Chicago's most valuable cos. (Abbott and McDs) are similarly based in modest suburban campuses in distant suburbs...as are most of NYC's most valuable cos.

Clueless tourists tend to confuse skylines or population stats or traffic congestion with economic relevance...

[fashionguy]

A better indicator for skyline size would be the population density, or the population for the whole metro area. The population of city proper really means nothing in the US, as most US cities do not have a significant difference between city proper and surrounding suburbs. City proper outside downtown would immediately look like suburbs. San Jose city proper has a large population only because it covers a large area. For many other cities, most of San Jose would be independent small cities considered as suburbs not the city proper. It is really the whole metro area that contributes to the skyline at downtown. The industries that like downtown buildings are banks and hotels. They serve the whole metro area.

Originally Posted by japster28

Why doesn't San Jose have a bigger skyline? For a city of over 1,000,000 people I always wondered why SF/Oakland skyline seems to be larger then SJ.
Can any of you CA natives tell me?

[fashionguy]

Most of the banks in NYC are based downtown (or midtown) so I don't agree with your point that the most valuable cos. all like suburbs. The IT industry likes suburbs, yes. But not all industries do. The banks and the hotels are the ones that would like a downtown building, even in San Jose downtown, most of the buildings are banks and hotels.

Originally Posted by hsw

Skylines are a 20th century phenom, when cos. were more often based in a tower in some CBD and workers didn't have mobile computing, telecommuting, videoconferencing, etc etc

In modern era, most of world's highest-paid both live and work in suburbs

Many of world's most valuable cos. (Apple, Google, HP, Intel, etc etc) are based in various low-lying suburban campuses around PaloAlto area

And most of world's biggest VCs are based in modest, 3-4 story suburban offices along SandHillRd in Menlo

Ironically, Chicago's most valuable cos. (Abbott and McDs) are similarly based in modest suburban campuses in distant suburbs...as are most of NYC's most valuable cos.

Clueless tourists tend to confuse skylines or population stats or traffic congestion with economic relevance...

[vdy1985]

SJ's skyline is not all that bad. I mean look at the pic above, it has a good number of buildings, it really only is lacking height. And the only thing that stunted the height is the flight path.

[14aarram]

San Jose has done most of its growth in the last 30 years. All it really is is a giant suburb of San Francisco. It didn't even pass SF's population until the 1990 census. It has a suburban downtown.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by fashionguy

San Jose city proper has a large population only because it covers a large area.

No, it's only 48th nationally. Comparing it to nearby small cities does not make it large.
List of United States cities by area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by 14aarram

San Jose has done most of its growth in the last 30 years. All it really is is a giant suburb of San Francisco. It didn't even pass SF's population until the 1990 census. It has a suburban downtown.

October 2009? A time-travelling troll!