For a big city, why is San Jose so boring? (San Diego: transplants, neighborhoods)

[Conrad Gray]

This is as much a historical question as it is an urban cultural one. How did SJ come to be so big, yet so boring compared to other major cities? Its population dwarfs San Francisco's. Are there any other major cities (population-wise) in the U.S. that are comparably boring with San Jose?

[Chuck5000]

Because it is "new", and does not have (yet) enough dense downtown mixed use areas, and because it has had to compete with San Francisco and now Oakland. Similarly, there are almost no really vibrant areas within 50 miles of NYC - a place like that sucks in the entertainment density. I think this is starting to change, though.

I would bet big that in 20 or even 10 years, San Jose looks a lot more socially vibrant with much more entertainment. Big players are placing bets now. Apple, for example, will be building big in the city. There is a lot of mixed use dense development planned in the downtown areas, like North SJ, Diridon area, etc. There will be more development in the Santana Row area as welll - the row might feel like a "real" city neighborhood in time.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

San Jose was a small town surrounded by miles of orchards, which were just eventually covered with suburbia. There is plenty to do in San Jose, it's just spread out.

[Local123]

It's not boring. There's plenty to do just get out and look for it.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by Conrad Gray

This is as much a historical question as it is an urban cultural one. How did SJ come to be so big, yet so boring compared to other major cities? Its population dwarfs San Francisco's. Are there any other major cities (population-wise) in the U.S. that are comparably boring with San Jose?

I'm assuming this is a troll post. I will concede that San Jose is boring compared to many other large cities though. There are still plenty of things going on all the time and they really aren't that hard to find.

I never had a hard time finding things to do when I lived there. Also, the downtown area has only gotten better and better, especially over the last few years.

I think the "boring" vibe that many people perceive throughout the South Bay is due to the large population of Silicon Valley nerds and the fact that it's very spread out and and suburban. Most of the South Bay is geared toward families and not really toward upwardly mobile singles. I still had a very active life in my single years and always had plenty of things to keep me busy on the weekends when I lived there.

Maybe you're boring??

[Conrad Gray]

I wasn't trolling. San Jose is boring in terms of its tiny nightlife and generally very suburban sprawl nature, and the downtown feels sleepy, sort of '90s. Sure it gets livelier on the weekends but even Santana Row closes at midnight, besides SJ downtown where else does one go to? Maybe Campbell? Dunno if Willow Glen has much nightlife. Seems like in the South Bay, the excitement doesn't begin until Castro St. in Mountain View at best.

The other "boringness" of SJ is that even though the city has cultural institutions like the Tech Museum, San Jose Symphony, SJ Rep, etc., it still feels somewhat low-rent and insignificant compared to other cities, even compared to the smaller SF and Oakland. A San Diego friend once described his city as "Mickey Mouse", and I think that adjective can apply to SJ.

Even in terms of tech it feels like SJ is far from the epicenter, besides SF (and soon Oakland) being the hotness of this current tech boom/bubble, all of the VC firms and wheeling and dealing is in Palo Alto anyway. The other recent tech giants (Google, LinkedIn, Facebook etc.) are in Mountain View or further north, the only notable exception is Apple, but it's a much older company. What does downtown SJ have? Adobe. Okay, North SJ/Santa Clara does have a good number of firms (Cisco, eBay, Yahoo!, HP, Intel), but note that all of them are pretty old. Downtown SJ doesn't seem to really have a startup scene at all, only a few are located there.

Finally, it's also weird for a city of this size and importance, the only pro league teams are the Sharks and the Earthquakes. Even 49ers play in Santa Clara now but they're still known as SF's. Okay, maybe it'd be too much to call them the San Jose or Santa Clara or Silicon Valley Niners. (Maybe at least call them Golden State or the Bay Area 49ers to include the rest of us who aren't in the city, at least?)

San Jose is a great place to live in, but it seems to be lacking in civic spirit or vibrancy that other places of its size have. Which is weird because it's the largest city of booming Silicon Valley/Bay Area.

[atler8]

I can understand why the question was asked & I don't view as a "troll post" at all.
The op specifically mentioned the population size of San Jose as a factor that influenced them to ponder the question & ask the "boring" question.
Looking purely & simply at the city proper population size of San Jose, it is one the largest cities in America.
The nature of it's post war development and what that entails, i.e. a tiny downtown area, far-flung sprawl development in the form of many "legs" that spread along highways, separation of various neighborhoods due to elevation differences, etc., causes San Jose to stand out as a very decentralized city without a particularly strong or large urban core or heart.
As for being"boring" as charged, it's obviously a subjective viewpoint with no absolutely correct answer for everyone.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

Because it is "new", and does not have (yet) enough dense downtown mixed use areas, and because it has had to compete with San Francisco and now Oakland. Similarly, there are almost no really vibrant areas within 50 miles of NYC - a place like that sucks in the entertainment density. I think this is starting to change, though.

I would bet big that in 20 or even 10 years, San Jose looks a lot more socially vibrant with much more entertainment. Big players are placing bets now. Apple, for example, will be building big in the city. There is a lot of mixed use dense development planned in the downtown areas, like North SJ, Diridon area, etc. There will be more development in the Santana Row area as welll - the row might feel like a "real" city neighborhood in time.

It’s not exactly new. If 238 years hasn’t been enough, I doubt the next 10 or 20 years will change much. More development like Santana Row, will just make it feel even more like one big gentrified suburb, which it is. Density ≠ vibrancy.


San Jose, California
Founded November 29, 1777
Incorporated March 27, 1850

[Conrad Gray]

Well, I think there might always be cities that grow in importance over time, as population and economic trends shift. Problem is, even in the current boom, SF is reaping in all of the transplants and development, because many arrivals don't want to live in SJ.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Conrad Gray

This is as much a historical question as it is an urban cultural one. How did SJ come to be so big, yet so boring compared to other major cities? Its population dwarfs San Francisco's. Are there any other major cities (population-wise) in the U.S. that are comparably boring with San Jose?

Because it started out as just another "there's no there, there" place around the Bay, then suddenly, fairly recently, boomed into a big city that's pretty much a one-industry town. Suburban housing mushroomed overnight to meet demand, so there's not much historical architecture in residential areas. No character. Kinda like Fremont.