San Jose in the 1960s... (San Francisco, Berkeley: amusement park, new house, buy)

[AllenSJC]

I've read that San Jose in the 1960s was expanding so rapidly, that the city's street maps could not be updated fast enough to keep up with the changing configuration of the city!

Anyone here who was in San Jose in the 60s, can you share some history about what it was like then?

EDIT: Please move to the San Jose forum.

[eureka1]

You could buy Eichlers in Willow Glen for $30k and the traffic was about a tenth of what is it now. Can't remember much else.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

That was a bit before my time. What I can tell you is, circa mid 1970s, Silicon Valley was Mountain View and San Jose was still a bit of a Cowtown mixed with a touch of ghetto. Downtown was sort of nasty, with hookers and all. The "Golden Triangle" was orchards, fields, ranches and Agnews. 101 was still Blood Alley (e.g not a freeway, still the old classic 101) from about Evergreen on south. Development was leap frog and out of control. There were no jetways at the airport, you had to brave the elements and do the stairs.

[mstnghu2]

It's way before my time, but my mom moved to Almaden Valley in 1963. Her parents paid $27k for their brand new four bedroom rancher on 1/4 acre lot, which is now worth $900K even in today's market. Alamden Valley was the country out in the middle of nowhere and Almaden Expwy. was a two-lane country road that would flood when it rained.

[AllenSJC]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

That was a bit before my time. What I can tell you is, circa mid 1970s, Silicon Valley was Mountain View and San Jose was still a bit of a Cowtown mixed with a touch of ghetto. Downtown was sort of nasty, with hookers and all. The "Golden Triangle" was orchards, fields, ranches and Agnews. 101 was still Blood Alley (e.g not a freeway, still the old classic 101) from about Evergreen on south. Development was leap frog and out of control. There were no jetways at the airport, you had to brave the elements and do the stairs.

Interesting. What about West San Jose? My mom and her parents lived in Cupertino in the 1970s, btw.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by AllenSJC

Interesting. What about West San Jose? My mom and her parents lived in Cupertino in the 1970s, btw.

West San Jose was a classic example of leap frogging. At that time, it had nothing to do with other parts of San Jose (in some ways it still does not).

[cityvine]

Originally Posted by mstnghu2

It's way before my time, but my mom moved to Almaden Valley in 1963. Her parents paid $27k for their brand new four bedroom rancher on 1/4 acre lot, which is now worth $900K even in today's market. Alamden Valley was the country out in the middle of nowhere and Almaden Expwy. was a two-lane country road that would flood when it rained.

It remained that way until 1967. It felt like I was in the middle of Costa Rica farming area with green houses and a few banana trees, especially pass Redmond Ave. Very depressing and couldn't wait to get out or get the area developed! It's just like a house with no carpet. Now, to my relief, the area is developed with homes and strip malls. It's like a carpet and furniture in the house or not being in the Costa Rica country depressing side.

[chessgeek]

Our family moved to San Jose in 1972 and paid just over $40,000 for their Almaden Valley home. It is hard to envision what it was like before the 101 extended south of town (could not even get to Morgan Hill for the first two or three years without detouring to surface streets as I remember) and it took longer for the 85 and 87 freeways to be built.

In a valley where things can change frequently (chains replacing independent stores/restaurants, etc) it is refreshing to know that more than forty years later the Mariani's Inn and Restaurant in Santa Clara (where we stayed for a few days while details on the new house were being completed) is still going strong. Original Joe's downtown is also there and still popular, too.

The traffic pattern today is on a whole different level than back then for commuters, but I believe it may actually be easier to get around in some parts of town during non-commute hours (especially on weekends) because of the 85 and 87 freeways. There also was no light rail in the 60's or early 70's.

[chessgeek]

I did enjoy the low key Frontier Village amusement park my first few years in San Jose which was closer to our home and less expensive than Great America in Santa Clara. It had a more rural, relaxed feel to it than G.A., which is surrounded by office parks...a perfect place for company picnics and my Dad's company had an enjoyable time there on two occasions. It closed sometime in the late 70's as I recall.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by chessgeek

Our family moved to San Jose in 1972 and paid just over $40,000 for their Almaden Valley home. It is hard to envision what it was like before the 101 extended south of town (could not even get to Morgan Hill for the first two or three years without detouring to surface streets as I remember) and it took longer for the 85 and 87 freeways to be built.

In a valley where things can change frequently (chains replacing independent stores/restaurants, etc) it is refreshing to know that more than forty years later the Mariani's Inn and Restaurant in Santa Clara (where we stayed for a few days while details on the new house were being completed) is still going strong. Original Joe's downtown is also there and still popular, too.

The traffic pattern today is on a whole different level than back then for commuters, but I believe it may actually be easier to get around in some parts of town during non-commute hours (especially on weekends) because of the 85 and 87 freeways. There also was no light rail in the 60's or early 70's.

They're still doing things to improve traffic flow, too. They completely reconfigured the notorious 101/Tully interchange and now it's infinitely easier to get through it during rush hour, and next they'll be splitting the Capitol and Yerba Buena exits. The 280/880/Stevens Creek interchange is being comprehensively redone to separate mall traffic from freeway merges. The interchange at Capitol/Aborn, which used to back up as far as White Road, has been reworked and flows much better.

When was the last time they did anything to improve traffic patterns in Berkeley or San Francisco?