Good areas to live in downtown San Jose

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by puneet1984

Well,

I ended up moving to 4th street in a 1BHK. Downtown SJSU isn't actually that bad!

Farmers' Market opens April 6 at San Pedro Square, and will be open every Friday thereafter. One of the better aspects of DTSJ. Too bad they cancelled Music in the Park.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Farmers' Market opens April 6 at San Pedro Square, and will be open every Friday thereafter. One of the better aspects of DTSJ. Too bad they cancelled Music in the Park.

It is a shame they cancelled Music in the Park. It was because it was attracting a trashy crowd (a minority, to be sure) who were vandalizing local businesses. Also, the cost of police overtime to run the event was more than the City can afford. One more thing ruined by greed and stupidity.

[puneet1984]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Farmers' Market opens April 6 at San Pedro Square, and will be open every Friday thereafter. One of the better aspects of DTSJ. Too bad they cancelled Music in the Park.

Sucks about the music park, I'll have to try out Farmer's market for sure..

[kettleusn]

Originally Posted by puneet1984

Well,

I ended up moving to 4th street in a 1BHK. Downtown SJSU isn't actually that bad!

Hi,

I am moving downtown as well at the end of the month (2nd and Santa Clara). While the area looks fine during the day, I am curious what your experience has been at night? I am moving from Sacramento and SJ crime stats are much lower. But, I am hearing stories regarding crime/thugs/etc. Also, I went on the SJ Police website and saw there were three assaults within a block of my apartment within the last week. This is a little disconcerting . . . I will not be doing a lot of walking outside of parking my car at the Third St garage and going to the SJ Athletic club on Third.

Any feedback you can provide will be appreciated.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by kettleusn

Hi,

I am moving downtown as well at the end of the month (2nd and Santa Clara). While the area looks fine during the day, I am curious what your experience has been at night? I am moving from Sacramento and SJ crime stats are much lower. But, I am hearing stories regarding crime/thugs/etc. Also, I went on the SJ Police website and saw there were three assaults within a block of my apartment within the last week. This is a little disconcerting . . . I will not be doing a lot of walking outside of parking my car at the Third St garage and going to the SJ Athletic club on Third.

Any feedback you can provide will be appreciated.

There are different sections of San Jose's downtown that have their own pluses and minuses. The area right around the light-rail station there is busy pretty much all the time, and it feels inner-city gritty. The area around 280 and the college is dominated by university students. Naglee Park, east of the college, is an upscale walkable urban neighborhood of single-family homes. St. James Park is overrun with homeless and drug dealers. The neighborhood around Julian/St. James in the teens is low-end duplexes and the like. Japantown is a cute area with lots of charm and long-established businesses. And then, there's the area around the Shark Tank which is closest to what one might look for in a downtown.

[mstnghu2]

pretty much this ^^


Downtown San Jose is pretty small considering it's the third most populated city in CA. Despite that, it varies quite a bit from block to block. It's a very compact area and good areas are very close to "bad" areas. I put "bad" in quotes, because I actually don't feel unsafe anywhere around downtown SJ. It can attract a somewhat sketchy crowd at times, but there is nowhere in the downtown area that actually makes me feel unsafe. There is a heavy police presence on weekends because of all the nightclubs and the stereotypically unsavory crowd that goes to them...which I personally like since I'm not up to no good and have no reason to worry about being harassed by the police. If you're coming from Sac, trust me you should feel perfectly safe. The sketchy areas around downtown Sac are much worse than anything downtown SJ offers.

[puneet1984]

Edit: Been here about six months. Its not a bad place, a bit shady sometimes. The food is good and the bars are good near the 1st street. SJSU has a mostly young student crowd and if you're looking for a more uptown feel I'd avoid that area.