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Old 12-09-2015, 12:05 AM
 
197 posts, read 346,938 times
Reputation: 162

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It seems like people are just coming up with "reasons" to dislike SJ. I've been to NY, Seattle , Chicago etc. San Jose is just fine in comparison. I was born and raised here and have no issue finding things to do on the evenings or weekends. If you can't find ways to stay entertained here that's on you. The area has a ton to offer so quit complaining and get out and take advantage of the area.

And FWIW on any given Friday/Saturday when we go out to dinner in downtown SJ, Campbell, Los Gatos, Santana Row etc. everything is packed. The area is not begging to be liked.
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Old 12-09-2015, 12:26 AM
 
Location: San Francisco, CA
15,088 posts, read 13,416,511 times
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San Jose feels really small, probably because it has no skyline. I work downtown and basically get in, work ridiculous hours, then retreat up the peninsula.
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Old 12-09-2015, 02:45 AM
 
197 posts, read 346,938 times
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The Peninsula? Okay?!!! What is going on there that's so fasciniting? I never feel the burning desire to drive the short distance there for anything.
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Old 12-09-2015, 03:08 AM
 
Location: San Jose, CA
1,318 posts, read 3,548,193 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Local123 View Post
The Peninsula? Okay?!!! What is going on there that's so fasciniting? I never feel the burning desire to drive the short distance there for anything.
While the peninsula has some nice downtowns, none of them, even Palo Alto, are really as interesting as Downtown San Jose, but of course downtown is much larger than Palo Alto downtown, all those are small cities. By 1950 when the suburban boom started San Jose had 100,000 people, so of course it will be more urban than all those cities that had a much smaller population at the time.

Hard to have that much exciting stuff when it is all small suburbs. The peninsula has short commutes, nicer weather for the most part, and quaint, and admittedly charming downtown areas, but certainly no skyline, Metro Center Tower may be tall, but not really a skyline, not much to bring me there, except for Stanford. If I didn't work there I would probably not go there all that much.

I can't say much, I get to work in downtown PA, work crazy long hours, and then take the train back to San Jose. Having the bank, post office and a pharmacy walking distance is convenient. But same is true for home.
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Old 12-09-2015, 04:44 AM
 
1,289 posts, read 933,658 times
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I grew up in San Jose but left it for L.A. because I thought San Jose was "boring". Before leaving I asked my parents why San Jose was so small-town. The only thing they said was "It's intentional." Now that I'm back I get it. Before, I never really saw SJ at all - was always comparing it to someplace else. San Jose can be beautiful to anyone who is willing to look at what it is and not what it isn't. May SJ always keep its own intent and never become an L.A. or San Francisco. Why would it?
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Old 12-09-2015, 08:50 AM
 
1,696 posts, read 2,853,020 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LiaLia View Post
Before leaving I asked my parents why San Jose was so small-town. The only thing they said was "It's intentional."
Hit the nail right on the head Throughout all my years wondering about San Jose, I've finally come to the same conclusion--the previous generations of San Joseans built it this way semi-intentionally. They wanted to keep that small town feel that they had while growing up in the 40's and 50's and 60's, even as the City grew like a behemoth around them.

Our city will need a generation of more ambitious people, who will build, support, patronize, and be prideful of the City. That generation is ours. Our generation will build this City--by our votes, our support, and our participation. But by the time the City fulfills its potential in 30 odd years, we most likely won't be around then to see it. It will be our children's generation that will enjoy the City as a proper "big city" and realize the fruits of our effort.

And that's fine by me
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Old 12-09-2015, 09:44 AM
 
150 posts, read 185,926 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sprtgrl22 View Post
Even if there's a Safeway or Starbucks 1/2 mile away, if it's along a major thoroughfare and you have to cross an 8 lane wide intersection and a parking lot that's another quarter mile long--you'll just end up driving there anyway.
Yes, yes. You make a great point that is really relevant to the landscape in SJ. I'm not a millennial (I'm somewhere in the vague no-man's land between Gen X and millennial that nobody gives a toot about) but I care about walkability, too. When we moved here, we narrowed our search down to "reasonable commuting radius," and then "good schools," because we have kids. But once those criteria were met, our next criteria was WalkScore. And we indeed landed in a house with a very high WalkScore - the highest one of any house we looked at.

But living there a while now, I find that in my daily life, even though I can walk to many amenities, Target and Starbucks and the grocery store and some restaurants, I usually end up driving. Especially when my children are with me. Because I have to cross dangerous roadways where cars are whizzing by at 60mph, then trudge through acres of (often unkempt) parking lot. It is technically walkable terrain, but it is unpleasant and it feels unsafe. My childrens' school is less than a mile away and the weather is usually amazing, yet we don't walk because the roads between our house and the schools are hazardous for pedestrians.

Often what I end up doing is driving to Cottle Road and shopping in the Target and grocery store there, eschewing the ones around my house, because I can park wherever and then navigate that shopping center on foot without feeling like my life (or more importantly, my kids' lives) are on the line. And I feel silly just typing it, that I drive to Target when I can walk to Target, but it's true. When I lived in a suburb that make walkability a priority - there were walking paths off the road that could get you to many of the local amenities without crossing loads of traffic, even though the area itself had a lot of traffic - we walked absolutely everywhere. If we could make that kind of setup a reality in much of sprawling SJ, it would be a life-changer.

That said, I'll pause here to give a happy shout-out to SJ's sidewalks. At least the neighborhoods are safe to walk through because there are sidewalks on every street, both sides. That's huge! And a good start. And not common in many of the the places I've lived. It's getting out of the neighborhood to go to amenities, when you have to cross traffic, that the sidewalks become not-enough.
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Old 12-09-2015, 10:50 AM
 
90 posts, read 137,965 times
Reputation: 82
One other major point I was trying to make is that other than San Jose feeling like it's got a more subdued atmosphere for a city of its population (and territory) size, is that for some reason it seems like "the capital of Silicon Valley" doesn't feel as important as other cities in the area. See my earlier post about why aside for culture, in terms of tech and sports, SJ seems secondary.

On the tech front, maybe that's because the big, older corporations around here are just not hot news item movers on TechCrunch. But they are necessary, so they're like the lungs of the Bay Area. Palo Alto, with all of the VC firms and Stanford, is its brain. San Francisco, which is the poster child for all the new wave tech startups, is some prominent organ that hogs the limelight, but it's not the heart because I don't want to start a new flamewar. We can say the Bay itself is the heart, how about that.
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Old 12-09-2015, 11:30 AM
 
661 posts, read 687,541 times
Reputation: 874
First, boring is subjective to a large degree.

Still, I think it just needs time. It's really only been a "big city" since maybe 1950. Now that real estate costs are so high we'll keep seeing higher densities and infill, which will bring vibrancy. The weather is perfect, close-by recreation is first class, downtown is tree-lined, gridded, and will have an underground Bart station (and hopefully HSR within this century lol). The height restrictions might actually be a blessing in disguise, see DC and Paris.
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Old 12-09-2015, 02:35 PM
 
Location: Eureka CA
9,519 posts, read 14,691,612 times
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I drove all the way from Eureka to see a Chiluly show at the San Jose Art Museum, can't even recall its official name. We had a wonderful weekend, and I'm sure San Jose has only improved since then..PS Killer Japanese restaurants, too.
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