Is San Jose a world class city? (Los Angeles, San Diego: crime, neighborhoods)

[BicoastalAnn]

Originally Posted by dogandcat

No Stanford is not *a university* but definitely The University

It's Stanford this, Stanford that all the time in this place!!! Where are the bears?

[the topper]

Originally Posted by marcopolo666

No it's not - the art offerings are pitiful. Hell - Stanford, *a university*, has better art offerings.

San Jose has all kinds of arts: street art, Broadway plays, opera, museums and etc.

[marcopolo666]

The opera sucks and the museums are pitiful (except the Rosicrucian, which is top notch - if you haven't been, go). When a university has a better art museum than a city of almost 1 million, you know it's a black hole of culture. "Broadway plays" - HAH! Translate that to "whatever piece o'crap is being exported by NY to the clueless masses", add in old re-treads and you are spot-on. Wicked? Annie? Phantom of the Opera? Sounds of music ?!!? Please.

"Street Art?". Graffiti does not a world class city make. You can't possibly be referring to the monopoly embarrassment, can you? Again, little old Stanford has more public displays of outdoor art than the entire city of San Jose.

San Jose has less culture than a quart of yogurt.

[chessgeek]

If I had to recommend one thing to do for someone visiting in the San Jose area, it would be a Sharks game if they are a hockey fan. If they are not, it would be a Mountain Winery concert in the hills above Saratoga. My favorite concert venue in the area. A soccer game at the new Avaya stadium would be second and then a tie for third between the Winchester House and the Rosicrucian Museum. The one plus about the Winchester Mystery House is that the Santana Row restaurants and stores are across the street to enjoy afterwards. Or a short drive will take them to Le Papillion, which is an excellent restaurant in the Saratoga Ave/280 freeway area. Still one of San Jose's best IMO.

As to world class, I would say it is at least reasonably close to that. What San Jose does not have can be accessed with a short drive (the coast, wineries, and San Francisco/Oakland are reasonably close. Included Oakland mainly because of the sports teams and especially the GS Warriors. Lol.).

Stanford certainly deserves its praise, but San Jose State has a much greater enrollment and helps a significantly greater number of people. It does not get the credit it deserves IMO.

[neutrino78x]

Stanford is a cultural institution in Silicon Valley, and it counts toward Silicon Valley being world class.

Although San Jose itself also has several art galleries. One good one is the Kaleid Gallery.

http://www.kaleidgallery.com/

[roadwarrior101]

Not even close. It has world class tech companies (mainly in other valley cities - not SJ itself). In terms of the city itself, it is mainly just suburban sprawl.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Not even close. It has world class tech companies (mainly in other valley cities - not SJ itself).

Those other Silicon Valley cities are basically suburbs of San Jose. Anybody who grew up here would agree with that.

But San Jose itself has many tech companies. Most of them, in fact. Ride light rail up north first and you'll see the world headquarters of eBay, PayPal and Cisco, and dozens of other tech companies have either their headquarters or an office in that area. Adobe's headquarters is in downtown San Jose. The hard disk drive was invented in an IBM facility in south San Jose. IIRC, Western Digital is the company that now operates a hard drive facility in the area, although IBM still has Almaden Research Center. IBM itself, of course, was never a Silicon Valley company, but their facilities here are definitely part of Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley Leadership Group -- originally known as Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group -- is of course based in San Jose.

Silicon Valley Leadership Group Contact Information

There's a reason they call it Silicon Valley.

In terms of the city itself, it is mainly just suburban sprawl.

No, we have lots of density in San Jose. There are a million people living here. Downtown San Jose is probably the most dense and most urban neighborhood, but Valley Fair and Santa Row are other examples of dense neighborhoods here.

Historically, San Jose was a small agricultural community south of San Francisco. But that changed with the computer revolution. We are now in the Information Age, and it originates with and is dominated by Silicon Valley. San Jose is the organizational head of Silicon Valley, or as they say, the capital of Silicon Valley.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by marcopolo666

The opera sucks and the museums are pitiful (except the Rosicrucian, which is top notch - if you haven't been, go). When a university has a better art museum than a city of almost 1 million, you know it's a black hole of culture. "Broadway plays" - HAH! Translate that to "whatever piece o'crap is being exported by NY to the clueless masses", add in old re-treads and you are spot-on. Wicked? Annie? Phantom of the Opera? Sounds of music ?!!? Please.

"Street Art?". Graffiti does not a world class city make. You can't possibly be referring to the monopoly embarrassment, can you? Again, little old Stanford has more public displays of outdoor art than the entire city of San Jose.

San Jose has less culture than a quart of yogurt.

Get your facts straight! San Jose is well over 1 million, not almost. Tech and Children museum are world class! The elegant California theater is superb! This city has excellent First Friday art walk in SoFA. It has all kinds of arts! This is truly a world class city!!!!!!!!!!:

[GalacticDragonfly]

No, heck no.

It's the Houston of the Bay Area; L.A. without the glamor. Car-centirc, suburban and office parks galore. All of the neighborhoods are unremarkable in any way. VTA sucks and there's nothing to do. It might become better once BART gets finished, but frankly, its really dull. I can't stand to leave the core of the Bay Area (SF-Oak-Berkeley) and the close suburbs, let alone travel all the way to the edge, San Jose and do nothing. Not even worth living there, thats why all the techies live in SF.

Great city to work in, I guess. I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to. The wealthy enclaves that are perhaps a bit more interesting are places like Palo Alto, but even then, they take back seats to the City and the East Bay.

[marcopolo666]

Originally Posted by the topper

Get your facts straight! San Jose is well over 1 million, not almost.

I am just going by the last U.S. census numbers. I'm pretty sure that the last census has San Jose around 950K in population. To me, that is 'almost a million'. You can substitute 'around a million' if it makes you feel better.

And I'm glad that you are happy about the 'world class' city of San Jose. I've lived on multiple continents and visited dozens and dozens of cities around the world, and SJ doesn't cut it IMO as 'world class'. For somebody from east Bumfluck, Nebraska, well *sure*, it would seem great. Having visited London, Tokyo, Berlin, Munich, Copenhagen, New York, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Geneva, Bern, Brussels, Rome, Venice, Athens, Taipei, etc., etc., etc. ... nope, not world class. I'm not saying it's a cesspool - it just isn't world class.

But then, I never would have picked 'population' or 'diversity' as criteria to determine 'world class'. Mexico City has an enormous population, but I never, ever want to go back there.