San Jose’s Historic Downtown (CA) (Images of America) (Paperback)
Lauren Miranda Gilbert (Author)

San Jose is the Capital of the Silicon Valley the high-rise, economic engine of advanced technology. Yet it was once a verdant valley, inhabited by wildlife, waterfowl, and the native Ohlone people. The Spanish who founded California’s first civilian settlement here in 1777 named it for Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the Spanish Expedition. Their farms fed the soldiers at the Monterey and San Francisco presidios, beginning an agricultural industry that thrived for nearly 200 years. Although serving briefly as California’s first state capital, for many decades downtown was the somewhat sleepy commercial center of the Santa Clara Valley. A housing and population expansion that began in the 1950s exploded with San Jose’s rebirth as a technological mecca.

Let’s face it – it’s all too often that we overlook the gem that is San Jose’s historic downtown. It’s like any other bustling metropolis, just lacking… uh… the bustle. Heck, it even served as the first state capital!

For those of you who don’t own real estate yet, you should buy this book so you can look back and reflect on how if you had invested in San Jose’s downtown earlier, you’d be… someone who owns real estate in San Jose’s downtown today.

More importantly, what will be the next chapter for San Jose’s downtown? Let’s be frank – overtaking Manhattan is probably a stretch for a long time to come. But… could it at least achieve parity with San Francisco? What could San Jose do to make its downtown better?

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