5 ms·

San Jose, like any major US city, has its awesome points and its disgusting monstrosities (Santana Row, I'm talking to you). And come on, San Francisco has its

San Jose, like any major US city, has its awesome points and its disgusting monstrosities (Santana Row, I'm talking to you). And come on, San Francisco has its share of fake and cliche (North Beach? Haight? The area around PacBell Park?). Since the link focused on the negatives, I'll throw some positives out there (coming from a San Jose native who has lived in SF, LA, Chicago, and now Morgan Hill - mushroom capital of the world). 1. There are some cool little neighborhoods in the San Jose metropolitan area: Willow Glen, Rose Garden/Burbank, Campbell, Saratoga, Almaden Valley. 2. Good ethnic food, especially from Latin America, Vietnam, India, and China. Even some good fine dining opportunities (La Foret in New Almaden comes to mind). 3. A great Latino/Chicano cultural scene. 4. Decent transit that's been getting better (much, much better than LA, lagging a little behind SF and WAY behind Chicago/New York). 5. Retail tech stores all over (even SF lacks this).- Central Computer, any number of Fry's. 6. A developing downtown. If you'd been here ten years ago, this place was dead. If you'd been here 20 years ago...well, you wouldn't have been downtown. The fact that you can go there at night at all now is AMAZING considering what this place was like when I was a kid. It's fairly jumping now, with a decent selection of restaurants and good parking. 7. Cheaper than SF by a bunch. San Jose is great, especially if you aren't into the trendy hipster scene and don't mind heading into "scary" (aka non-Anglo) parts of town like East San Jose, Little Saigon, etc.

mattmaroon 18y ago
Lot of Santana Row hating here. I liked the place. Some people just like nice things and convenience, and Santana Row has plenty of both. It doesn't necessarily make you "fake" or materialistic. I personally enjoyed having a Brooks Brothers, a Diesel, a Cole Haan, and a Tommy Bahama store all next to each other. Mix in some decent (though overpriced) restaurants, and it's altogether a nice place. I did have to be sure to route my wife around the Donald J. Pliner shop though. I guess maybe it's just due to the inordinate amount of time I spent in Las Vegas, but I find it fairly easy to coexist peacefully with the materialist mindset, and simply take advantage of the perks while opting out of the pseudo-religion. You can like nice stuff without that defining you.
- ardit33 18y ago
  Santana row is a cheap immitation of a city street. The immitation of italian architecture is really gawdy and cheesy and very aethestic displeasing. The people that go there are also have a certain attitude, that is far from simple and humble, but more of a show off type. Santana row is a clear manifestation on what's wrong with modern american architecture. Please travel to other countries, to see real town centers with real people (that are not trying to show off).
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    I've been to 7 other countries so far, and counting. I've seen architecture from Paris to Mexico. Santana Row is not meant to be a town center. It's not the Champs Elysees. It's a high-end shopping area in San Jose. I mean, what do you want it to look like? Your comment on the attitude of the people who shop there is just plain ignorant. How do you know what attitude they have? Did you stop and survey them all? It's incredibly small-minded to assume that of so many people.
  - paul 18y ago
    Santana Row is bad relative to a real city, but it's great compared to a regular shopping mall (and compared to most of what surrounds it). For example, the linked article, http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96sep/kunstler/kunstler.htm http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96sep/kunstler/kunstler.ht... (which is a good read, btw), says: "In many localities apartments over stores were also forbidden under the zoning laws. Few modern shopping centers are more than one story in height, and I know of no suburban malls that incorporate housing." Santana Row, however, does have housing above the stores.
    - mattmaroon 18y ago
      Right. Comparing a shopping mall to a city is almost as bad as Gladwell comparing a Trailblazer to a Boxster.
      - anonym 18y ago

mattmaroon 18y ago

Lot of Santana Row hating here. I liked the place. Some people just like nice things and convenience, and Santana Row has plenty of both. It doesn't necessarily make you "fake" or materialistic. I personally enjoyed having a Brooks Brothers, a Diesel, a Cole Haan, and a Tommy Bahama store all next to each other. Mix in some decent (though overpriced) restaurants, and it's altogether a nice place. I did have to be sure to route my wife around the Donald J. Pliner shop though. I guess maybe it's just due to the inordinate amount of time I spent in Las Vegas, but I find it fairly easy to coexist peacefully with the materialist mindset, and simply take advantage of the perks while opting out of the pseudo-religion. You can like nice stuff without that defining you.

ardit33 18y ago
Santana row is a cheap immitation of a city street. The immitation of italian architecture is really gawdy and cheesy and very aethestic displeasing. The people that go there are also have a certain attitude, that is far from simple and humble, but more of a show off type. Santana row is a clear manifestation on what's wrong with modern american architecture. Please travel to other countries, to see real town centers with real people (that are not trying to show off).
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  I've been to 7 other countries so far, and counting. I've seen architecture from Paris to Mexico. Santana Row is not meant to be a town center. It's not the Champs Elysees. It's a high-end shopping area in San Jose. I mean, what do you want it to look like? Your comment on the attitude of the people who shop there is just plain ignorant. How do you know what attitude they have? Did you stop and survey them all? It's incredibly small-minded to assume that of so many people.
- paul 18y ago
  Santana Row is bad relative to a real city, but it's great compared to a regular shopping mall (and compared to most of what surrounds it). For example, the linked article, http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96sep/kunstler/kunstler.htm http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96sep/kunstler/kunstler.ht... (which is a good read, btw), says: "In many localities apartments over stores were also forbidden under the zoning laws. Few modern shopping centers are more than one story in height, and I know of no suburban malls that incorporate housing." Santana Row, however, does have housing above the stores.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    Right. Comparing a shopping mall to a city is almost as bad as Gladwell comparing a Trailblazer to a Boxster.
    - anonym 18y ago