Pueblo founded
1777
City since
1850
Residents
990K
Square miles
180
Japantown — One of three Japantowns left in the United States. It grew in the 1890s and 1900s beside Heinlenville, the city’s last Chinatown, and is centered on North 5th and Jackson Streets, where the Japantown Business Association lists the Issei Voices monument, the Issei Pioneer Stone and the Nikkei Lantern. Source: japantownsanjose.org
Nikkei Matsuri — A Japanese American festival at 5th and Jackson Streets, first held in 1978; the 48th was on April 26, 2026, with bonsai, ikebana and dance, an artisan market and food from local nonprofits. Every spring. Source: nbcbayarea.com
Avenida de Altares — A free Día de los Muertos celebration at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Avenue, with a community altar gallery, an artisan market and live performances; Visit San Jose lists the 10th edition for October 31, 2026. Late October. Source: sanjose.org
Mexican Heritage Plaza — A cultural and arts center in the Mayfair neighborhood, opened in 1999 and run by the School of Arts and Culture, with a 500-seat theater, gardens and galleries. Source: sanjose.org
Little Saigon and Vietnam Town — Story Road is the commercial heart of San Jose’s Vietnamese community, which celebrates Tết every year; San Jose has more Vietnamese residents than any other city outside Vietnam. Source: en.wikipedia.org
365 Night Market at Grand Century Mall — A monthly evening market of food and product stalls at Grand Century Mall on Story Road; Visit San Jose lists its Halloween edition for October 30 and 31, 2026, 4 to 10 pm. Monthly, Friday and Saturday evenings. Source: sanjose.org
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George Vancouver
British navigator, on the Santa Clara Valley in November 1792, as quoted in Hall’s History of San José (1871) · The History of San José and Surroundings · 1871
For almost twenty miles it could be compared to a park which had originally been planted with the true old English oak
Source ↗Edwin Bryant
Overland traveler, on the “Pueblo valley” around San Jose, 1846 · What I Saw in California · 1849
For pastoral charms, fertility of soil, variety of productions, and delicious voluptuousness of climate and scenery, it cannot be surpassed.
Source ↗Frederic Hall
San Jose lawyer and author of The History of San José and Surroundings, 1871 · The History of San José and Surroundings · 1871
It is well known to the early settlers of this State; that the first Legislature received the appellation of the “Legislature of a thousand drinks.”
Source ↗San José Daily Herald
Newspaper, December 1881, on the tower’s first lighting, as quoted by the San José Public Library · Looking Back: San Jose’s Electric Light Tower · 2013
… for the first time the citizens of San Jose realized that they lived in the only city lighted by electric light, supported by a tower, which like the Colossus at Rhodes, stood astride her two principal streets.
Source ↗Charles Amadon Moody
Editor of The Land of Sunshine, 1901 · San José: The Garden City of the Santa Clara Valley · 1901
“Garden City” it is called; “Park City” would be quite as appropriate.
Source ↗San Jose Chamber of Commerce
Booster booklet, 1904 · San José (San Hosay), Santa Clara County, California · 1904
Nowhere else in the whole world are there one hundred and twenty-five solid square miles of trees in blossom at once, and every prune tree a mound of scented snow.
Source ↗San Jose Chamber of Commerce
Booster booklet, 1904 · San José (San Hosay), Santa Clara County, California · 1904
San Jose is the rose garden of the earth.
Source ↗Phil Cosentino
Owner of J&P Cosentino Family Farm, to KQED, 2023 · One of San José’s Last Working Orchards Has Been Family Run Since 1945 · 2023
This is the way the valley was. All orchards.
Source ↗
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