Silicon City

San Pedro Square
see all photos »

As the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose is at the forefront of technology and innovation. There 's a lot to see in downtown, as San Jose is one of the largest cities in California and fairly close to other Bay Area favorites such as San Francisco and Monterey.

San Jose State University is in the northern part of downtown, and is home to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Main Library, the largest library west of the Mississippi. Even if you don't check anything out, you should at least go to one of the upper floors, where you can get a nice view of the city and see the construction (as of 2005) of the new city hall buildings.

Main Library
see all photos »

Down the block is the Museum of Art, free to attend. Canvas paintings and small sculptures make up most of the exhibits, and there are special events there all the time. In front of the museum is Plaza Park, a small area where kids can play between fountains and on the green paths. A small ice skating rink is set up outside of the park during the winter months. Neighboring parks often play host to free concerts and other events in the city, some of which literally fill up every street downtown.

Tech Museum
see all photos »

On the other side of Plaza Park is the Tech Museum of Innovation. Inside are various displays and exhibits showing how achievements like space exploration and inventions are possible. There's an in-house IMAX theater, inside a large panoramic dome. As part of a kind of going away party for one of my professors, we came here to see Fantasia 2000, and it was really wild to see Mickey Mouse standing 50 feet tall.

The McEnery Convention Center is across from the Tech's side entrance, and used to be connected to the main SJ library (the one now connected to SJSU). People working in the high tech field often flock to the area, as there are trade shows and expos throughout the year. The building next door used to house the library until it was incorporated into the San Jose State library.

HP Pavilion
see all photos »

The HP Pavilion Arena is home to the San Jose Sharks and has some of the most passionate hockey fans in the US. The San Jose SaberCats, an arena football team, never draw less than 10,000 fans at home games. Of course, concerts and other events are helped in the arena regularly, but these two teams make up the most important activity for San Jose itself.

At the edge of downtown is the Children's Discovery Museum. Kids can see a robot draw their picture, climb into a vacuum tube and visit a garden to see how plants grow. Outside of the museum is a large "meadow" park area which hosts concerts and fairs, though you probably have to watch/read the local news or know someone from the area to find out when something is coming up. The light rail system (streamlined electric trains) reaches from the opposite side of the Museum of Art, across the Convention Center and down past the Children's Discovery Museum, so these buildings are easily accessible.

I can't forget San Pedro Square, home to restaurants, clubs and the San Jose farmers' market every Friday. The San Jose nightlife is centered around here, and the area can get packed with both locals and visitors, especially on the weekend nights. This is one of the few places in downtown where classic Spanish architecture still stands.

Hopefully this introduction to downtown San Jose helped to illustrate how interconnected and accessible everything is. I hope you've enjoyed reading.