San Jose

Pros: Beautiful weather and many activities to keep you busy
Cons: Restaurants: Not enough!

Do you know the way to San Jose? I've been away so long. I may go wrong and lose my way. Do you know the way to San Jose? I'm going back to find some peace of mind in San Jose . . . (Burt Bacharach/Hal David, originally sung by Dionne Warwick) ...

Pros: free, good location, well staffed, exhibit materials in large print and several languages, interesting building
Cons: only three galleries, generally doesn't display nationally/internationally known art

Free. It's one of the magic words that can entice folks into doing almost anything. People who don't even have pets will line up for their shot at 20lbs of free dog food. People who live in or visit San Jose can line up for a more pleasurable free...

Pros: Hawaiian clothing, Music, Food and Videos Galore
Cons: Location is out of the way.

Three trips to Hawaii, and I'm hooked, already dreaming of more. So what's that have to do with an article on San Jose, my former college daze stomping grounds? Well, this South Bay city has one of the largest, and best stocked collection of all...

Pros: Fun Entertainment
Cons: Errr.... can't think of any

Last night I went to the Gaslighter Theater in Campbell, California. Campbell is about 8 miles south-west of San Jose, about a 15 minute drive. I myself drove about 40 minutes to get there from Santa Cruz, and I have to say as far as entertainment goes,...

Pros: cheap drink specials
Cons: limited selection of venues

Many times I hear people snicker and say things ,”San Jose, you have to drive through there to get to the City right?” Even though San Jose has become a sprawling metropolis and buildings have replaced the vast orchards, there are a few bright spots in...

Pros: An excellent brunch experience with a bonus
Cons: May be hard to find

Have you ever reached into a pocket of a jacket you haven’t worn in years only to find a couple of folded twenties? I had a similar discovery recently with at least as much surprise and pleasure when I brunched at San Jose’s Hayes Mansion for the first...

Pros: Convenient for Silicon Valley and south bay travelers. Lots of flights.
Cons: Poor access road and terminal design. Expensive parking. Seemingly endless construction hassles.

[Update (10/15/04): A major phase of on-airport road construction has been completed, and on-airport traffic flow has smoothed out a bit, as promised. But now there is a major construction project at the freeway interchange adjacent to the airport's ...

Pros: Totally Entertaining, Totally Diverse, Totally Free
Cons: Too much to enjoy in just one weekend

Although San Jose stands in the cultural shadow of its admittedly more famous little sister city to the north, the "Capitol of Silicon Valley" enjoys at least one significant superlative. While San Francisco and other major American cities dwell on ...

Pros: Unusual, informative, nicely interactive, non-corporate feeling.
Cons: Broken exhibits, awkward information presentation.

Review Topic:  Sights & Attractions

Last Saturday, in search of a day trip activity, we decided to visit The Tech, the Museum of Innovation in San Jose. Being the San Franciscan non-drivers that we are, we took...

Pros: Great Location! Great Weather! Relatively Low Crime-Rate, Clean Downtown Area
Cons: Traffic! Housing Costs(ugh)! A Bit Bland/Lacking Character

There seem to be many negative misconceptions about San Jose, and as a local (born and raised), I've never quite understood them. I'll try to be as objective as possible in this review, and I'll keep my subjective opinions somewhat minimal. First off, ...

Pros: One-of-a-kind Tourist Attraction
Cons: A Lot of Walking!

Review Topic:  Sights & Attractions

Smack-dab in the middle of San Jose, tucked away between office buildings and movie theatres, lies the Winchester Mystery House. This amazing mansion began life as a eight room farm-house...

Pros: There's lots of great stuff close by.
Cons: The weirdest, worstest traffic you'll find

So you're visiting the Garden City? There are exactly three ways you can end up with San Jose as a destination. First, you're visiting a client, vendor, home office, regional office, or on some other high tech related business trip and you're wondering...

Pros: Location, Museums, Dining
Cons: Cost

Most folks don't even give San Jose or the surrounding area a second thought when going to visit the San Francisco Bay Area. Even flying into San Jose can be difficult. It is definitely cheaper to fly through San Francisco Airport.

If you...

Pros: Lots of variety of stores.
Cons: Parking difficulties

Once upon a time in the south bay there were tons of malls that we could frequent for our shopping needs. There was San Antonio in Mt. View, Vallco in Cupertino, and Sunnyvale shopping center. The malls are still there but many of the shops have left,...

Pros: Great weather, outdoor fun, things to do
Cons: Not enough time in the day

If you are not from the bay area or California, you may not know about the Capitol of Silicon Valley. San Jose is home for many electronic companies such as Adobe Systems and had large campuses of companies like IBM, Cisco, and Hewellette Packard. Along...