St. Leo's is a small neighborhood of
The Alameda district, in Central
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
. It takes its name from the
Saint Leo the Great Church, located in the center of the neighborhood.
History
A collection of bungalow neighborhoods bordered by
The Alameda, Park Avenue,
Diridon Station
San Jose Diridon station is the central passenger rail depot for San Jose, California. It also serves as a major intermodal transit center for Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley. The station is named after former Santa Clara County Supervisor ...
, and Race Street. It neighbors the
Shasta-Hanchett and Cahill Park neighborhoods. Most homes were built between 1900 and the 1920s. Many of the original residents worked in the old
Del Monte cannery that have been converted to lofts.
Culture
Known as San Jose's Gay neighborhood, St Leo's featured the Watergarden (a gay bath house, now closed due to the covid pandemic),
The Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center, Carla's Social Club for cross dressers and transgender events, Leather Masters adult store and Health Trust's AIDS Service program. The annual San Jose Gay Pride festival is held at nearby Discovery Meadow in Guadalupe River Park.
Parks and plazas
*
Cahill Park
Popular culture
St Leo neighborhood and church are mentioned in
Smash Mouth
Smash Mouth is an American rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994, and was originally composed of Steve Harwell (lead vocals), Kevin Coleman (drums), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). With Harwell's depa ...
's song "Heave-Ho" where guitarist and songwriter Greg Camp rented a home (47 S. Morrison Ave., San Jose, CA 95126) and wrote about his neighbors and landlord.
San Jose's Rock Musicians http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.catalog.sjlibrary.org/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=114E23BBF2F24C20&p_docnum=144&p_queryname=4
/ref>
External links
Next Door Neighborhood Group
References
{{Neighborhoods of San Jose
Neighborhoods in San Jose, California