The Alameda is a historic district of 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 ...

, west of

Downtown San Jose Downtown San Jose is the central business district of San Jose, California. Downtown is one of the largest tech clusters in Silicon Valley, as well as the cultural and political center of San Jose. History The town was first settled in 1777. T ...

. The district is centered on an ''

alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santia ...

'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for tree-lined street), a historic portion of El Camino Real connecting Downtown San Jose to

Mission Santa Clara de Asís Mission Santa Clara de Asís ( es, Misión Santa Clara de Asís) is a Spanish mission in the city of Santa Clara, California. The mission, which was the eighth in California, was founded on January 12, 1777, by the Franciscan order. Named for ...

, and includes the smaller, surrounding neighborhoods to the north and east, like College Park and St. Leo's.

History

Stockton Ave in The Alameda district 4234 (cropped)

Tower on The Alameda, San Jose 1048 (cropped)

The road was built beginning around 1795 by Native American neophytes at

on the orders of Father

Magin Catalá Magin is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname: *Alik Magin, Australian rules footballer * Miłosz Magin (1929–1999), Polish composer and pianist *Rhys Magin (born 1989), Australian rules footballer Given ...

to link the mission with El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (now the city of San Jose). Originally it had irrigation ditches on either side, bringing water from the Guadalupe River and Mission Creek to the fields and feeding a pond near the mission.Shannon E. Clark, ''The Alameda: The Beautiful Way'', San Jose: Alameda Business Association, 2006, , p. 2. Willow trees were planted in multiple rows along the road in 1799; the last one was removed in 1982. The residents of the pueblo used the tree-lined path to attend Sunday

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

at the mission chapel prior to the construction of St. Joseph's Church. The first

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

line in California ran between San Jose and San Francisco via the Alameda beginning in 1849. The San Jose and Santa Clara Railroad along the Alameda was the first interurban railroad in California when it opened with horsecars in 1868, and the second electric

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

line in California (after that in San Diego) and the first

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...

electric streetcar in the West when it reopened in 1888 with an underground third rail. It was converted to an overhead trolley in 1889. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Alameda attracted many wealthy residents who built mansions along it. The Dunne mansion on the corner of Emory Street, built in the 1890s, may be the oldest building on the street. Coachella Valley Church, lies north on the Alameda. It was built in the 1920s, and was owned by former San Jose mayor Dan W. Gray. The Alameda was first paved in 1912.

Recent history

The Alameda originally ran through the middle of the

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

campus, but the portion of the road through campus has been turned into a pedestrian path. El Camino Real branches off of the Alameda southeast of Santa Clara University; El Camino Real carries State Route 82 to bypass the campus. Brooke Hart, whose murder led to San Jose's most well-known lynching, lived with his family at 1717 The Alameda. The

Billy DeFrank Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center The Billy DeFrank Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center is a non-profit organization that promotes services for and about the gay community of San Jose, California and Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara County. It starte ...

is on the Alameda. There are gay and straight-oriented businesses nearby. In 2006 the book ''The Alameda: The Beautiful Way'' by Shannon Clark was published that details the history of The Alameda.

Geography

The Alameda is the name of both the street which forms a historic portion of El Camino Real and the surrounding district. It includes smaller neighborhoods including St. Leo's and College Park. To the west/south of The Alameda is the district of

Rose Garden A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses, and sometimes rose species. Most often it is a section of a larger garden. Designs vary tremendously and roses m ...

and to the east is

At its southeastern end (near the

SAP Center The SAP Center at San Jose (originally known as San Jose Arena and the HP Pavilion at San Jose) is an indoor arena located in San Jose, California. Its primary tenant is the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League, for which the arena h ...

), the Alameda turns into Santa Clara Street through

and before turning into Alum Rock Avenue in

East San Jose East San Jose (abbreviated as ESJ), commonly called The East Side and less commonly as the East Valley, is the eastern region of the city of San Jose, California. The East Side is made up of numerous neighborhoods grouped into two larger distric ...

. Cahill Park is located in the St. Leo's area of The Alameda.

Architecture

Greenlee's Bakery on The Alameda 0937 (cropped)

The Alameda is known for its historic architecture, with many examples of Californian architecture, including

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

, Californian Churrigueresque,

Plateresque Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance ...

revival,

Mission Revival architecture The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

, amongst others.

Landmarks

* Coachella Valley Church *Westminster Presbyterian Church *Towne Theatre *Greenlee's Bakery *Schurra's Candies *Hanchett Park Building *Old Bank of Italy Branch * Leib Carriage House

Gallery

File:The Alameda, San Jose 0543.jpg, Californian Churrigueresque architecture File:Zona Rosa on The Alameda, San Jose 0537.jpg, Zona Rosa File:The Alameda, San Jose 0573.jpg,

architecture File:Luna Mexican Kitchen on The Alameda 0532.jpg, Luna Mexican Kitchen File:Hancett Park Building on The Alameda, San Jose 0552.jpg, Hanchett Park Building File:The Alameda, 1.3 (cropped).jpg, Historic Schurra Candies File:Zavala Building on The Alameda, San Jose 0576.jpg, Zavala Building

References

External links

The Alameda Business Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alameda Neighborhoods in San Jose, California Culture of San Jose, California Gay villages in California History of Santa Clara County, California History of Santa Clara, California Streets in San Jose, California