The Plaza de César Chávez is an urban

plaza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

and park in

Downtown San Jose Downtown San Jose is the central business district of San Jose, California, San Jose, California, United States. Downtown is one of the largest tech Business cluster, clusters in Silicon Valley, as well as the cultural and political center of Sa ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The plaza's origins date to 1797 as the '' plaza mayor'' of the

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe San Jose, California, is the third largest city in the state, and the largest of all cities in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California, with a population of 1,021,795. Site chosen by Anza For thousands of years before the arrival of ...

'', making it the oldest

public space A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads, pavements, public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to the public, su ...

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. The plaza was rededicated after Californian

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

activist

César Chávez Cesario Estrada Chavez (; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and lesser known Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), ...

in 1993. The Plaza de César Chávez is one of San Jose's primary civic spaces and the historic center of Downtown San Jose. It is bounded by numerous San Jose institutions and landmarks, including

The Tech Museum of Innovation The Tech Interactive (formerly The Tech Museum of Innovation, commonly known as The Tech) is a science and technology center that offers hands-on activities, labs, design challenges and other STEAM education resources. It is located in downtown ...

, the

San Jose Museum of Art The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1969, the museum holds a permanent collection with an emphasis on West Coast artists of the 20th and 21st cent ...

, City National Civic,

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

, and Circle of Palms Plaza. The plaza hosts numerous notable events, including the

San Jose Jazz Festival The San José Jazz Summer Fest (originally known as the San Jose Jazz Festival) is an annual music festival organized by non-profit San Jose Jazz and held in downtown San Jose, California. The festival was established in 1990. The festival beg ...

, Music in the Park and Christmas in the Park.

History

The Plaza was established when San Jose moved from its original location on the bank of the Guadalupe River to the current downtown location in 1797 and has been in use ever since, making it the oldest public open space in California. The present-day park was the site of California's capitol from 1849 to 1851, a period during which the

California Republic The California Republic, or Bear Flag Republic, was an unrecognized breakaway state from Mexico, that existed from June 14, 1846 to July 9, 1846. It militarily controlled an area north of San Francisco, in and around what is now Sonoma C ...

gained American

statehood A state is a political entity that regulates society and the population within a definite territory. Government is considered to form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states. A country often has a single state, with various administrat ...

; hence, the site contained California's first state capitol. From 1889 to 1958, San Jose's city hall occupied the center of the park before the local government moved it northward to North First and Mission Streets. Today,

San José City Hall San José City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of San Jose, California. Located in Downtown San Jose, it was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier in a Postmodern style. It consists of an 18-story tower, an ic ...

is located nearby on Santa Clara Street. The

Fairmont San Jose The Signia by Hilton San Jose is a postmodern high-rise hotel at 170 South Market Street in San Jose, California, located on the Plaza de César Chávez in Downtown San Jose. Constructed in 1987 as the Fairmont San Jose, it reopened as a Hilto ...

's main tower was built in 1997, while its annex tower was completed in 2002.

Culture

At different times of the year it hosts live

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

, cultural

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

arts and crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

fairs,

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

shows, the official city

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

, water

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...

s, and open-air

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

. The '' Music in the Park'' concert series has been held in the park since 1988, except during the 2020 pandemic and in 2011 and 2012, when security issues forced the organizer of the formerly free series to take a break and return as a ticketed event. The San Jose Jazz Summer Fest has its main stage in the park. Since 2015, Silicon Valley Pride has been held in the vicinity of the plaza, which had hosted the event in the 1980s as well. Every winter from

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

until New Year's it hosts the '' Christmas in the Park''. At the south end of the plaza is the statue of Quetzalcóatl by Robert Graham.

Gallery

File:Catherine at Caesar Chavez plaza, San Jose (41308298554).jpg, The southern end of the plaza File:1980 Gay Pride rally, Plaza Cesar Chavez, San Jose (cropped).jpg , 1980 Silicon Valley Pride

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plaza De Cesar Chavez Squares and plazas in San Jose Parks in San Jose, California History of San Jose, California