The history of History San Jose

SJ Today has a great overview of how History San Jose came about, a wonderful museum of museums next to Kelley Park and the Japanese Friendship Garden. In addition to hosting many relics from San Jose's past, it is currently home to the Portuguese Historical Museum, the Museum of the Boat People and Republic of Vietnam, the Chinese American Museum, and the African American Heritage House. To read the article, head over here.

Blooming Legacy: Celebrating 30 Years of the Heritage Rose Garden in Downtown San Jose

In the heart of Downtown San Jose, a hidden gem has flourished for three decades, blending history, community, and the timeless allure of roses. The Heritage Rose Garden, a cornerstone of our city’s botanical legacy, is marking its 30th anniversary this spring with a celebration that promises to delight and inspire. On Saturday, April 5th, 2025, from 10:30am to 12:30pm, the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy (GRPC) invites you to join in the festivities—a vibrant tribute to a space that’s as much about people as it is about petals.

Since its planting in March 1995, the Heritage Rose Garden has grown into the largest public rose collection in the Western hemisphere, boasting over 2,600 varieties and 2,700 planted roses. What began as a muddy, rain-soaked effort by over 750 volunteers has blossomed into a city-block-sized oasis, with rose varieties donated from gardens worldwide. As Elizabeth Loretto, GRPC Board President, beautifully states, “The Heritage Rose Garden is a testament to the community champions, local heroes, and the culture of volunteerism that shaped San Jose and the history of the Guadalupe River Park.”

The anniversary event, held at 438 Coleman Ave., San Jose, CA 95110, is designed for all ages. Expect local music filling the air, delicious catered treats from Smashing Dishes, and rose-bodied activities that bring the garden’s story to life. You’ll hear from elected officials like Supervisor Betty Duong and San Jose District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy, alongside former District 3 Councilmember David Pandori, long-time volunteers, and GRPC leaders. Want to get your hands dirty? Join the volunteer workday at 9:30am before the main event, or mark your calendar for the weekly volunteer sessions every Saturday from 8:30-11:30am. It’s a chance to connect with the soil and soul of San Jose.

This celebration isn’t just a nod to the past—it’s a rallying cry for the future. The GRPC is spotlighting the ongoing needs of the Heritage Rose Garden and Guadalupe River Park, from better irrigation to more park rangers. Recent upgrades like restored signage, a refreshed storage shed, and new trellises show what’s possible when the community comes together. Jill Perry captures this forward-looking pride: “We are so proud of what we have accomplished in the last 30 years, and still believe in its potential. It’s more important than ever that public support for the Heritage Rose Garden is strengthened and unwavering.”

Thanks to supporters like bXp, Applied Materials, and Western Digital, this event is blooming with possibility. You can even pre-order a limited-edition commemorative poster to take home a piece of the celebration. For all the details—event info, poster pre-orders, or how to volunteer—head to www.grpg.org.

Gifts given to the City of San Jose

I learned a little history at SJ Today about some of the philanthropic gifts San Jose has received over the years. The big one is Emma Prusch Farm Park, which was an 87-acre dairy farm donated to the City of San Jose in 1962. If you were wondering why this valuable piece of land has been protected for so long and hasn't been chopped up to become apartment buildings, Prusch stipulated that it needs maintain it's rural character as part of the donation. To see other big San Jose donations, hit the source link below.

Source: SJ Today

Historic Burbank Theater may be incorporated into a San Jose housing project

A historic theater that opened in 1951 but has been closed since the year 2000 may be reincarnated as housing. The proposal would keep the front section of the theater, including it's highly recognizable sign that represents the Burbank neighborhood, and the original lobby. 

As for the rest of the project, 62 apartments and ground floor retail would be tightly packaged in a five-story building at 552 South Bascom Avenue. The apartments would be split between studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedroom units. At least some of the homes would be designated as affordable housing.

Another fun fact, this area was not technically part of San Jose. It was unincorporated land that is run by Santa Clara County, but is in the process of being annexed into San Jose proper.

Source: The Mercury News

The story behind San Jose's oldest building

SJtoday has a great overview of the Peralta Adobe, the oldest structure in San Jose. The inconspicuous building now sits in the middle of the San Pedro Square Market and occasionally public tours are offered of the historic structure. It's over 200 years old and predates even San Jose's existence as a city.

For the quick history of the building that you can use to impress your friends over beers next time you're at the Market, head over here.

Love, Loss, Life

Tonight the San Jose Museum of Art is hosting an event discussing the contributions of Chicano, African-American, and Vietnamese immigrants to San Jose. It includes music inspired by these stories created and performed by Emmy-award winning musician and composer Van-Anh Vo. At the end there will be an interactive Q&A with the speakers and artists.

For free tickets, click here.

New San Jose Landmark Proposals!

After years of planning, we finally have an opportunity to make an internationally recognized landmark for San Jose! Urban Confluence Silicon Valley has collected hundreds of idea submissions from around the globe for an iconic landmark that incorporates modern technology, history, art, architecture, engineering, and place-making. These came from architects, artists, urban planners, and development enthusiasts from 72 different countries across 6 continents.

The next step is to choose three finalists that will each receive $150,000 to refine and re-develop their concept. After that a single winner will be chosen around April 2021 and fundraising would begin for what could be a $100 million+ project next to the SAP Center on the Arena Green.

I've gone through all 960 submissions, and some are truly epic. Below are images of my personal favorites. I love so many of these, but my vote would go to the Infinity Ring at the end (check out the video). It looks amazing despite the 200ft height restriction, you can walk inside it to cross the river while getting a view of San Jose, and it can do some impressive lighting effects than amplify it's coolness. Which is your favorite?

List of Top Submissions
List of all Submissions

The Ring

Ode To Nature

The Statue of Innovation

The Bulb

Urban Spiral

The Caterpillar

Super Natural Skypark

San Jose

Kinetic Obelisk

Land Lux

The Guadaloop

The Infinity Ring

Free private screening of "The Light Between Two Towers"

An excellent documentary that juxtaposes the San Jose Electric Light Tower with the Eiffel Tower will be available for free, starting immediately. "The Light Between Two Towers" is a great watch, especially if you live in the San Jose area and know some of our local history (and if you don't, this is a great place to start). You can start watching over here.

Below is the full announcement by the creator of the documentary, Thomas Wohlmut.

In this terribly disruptive time of the Coronavirus outbreak we are required to isolate ourselves. Each and every one of us who are shut-in feel alone and disconnected. We are living in a type of darkness.

Sometime in the future we will emerge from the darkness into an enlightened world. The documentary "The Light Between Two Towers" drives home a powerful inspirational message of enlightenment and what people can do to emerge from darkness. The film describes how people from all walks of life were motivated to achieve and did achieve a better life.

The story of the building of the San Jose Electric Light Tower by immigrants and its relationship to the Eiffel Tower is a story worth remembering in this time. It's a story that reminds us of how the people of Silicon Valley are innovative leaders and trend setters.

Now may be the time for us to begin to imagine and prepare for a future that brings us back into the light.

As a special gift during this challenging time, we are offering a free private screening of “The Light Between Two Towers”. Share the above link with your family and friends - our gift to you. We hope it will give you a lift and be an inspiration to what we can achieve together and individually when we set our hearts and minds to it.

With best wishes ...

Thomas Wohlmut


You can watch the entire film for free over here.

CREATV to air the Light Between Two Towers

An excellent documentary that juxtaposes the San Jose Light Tower with the Eiffel Tower will be airing on the Silicon Valley Channel (Channel 30 in San Jose & Campbell) on Fridays at 10pm and Saturdays at 12:30pm. The Light between Two Towers is is a must watch for any San Josean. If you haven't seen the documentary yet, this is your best opportunity to do so at no cost.

It will also air during other times throughout the week and you can check out the CREATV website for the full schedule.

San Jose Light Tower Blueprint

A historically accurate blueprint of the San Jose Light Tower is now available as a poster. This was commissioned to demonstrate the technical features of the tower for the documentary film "Light Between Two Towers."

The poster is available in a variety of sizes and is a great way the show off your San Jose historical cred. You can order it over here.

Flicks and Grooves at History Park

History San José invites you to enjoy great movies and music under the stars during the Flicks & Grooves outdoor cinema and concert series in History Park. This year's outdoor cinema line up will showcase the quirky genius of director Wes Anderson the second Friday of each month. The Flicks & Grooves concert slate features an eclectic array of live bands to enliven your Friday nights on the Fire House Green. No movie or concert is complete without great food and beverage offerings. Each Flicks & Grooves event will feature a variety of local brews, wine, and food vendors. And of course, popcorn and local ice cream from O’Brien’s Ice Cream Parlor!

Cinema Dates

Friday, May 10th 7:30 pm (Moonrise Kingdom)Friday, June 14th 7:30 pm (Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) 

Friday, July 12th 7:30 pm (Rushmore)Friday, August 9th 7:30 pm (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Friday, September 13th 7:30 pm (The Royal Tenenbaums)

Friday, October 11th 7:30 pm (Fantastic Mr. Fox) 

Concert Dates

Friday, May 31st at 7:30 pm (Kiva Uhuru + Noop & Neens)

Friday, June 28th at 7:30 pm (Steely Nash + Q&A)

Friday, July 26th at 7:30 pm (Aki Kumar + DJs Albert Jenkins and Basura and Guests)

Friday, August 30 at 7:30 pm (Le Vice + Ian Santillano and the Housewarmers)

Friday, September 27 at 7:30 pm (Valley Wolf + Deseos Primitivos)
Friday, October 25 at 7:30 pm (Gene Washington and The Sweet Sounds + Rhythm  and Folk)

Outdoor Cinema
This year's outdoor cinema line up will showcase the quirky genius of director Wes Anderson the second Friday of each month. The beautiful and relaxing Fire House Green inside History Park serves as a perfect backdrop for the unorthodox filmmaker's cinematic gems including Rushmore, The Life Aquatic, and The Royal Tenenbaums to name just a few. Oscar-nominated Wes Anderson has created films that are bonafide cult classics resonating with audiences of all ages.

Outdoor Concerts

History Park will also be a destination for live music the last Friday of each month. The Flicks & Grooves concert slate features an eclectic array of live bands to enliven your Friday nights on the Fire House Green. The San Jose Jazz Boombox Stage will host hot acts curated by Needle to the Groove Records and Quynh Mai. Confirmed acts include Neo-Soul songstress Kiva Uhuru (May 31), Hip Pop outfit Steely Nash (June 28), the neo-Jazz stylings of Le Vice (Aug 30), Cumbia/Latin Rock crooner Valley Wolf (September 27) and many more acts to be announced.

San Jose Light Tower v2.0 has a location!

There is finally has an official location for the resurrection of our most famous landmark. The City Council voted unanimously to approve the Arena Green near SAP and Diridon as the future home of a new San Jose Light Tower.

The next step is an international idea competition for the design of the tower called "Urban Confluence Silicon Valley." Individual teams will submit creative designs for the project and there will be an award for the top three.

The icing on the cake is that there will be a little extra height available for the new tower (see yesterday's post). By raising building height limits to FAA regulations, will gave the tower an extra 100 feet of potential. I'm sure the height will be full maxed and hope there are some options for virtual increasing that height as well (lighting, drones, etc.).

The official announcement from The San Jose Light Tower Corporation is below.

Souresseau News: When Artists Flew Like Birds

This week's history video is about historic drawings from bird's eye views. Artists had to get pretty creative before planes and drones were around, and many of these drawings are incredibly detailed. Ironically the newer maps featured in the video had a lot less detail and were not to scale.

To watch the two minute video, click here.

When Artists Flew Like Birds from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Souresseau News: Horse Power!

This week's history video is about early transportation in San Jose--namely horses. It's difficult to imagine a time when blacksmiths used to be the most important people in town and a limo was a wagon pulled by 6 horses. Kick back and journey 110-120 years back in time with this short documentary.

To watch the two minute video, click here.

Souresseau News: When Letterheads Told a Story

This week's history video is about historic San Jose letterheads. Many of these were printed over a century ago and the quality of the artwork that went into them is quite impressive.

To watch the two minute video, click here.

Souresseau News: Women at Work

This week's history video is about women in the workplace, starting with an 1860's photo of two San Jose female ranchers. While we still have inequalities in the workplace even today, it appears that there were more opportunities for women in San Jose many decades (or even a century) ago that I would have assumed.

To watch the two minute video, click here.

Souresseau News: Gateways and Arches

This week's history video is about San Jose's gateways and arches. Did you know that San Jose once had a welcome gateway for visitors near the Basset St. station on North First Street? Or that after the electric tower fell, the city built a gateway with an electrified San Jose sign?

To watch the two minute video, click here.

Souresseau News: Signs

This week's history video is about San Jose signs. As you'll see in the video, the mid-century trend was neon. It would be amazing to restore the few signs from the video that are still around to their original glory.

To watch the two minute video, click here.

Souresseau News: Waterways and Floods

This week's history video is about waterways and floods. Interestingly enough, in 1915 the Guadalupe River was briefly dammed to great a lake in Downtown San Jose (photo below). Another interesting tidbit is that Alviso has been flooded more often than any other part of San Jose (likely the reason why the region never took off).

To watch the two minute video, click here.

Sourisseau News: New Almaden

This week's history video is about New Almaden, one of San Jose's most hidden neighborhoods. The Quicksilver (mercury) mine in New Almaden produced an incredible amount of wealth, more than any gold mine in the state. If you go to the site of the old mine today, there is actually a neat little museum there.

To watch the two minute video on New Almaden, click here.