City Park – Page 4

November 14, 2019February 27, 2024

Happy Hollow Park & Zoo

That’s Danny the Dragon. The most famous member of Happy Hollow Park & Zoo.

The playground here is awesome. It would have been my favorite when I was growing up. I definitely spent many happy hours at Happy Hollow exploring as a kid but this playground is new since the recent renovation. My kids love it. Well, they love the whole park. If I just follow them around they can spend the entire day here happily… which is what we did on our most recent visit.

They still put on daily puppet shows! With actual puppets. They even do scenery changes during the plays. I took these plays for granted growing up and I am grateful that kids today will continue to have the same opportunity to see this kind of creativity and performance as a normal thing. They can, perhaps like myself, find the time to reflect and be grateful for places and experiences like these when they are older.

Danny the Dragon is an original member of the park from 1961 and was designed and built by the same bay area guys who built most of the famous rides you will think of when you think of Disneyland, among other theme parks. If you look close you can see that Danny the Dragon does not have tracks on the ground to roll on. One of several innovations at the time, Danny the Dragon drives himself by following the invisible electro-magnetic field pulsing along a wire buried underground in the concrete. You can look up more about Arrow Development on the internet but some of their other famous rides from the first years of Disneyland include Dumbo, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Autopia, Matterhorn, It’s a Small World, and Pirates of the Caribbean. They did many rides for other places around the country including several local attractions like Great America in Santa Clara, Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, and the Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. One ride they made for Alum Rock Park in San Jose, years before Happy Hollow existed, was a merry go round. That same merry go round later moved to join Danny the Dragon at Happy Hollow Park where you can ride it today.

This beautiful bridge takes you to and from the Happy Hollow entrance over the Coyote Creek.

The renovations added lots of cool features, some subtle, many obvious, and many having to do with preservation and careful use of resources. The walk way above is an example of a pretty use of recycled materials. Something else I appreciate about this park is the incredible number of trees. It really is an impressive place for children to explore and adults to appreciate.

November 12, 2019February 27, 2024

Emma Prusch Farm Park

An animal petting area, playground, animal barn, park, garden, exotic fruit trees… and always free! What more could you ask for. Emma Prusch donated her farm to the city in 1962 to teach future generations about farm life. Thanks to the City of San Jose and the non-profit organization dedicated to this farm site, the park remains open daily and free to all while it continues to teach and provide for the community with activities, food, events, and countless field trips. Special places like these add so much to the richness of our neighborhoods and lives.

November 7, 2019February 27, 2024

Mural in Discovery Meadow

Guadalupe River Park — Sophie Holding the World Together

November 1, 2019February 27, 2024

Plumed Serpent – Sculpture in Plaza de Cesar Chavez

Plumed Serpent in Cesar Chavez Park — Plumed Serpent – a representation of Quetzalcóatl.

October 22, 2019February 27, 2024

Discovery Meadow Park

October 14, 2019February 27, 2024

Lake Cunningham Park

This last weekend we went to Lake Cunningham Park for the Fall Family Fun Festival. It was pretty impressive. The park is already a neat place to play and visit. The Fall Festival added a whole bunch of great activities, however, and it was all free. That is what amazed me, that there could still exist an event like this where all is free for the public. I mean everything you would need for a great family day including parking, performances, activities like zip lining and rock climbing, pumpkins- big ones too, hotdogs, chips and water that Lucky grocery store donated and that the San Jose fire fighters were cooking and preparing for the community… all of this free! In budgeting there have been times at fairs when we have had to tell the kids no for certain rides or activities. So you can imagine how great it was to play at this community event and not have to say no for economic reasons to anything. We had a blast. It was a great experience and I am grateful to be paying taxes in a community like this and spending money in local businesses that contribute to these events. Also, I had no excuse but to go on the zip line, too. That was AWESOME!

September 18, 2019February 27, 2024

Cesar Chavez Park

This is the central park of downtown San Jose, like the town square of its history. Today it hosts big events that bring us together. Well wishers and protestors have greeted presidents from here. Our annual Christmas in the Park takes place here as does a main stage for our huge annual Jazz Festival. Kids play here in the fountains on hot days. In this one place, through a year, we eat, we drink hot chocolate, we enjoy music, children singing, ride carnival rides, watch life, and so much more.

Across the street from the park, where the Fairmont hotel stands today, once stood our China Town. Also, the first Capital of California. Yes, there have been several capital cities of California. Before we were a state, Monterrey was the seat of government for California when this area was Spain, then when it was Mexico, and then when it was an independent territory. Once a state, the Capital moved to San Jose from 1849 to 1851. It had been intended that San Jose would remain the capital but due to a series of issues with land (interesting info here: https://library.ca.gov/california-history/previous-ca-capitals/#), the capital moved to a series of cities from San Jose 1949, to Vallejo 1852, to Sacramento 1852, then Benicia 1853, back to Vallejo, and then back to Sacramento. Due to flood damage in Sacramento, San Francisco was made our temporary capital for the year of 1862 before returning to Sacramento. Lots of moving around. Eventually, the capital settled in Sacramento where it resides today.

Near Cesar Chavez Park in San Jose — That, on the left, is the Fairmont building where the Capital once stood. On the right is Cesar Chavez Park where once stood the San Jose City Hall.

From this spot pictured above which is across the street from Cesar Chavez Park, you can spin around and see a lot of historical places. The iconic sculpture, The San Jose Museum of Art which was once our main post office, the KQED building where once stood the first radio station in the world are all pictured above. If you were to look to the right from there, beyond this photo, you would be able to see the historical locations of the first State Capital of California, one of the historic locations of San Jose City Hall, the location where once stood China Town, and so much more.

September 13, 2019February 27, 2024

Alum Rock Park

San Jose’s first city park, it is also the first municipal park in California. Alum Rock Park was founded in 1872 and is 720 acres large. It reminds me of a county park in that it is so large with so many trails and has a visitor center. It also has a Youth Science Institute that opened in 1953 and continues to offer programs for school aged children.

This place used to be a nationally known destination as people would come to soak in the mineral baths for what they believed to be its curative properties. Most of the natural mineral springs have dried up to a trickle or completely. The park stresses nature now so many of the old structures are gone such as the restaurant, mineral baths, and indoor public swimming pool with a two story pool slide. The old stone bridges remain, as do some of the other stone structures and train supports. With train service gone for many years now, the people of San Jose could at one time get on a train in downtown and come to Alum Rock Park to enjoy what was essentially a resort.

When it was realized that over use of the land was causing damage, the decision was made to return the area to a more natural state for people to enjoy. And so, today, it is a great mix of interesting history, stone structures, barbecue gatherings, kids in playgrounds, people, and the nature of the canyon along the Penitencia Creek that make up Alum Rock Park.

September 12, 2019February 27, 2024

Fountain in Plaza de Caesar Chavez

August 4, 2019February 27, 2024

San Jose City Hall in 1900

San Jose has had several centers of government. From 1889 to 1958, the San Jose City Hall stood where today you find the water fountains in the middle of Plaza de Cesar Chavez that are popular with children on summer days.