City, Santa Clara County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 95050, 95051, 95052, 95053, 95054, 95055, 95056
Third-most
populous city in the county. One of the high-tech heavyweights: many
industries. An unusual mix of fun, commerce and education. Population 118,830.
The city borders the job centers of Sunnyvale and San Jose.
With its
Rivermark development, a good idea of how Santa Clara County is changing and
mixing the new with the old. Rivermark includes about 3,000 homes, apartments
and condos, a shopping center, a library, a hotel, a school, a park and a
police substation.
In 2000,
Sun Microsystems, in what was formerly a part of Agnews State Hospital, opened
a large complex. To win community approval, Sun agreed to set aside and
maintain 14 acres for a public park, to retain 450 trees, to make the
director's mansion from the Agnews days available for community events. The
building has a large auditorium, which Sun also uses to showcase new
products. Sun also helped fund a homeless shelter, a child-care facility and
housing for the homeless. In exchange, Sun got one of the last best parcels in
the original Silicon Valley.
Click for regional or detailed map
The Sun
campus and Rivermark sit side by side north of the Montague Expressway, along
Lafayette Street. More homes and apartment complexes have erected nearby. If
you want new housing and modern layouts and designs, look here. Rivermark
encourages local shopping and getting around on foot. In 2006, a school opened
for this neighborhood, Don Callejon, kindergarten to eighth.
Most
students attend the schools of the Santa Clara Unified School District, which
in 1997 passed $145 million renovation bond. Compared to other public schools
in the state, Santa Clara’s score generally in the top 25 percent and a few in
the top 10 percent. Some students attend Eisenhower Elementary School, part of
the Cupertino School District. About 15 private schools complement the public
schools. See Schools.
Home to
Santa Clara University, Jesuit institution. A pretty campus and the site of
Mission Santa Clara De Asis. Also in town, Mission College, a campus of West
Valley Community College.
Among
other ornaments, the Triton Museum of Art, a large convention center, popular
for high-tech shows, and Great America, an amusement park.
Santa
Clara dates back to 1777 when the original mission was erected. For almost 170
years, the town lived as a farming village. By 1940, the population had reached
6,650 residents, the great majority living in 1,400 cottages, bungalows and
apartments in the downtown, around the university.
Came World
War II and Santa Clara County blossomed as a military-industrial center. In the
1940s, the city more than doubled its housing units. Then came the real boom,
fueled by veterans returning to sun-kissed California and an economy that
sought to contain the Soviet Union (the Cold War).
In 1950s
and 1960s, the city built about 21,000 homes and apartments and in the 1970s,
about 8,000 more.
In 2010, the state tallied in Santa
Clara 44,944 residential units, of which 18,696 were single homes, 3,791 single
attached, 22,348 multiples, 109 mobile homes.
Almost
most seven of every ten homes and apartments in Santa Clara were built between
1950 and 1980. This was the era of the G.I. Bill and the tract home, usually
one story, three bedrooms, with a garage for one big fat car.
And with the exception the new housing
at or near Rivermark and older housing in the downtown, this is essentially
Santa Clara — a city of thousands of three-bedroom tract homes.
The
neighborhoods differ but usually in variations off the tract model: some homes
will be slightly bigger, some slightly smaller, some will have many shrubs and
flowers, some few. Well-kept town: lawns mowed, houses painted, streets clean,
apartment complexes maintained. Some homes will front right on the arterials,
which planners today avoid. Most are built on quiet residential streets.
Almost all
cities say they want business but few aggressively pursue it. Santa Clara went
after and got a lot of high-tech, and made itself into one of the silicon
cities. Its industries include: Intel, Yahoo, Applied Materials, Cisco, 3Com,
Nortel and Synoptics.
The payoff
for a strong business sector comes in parks and recreation, and in ability to
fill potholes, keep up appearances and perform dozens of jobs cities are
supposed to do but often don’t. When you look at a map of Santa Clara, you see
parks positioned all around town.
About 30
parks and playgrounds. One city-owned golf course, plus private course. Tennis,
baseball, basketball, adult classes, community theater and ballet, loads of
activities.
International
Swim Center, famous for training Olympic winners. Restaurants, major hotels,
bowling greens, seniors center, college basketball, movie complex, youth
center, ample shopping, and on and on. During football season, Forty Niners
train at facility near Great America, on Centennial Boulevard.
Great
America: rides, musicals, water slides and wave pools. Annual camellia
festival, one of the most popular in the West. Bike trail along San Tomas
Expressway.
Large
library opened 2004 — 200,000 books, 16 internet workstations, art
gallery, cafe, more. New police headquarters.
Santa
Clara has to be rated fairly good in commuting because of its central location.
Freeways or parkways traverse the city. Caltrain up the shore to San Francisco
with stops on the way or down to San Jose.
Light rail
starts in South San Jose, runs through the San Jose downtown, then through
North San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Mountain View. The light rail was extended in 2004
to take in Milpitas and east San Jose, and in 2005, to include Campbell.
Close to
San Jose International Airport. Takeoffs and landings are away from most of
Santa Clara’s residential sections but check out noise for yourself. San Jose
is improving the access roads to the airport and expanding the airport. The
airport has paid to sound proof some homes.
Another
source of noise: the trains. Some people find the whistles and rumblings
haunting and soothing; others can't stand them.
Three homicides each in 2007 and 2006, two each in 2005 and 2004, seven in 2003, four in 2002. Zero in 2001 and
2000, two in 1999, one each in 1998 and 1997, zero in 1996. The counts for
previous years, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 9, 6, 5, 3. See Crime.
Chamber of
commerce (408) 244-8244.
• The
Forty Niners want a new stadium. San Francisco bonded itself to pay for part of
this stadium. Alas and alack, the Niners owners want more money and this has lead to
arguments and unhappiness, and a push by the Niners to move to Santa Clara —
an idea that has been heard before.
Might happen. The Oakland A’s, after all, are moving to Fremont. But San
Francisco vows No Way, and it has a lot of clout.
• Dog park
opened in 2007, sectioned off for big dogs and for little. Picnic tables.
• Dogs and
cats delight. Santa Clara, Monte Sereno and Campbell chipped in for $6 million
animal shelter that opened in 2006 in Santa Clara.
•
Carmelite Monastery in the downtown. The surrounding streets get a lot of
tender loving care, nice neighborhood.
• Wilcox
High School in 2005 opened a performing arts center, partially funded by the
city government. When the kids are not using the facility, theater groups and
others can.
• Santa
Clara has its run-down sections, remnants of the farm housing and quick-build
tracts of the 1940s. In some places, they sit close to brand new tracts. The
downside: not too pretty, although many homes are fussed over; the upside,
cheap or cheaper housing, something in short supply in Silicon Valley.
• Yahoo in
2006 purchased 42 acres in Santa Clara, next to a light-rail station. The
company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, the adjoining city. Newspapers said that
Yahoo would build a large campus in Santa Clara.
City web site:
www.ci.santa-clara.ca.us
