San Francisco - Is the city of Santa Clara a suburb of San Jose?

Hey Bay Area residents. I currently live in North Texas. Last summer I traveled to the Bay Area for the U2 concert at the Oakland Coliseum. This summer I'm traveling to San Jose in Silicon Valley to visit a friend at San Jose State.

I'm sure all you Bay Area residents know that the new 49ers' stadium is going to be built in Santa Clara.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_new_49ers_stadium

Personally, I've never heard to Santa Clara, CA. All I know is that the Bay Area consists of three principal cities- San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose.

Is Santa Clara some type of suburb of San Jose?

On the map, Santa Clara is right next to San Jose on the South Bay. However, San Jose is the biggest city in the region (as well as the largest city in the entire Bay Area).

The reason I'm asking is that the city of Arlington, TX (where I currently reside) is a suburb of Dallas in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Usually, outsiders would refer to Arlington (where the Cowboys play) as simply "Dallas".

On the other hand, outsiders typically do not refer to East Rutherford, NJ (where the Giants play) as "New York".

When the Niners move into their new stadium in Silicon Valley- Can outsiders simply refer to Santa Clara as "San Jose"?

Is Santa Clara truly a suburb of San Jose? Is Santa Clara the Arlington to San Jose's Dallas?

Or is Santa Clara an independent city with its own individual identity?

Or is Santa Clara an independent city with its own individual identity?

If you live there, yes. If you don't, it is all sort of one huge jumbled mess. The Bay Area is composed of a multitude of little and mid-sized cities, each with its own identity, government, police and fire (usually) and other public services. On the freeway, sometimes you pass through another city every couple of miles, if it even takes that long.

Santa Clara is very much an independent city having been founded in 1777. It is one of the more important cities in CA being the headquarters of companies like Intel, McAfee, National Semiconductor, Agilent Technologies, Applied Materials, Extreme Networks, Intevac, Nvidia, OmniVision Technologies, PMC-Sierra, Synaptics, Marvell Technology Group and Trident Microsystems to name a few. You may not know all these names, but you probably would not be seeing this message on your computer the way you are without many of them. It is the king of Silicon Valley.

Semantics aside, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Saratoga, Los Gatos, and San Jose are pretty much one contiguous metro area, that is in some places urban in character, and in other places suburban.

edit, oops, left out Cupertino above.

To the north, it blends into Mountain View and then Palo Alto, on your way up toward San Francisco. But basically, think continuous urban sprawl.

Semantics aside, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Saratoga, Los Gatos, and San Jose are pretty much one contiguous metro area, that is in some places urban in character, and in other places suburban.

To the north, it blends into Mountain View and then Palo Alto, on your way up toward San Francisco. But basically, think continuous urban sprawl.

It is urban sprawl, but more like the sprawl enveloped existing cities. A lot more individual city identity, politics, history, etc. than you find in, say, much of the LA basin. However, the casual passer-by wouldn't notice this, until they begin to see things like street numbering sequences don't make sense once they cross a city limit, the police cars are different, the parking meter rates vary, the street signs are a different color, etc. Even the sales tax may be different.

Is Santa Clara the Arlington to San Jose's Dallas?


I think the big difference to this analogy is the presence of San Francisco so close, which is really more the "center" of the metro area. From the minute you leave SFO you start moving through a series of cities going south - San Bruno, Burlingame, Foster City, Redwood City, Palo Alto, etc before coming down to Santa Clara and San Jose.

As other have mentioned, each one has their own thing going on. To an outside visitor, it blends into Silicon Valley with famous companies headquartered in each one (I can remember being in awe the first time I drove the 101 15 years ago on a business trip and saw all the logos on the buildings). So Santa Clara would just be part of the valley to an initial visitor. If you keep visiting over a longer period of time, it would eventually become its own place in your mind.

A better analogy might be to think of San Francisco as Dallas, San Jose as Arlington, and Santa Clara as something like Irving or Grapevine.

None of these places have any real identity in that they are not self-supporting communities. You will find that people who work in Santa Clara will live elsewhere and vice versa. Same, often, for shopping. San Francisco and, to a lesser extent, Oakland, San Jose and Berkeley are the only places with any significant cultural interest in the region.

It is just because of the acres and acres of sameness in the region, demarcated by wealth more than culture, that each city so jealously guards its independence. It comforts the citizens, complicates matters for visitors and probably adds unnecessary layers of bureaucracy - but essentially it's one huge urban sprawl.

Does it make much difference which city you pick? Yes, in terms of taxes and bureaucracy. Yes in terms of climate (the Bay Area is very weird that way). No in terms of commute (everyone switches jobs regularly and therefore spends hours on the freeway everyday). No in terms of culture if you are outside of SF or Oakland.

It is urban sprawl, but more like the sprawl enveloped existing cities. A lot more individual city identity, politics, history, etc. than you find in, say, much of the LA basin.

That's because much of the "LA basin" is well...Los Angeles. I think you see a lot more individual city identity, politics, and history when you start talking about areas like Monterey Park vs Alhambra vs El Monte vs Montebello or Pasadena vs Burbank vs Glendale or Santa Monica vs Beverly Hills. And you see a lot of individual city identities when you go to the South Bay area and start driving through all of the beach cities.

None of these places have any real identity in that they are not self-supporting communities. You will find that people who work in Santa Clara will live elsewhere and vice versa. Same, often, for shopping. San Francisco and, to a lesser extent, Oakland, San Jose and Berkeley are the only places with any significant cultural interest in the region.

It is just because of the acres and acres of sameness in the region, demarcated by wealth more than culture, that each city so jealously guards its independence. It comforts the citizens, complicates matters for visitors and probably adds unnecessary layers of bureaucracy - but essentially it's one huge urban sprawl.

Does it make much difference which city you pick? Yes, in terms of taxes and bureaucracy. Yes in terms of climate (the Bay Area is very weird that way). No in terms of commute (everyone switches jobs regularly and therefore spends hours on the freeway everyday). No in terms of culture if you are outside of SF or Oakland.

Well that is all an incredibly ill-informed post.

Santa Clara is quite self supporting, has important cultural and historic sites like the Mission Santa Clara de Asis, founded in 1777 and the university around it, the oldest university in California by the way. Santa Clara University was founded in 1851, a full 17 years before the University of California. The Santa Clara Woman's Club Adobe, built in 1790, is one of the oldest, best preserved adobes in CA.

You also have the de Saisset Museum, the Triton Museum of Art and the weirdly fascinating Great Asylum for the Insane, later renamed Agnews State Mental Hospital and then the Agnews Developmental Center. It was built in 1885, was destroyed in the 1906 quake killing many patients and staff. It reopened in 1911 in a now historic Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival building.

Those are just a few of the distinctives of Santa Clara and many other cities can also claim their own unique character, history and sights.

It is the king of Silicon Valley.
I would disagree. San Jose is definitely the hub and "king" of Silicon Valley. Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, and Mountain View have significant number of high-value tech companies. Cupertino has less but it has Apple which blows everyone else away. It all depends on how you slice it. The Mercury News puts out the Silicon Valley 150 every year of the largest tech companies in the area every year.

When I think of suburb, I think some bedroom community/town where people commute to the largest city in the area. That is not really true of Silicon Valley People commute everywhere - it just depends on where your job is and where you live. A lot of people live in San Jose and commute to Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, etc. for work. It is not like San Francisco, NYC, Chicago, etc. where the largest city has many of the major and significant employers.

Most of the cities around San Jose were founded or developed way before Silicon Valley arose in the mid-20th century. The Santa Clara Valley was largely a very productive agricultural area with all these little towns dotting the landscape. It is just that they all grew into each other in the 20th century. Most of the cities all have their own downtowns and self-supporting infrastructure. In fact, most of the cities/towns have more much more charming downtowns than San Jose.

I would disagree. San Jose is definitely the hub and "king" of Silicon Valley. Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, and Mountain View have significant number of high-value tech companies. Cupertino has less but it has Apple which blows everyone else away. It all depends on how you slice it. The Mercury News puts out the Silicon Valley 150 every year of the largest tech companies in the area every year.

And I would disagree.

Palo Alto, Santa Clara, et al dragged San Jose, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. The growth in San Jose happened because of what was going on in all those cities, not the other way around. The outlying cities didn't come to be to support industry that was happening in San Jose and grow outward. They were growing and innovating and San Jose belatedly jumped on the train.

Stanfurd drove the growth of Silicon Valley, not San Jose State.

And I would disagree.

Palo Alto, Santa Clara, et al dragged San Jose, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. The growth in San Jose happened because of what was going on in all those cities, not the other way around. The outlying cities didn't come to be to support industry that was happening in San Jose and grow outward. They were growing and innovating and San Jose belatedly jumped on the train.

Stanfurd drove the growth of Silicon Valley, not San Jose State.
I don't disagree about history. Much of early R&D and innovation was happening outside of San Jose. However, in current times San Jose has the largest number of tech companies. 36 of the top 150 tech companies in SV are HQed in San Jose, Sunnyvale has 30, Santa Clara has 15, Mtn View and PA both have 9 each. I don't understand how you can call Santa Clara "King of SV", when San Jose and Sunnyvale each have at least 2X more headquarters of the top 150 than Santa Clara.

Also it is Stanford not Stanfurd.

Also it is Stanford not Stanfurd.

Not if you went to Cal.

Not if you went to Cal.

Where is this place you call "Cal?" Is it an institution of higher learning of some sort?

Where is this place you call "Cal?" Is it an institution of higher learning of some sort?

Yes, a full university unlike the poor one on the peninsula that is a junior university, as they fully admit in the school's name, Leland Stanfurd, Junior University. So sad :)

Yes, a full university unlike the poor one on the peninsula that is a junior university, as they fully admit in the school's name, Leland Stanfurd, Junior University. So sad :)

They even had to put red tiles on the roof of every building, so that little deceased Leland could find the place (from heavun).

I don't disagree about history. Much of early R&D and innovation was happening outside of San Jose. However, in current times San Jose has the largest number of tech companies. 36 of the top 150 tech companies in SV are HQed in San Jose, Sunnyvale has 30, Santa Clara has 15, Mtn View and PA both have 9 each. I don't understand how you can call Santa Clara "King of SV", when San Jose and Sunnyvale each have at least 2X more headquarters of the top 150 than Santa Clara.
San Jose has those headquarters due to the real estate market - as in, theirs was so pathetic that companies were lured there with price breaks and tax deals. Those companies didn't originate there. SJ is a pathetic excuse for a major city in so many ways.

Much of current R&D and innovation is still happening outside of San Jose.


p.s. how many others in this thread were ever even in SJ before the tech boom? any other Bay Area natives here?

San Jose has those headquarters due to the real estate market - as in, theirs was so pathetic that companies were lured there with price breaks and tax deals. Those companies didn't originate there. SJ is a pathetic excuse for a major city in so many ways.

Much of current R&D and innovation is still happening outside of San Jose.


p.s. how many others in this thread were ever even in SJ before the tech boom? any other Bay Area natives here?
I agree with that - when you dwarf the size of the surrounding communities, you're going to have a lot of land to build offices and attract businesses through deals and incentives.

San Jose is not the most interesting large city in the US. It has a large population because it is large in area - similar to Tampa and other "newer" big cities. I only go to downtown SJ for specific reasons - never just because I want to hang out there.

I work in high tech in the South Bay - is anyone else in this thread actually a high-tech worker here in the Bay Area?

....I work in high tech in the South Bay - is anyone else in this thread actually a high-tech worker here in the Bay Area?

Oh, I suspect there are one or two!

You Cal folks above, how can you spend so much time on FT? Don't you have to go picket to save the whales or something?

Yes, a full university unlike the poor one on the peninsula that is a junior university, as they fully admit in the school's name, Leland Stanfurd, Junior University. So sad :)

And yet, the irony is, pretty much everyone who went the that FULL university would have given their eye teeth, or their left nut if they had one, to have been able to be accepted into, be able to afford to go to, and to be able to graduate and get a highly prestigious degree from that JUNIOR university. Pretty weak.

Getting back to the topic:

Southern California is often referred to as "SoCal".

Is it common among you Bay Area residents to refer to Northern California as "NoCal"?

Getting back to the topic:

Southern California is often referred to as "SoCal".

Is it common among you Bay Area residents to refer to Northern California as "NoCal"?Most emphatically not.

The most common terms for the northern regions are:
"Bay Area"
"Sacramento"
"Tahoe"
"Central Valley"
"North Coast'
"Monterey" or "Carmel area"

Once in a long while you might hear NorCal, but never NoCal. That sounds like a diet drink.

I work in high tech in the South Bay - is anyone else in this thread actually a high-tech worker here in the Bay Area?

Been there, done that. After putting my time in in Silicon Valley, I went on to have a successful career in a more normal place, having well outlived the company I worked for in the Valley. It does sometimes get tiresome having to beat off the former colleagues with a stick who want me to come work with them, only to have to disappoint them when I tell them that, for that to happen, we'd have to figure out how I could do it while still living in San Diego.

And yet, the irony is, pretty much everyone who went the that FULL university would have given their eye teeth, or their left nut if they had one, to have been able to be accepted into, be able to afford to go to, and to be able to graduate and get a highly prestigious degree from that JUNIOR university. Pretty weak.

Actually I was accepted to the Junior University, Dante spent a lot of time trying to convince me to come to the Farm, but Pete and the state school won out. Never regretted it :)

Getting back to the topic:

Southern California is often referred to as "SoCal".

Is it common among you Bay Area residents to refer to Northern California as "NoCal"?

NorCal is something you really only hear in reference to sporting events like the NorCal Tournament of Champions in wrestling and the NorCal Water Polo Club, NorCal Youth Hockey, etc.

Actually I was accepted to the Junior University, Dante spent a lot of time trying to convince me to come to the Farm, but Pete and the state school won out. Never regretted it :)


Well, as someone who went to a REAL Ivy league school, I always find the posturing between the various western Ivy wannabes to be highly entertaining. Admittedly, you all do seem to play a better grade of football than we do in the REAL Ivy league, but our marching bands at least know how to never interfere with the actual playing of the games.

Well that is all an incredibly ill-informed post.

Santa Clara is quite self supporting, has important cultural and historic sites like the Mission Santa Clara de Asis, founded in 1777 and the university around it, the oldest university in California by the way. Santa Clara University was founded in 1851, a full 17 years before the University of California. The Santa Clara Woman's Club Adobe, built in 1790, is one of the oldest, best preserved adobes in CA.

You also have the de Saisset Museum, the Triton Museum of Art and the weirdly fascinating Great Asylum for the Insane, later renamed Agnews State Mental Hospital and then the Agnews Developmental Center. It was built in 1885, was destroyed in the 1906 quake killing many patients and staff. It reopened in 1911 in a now historic Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival building.

Those are just a few of the distinctives of Santa Clara and many other cities can also claim their own unique character, history and sights.

It speaks volumes that you tout as one of Santa Clara's major claims to fame.... an insane asylum/mental hospital. :p

It speaks volumes that you tout as one of Santa Clara's major claims to fame.... an insane asylum/mental hospital. :p

Well yes and it points out the major difference between SC and SF. SC recognizes people who are "developmentally challenged" and houses them, SF elects them to office :p

Santa Clara is a nice little town and I even have a degree from SCU -- and from Cal, the only other good university in the area ;)

However...cultural hotspot it ain't. The insides of both the de Saisset Museum and the Triton Museum of Art could be seen in an hour total. Pains me to admit it, but the only major art museum south of SF is at Stanford.

Hey everyone. OP here.

I just want your opinion on this.

As I mentioned earlier, I had my first taste of the Bay Area when I saw U2 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Let's just say that in 2014 or 2015, U2 puts on a big concert at the brand-new 49ers stadium in Santa Clara.

Should Bono address the crowd in attendance with "Thank you, San Jose!"?

Or should Bono address the crowd in attendance with "Thank you, Santa Clara!"?

Personally, I don't think "Thank you, Santa Clara" would work because (really) no one outside of the Bay Area has ever heard of Santa Clara, CA.:confused:

Hey everyone. OP here.

I just want your opinion on this.

As I mentioned earlier, I had my first taste of the Bay Area when I saw U2 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Let's just say that in 2014 or 2015, U2 puts on a big concert at the brand-new 49ers stadium in Santa Clara.

Should Bono address the crowd in attendance with "Thank you, San Jose!"?

Or should Bono address the crowd in attendance with "Thank you, Santa Clara!"?

Personally, I don't think "Thank you, Santa Clara" would work because (really) no one outside of the Bay Area has ever heard of Santa Clara, CA.:confused:The correct form of address would be "Thank you, Silicon Valley!" because a) the concert is not in San Jose and b) the majority of attendees likely would be from the mid-Peninsula, not San Jose.

However, I personally am hoping for a major earthquake of limited spread which will sink aforementioned stadium before it is complete.

However, I personally am hoping for a major earthquake of limited spread which will sink aforementioned stadium before it is complete.
It is a boondoggle. The City of Santa Clara taxpayers will somehow end up with the short end of the stick due to their elected incompetents running the city.

I'm very partial to Cal myself; however, I am more than happy to go to the Cantor for free. There is the SJ Museum of Art downtown. I do think they have some good traveling exhibitions.

It is a boondoggle. The City of Santa Clara taxpayers will somehow end up with the short end of the stick due to their elected incompetents running the city. That stadium is being built to massage the egos of a bunch of south bay businessmen with inferiority complexes. You've seen how SJ is generally perceived in this thread, right? Well, men who take that attitude personally decided the way to change that and get SJ seen as a real "major city" was to have a major league sports team. :rolleyes: :mad:

There was 30+ years of that garbage in the Bay Area before they conned Santa Clara into paying the bill. I remember when I was a kid hearing my Dad argue that issue with the two ex 49'ers who lived in the neighborhood.

What I find interesting is that Stanford Stadium (http://www.gostanford.com/facilities/stan-trads-stadium.html), at that "Junior University" :D, largest privately owned stadium in the U.S. was built in 4 months with a couple of bulldozers and the ideas of a few engineering profs. Now a stadium takes years (decades?) and a couple billion dollars. Not progress.

I'm very partial to Cal myself; however, I am more than happy to go to the Cantor for free. There is the SJ Museum of Art downtown. I do think they have some good traveling exhibitions.

And if they'd travel to Berkeley, or even to San Francisco, maybe I'd see them. :D

And if they'd travel to Berkeley, or even to San Francisco, maybe I'd see them. :D
Well I don't mind traveling to the East Bay to see exhibits and museums. I just have to remember wear my bullet-proof vest before heading over. ;)

I must confess. Originally, I figured that Santa Clara is a suburb of San Jose. I mean, San Jose is one the Bay Area's big three- SF, SJ, and Oakland.

I'd imagine people commute from Santa Clara to San Jose for work. Santa Clara doesn't seem to stand on its own without economic influence from SJ.


Just think Arlington, TX. It has no skyline and no businesses. People commute from Arlington to Dallas or Fort Worth. Arlington's only claim to fame is Cowboys Stadium.:p

Contrast that with Fort Worth itself. It has a notable skyline, and is the headquarters for AT&T, American Airlines, among others. It has no ties at all with Dallas in terms of money or culture.

I must confess. Originally, I figured that Santa Clara is a suburb of San Jose. I mean, San Jose is one the Bay Area's big three- SF, SJ, and Oakland.

I'd imagine people commute from Santa Clara to San Jose for work. Santa Clara doesn't seem to stand on its own without economic influence from SJ.


Just think Arlington, TX. It has no skyline and no businesses. People commute from Arlington to Dallas or Fort Worth. Arlington's only claim to fame is Cowboys Stadium.:p
Your Texas analogy just does not fit. Santa Clara is not a bedroom community for San Jose; it has plenty of jobs in the city, and people commute to it from far outside Silicon Valley to work (some companies offer vanpools from Tracy and, Stockton). There are a number of high tech companies which started there; some stayed, and some moved to SJ. There is a university with close to 8,000 students which has been there for 160 years.

Santa Clara was the stone fruit capital of the U.S. for 100 hundred years, and there are still one or two fruit companies headquartered there, tho most orchards have been replaced by office parks.

It is really San Jose which is the latercomer to the party. Less than 20 years ago the "downtown" area was half empty, with no nightlife at all, and it had major economic problems due to a high percentage of low/no income residents. SJ is large in terms of square miles but historically has been far less important then the cities around it - Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Palo Alto, etc.

OP, ever tried this fancy geegaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara,_California)? :D

OP, ever tried this fancy geegaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara,_California)? :D

Yes.

And if you visit the Wikipedia article for the San Jose Earthquakes, it states that Santa Clara is a suburb of SJ.:p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_Earthquakes

Yes.

And if you visit the Wikipedia article for the San Jose Earthquakes, it states that Santa Clara is a suburb of SJ.:p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_Earthquakes
:rolleyes:

Yes.

And if you visit the Wikipedia article for the San Jose Earthquakes, it states that Santa Clara is a suburb of SJ.:p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_Earthquakes

And if it's in Wikipedia, it must be correct, mustn't it? After all, life's so much more accurate and sources so much more un-impeachable with the internet.

Well, as someone who went to a REAL Ivy league school, I always find the posturing between the various western Ivy wannabes to be highly entertaining. Admittedly, you all do seem to play a better grade of football than we do in the REAL Ivy league, but our marching bands at least know how to never interfere with the actual playing of the games.

And, in even more REAL universities, people would be taught that it is wrong to split infinitives.

When I think of suburb, I think some bedroom community/town where people commute to the largest city in the area.

I agree -- to me a suburb has a sleep here and work there aspect to it. There is quite a bit of working going on in Santa Clara itself, and to the extent people work elsewhere, they go to a whole bunch of cities. San Jose is one of those work destinations, but among many others.

So, I don't think it's accurate to call Santa Clara a suburb at all. It has a bit of a "bedroom community" aspect to it, but some substantial employers as well.

And, in even more REAL universities, people would be taught that it is wrong to split infinitives.

Perhaps, but the very best universities realize that to deny someone of tremendous talent a prestigious degree on the basis of something so trivial and meaningless in real life would be counterproductive.

thanks

squeakr

mod SFO forum

Yes.

And if you visit the Wikipedia article for the San Jose Earthquakes, it states that Santa Clara is a suburb of SJ.:p

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_Earthquakes

Which is yet, one more reason you should take Wikipedia facts with a very large grain of salt.

Give me five minutes and I can have San Jose as a suburb of anyplace you want on Wikipedia.

There are indeed a lot of jobs in Santa Clara. Just as there are in a number of the Silicon Valley cities. They are not just bedroom communities.

Heck, I even worked in Santa Clara for about 15 years (and ~5 years in Palo Alto before that).

I never thought of any of those cities as being "suburbs of San Jose."

The truth is, people commute from everywhere to everywhere. I commuted from SF to Silicon Valley!

Give me five minutes and I can have San Jose as a suburb of anyplace you want on Wikipedia.
Am still waiting to see SJ become a suburb of IST. :D

After all, they both compete in the dried apricot marketplace.

Am still waiting to see SJ become a suburb of IST. :D

After all, they both compete in the dried apricot marketplace.

I did man, those kill joys on Wikipedia keep changing it back :D

For me, San Jose itself is a suburb of San Jose. This could be said of most of the Silicon Valley cities and towns, the built environments of which are typically defined by a low-density post-WWII placelessness that stands in contrast to the beauty of the surrounding natural landscape.

There are moments of grace in many of the towns--particularly some of the older housing--but the vast majority of development, and almost all of the office/R&D work, exhibits a sort of bland indifference to the human scale, requiring the use of a car (or, for some, company-paid buses) to access it, and characterized by large tracts of similar low-density housing.

This kind of development, within the Bay Area, is hardly restricted to Silicon Valley--we can think of Malvina Reynolds' 1962 "Little Boxes," inspired by Daly City, for example.

To suggest a city might be defined by how many big companies have headquarters there is a decent boosterish argument, but mostly beside the point when we're talking about what makes a city. What sorts of cultural and public institutions does it have--what's the quality of the main and branch libraries in each town? Where are the funky family-owned diners, hardware stores, and cafes? What does the city's parks and recreation department look like--and what innovative landscape architecture can be found within? Can you take convenient, frequent public transportation to get where you want to go?

For me, too much of Silicon Valley is defined by having to get on highways and arterial roads to get where one might go. I am frequently left with the sense that the immense wealth in Silicon Valley is not resulting in the sorts of robust public institutions I'd want to see in a city.

Is Santa Clara truly a suburb of San Jose? Or is Santa Clara an independent city with its own individual identity?

Neither. Santa Clara and San Jose are suburbs of San Francisco. Of course, if the 49ers change their name to the "Santa Clara 49ers" or "San Jose 49ers," I might rethink my view.

NorCal is something you really only hear in reference to sporting events like the NorCal Tournament of Champions in wrestling and the NorCal Water Polo Club, NorCal Youth Hockey, etc.

How about NorCal Approach?

....How about NorCal Approach?

There's something I haven't heard much of since the UA/CO merger mostly took away channel 9 while still touting its existence. Another enhancement I think we'll all like!

Neither. Santa Clara and San Jose are suburbs of San Francisco. Of course, if the 49ers change their name to the "Santa Clara 49ers" or "San Jose 49ers," I might rethink my view.
ROTFL!

You're not familiar with the Bay Area or its history, are you?

As for defining those cities as suburbs of SF based on football, well, that gave me the best laugh of the day.

ROTFL!

You're not familiar with the Bay Area or its history, are you?

As for defining those cities as suburbs of SF based on football, well, that gave me the best laugh of the day.

:rolleyes:

:rolleyes:
Yeah, not the nicest comment I agree.

Yeah, not the nicest comment I agree.

Either he/she did not read the OP, or just totally missed the joke.

I was astonished in the changes! I remember San Jose as a pleasant little town with a few offices and lots of farms. Then there was Great America in the middle of nothing.

I was at the Hyatt Santa Clara over the weekend and all of these office parks and a convention center and,,,,

I just wonder what the traffic on the roads will be like when the new stadium opens :eek:

Weekday evening games will be a disaster since they will coincide with normal rush hour traffic. I suspect many workers will be leaving for home early or working from home those days.

Traffic on the weekends will at least not have rush hour traffic to deal with, but I do think the freeways will be jammed.

There is a lawsuit around the stadium already going to court, I'm sure it will just be the start....