Little Portugal, San Jose

Last updated
Little Portugal
Neighborhood of San Jose
Church of the Five Wounds, San Jose, California.jpg
Five Wounds Portuguese National Church
Location map San Jose.png
Red pog.svg
Little Portugal
Location within San Jose
Coordinates: 37°21′00″N121°51′28″W / 37.35012°N 121.85768°W / 37.35012; -121.85768
Country United States
State California
County Santa Clara
City San Jose

Little Portugal is a historic neighborhood of San Jose, California, and historically the center of the local Portuguese-American community. Little Portugal is home to numerous Portuguese businesses, including Adega (San Jose's first restaurant to earn a Michelin star), numerous Portuguese social clubs, and the Five Wounds Portuguese National Church.

Contents

History

Portuguese bistro Adega was the city's first restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star. Adega San Jose.jpg
Portuguese bistro Adega was the city's first restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star.

Portuguese immigrants to California have historically come from the Azores, rather than from Mainland Portugal, and were traditionally farmers. [1] Portuguese settlers came to the Santa Clara Valley beginning in the 1850s. [2]

Development

In the mid-2010s, the Urban Displacement Project at the University of California, Berkeley cited it as one of the three neighborhoods in San Jose where low-income residents were most at risk of displacement by gentrification. [3]

The proposed second phase of the Silicon Valley BART extension project would include an 28th Street/Little Portugal station behind Five Wounds Church. [4] Two of the first urban villages proposed in the city's general plan for development until 2040 as a means of providing employment and low-cost housing are to be in the neighborhood, one on Alum Rock Avenue. [5]

Portuguese community

Portuguese Band of San Jose Portuguese Band of San Jose 1293 (cropped).jpg
Portuguese Band of San José
Map of Little Portugal. Map of Little Portugal, San Jose, California.png
Map of Little Portugal.

Little Portugal includes a number of Portuguese American social organizations, including Aliança Jorgense, Centro Leonino da Califórnia, IES Hall, the Portuguese Band of San José (the oldest surviving Portuguese marching band in California), Sociedade Filarmónica União Popular, [6] local sport clubs [7] such as the Portuguese Athletic Club, [6] the Portuguese Association for Social Services and Opportunities (POSSO), a neighborhood social services agency founded in 1974, [6] [8] and a business association. [9]

Long-time Portuguese businesses in the neighborhood have included: Bacalhau Grill & Trade Rite Market; Café do Canto; [6] Casanova Imports; [10] Five Star Bakery; [10] Foto Christiano; [10] Furtado's Jewelers, [6] [10] now closed; KSQQ radio, [10] one of three radio stations owned by Batista Vieira, [6] now multi-lingual; L & F Fish Market; [6] Silva Sausage; [10] Popular Bakery or Padaria Popular; [1] [6] [10] Vieira Painting; and Sousa's restaurant. [6] [10] [11]

The Portuguese Historical Museum in San Jose's History Park is a replica of the city's original Portuguese império (chapel) that preceded the building of Five Wounds Church. [1] [12] Portuguese Heritage Publications of California is headquartered in the Berryessa district. [13]

Adega, open since 2015, is the second Portuguese restaurant in the US to win a Michelin star and San Jose's first Michelin starred restaurant. [14] [15]

Geography

Little Portugal is centered along the point where Santa Clara Street becomes Alum Rock Ave, roughly between 23rd Street and 34th Street. [10] [11] [16] and extending into the Anne Darling neighborhood. [1] Selma Olinder Elementary School is located in the southwestern part of Little Portugal.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Jose, California</span> City in California, United States

San Jose, officially the City of San José, is the largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2022 population of 971,233, it is the most populous city in both the Bay Area and the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area—which in 2022 had a population of 7.5 million and 9.0 million respectively—the third-most populous city in California after Los Angeles and San Diego, and the 12th-most populous in the United States. Located in the center of the Santa Clara Valley on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay, San Jose covers an area of 179.97 sq mi (466.1 km2). San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County and the main component of the San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara Metropolitan Statistical Area, with an estimated population of around two million residents in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japantown, San Jose</span> Neighborhood of San Jose in Santa Clara, California, United States

Japantown, commonly known as J Town, is a historic cultural district of San Jose, California, north of Downtown San Jose. Historically a center for San Jose's Japanese American and Chinese American communities, San Jose's Japantown is one of only three Japantowns that still exist in the United States, alongside San Francisco's Japantown and Los Angeles's Little Tokyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East San Jose</span> Place in California, United States

East Side San Jose, commonly called The East Side and less commonly as the East Valley, is the eastern region of the city of San Jose, California. The East Side is made up of numerous neighborhoods grouped into two larger districts: Alum Rock and Evergreen. East San Jose is bordered by the Diablo Range to the east and south, the Coyote Creek to the west, and Mabury Road to the North.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese Historical Museum</span>

The Portuguese Historical Museum in San Jose, California, USA opened in 1997 and is a replica of the first permanent império originally built in San Jose's Little Portugal district, c. 1915. It is one of the featured attractions within History Park at Kelley Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Alameda, San Jose</span> Neighborhood of San Jose in Santa Clara, California, United States

The Alameda is a historic district of Central San Jose, California, west of Downtown San Jose. The district is centered on an alameda, a historic portion of El Camino Real connecting Downtown San Jose to Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and includes the smaller, surrounding neighborhoods to the north and east, like College Park and St. Leo's.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Jose Convention Center</span> Convention center in Downtown San Jose, California, United States

The San Jose McEnery Convention Center is a convention center in Downtown San Jose, California. The 550,000-square-foot (51,000 m2) facility is the largest convention center in Silicon Valley. It is known for hosting high-profile technology conferences and events like the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference and Facebook F8, as well as non-tech events like FanimeCon and Silicon Valley Comic Con.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milpitas, California</span> City in California, United States

Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José María Alviso in 1835. Milpitas incorporated in 1954 and has become home to numerous high tech companies, as part of Silicon Valley.

Alum Rock Airport was an early airport in the former town of Alum Rock, now within the city limits of San Jose, California, near the intersection of Alum Rock Avenue and Capitol Avenue. The airport was established in 1919 by Reserve Lieutenant Johnny Johnston after returning from World War I. Much of the early aerial photography of the then-rural Santa Clara Valley was taken on flights from the Alum Rock Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Clara County, California</span> County in California, United States

Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together form the U.S. Census Bureau's San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara metropolitan statistical area, which is part of the larger San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area. Santa Clara is the most populous county in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Northern California. The county seat and largest city is San Jose; with about 1,000,000 residents, it is the 10th-most populous city in the United States, California's third-most populous city and the most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area. The second- and third-largest cities are Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">28th Street/Little Portugal station</span>

28th Street/Little Portugal station is a proposed underground Bay Area Rapid Transit station in the Little Portugal neighborhood of San Jose, California. It would be located north of East Santa Clara Street between North 28th Street and U.S. Route 101, behind Five Wounds Portuguese National Church. Preceded by Berryessa/North San José station, it would be the first station of the Phase II portion of the Silicon Valley BART extension. The station would have direct service to Santa Clara, Richmond, and San Francisco/Daly City. In planning, the station was referred to as Alum Rock/28th Street, after the Alum Rock neighborhood to the northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown San José station</span> Planned underground BART stop

Downtown San José station is a proposed underground Bay Area Rapid Transit station underneath Santa Clara Street in Downtown San Jose, planned as part of Silicon Valley BART extension Phase II. The station would be co-located with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's existing Santa Clara light rail station, and be located between the proposed 28th Street/Little Portugal station and a transfer station at San Jose Diridon Station. The station eventually connects to the proposed Santa Clara BART station. Revenue service, which will be served by the Orange and Green Lines, is envisioned to start in 2036.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay Area Rapid Transit District</span>

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, or BART, is a special-purpose district body that governs the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in the California counties of Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco. The system itself also serves northern San Mateo County and Santa Clara County; however, these counties have bought into the system and have neither a voting stake nor any representatives in the district proper. The District currently operates 50 stations, 817 rail cars, 131 miles of track

The Silicon Valley BART extension is an ongoing effort to expand the Green and Orange Line service by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) into Santa Clara County via the East Bay from its former terminus at the Fremont station in Alameda County. Planned since at least 1981, the project has seven stations in three sequential phases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baumé (restaurant)</span> Restaurant in California, United States

Baumé was a French restaurant in Palo Alto, California, opened in 2010 by chef Bruno Chemel Until 2021, it had two Michelin stars. Originally seating 28, the restaurant was reduced to eight tables in the mid-2010s, and staffed only by Chemel, his son Antoine and his wife Christie. The restaurant closed in August 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adega</span> Restaurant in California, United States

Adega was a Portuguese restaurant in the Little Portugal neighborhood of San Jose, California. Established in 2015, in 2016 it became the city's first restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star. In summer 2023, the owners announced that the restaurant would close at the end of the year, to be replaced by a second location of Petiscos, a more casual Portuguese restaurant with the same chefs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cycling in San Jose, California</span>

San Jose, California has various cycling routes on roads and trails used by both commuters and recreational riders. The city has plans to expand the current 285 miles (459 km) of bike lanes to 400 miles (640 km), and the current 60 miles (97 km) of trails to 100 miles (160 km). San Jose was ranked as a bronze-level bicycle-friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists.

WORKS/San José is a nonprofit, member-run art space, located in the SoFA district of San Jose, California. It was founded in 1977 by community members.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Vicky Elliott (June 9, 2004). "Home for the Holidays / Dia de Portugal / Bem-Vindos! / Portuguese community's traditions stretch from Azores to California". SFGate. San Francisco Chronicle.
  2. ↑ Portuguese Historical Museum - History
  3. ↑ Jennifer Wadsworth (April 24, 2017). "Following Historic Vote on Rent Protections, San Jose Considers Ban on Voucher Discrimination". San Jose Inside.
  4. ↑ "Fact Sheet: Alum Rock/28th Street Station" (PDF). BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project. Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. November 8, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  5. ↑ Jennifer Wadsworth (April 10, 2017). "San Jose May Revise Urban Village Policy to Advance Affordable Housing Projects". San Jose Inside.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mistely, Catherine (May 2013). How Is the Past Preserved in a Pluralistic Society? A Case Study of the Portuguese in East San José as a Model for Interpreting Immigrant Landscapes (PDF). Anthropology (MA thesis). San Jose State University. pp. 95–110.
  7. ↑ "Five Wounds Church: Appraisal - Community". Who Owns the Past (blog). May 13, 2011.
  8. ↑ Rogers, p. 105.
  9. ↑ Jennifer Wadsworth (October 20, 2015). "VTA Offers Cash to Businesses Hurt by BRT Construction Delays". San Jose Inside.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Meg Rogers; Portuguese Historical Museum (2007). The Portuguese in San Jose. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia. p. 108. ISBN   9780738547817.
  11. 1 2 Andrew X. Pham (August 29, 1996). "Sweet Sousa". Metroactive.com. Metro Silicon Valley.
  12. ↑ Rogers, p. 106.
  13. ↑ Portuguese Heritage Publications of California
  14. ↑ Ngoc Ngo (March 16, 2016). "Little Portugal's Dining Takes Big Step forward with Adega". San Jose.com.
  15. ↑ Linda Zavoral (October 27, 2016) [October 25, 2016]. "San Jose's first Michelin star: Adega in Little Portugal". San Jose Mercury News .
  16. ↑ Jennifer Wadsworth (August 19, 2015). "Little Portugal Residents Fume over Stalled Road Work". San Jose Inside.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.