Drive-by Shooting - San Jose

fishfish Registered Users Posts: 2,950 Major grins
edited March 22, 2004 in Landscapes
In my quest to find shots appropriate for this week's photo assignment (which I totally whiffed), I decided to drive around downtown San Jose and shoot a bunch of stuff in and out of the cage (mostly in). Please come with me as I show you parts of San Jose in this exercise of quantity over quality.

We'll start with your typical mall. This used to be Oakridge Mall...now it's Shoppingtown or some crap like that. Here is the new parking structure where the Montgomery Wards was.

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Yep...we got lots of concrete spaghetti here too.

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Children's Discovery Museum. I have no idea what the duck is all about. Elmo was sitting up there last time I went by.

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Part of our scenic skyline. SJC is very close to downtown, so there are lots of airplanes around all the time.

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The top of the historic Hotel De Anza...an art deco hotel from a long time ago that was shuttered for several decades and recently reopened as a posh hotel with a fancy italian restaurant on the first floor. There used to be a cool painting of a woman diving into a pool on the side of it.

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We have lots of palm trees and airplanes downtown.

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There's a river running through the middle of downtown called the Guadalupe River. It's more like a creek, but apparently steelhead used to go up it. Now, mostly homeless people camp near it.

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This is the San Jose Arena, where the Sharks NHL team plays (or pretends to play). Compaq bought the naming rights a bit before their merger with Hewlett-Packard. Now it's called HP Pavilion (like their PC line). Clever.

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Dang...I should use this one for the transport in motion assignment. This is a look from the Arena downtown toward Market St. There's always construction going on.

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And airplanes.

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Those big buildings in the background are the Adobe Systems HQ. You know...Photoshop. Nice flax, huh?

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The San Jose Water Company building is pretty cool...art deco too, kinda.

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Kinda funny how the fountain in front of the water company doesn't work :lol

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Oh look! Now there's something you don't see every five minutes :bluduh

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They installed some really cool retro streetlights downtown a few years ago. With the palm trees, I think.

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Another shot of the Hotel De Anza.
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The lesser known Hotel Anaconda. I think it was closed down by either the health department or the vice squad.

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A neato church near the center of town.

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Here's a statue of quetzalcoatl. Who is the god Quetzalcoatl? Very little has come down to us 500 years later. The physical evidence of stone carvings and glyphs is weathered and often extremely difficult to decipher, the written evidence has been destroyed, altered or perhaps never existed at all. A long-nosed god appears on stelae at Tikal and Quiriga and several other Maya sites, perhaps as a direct influence the Olmeca-Xicallanca, but this god may not be Quetzalcoatl and indeed has few of the monumental aspects of the flying serpents of Teotihuacan. The descendents of the builders of the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon carved snake heads surrounded by feathers on their Quetzalcoatl Temple, but had no identified system of writing which might have cast light on the role of the worship of the plumed serpent in their gigantic city of Teotihuacan ("where the gods were made"). What is clear however is that the plumed serpent was a symbol of political power, and wherever he appeared carved in stone, signs of ritual human sacrifice would be found nearby. Many researchers who had believed in a more peaceful, mercantile-based society at Teotihuacan were startled by the discovery of over 200 sacrificial victims buried at the corners of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl in 1988, most warriors with their hands tied behind their backs. It is clear that by this time (c. 250 AD), Quetzalcoatl had assumed major importance and a military cast, being the god of warriors rather than priests. It appears that Quetzalcoatl continued to be the focus of religious worship until the fall of the city sometime in the 8th century, an event which is considered to be the birth of the Fifth Sun, the Sun of the Toltecs.

We affectionately refer to it as "the turd".

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Directly behind the statue is the famous Hotel Saint Claire. Recently renovated and bought by...um...Hyatt, I think. It has a trendy italian restaurant on the first floor.

Another aspect of the renovation of downtown SJ is the water fountain. Kiddies love it. The Tech Museum of Innovation is behind it (brown) with an IMAX theater. Very cool.

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We have tall buildings too. Not as tall as SF, but so what.

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The old main post office.

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One of the lightrail stations at the park on St. John St. Lightrail has been called the transit solution that starts nowhere and goes nowhere. Some people ride it, but apparently not enough. It's in a financial crisis.

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Some neat old houses northeast of downtown.

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Here's the place to go for your bling-bling hubcaps and used tires.

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One of the last reminders that this used to be fruit orchards, not stucco-ville.

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We have a thriving Japantown too, with some excellent eating establishments.

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Here's one of them.

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The famous fiberglass horse in front of Winchester Western Wear on W. San Carlos.

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San Jose BMW Motorcycle dealership.

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Santana Row. This used to be a Town and Country Center, but they turned it into a trendy upscale shopping/living place with 17mph speed limits. I've never actually been in there.

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The Winchester Mystery House...surely everyone has heard of it.

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There used to be dozens of funky A-frame Pool Stores all over SJ. Now most of them have been converted into chinese restaurants or cellular phone stores.

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World famous San Jose Camera. Prices are very close to bhphoto.com, but you get instant gratification (and sales tax, of course).
They have a reputation for snubbing n00bies, but now that I've spent my children's inheritance there, they seem to humor me a little more than they used to. Actually, there are a couple of guys that work there that are pretty cool.

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We have lots of freeways in SJ. They're crowded most of the time, but nothing near like it is in Los Angeles.

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On the way home, I noticed a cool Bultaco with brand new knobbies, and just had to take a pic of it. This image pretty much represents San Jose. An old, decrepit city, with a fresh coat of paint, stickers, and new shocks. It's trying hard. While I make a lot of fun of San Jose, it's one of my favorite cities in the world. For a large city, it feels pretty much small town. And of course the weather is fantastic.

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So that's about it. Believe it or not, this is about 25% of the shots I took today. I hope you enjoyed our little cruise around San Jose. Let's see your town!
"Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." - Edward Weston
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."-Hunter S.Thompson

Comments

  • SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited March 21, 2004
    Nice tour. Looks like a pretty cool place the way you tell it. I live about a mile from the Wincheter Myster House. The last time I was at Santana Row they kicked me out. Said it was privite property and you can't take photos. Go figure.
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,904 moderator
    edited March 21, 2004
    Nice tour fish. I laughed at the turd but I liked this one.

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    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • fishfish Registered Users Posts: 2,950 Major grins
    edited March 21, 2004
    Sam wrote:
    Nice tour. Looks like a pretty cool place the way you tell it. I live about a mile from the Wincheter Myster House. The last time I was at Santana Row they kicked me out. Said it was privite property and you can't take photos. Go figure.
    no shit? who kicked you out? offishul police or some santana private security?
    "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." - Edward Weston
    "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."-Hunter S.Thompson
  • hutchmanhutchman Registered Users Posts: 255 Major grins
    edited March 21, 2004
    Bravo Fishy, clap.gifclap.gifclap.gif

    Nice tour! Too bad you guys don't have any airplanes.

    The 10d is on order and should be here this week!!

    Cheers,

    Hutch
  • SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited March 21, 2004
    fish wrote:
    no shit? who kicked you out? offishul police or some santana private security?
    It was just the security guy. Yeah...I don't think it's legal, and I have been know to call um on stuff like this, but hey I was done, ready for breakfast, and didn't feel like going through the time it would take to call the SJPD and all that.. :D
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,904 moderator
    edited March 21, 2004
    Sam wrote:
    It was just the security guy. Yeah...I don't think it's legal, and I have been know to call um on stuff like this, but hey I was done, ready for breakfast, and didn't feel like going through the time it would take to call the SJPD and all that.. :D
    Hey Sam, next time take his picture :D

    Ian
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • kometkomet Registered Users Posts: 117 Major grins
    edited March 21, 2004
    nice pics, fish...not a bad looking town
    komet gives light so that you may find the way.
  • fishfish Registered Users Posts: 2,950 Major grins
    edited March 21, 2004
    komet wrote:
    nice pics, fish...not a bad looking town
    Thanks. Understand that almost all the shots were taken downtown. That's less than 10% of the area within city limits. I'll try to explore other areas in the coming weeks.
    "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." - Edward Weston
    "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."-Hunter S.Thompson
  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2004
    Ta for the jolly mate ..thumb.gif
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,680 moderator
    edited March 22, 2004
    Nice pix, fish. Kinda makes me a little homesick... :cry
  • cletuscletus Registered Users Posts: 1,930 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2004
    Nice stuff fish. The airplane shots look really good.
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2004
    This was great and really took me back to my Silicon Valley period (I worked for SGI in its glory days.)

    I did some drive around shooting in Santa Clara and Mountain View a few years ago. My own favorite from this expidition was this:

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    The same shoot also produced this:

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    Ever since I first started to go to the Valley in the early 90s I've always loved the way the huge buildings at Moffett Field dominate the landscape around them. You can be used to New York City, which is pretty surreal, but the valley is surreal in a very different way which always surprises me. Someday, I'd like to capture the bright clear afternoons and fog on the mountains.
    If not now, when?
  • fishfish Registered Users Posts: 2,950 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2004
    I had to run downtown again today to pay property taxes (long story), so I got another opportunity to shoot around the government center.

    With all the police around, I was a little nervous poking a lens out the window, but nobody shot back. thumb.gif

    The ever-present Bad Boy Bail Bonds truck.

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    Main jail.

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    Another shot of the main jail.

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    Hall of Justice.

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    Activity back at the jail...somebody getting booked.

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    Juvenile hall, which is just around the corner from the main jail.

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    Hmmm...more jaggies on the building. Must be a compound artifact of resizing, compressing, and adding smugmug's magic. ne_nau.gif
    "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." - Edward Weston
    "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."-Hunter S.Thompson
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2004
    The rearview mirror shot works especially well.
    If not now, when?
  • fishfish Registered Users Posts: 2,950 Major grins
    edited March 22, 2004
    rutt wrote:
    The rearview mirror shot works especially well.
    Thanks. This is the shot that made me look back.

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    "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." - Edward Weston
    "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."-Hunter S.Thompson
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,904 moderator
    edited March 22, 2004
    rutt wrote:
    Ever since I first started to go to the Valley in the early 90s I've always loved the way the huge buildings at Moffett Field dominate the landscape around them. You can be used to New York City, which is pretty surreal, but the valley is surreal in a very different way which always surprises me. Someday, I'd like to capture the bright clear afternoons and fog on the mountains.
    This afternoon, the dark clouds over the bay and the sun performed
    an interesting dance across one of the large concrete hangers. Amazing.
    One of those days I wished I had my camera. Great contrast.

    Ian
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
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