A California city that calls itself the hub of Silicon Valley, but it's more like the southern half of S.V. Once a farming community, its orchards have been torn down to make way for the likes of Apple Computer.
The San Jose area is a good example of urban sprawl, albeit smaller than Los Angeles. Many residents consider it a boring place, and drive to San Francisco to get their fun.
Update: I first wrote this node
circa 1998; since then,
dot-com fever made San Jose a
mecca not only for geeks, but for the investment and venture finance people who
smelled blood. San Jose and neighboring San Francisco saw housing prices skyrocket.
San Jose also became a more popular spot for trade shows, causing hotels to spike their prices as well. It was an obvious choice for them, since there were relatively few hotels around here, considering the volume of business we conduct. Weekday rates ran in the $200 range for the cheapest Motel 6 type places, and much worse for the business hotels. (On the plus side, weekend rates got remarkably low.) A backlash started up -- people didn't want to travel here for shows any more, because the airport was too cramped and hotel rooms were too hard to come by. And now, with the economic downturn, they're even more reluctant to come.
Housing prices have started to come down but are still quite expensive. Oh, and they built tons more business hotels to accomodate what the demand was ... those hotels are only now being finished. We'll see what happens to them.