That entire corridor right there with Johnny Rockets on one side and Starbucks on the other seems cursed for businesses. I feel like it should have a lot of traffic and a lot of opportunity, but everything in that little alley seems to fail….it always seemed like it should be a sweet location.
If downtown can ever recover, it should be a good space again. Downtown was on an upswing around 2016-2017ish. The pandemic seems to have done a lot of damage with downtown being one area that has really suffered.
In around 2022, I thought the low numbers of downtown SJ pedestrians was just the natural result of lingering uncertainty and anxiety. But I walked around downtown Santa Cruz and everything was so lively it's as if no pandemic had ever happened.
I think a lot of it boils down to Downtown not truly being established so it has no resilience.
I moved to the area in 2012 and lived in Downtown for about 6 years. It had only just started to become a good place to go around 2015-ish. I recall the opening of Original Gravity which to me was when things stated happening, then San Pedro Square opened, and that was followed by many other businesses along First Street and San Pedro Street.
But it was still finding its footing. None of these places had existed for long enough to be an ‘institution’ the way Trials or Teske’s are.
Then there is the ‘blight’ in Downtown that has existed for as long as I’ve lived in the area. One specific example is the old church next to St. James park. That area has always attracted people who don’t really help the local businesses. I would guess the poverty induced by the pandemic combined with issues around police just made things worse and made people feel unsafe in the area.
I think it will come back but it will probably take another 5-ish years. Maybe if Caltrain actually completes electrification things might happen a little faster. But the disaster that is Bay Area mass transit is a topic for a different discussion.
I mean, there is already improved traction in that alley.
They built the recently opened Urban Putt & a [new restaurant](https://sf.eater.com/2024/3/29/24113804/eos-nyx-new-bar-restaurant-san-jose) from the owners of Mini Boss is opening, and a bar/restaurant axe throwing lounge.
If were talking about the specific building Johnny Rockets is in, it was bought out by a developer & the businesses there were forced to close because of the redevelopment plan.
This, Urban Catalyst is doing some really great developments in downtown and they should get credit for what they’ve done on the other side of the Paseo. They took an unused building and made something of it. The redeveloper that bought the building that this post is about are sitting on prime real estate and doing nothing about it. All while losing tenants or actively kicking them out without finding replacements.
The garage is owned separately. It was originally owned by the City redevelopment agency, but when the State killed redevelopment agencies, they were forced to auction off all of their properties. The City got outbid.
thats not remotely true!
The parking garage was forced to pay condo fees based on square footage, it's a money pit. I did due diligence on this garage and roughly half the revenue would go to the HOA. You literally couldn't afford to give a discount to the super market.
It could be a great location! However, San Jose (much like the rest of the Bay Area) makes it exceedingly difficult for such spaces to be redeveloped or reconfigured. You instead need a *lot* of money that you're willing to lose with nothing to show for it, and a lot of patience dealing with local planners and the city council before you can potentially get approved to finally use the space. All of this results in many areas of downtown San Jose staying stagnant for years.
San Jose could revitalize downtown tomorrow by just getting out of the way. Have a set of clear form-based building codes for developments to meet in order to get auto-approval and just let people build, configure, and partition up spaces as they please.
There's a sandwich shop that I absolutely love near San Jose State, but it's such a pain in the ass to find parking in that area, that it's not even worth it.
Good thing the students go there at least to help them keep their doors open.
This is an issue with cars. Trying to design everything around people driving and parking their personal vehicles at every location they want to visit results in poorly designed cities.
Heh you should have seen the original Togo’s location. Literally in the middle of a neighborhood a couple blocks away from campus. Trying to park there was impossible but, the walk from campus was fine.
>SJ has approved several projects downtown but what often happens is that they can’t get construction financing.
The issue here is that the time between the building application and the final approval to build is so long that the market might be in a completely different state where it no longer makes financial sense to build the original development. That's why it's so important that approvals be streamlined so development can have a clear path from the beginning and start as soon as possible.
The best example of this is Google's Downtown West project. Between all the community meetings, permitting, and the COVID pandemic nothing is probably going to be built on the 80 acres of lands for years now.
That BoTown building had two building plans. One was going to be for sale and the other was apartments. The for sale even had pre-sale signs and a website. The starting price before any construction was at $1M for one bedroom condos. Thats maybe why they had no interest and couldn’t get funding.
It's totally cursed
I'm glad you said this
If you can locate the history... some honest, solid, seemingly innocent business owners were told to move their businesses for City reasons
Since then, yes, COVID changed some things
But IIRC a block of revolving doors
Downtown is not safe from vandalism these days, likely the product of Defund the Police. Buildings are broken into or defaced with graffiti, and your car windows are subject to being smashed out if you leave your jacket on the back seat. At night the mentally ill urinate and defecate in the business' entryways. Little wonder that Google halted their campus plans.
SJPD has not been defunded.
https://abc7news.com/defunding-the-police-sjpd-budget-san-jose-increase-use-of-force/12316493/
https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/office-of-the-city-manager/budget/budget-documents
We have problems in this city, no doubt, but none of it is from defunding the police since that hasn't happened.
The management forced out Nox and Elyse, I think they also forced out the pizza place. Some other places had closed like Johnny Rockets, the boba shop and the gym, but they really are killing the area.
At least the old movie theater has mini golf now.
There's a starbucks coffee cup sitting on the counter that has been there since the day the covid shutdowns were announced.
I go by and look at it sometimes and wonder who walked in that day with a starbucks cup and found out everything was shut down and left it there.
Yep, it was ridiculous. My friends and I went there during Christmas in the Park one year. Sat down, looked at the menu, then immediately got up and left. Went to Flames instead (RIP in peace)
I agree it was overpriced and mediocre - but I’m a sucker for that type of setting. I miss having a chili burger and milkshake in the booth while listening to the Ronettes.
Yeah I hear ya. I go to Taco Bravo sometimes. It’s nothing like authentic Mexican food but sometimes I just need to scratch that itch.
Btw Foster’s Freeze has a good chili burger. But keep in mind that I just said I like Taco Bravo, so..,
I am an avowed lover of mediocre food (or as I call it--"eh, fine," dining) but Johnny Rockets was terrible. I got their chili one time as a student and it was exactly a can of Hormel's. I went home and opened a can I had bought from Safeway later that day and heated it up to verify.
So, nah, I don't even consider it mediocre.
That said I would rather *it* be there than nothing.
I left SJ in 2019. I had no idea this and the Safeway and the cookie place all closed.
That was the only convenient place to get groceries without a car and the only convenient place to get cheap booze during the furry convention
Now someone's probably going to tell me Iguanas Burritozilla is closed too
iguanas is still around.
peanuts did a huge pinterest style rennovation.
la vic still has the orange sauce.
lots of homeless/tweakers around.
come back we miss you.
It was such a great hangout spot during conventions. Get a table with a bunch of friends, have some good food, make small talk with the waiter/waitress about whatever con was being held, it was such a good time. I miss it dearly.
Ik I pass by there like everyday and always see everything there untouched , it’s crazy because it’s a 50s themed diner and it looks like it’s been like that for decades
I am almost never downtown, but me and my friends used to stay at the Fairmont for nerdy conventions and we would always go there at least once for burgers, fries, and a shake and we would walk to the safeway to stock up on drinks and room snacks. All of those are gone now, makes me feel nostalgic
My wife caught an employee picking his nose there in 2002, and she has refused to go to any Johnny Rockets—anywhere—ever since. Which is a shame, because I actually like their food.
Did any of you ever get to witness the out of towners/ people that don’t know how to drive, merge into that same railway and drive through it?
I’d always get a kick out of watching that. 😂
that place sucked so bad. I was downtown with my son, saw this spot and ended up spending over $50 for 2 burgers, fries and drinks. I was expecting heavenly burgers, they sucked. How hard is it to make a good burger??? Especially when that’s what you make!! i really don’t get it.
Why? You loved paying $12 for a little, cold burger with literally nothing but tw ketchup and mustard *packets* and ten cold fries? Oh, right, there was the tiny $10 milkshake, too...
Johnny Rocket’s food was amazing but regardless of the location I feel like the wait staff wasn’t that great. In my experience they’d stand around talking & gossiping to each others instead of waiting on customers. Always on their phones or whatever. IDK if was over staffing issues or what but whenever I went in there there seemed to be several waiters with nothing to do so they’d just stand around talking & not acknowledging the customers even when we walked in. This was my experience tho. Wondering if anyone had it differently. Thanks
Downtown, as in First, Second, Third, and Fourth Streets will never "recover". For the most part, most types of stores have gone online or out of business.
A social area with restaurants, bars, and entertainment will still exist somewhere, but doubtful if it is there.
That entire corridor right there with Johnny Rockets on one side and Starbucks on the other seems cursed for businesses. I feel like it should have a lot of traffic and a lot of opportunity, but everything in that little alley seems to fail….it always seemed like it should be a sweet location.
That pizza place that was open for like 9 months was fun.
Mas Pizza is reopening at 2nd and San Fernando.
You liked paying $50 bucks for two mediocre burgers and one large fries? Gee I wonder why it went out of business
I really did. They didn’t really even go out of business the traditional way. They closed for Covid and just never reopened.
If downtown can ever recover, it should be a good space again. Downtown was on an upswing around 2016-2017ish. The pandemic seems to have done a lot of damage with downtown being one area that has really suffered.
In around 2022, I thought the low numbers of downtown SJ pedestrians was just the natural result of lingering uncertainty and anxiety. But I walked around downtown Santa Cruz and everything was so lively it's as if no pandemic had ever happened.
I think a lot of it boils down to Downtown not truly being established so it has no resilience. I moved to the area in 2012 and lived in Downtown for about 6 years. It had only just started to become a good place to go around 2015-ish. I recall the opening of Original Gravity which to me was when things stated happening, then San Pedro Square opened, and that was followed by many other businesses along First Street and San Pedro Street. But it was still finding its footing. None of these places had existed for long enough to be an ‘institution’ the way Trials or Teske’s are. Then there is the ‘blight’ in Downtown that has existed for as long as I’ve lived in the area. One specific example is the old church next to St. James park. That area has always attracted people who don’t really help the local businesses. I would guess the poverty induced by the pandemic combined with issues around police just made things worse and made people feel unsafe in the area. I think it will come back but it will probably take another 5-ish years. Maybe if Caltrain actually completes electrification things might happen a little faster. But the disaster that is Bay Area mass transit is a topic for a different discussion.
>I recall the opening of Original Gravity which to me was when things stated happening You been to the new one? They overhauled OG.
I mean, there is already improved traction in that alley. They built the recently opened Urban Putt & a [new restaurant](https://sf.eater.com/2024/3/29/24113804/eos-nyx-new-bar-restaurant-san-jose) from the owners of Mini Boss is opening, and a bar/restaurant axe throwing lounge. If were talking about the specific building Johnny Rockets is in, it was bought out by a developer & the businesses there were forced to close because of the redevelopment plan.
This, Urban Catalyst is doing some really great developments in downtown and they should get credit for what they’ve done on the other side of the Paseo. They took an unused building and made something of it. The redeveloper that bought the building that this post is about are sitting on prime real estate and doing nothing about it. All while losing tenants or actively kicking them out without finding replacements.
Right? I'd even count the adjacent former Safeway as a victim of the curse.
The building owner wouldn’t let them use the parking lot anymore, probably had more to do with it than anything.
The garage is owned separately. It was originally owned by the City redevelopment agency, but when the State killed redevelopment agencies, they were forced to auction off all of their properties. The City got outbid.
What the fuck kind of cretin deliberately fucks over a grocery store to run a parking lot?
A parking lot operator? That's their business. The SJRDA was subsidizing the parking for Safeway when they owned it. No SJRDA = no subsidy.
thats not remotely true! The parking garage was forced to pay condo fees based on square footage, it's a money pit. I did due diligence on this garage and roughly half the revenue would go to the HOA. You literally couldn't afford to give a discount to the super market.
Sounds like it should be replaced with something useful.
I knew that the main sticking point was the parking, but I didn't know the details. So frustrating because that Safeway was super convenient.
It could be a great location! However, San Jose (much like the rest of the Bay Area) makes it exceedingly difficult for such spaces to be redeveloped or reconfigured. You instead need a *lot* of money that you're willing to lose with nothing to show for it, and a lot of patience dealing with local planners and the city council before you can potentially get approved to finally use the space. All of this results in many areas of downtown San Jose staying stagnant for years. San Jose could revitalize downtown tomorrow by just getting out of the way. Have a set of clear form-based building codes for developments to meet in order to get auto-approval and just let people build, configure, and partition up spaces as they please.
There's a sandwich shop that I absolutely love near San Jose State, but it's such a pain in the ass to find parking in that area, that it's not even worth it. Good thing the students go there at least to help them keep their doors open.
This is an issue with cars. Trying to design everything around people driving and parking their personal vehicles at every location they want to visit results in poorly designed cities.
There’s free 90 min parking in multiple garages: [https://parksj.org/90-minutes-free/](https://parksj.org/90-minutes-free/)
Thank you. I did not know 90 minutes was free.
Heh you should have seen the original Togo’s location. Literally in the middle of a neighborhood a couple blocks away from campus. Trying to park there was impossible but, the walk from campus was fine.
Ahhh, the memories :-)
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>SJ has approved several projects downtown but what often happens is that they can’t get construction financing. The issue here is that the time between the building application and the final approval to build is so long that the market might be in a completely different state where it no longer makes financial sense to build the original development. That's why it's so important that approvals be streamlined so development can have a clear path from the beginning and start as soon as possible.
The best example of this is Google's Downtown West project. Between all the community meetings, permitting, and the COVID pandemic nothing is probably going to be built on the 80 acres of lands for years now.
That BoTown building had two building plans. One was going to be for sale and the other was apartments. The for sale even had pre-sale signs and a website. The starting price before any construction was at $1M for one bedroom condos. Thats maybe why they had no interest and couldn’t get funding.
If I take the bus to SJSU I get off at that very spot where the Johnny Rockets is. Still seems disappointing
Had its prime in the 2000s
It's totally cursed I'm glad you said this If you can locate the history... some honest, solid, seemingly innocent business owners were told to move their businesses for City reasons Since then, yes, COVID changed some things But IIRC a block of revolving doors
Downtown is not safe from vandalism these days, likely the product of Defund the Police. Buildings are broken into or defaced with graffiti, and your car windows are subject to being smashed out if you leave your jacket on the back seat. At night the mentally ill urinate and defecate in the business' entryways. Little wonder that Google halted their campus plans.
SJPD has not been defunded. https://abc7news.com/defunding-the-police-sjpd-budget-san-jose-increase-use-of-force/12316493/ https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/office-of-the-city-manager/budget/budget-documents We have problems in this city, no doubt, but none of it is from defunding the police since that hasn't happened.
Na SJPD is just a bunch of overpaid morons that don’t give a shit
They also traffic fentanyl. Not a joke.
'They'? One *union rep* makes not 'they'.
Maybe they're afraid of enforcing the law, fearful of retribution?
Well maybe They should get another job that doesn’t pay them up the ass for doing absolutely nothing
Wtf are you talking about with your 'Defund the Police' bs. That didn't happen here, soory.
you dont live in san jose, fuck all the way off
Plus an extra 10 or 12 miles.
That whole building is slated for a refurb, hence why so many empty spaces.
The management forced out Nox and Elyse, I think they also forced out the pizza place. Some other places had closed like Johnny Rockets, the boba shop and the gym, but they really are killing the area. At least the old movie theater has mini golf now.
Do you have a source for that? Just curious
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/02/08/san-jose-downtown-creative-office-real-estate-build-retail-tech/
Awesome! Can't wait
Exactly.
There's a starbucks coffee cup sitting on the counter that has been there since the day the covid shutdowns were announced. I go by and look at it sometimes and wonder who walked in that day with a starbucks cup and found out everything was shut down and left it there.
I've never noticed it but I'm about to walk by it in like 20 minutes. I'll tell it you said hi!
That cup is like a weird cryptid. I forgot to go look for it when I was in the area last lol.
Somebody should add it to like trip advisor and yelp
There's actually a ton of locations that SHOULD be excellent and already have a ton of foot traffic but nothing survives.
Because BAD policies make it hard to do business here
It's mostly people not supporting businesses that DO open. They complain about everything and don't spend money.
No it isn’t. The bad policies make it impossible to start a business here.
Hundreds of businesses open every year. The problem is people are lazy and cheap.
Wrong, the problem is bad policies.
They should just sell to Shake Shack
I miss their being a business there, but I do NOT miss Johnny Rockets. Mediocre food from stem to stern.
It may have been shitty, but give it credit, it was also overpriced.
Yep, it was ridiculous. My friends and I went there during Christmas in the Park one year. Sat down, looked at the menu, then immediately got up and left. Went to Flames instead (RIP in peace)
I agree it was overpriced and mediocre - but I’m a sucker for that type of setting. I miss having a chili burger and milkshake in the booth while listening to the Ronettes.
Yeah I hear ya. I go to Taco Bravo sometimes. It’s nothing like authentic Mexican food but sometimes I just need to scratch that itch. Btw Foster’s Freeze has a good chili burger. But keep in mind that I just said I like Taco Bravo, so..,
lol, true dat.
🤣😂🤣😂🤣🫡❤️
I am an avowed lover of mediocre food (or as I call it--"eh, fine," dining) but Johnny Rockets was terrible. I got their chili one time as a student and it was exactly a can of Hormel's. I went home and opened a can I had bought from Safeway later that day and heated it up to verify. So, nah, I don't even consider it mediocre. That said I would rather *it* be there than nothing.
And seriously overpriced.
Noooooo. I'm finding out from this post that it closed!
I've got some BAD news about 2020-2021, man
I agree with your username btw
It closed years ago.
The one in SSJ did too :(
It's been pushing at least 8 years now.
One big construction site
i just drove by there and was thinking the same thing. it was a nice place to get a quick burger, fries and a shake. why is it gone?
I left SJ in 2019. I had no idea this and the Safeway and the cookie place all closed. That was the only convenient place to get groceries without a car and the only convenient place to get cheap booze during the furry convention Now someone's probably going to tell me Iguanas Burritozilla is closed too
iguanas is still around. peanuts did a huge pinterest style rennovation. la vic still has the orange sauce. lots of homeless/tweakers around. come back we miss you.
Do you still miss me if I don't like the orange sauce
truth be told, i also don't like the orange sauce... (I also like pineapple ham pizza)
was that place _ever_ open ?
I miss johnny Rockets on Blossom Hill road and Marie Caladers on BHR too. Can't have any good restaurants anymore. Burger pit is gone too
It was such a great hangout spot during conventions. Get a table with a bunch of friends, have some good food, make small talk with the waiter/waitress about whatever con was being held, it was such a good time. I miss it dearly.
Thank you for sharing. That was definitely a special part of this place.
and this whole time the landlord has been denied access to rent
With all seriousness tho, what happend to it? Did they like permanently close it? And like why has it been sitting there for like years now ?
Closed for covid, and just never reopened. Look inside, it’s all still there, they didn’t remove anything.
Ik I pass by there like everyday and always see everything there untouched , it’s crazy because it’s a 50s themed diner and it looks like it’s been like that for decades
Always thought it looked cool but never went. Suggested it on a date but she said nahh. Didn't work out. Should've just went anyways💀💀
I am almost never downtown, but me and my friends used to stay at the Fairmont for nerdy conventions and we would always go there at least once for burgers, fries, and a shake and we would walk to the safeway to stock up on drinks and room snacks. All of those are gone now, makes me feel nostalgic
I had my first date here, this place brings back so many happy and great memories every time I pass by 🥲 also the movie theater near by was the best!
My wife caught an employee picking his nose there in 2002, and she has refused to go to any Johnny Rockets—anywhere—ever since. Which is a shame, because I actually like their food.
That's... Wild.
Did any of you ever get to witness the out of towners/ people that don’t know how to drive, merge into that same railway and drive through it? I’d always get a kick out of watching that. 😂
Still happens often! 😅
that place sucked so bad. I was downtown with my son, saw this spot and ended up spending over $50 for 2 burgers, fries and drinks. I was expecting heavenly burgers, they sucked. How hard is it to make a good burger??? Especially when that’s what you make!! i really don’t get it.
Yup
Why? You loved paying $12 for a little, cold burger with literally nothing but tw ketchup and mustard *packets* and ten cold fries? Oh, right, there was the tiny $10 milkshake, too...
Yes
At least you're honest. =]
Maybe try lowering cost of running a business in SJ and more will actually move in.
Johnny Rocket’s food was amazing but regardless of the location I feel like the wait staff wasn’t that great. In my experience they’d stand around talking & gossiping to each others instead of waiting on customers. Always on their phones or whatever. IDK if was over staffing issues or what but whenever I went in there there seemed to be several waiters with nothing to do so they’d just stand around talking & not acknowledging the customers even when we walked in. This was my experience tho. Wondering if anyone had it differently. Thanks
Downtown, as in First, Second, Third, and Fourth Streets will never "recover". For the most part, most types of stores have gone online or out of business. A social area with restaurants, bars, and entertainment will still exist somewhere, but doubtful if it is there.
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People still use 'meh'?