Alviso
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| Located at the bottom of the San Francisco Bay, Alviso is an old port town with a dried up marina. Over a hundred years ago, Alviso was San Jose's shipping port, and after railways made the port less vital, it became a major cannery town. The Bayside Cannery, still standing, is said to have been the third largest cannery in America in 1920. It was operated by Thomas Foon Chew, who became known as the Asparagus King, due to innovations made at this cannery. Foon died in 1931, and the cannery closed soon afterwards. Due to the heavy draw on the groundwater of San Jose, Alviso has sunk an estimated 15 feet, and is now protected by levees. Most of Alviso is now below sea level, and has been flooded several times. Some of the older buildings have been moved to higher ground. The Gold Street Pump Station takes water that is collected through the storm drains of the Alviso area and pumps it over the levee into the bay. Alviso's marina silted up due to flood control measures, such as deepening an adjacent slough, and the prohibitive expense of dredging the marina. Docks and even some boats are stranded in the drying marsh. Though Silicon Valley's office park developments are encroaching, the town retains some of its original character, and some buildings over 150 years old are still standing. |
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N of San Jose
(POINT(-121.97957038879 37.430330380555))
(show on map)
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CA
Santa Clara County |
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| Alviso is marked as an exit off Highway 237. It is easy to find your way around town, and there are several interesting places to eat. The former marina is next to the parking lot at the north end of town, on Hope Street, just beyond the ruins of the cannery. The old South Bay Yacht Club building is still in use, and was moved to its current position on the edge of the levee a few years ago by the Water District, to keep it out of future floods (though assurances were made to the rest of the community that the new higher levees would protect them). One small house, the Wade residence, at the south end of El Dorado Street, was not so fortunate, and is a little worse for wear, despite its pedigree - a 19th century New England clapboard house, brought around Cape Horn and reassembled in Alviso in 1851. Other surprising relics abound in Alviso. |
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http://www.alviso.com/
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Cultural, Town / Community, Water
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