Born in San Jose’s Japantown in 1931, Norm Mineta lived through some of America’s darkest and most transformative moments — and helped shape its brightest. As a child, he and his family were forcibly relocated to the Heart Mountain internment camp during WWII, simply for…

In the fight for equity in education, San Jose stood tall — and walked out. In 1968, Roosevelt Junior High School in became the site of a powerful community and student-led protest. Fueled by racism in the classroom and unequal treatment of Mexican American students,…

Tucked into Kelley Park since 1961, Happy Hollow Park & Zoo has been sparking wonder for generations — blending imagination, education, and play into one of San Jose’s most beloved spaces. Inspired in part by Walt Disney’s early vision for Disneyland, Happy Hollow was created…

Long before streaming and smart speakers, San Jose tuned in to KQW — one of California’s earliest radio stations and a pioneering voice in West Coast broadcasting. Founded in 1909 by Dr. Charles Herrold, a San Jose inventor often credited as one of the fathers of…

High atop Mount Hamilton, overlooking San Jose from 4,200 feet above sea level, sits a true marvel of 19th-century vision: the James Lick Observatory — the first permanently occupied mountaintop observatory in the world. Completed in 1888, the observatory was funded by the eccentric and…

In the early 1910s, long before “disc jockeys” became a thing, Sybil M. True Herrold was already spinning records and captivating listeners in San Jose. Alongside her husband, radio pioneer Charles Herrold, Sybil hosted the weekly “Little Ham Program” on KQW—broadcasting music, local news, and…

Long before city parks became the norm, San Jose was already leading the way. In 1872, the city officially established Alum Rock Park — making it the first municipal park in California, and one of the oldest in the western United States. Nestled in the…

When California became a state in 1850, it needed a capital — and the honor went to none other than San Jose. Chosen for its central location and growing prominence, San Jose became California’s first state capital, hosting the inaugural state legislature in a modest…

In 1881, decades before Silicon Valley lit up the world with code, San Jose lit up the night with one of the boldest engineering marvels of its time — the San Jose Electric Light Tower. Rising 237 feet above downtown, the tower was designed to…

Long before Kitty Hawk made headlines, John Joseph Montgomery — often misremembered as James Montgomery — was already testing the skies in the rolling hills of San Jose. In 1883, Montgomery became the first person in the Western Hemisphere to make a controlled flight in…