East San Jose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
East San Jose (or the East Side; less commonly the East Valley) is the name for several neighborhoods east of downtown San Jose, California. These neighborhoods include:
- King and Story
- Alum Rock, California
- East Foothills, California
- Little Portugal
[edit] Demographics
East San Jose's residents are predominantly Mexican American and also includes Vietnamese, Cambodians, Samoans, and Filipinos, respectively in order of size. A neighborhood around Alum Rock and King has a small pocket of immigrants from Portugal. This section of East San Jose includes a plaza known as Little Portugal.
[edit] Crime
East San Jose is a working-class community and is the least wealthiest in the Santa Clara Valley. Even though it is not the richest community, East San Jose's demographics are similar to those of Hayward's. East San Jose's crime has risen over the years, and is known as somewhat a ghetto neighborhood patrolled by street gangs. King and Story has traditionally been the most notorious neighborhood in all of East San Jose, but other lesser-known areas in East San Jose also have similar crime rates.
However, it is important to point out that, in comparison with other working-class Latino neighborhoods across California, East San Jose is in fact much safer and in fact more affluent than other places such as Fresno, Los Angeles, and Oakland. East San Jose is often thought of as an undesirable region because most other parts of San Jose consist of very affluent neighborhoods that have household incomes well above the national median. San Jose's most dangerous neighboorhoods are indeed to be found within this area, though, and consist of: Avalani (near McKee and King), Poco Way (near King and Story, which put up 10% of the city's crime one year), McKee and Capitol, Story and Capitol, Santee Drive and Carnelian Drive. There are mostly Norteno gangs in East San Jose, but the Crips are CWA and ATC (A-Town crips) ATC is not really a gang but are made up of teenagers that have family members that are Crips. Some blood gangs are CBC (CRAZY BROTHER CLAN) are to be found near 700 Blk Eastside San Jose, but they are running more north to Stockton, Surenos are to be found near Poco Way. King And Story have very aggressive norteno gangs by the bridge going to the other side of 680 the street is Lyons drive. They had drive-bys in the 90s, though collateral damage is rare. CPL (capitol park locos) is a dangerous norteno gang in east san jose. Kollmar drive is a low wealth apartment area with lots of gang violence. The most dangerous neighborhoods are Monte Alban Apartments(VMA). These apartments are known throughout East San Jose and are very territorial. Carnelian Drive (C Town) These apartments consist of two Crip gangs: LCF (Lil Crip Family) and CWA (Crips/Cambodian With Attitude) These two gangs do not get along. And from there on is McQueston and Tamie Lee Drive which are Sureno gangs that consist of VTG, VTL, VPLs. The Asian Gangs of East San Jose before and still are feared by the community. One of the oldest Asian Gangs, VN (Viet Nation) once a large gang formerly known for drug trafficking, gambling, and robberies, several murders had died out over the past decade. And thus the new generation of Asian gangs have risen up. The Asian gangs in Eastside San Jose also take a big part in the gang community such as LVG (Little Viet Gang) A-dub (Asian Warriors) and V-Dub (Viet Warriors). Unlike the norteneo gangs and sureneo gangs, the Asian gangs are more into drug trafficking, robbery and gambling.
[edit] History
East San Jose was also the name of a small former city that sat to the east of San Jose, which was annexed by the City of San Jose in 1911.
Before World War II, East San Jose was a small section of San Jose located on the east banks of the Guadalupe River and west of today's U.S. Highway 101. After World War II, when cities all over California started to face massive suburban development, new housing developments were constructed all over the Santa Clara Valley. The housing developments that were built east of downtown were at first ethnically mixed and included whites, Chinese, African Americans, and Mexican Americans. In the 1970s and 1980s, the region became mainly populated by Mexican Americans as Hispanic immigrants moved into the area. East San Jose is now considered a large region of San Jose that includes many smaller areas.
It is also the location of one of the few Portuguese National Churches (i.e., Roman-Catholic) in the area: The Cincos Sagres, or "Five Wounds", an ornate cathedral in the classical Gothic Portuguese style, located immediately next to Highway 101 on Santa Clara St.
