Postcard from San Jose

When I went to school at San Jose State, I hated this city…passionately. I swore when I graduated, I would leave immediately. And that is exactly what I did.

Oh yes, it did have its highlights…The House of Pizza for the best pizza on the planet…a steakhouse whose name I forget, where the skinny little chef would stand in the middle of the restaurant and BBQ your steaks over an open fire…while sipping on a large quantity of highballs.

Then there was Henry’s Hamburgers, a block away from my dorm that served decent 19 cent hamburgers…until they were shut down for serving horsemeat. But it was good horsemeat. I am still not sure whether I was sick more times from Henry’s or the college cafeteria. Maybe it was the cheap wine and beer. Ah, the good old days.

I spent some small amount of time back in San Jose in July. Wow, has this city changed. I think they wiped out most of the old city I knew and started over. Of course, its been over 40 years since I lived there.

The San Jose of today is quite modern and reflects the fact it is located in Silicon Valley. Amazing what money can do. I like it a whole lot better than the old one.

Now we come to today’s mysterious, but artsy photograph. It is the interior of the San Jose City Council Chambers looking straight up toward the ceiling. It is one of those places where art happily merges with architecture.

The building is unusual, to say the least. It stands all by itself…many yards away from the modern City Hall Building…both are right next door to the San Jose State campus.  When seen from outside, it reminds me of a football, made of glass, that is partially stuck in the ground.

It is rumored it was designed to help seduce the 49ers to build their new stadium in Silicon Valley. It worked…the new stadium is being built, as we speak, only a few miles away.

If you are still trying to understand the photo, the glass rotunda casts its shadows onto four large cloth sheets that stretch almost completely across the inside of the structure. It make for a nice effect, don’t you think?

San Jose now proudly boasts that the city is, “The Capital of Silicon Valley.” And it just may be. But, Silicon Valley, as an entity, does not exist. But, it is a real place that encompasses the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area. But it is also a state of mind.

And it does produce big bucks, which means huge revenues for cities like San Jose. And big revenues can help you build modern government complexes…even ones that look like footballs. Go Niners!

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

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