North San Pedro St, Downtown

North San Pedro Street is one of the best spots to go out for a drink in downtown San Jose. Also known as San Pedro Square, this street practically screams "I am fun" to all of-age college students, young professionals, and out-of-town visitors. With venues like Sonoma Chicken Coop and Blue Tattoo, which I have heard offers beer pong on select nights, this place is not exactly for the uptight or those looking for exclusive posh venues, although one can grab an outdoor table and just chat at any of these places.

Happy hour specials are great but many of them end at 6 PM, even on Fridays - I guess people don't work too late in San Jose. As long as you like beer, food, and lots of company, this is a good place to start or end your night.

The only notable downside is that there is very little free parking on the street in this area, although plenty of garages around here will gladly let you park in exchange for $5-$10.

San Pedro Square is a great place to go during the day to catch a quick lunch, maybe at Amici's or Peggy Sue's.. then head over to Starbucks for a coffee. Also great for the night! It's a great date spot, or for a family night on the town. San Pedro Square is great for all ages,I remember dad would grab a cigar at Fumare's while mom and I would goto the Theatre or Tied House.. a nice cafe/brewery.

i lived near the intersection of taylor and north san pedro. my review of this street...as it is a long street...is based from Taylor to W. Santa Clara street.

Starting from Taylor down, this is a nice residential street. There is a mini mart on the corner which is good because there wasnt a really close grocery store other than the Mexican market or the small shops of Japantown. However, since I moved away a Trader Joes was added to the nearby shopping center. This shopping center actually added a lot to the street because it was walking distance away and had a lot of shops...target...office depot...tmobile...washington mutual, etc as well as a bunch of resturants and the aforementioned trader joes. I hear they are also adding some public transit to that shopping center or maybe they have added, which would add to the area.

This street is also near the san jose rose garden.

back to the street...
the further south you go on san pedro street you will find a nice little park as well as a dog park. the park could be improved if they actually opened the public pool that is there. but most public pools in san jose have been abandoned for some reason. i cant imagine much has changed in the year since i have moved away.

in order to head further south on san pedro you would have to take some detours because the street is cut off by an apartment complex...nice luxury apartments by the way. but if you walk, you can easily walk through a gate, across some train tracks and get back on san pedro street. here it pretty much goes from residential to more business/resturant this part of the street doesnt have much on it...there has been some development going on so there may be something there now. but for the most part it has been bare and the latino club was the main thing that far down....very loud spanish music...always sounded fun, but never went inside.

towards the end of N. San pedro is what is considered San Pedro Square...it has a pretty sign lit up by lights...it is actually kind of small, but if being a place where there is parking, food like the speghetti factory, sonoma chicken coup, subway and then fancy resturants with white table cloths...i think it has a nice mix. There are also a few bars...most notably the irish bar O'flaretys...which has interesting seating...i think they are old sewing machines or something...there is a foot crank on the bottom...not sure what its for... and interesting people.

other highlights of san pedro square include the farmers market and the free movie nights...however...if you are going to see a free movie you will need to sit towards the front...the bars dont seem to care that there are movies going on and they dont close thier doors so you may have a hard time hearing.

anyway...good street to live on and a good street for hanging out on depending on the event and what you are looking for...definately a street to visit when in san jose.

further