atxsalena

I spend 8th grade through a couple years of college in Lemoore. It is located about 30 minutes from Fresno, CA.

Lemoore is a great place to live if you have good friends. If you dont it can be pretty boring. There just isnt that much to do. Even with all of the recent additions...well...the one recent addition of a movie theater. But that was a huge addition! The great thing about Lemoore is that it isnt all that far from other places, so if you cant find anything to do there, you can probably find something to do in the next city over or within 45 minutes.

Lemoore is located near a military base. The lemoore Naval Air station is only a few minutes drive from the city. If you go out in Lemoore or any surrounding area, you are sure to hear talk of "Navy Guys." There is nothing wrong with Navy Guys, its just something people like to point out. There are a lot of other groups in Lemoore. There is a large Portugese population as well as large Filipino and Latino (primarily Mexican) populations. There are various festivals that are put on by Portugese groups during the year and there are also festivals put on by Filipinos.

Lemoore high has an ongoing rivalry with the high school in the next city over. This rivalry is typically highlighted during football season when Lemoore and Hanford High battle it out over the "Milk Can." Its kind of funny. Speaking of milk, the central vally is pretty much farm country and there are plenty of farms and ranches in the outskirt areas of town. Some days when the wind is right, you can actually smell the cow manure in the air.

But in all honesty, lemoore is a good place to be. There are jobs with the state of california in one of the many prisons within driving distance. There are plenty of schools to teach at, including a community college that is pretty fairly new. There are jobs further into other cities like Fresno or Visalia...and plenty of car pools to join. There are a few bars, with Mr. Bills being an area favorite. There is a starbucks now, and a walgreens, there is even a skate park. It really has a lot to offer if you take advantage of it.

west san carlos starts downtown and goes till the 880 freeway (i think) downtown west san carlos street hosts various hotels, the san jose american musical theater, and another theater as well as the convention center. You can also find giant nutcracker characters outside of one of the hotels between market and almaden and there is a carnival that is put on in the parking lot between first and market.

san carlos is also an entrance to the cesar chavez plaza on market street, which hosts music in the park and the christmas in the park among other things.

further west on san carlos is a grocery store...which is the closest large grocery store to downtown...a 24 hour safeway...which has a great selection, but oftentimes long lines...typically in the evening when you are on a late night beer or munchies run.

w san carlos also is home to some of the old school landmarks of san jose like western appliance...it also hosts what they call "antique row" i believe that is what it is called, but there are various antique or furniture stores. don't quote me on that...i dont buy antiques. what i do buy is used clothing and w san carlos is a good street for that. there is a goodwill...a vintage thirft store...moon zoom...and savers...quite possibly one of the best thrift store chains ever....maybe thrift town is better.

perhaps the most excellent thing on san carlos street is the falafel drive in. which has excellent falafels...and the always long line to prove it. i think one of those food network shows checked it out, but it has fast service and good food. i hear the banana shakes are awesome.

east san carlos starts at 1st street. but doenst really start until 2nd street where you can find food like jack in the box and pizza. the university begins a block later.

the university takes up about 7 blocks of san carlos street. fortunately where san carlos street hits the university there is a path that leads you right through it to 10th street. there are also various events that happen on campus that are on that strip.

on the other side of the university are more student like stops...there is a catholic church and roberts bookstore as well as pizza, subway, bubble tea, top dog, and a small resturant. at about 11th it becomes really residential and is a really nice little area. i would assume there are students living there but the area is really quite.

day or night there are people on san carlos...either going to the 7/11 on 11th street late at night or getting ice cream at ben and jerrys on san carlos and 2nd, but it is more a pass through street with some food on it than a place that offers any real hang out. however pizza my heart does have a nice meeting room...so thats a plus...and jack in the box is open 24 hours.

as far as i am concerned that is the main reason to visit this street. sure, there is the northbound transit hub, the hot dog place, the indian place, the sofa district and all, but i'm vegan.

good karma is a good place to eat...granted...i will admit i liked it better when it was on e. santa clara street and Sun..i believe her name was...was always there with a smile and some good vegan healthy food...though i question the healthy...but it was nice. now i wont hate...the white guys (not to be offensive...but thats the deal) came and took it over...found a new location and changed the place up. now its a hip place to eat and hang out...my myspace page shows that they even have bingo...but the art on the walls and the beer is nice...cant say i like the higher prices...but who am i kidding...when i am in san jose...this will be one of my first stops!

as for the rest of the street...actually across the street Lido...the gay trannie mexican/vietnamese place...i could never really understand what went on there. i know it is a gay bar and the bottom is mexican and the upstairs is vietnamese...and there are drag shows and trannie hookers that hang out outside.

further south are various resturants....keep in mind, it is one way going north...it is also host to the fairmont hotel which is one of hte fancier hotels in san jose...i think when the governator comes to town he stays there. further south is the artsy sofa district...granted there isnt that much art that goes on, but there is the anno domini and a smaller san jose museum...there is also a mexican cultural performance space as well as the quilt museum....and let me tell you...you may not think quilts are that interesting, but people do some crazy things with quilts...the museum may be small but it has a lot going on...i have also purchased some items from their shop...and i am glad i did.

during the first fridays this street can get a little busy...i believe there is a new gay bar down near the opera house...which was an interesting find on a recent visit. the opera house should be a nice place to visit if in San Jose. Original Joes is also on south first. A san jose landmark which i have never visited, but often directed visitors there when i worked at the Ramada limited, which as an entrance on South first.

as far as entertainment, there is the ever name changing club at the corner of south first and san salvador...a hip hop club is also near there and another across the street. South First billiards is a popular spot for the college kids and anyone else looking for a lot of pool tables.

i think if you are downtown in san jose...south 2nd is pretty hard to avoid...why anyone would avoid it is beyond me.

It probably has more on it than other streets in san jose as far as entertainment. There is the comedy club, the comedy sports improve, the reperatory theater and the camera cinemas. they also have a little carnival outside the san jose rep at various times during the year...i dont remember when. i have never been to comedy sports, but always meant to. camera cinemas are great because they have both indie and mainstream movies. they also host the cinequest film festival. and if you are into thug looking guys and hoochie mamas there is "toons" the club on the corner of santa clara and 2nd.

there are a lot of resturants but i am not sure if any are actually fancy...there is the capers bar...which is close to fancy...other than that pf changs, thai food, starbucks (one of at least 3 downtown) pita pit and the zanottos deli. Zanottos is basically the only grocery store downtown. They have a good selection but it is really overpriced...i guess you can either not pay the price or support local business by shopping there.

s. 2nd is also the southbound transit hub. the light rail stops along this street as well as many busses.

in its attempt to bring more housing downtown there are some housing developments that are either completed or being completed. like Santa Clara Street the main downtown section of this street did not include much housing...there were of course the apartments a top businesses, but they have recently added apartments so there are more living choices for being right in the thick of it. The upgrades to the light rail platform, the removal of a snack stand (which was pretty messed up on sj's part) and increased police surveilance has changed it from being a spot where people hang out to a nice stop for whomever new moves into the neighborhood.

and i am not sure if it is still there since downtown san jose seems to constantly change, but the betty boop store was interesting to go into...i have no idea if people actually shop there, but i always got a kick out of walking by.

and lets not forget the ramada limited...typically 79 bucks a night which is cheap for downtown san jose...(i used to work there) ...even cheaper nastier motel next door...wouldnt recommend it.

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

west santa clara street is the tamer side of santa clara street. it starts at the amtrak station and ends at first. highlights of this street are the amtrak/caltrain/vta light rail station and the hp pavillion which is where the sharks play, various concerts happen and i believe there is an arena football league. there is a section next to the arena with a small park and is part of the guadalupe river walk. you can play tennis and look at various sculptures...i believe there is a giant sundial...but it has been a while so i could be confused. further east along this street you get more into downtown. one the of the popular bars on this side of santa clara is the brittania arms. aside from the london style phone booth outside, i never noticed anything else british about it, but i didnt hang there much. it is on this side of santa clara street where you can also find the main entrance to san pedro square, which is a nice little street with resturants and bars on it. but there is also food on santa clara street.

i am not sure about housing. like e. santa clara i believe any housing is overpriced mini apartments on top of businesses.

i think this street is pretty easy to walk down. at night there are obviously going to be more people and driving can be a pain as the cops like to park in the middle of the street...and when there is a sharks game, expect to see lots of people in sharks gear...its kind of nice...i never had much san jose pride when i lived there...but i always felt a bit more interested in san jose and when there was a sharks game.

let me start with the bad...
if you are a female and want to walk down a street and be harassed not only by men walking down the street, but also men driving by in cars...this is your street. It is pretty shameful.

There are also a lot of strange homeless on this street. Not that homeless are bad, I honestly dont think people really begged too much, but it is a lot of homeless who are suffering from mental illness...at least that is how it seemed to me.

Thats it for bad, but there isnt anything really great about this street either...
There used to be a grocery store...i believe it was made into a mexican grocery store. There is a lot of ethnic food primarily mexican or vietnamese. There is also a lot of vegan/vegetarian food which is always good. I believe there are 3 resturants on this street. There is one place that is some kind of bbq...not vegetarian but there is always dead roasted chickens hanging in the window (10th and Santa Clara).

I guess one of the coolest parts about this street is that it is a very central street to downtown San Jose. I think if you had to pick a "main street" Santa Clara would be it. I think the addition of the city hall space dome made it a little more interesting.

I dont know that people actually live on Santa Clara Street. I know there are buildings with apartments above them, but for the most part this street is for businesses.

I rented a studio for about 700 on washinton street in a converted house.

I liked living on this street. I was between 6th and 7th so I wasn't very far from the light rail on 1st, which was good because busses didnt really come through the neighborhood. However, it didnt really matter because I was so close to downtown and most things were pretty walkable.

The grocery store was a mexican market, I dont remember the name. I didnt have much of a problem with that except the selection wasnt the same as the safeway. The other grocery stores were in Japantown, which was another good part about living in this area. Not that there was anything really interesting in Japantown all of the time, but they did have the karaoke bar that was fun. Except it was 1.00 a song...which sucks.

While I lived there, there were definitely some boarded up houses and people who would just sit outside drinking beer. I personally didnt mind that. I was never bothered by any of my neighbors so it wasnt a big deal. The train tracks are kind of close, but they werent close enough that they would be an issue.

i lived on north 10th for a short time and also worked on north 10th while living on south 10th.

Just like any other street that is kind of low in number in san jose, its downtown. There is access to busses, not so much light rail as far as proximity. But there is also an abundance of churches and small shops. There used to be a hospital downtown that was close to 10th street, but it was unfortunately closed down.

I walked up and down this street...typically from S. 10th to Jackson everyday to work at the elementary school at Jackson and 10th. There is a very residential street. There arent a lot of stores or mini marts. There is a funeral home where cops like to hang out at night.

Just like any other part of 10th street it is a multi lane one way street so not the best option for families unless they have a fence. Cars go fast and they are not necessarily paying attention.

Another thing is that it is divided north and south by Santa Clara Street and on Santa Clara street there are a lot of homeless wandering around. That could be a turn off for a lot of people. I personally never had a problem with the homeless on Santa Clara street, but could see how that would bother people. There is a section just south of Santa Clara Street on 10th where there is apparently a string of halfway houses. I did not like walking down that part of the street and would often avoid it. However, once you got more north, that pretty much disappeared.

Unlike South 10th which runs along san jose state university, there isnt the student element on North 10th which is nice.

South 10th is really long. This review covers E. San Carlos to William St.
I lived on 10th for about a year. Where I was, directly across the street from San Jose State wasn't too bad. My rent was cheap, it was 900 for a two bedroom apartment. However this was in 2004 and by 2005 the 2 bedroom apartments were being turned into single room occupancy units or something like that so the owner could get much more money.

I want to say there was a lot to eat in this area of the street, but mainly the Super Taqueria was the high point, they have excellent food. Other than that the food was more close than anything else. You could get fast food like pizza or hot dogs or sandwiches around the corner at subway or you could walk onto campus and eat at the student union.

I didnt have a car here and the bus stop is really close. Going south the stops are on 10th or san carlos and going north you have to go to 11th.

While there are a lot of students living on the street it didnt seem overly loud, except for the dorm that was built across from me, but it was occasional noise. I didnt feel like the homeless from further up the street near Santa Clara st really came down that far, so this area was cleaner than areas more south or north on 10th street.

As far as living on this street, if you are a young or a student, it is probably the street for you. It is downtown, walking distance from bars and clubs. Easy to get to the public transportation. I would not recommend this street to families with kids. 10th is a really busy street and cars drive really fast...sometimes even the wrong way.