Foreword and update to the below blog post:

Many thanks to the club’s Commodore, Charles Taylor, as well as Diane, who was fascinating to talk to while she took good care of the bar. Additional thanks to Charles’s wife who was kind enough to pass around my blog post and suggest that I visit!

The following is the original post:

Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1990, I have had an odd fascination with Alviso. Alviso is a neighborhood (town) at the southern edge of the bay that seems “frozen in time” …and I mean that in a good way!

I’ve always had a bit of a “history bug”, having grown-up near forts, battlefields, and skirmishes surrounding the American Revolution, as well as the French and Indian War prior to that. What else could capture a young boy’s imagination more than visiting a monument to Benedict Arnold’s leg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Monument, and vacationing on the beach near “Bloody Pond” where several hundred colonists were slaughtered? http://www.historiclakes.org/wm_henry/bloody.html

Anyway…one of the first fascinating historical sites that I fixed my interest on, after moving to Silicon Valley 20+ years ago was Alviso, California. That interest came about one day reading the San Jose Metro newspaper. Eric Carlson had a great series called “SJ Underbelly”. Alviso was his most extensively covered location. http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/alviso1.html

Eric Carlson’s old write-ups have been preserved, but Alviso has changed…just a little! Some of the messier storage yards and junked cars have been cleared and some bronze historical markers have been added. It still has all that “frozen in time” charm, however, that generally doesn’t exist elsewhere in Silicon Valley.

“Why Alviso?” Well, it was a historical port for goods and people to travel to and from San Francisco, before ground transportation up and down the Peninsula was easy. Alviso seems to have a sense of (underappreciated) history amidst all of the tear-it-down-and-rebuild-it of Silicon Valley. https://alpharoaming.com/2014/05/05/apple-spaceship/

My plan with this blog post is to both point out the interesting place that is Alviso, as well as draw attention to Eric Carlsen’s fine work and update it with a few photos of my own. Enjoy!

A mural at the main crossroads in town by Emmett Dingle:

Let’s start our tour out near the former port, at the far end of town, and work our way back south.

This bronze marker is just a few years old. Note the elevated walkways out in the marsh. This used to be docks where steamships landed, including the “Jenny Lind” which has a new marker here as well. The Jenny Lind had a boiler explosion out in the bay, at a great loss of life.

There are still a few permanently docked boats, though much closer to the Guadalupe River channel.

…plus a very new boat launch for day use only

On your approach to the Marina (which is also a great spot for hikes and bike rides on the levees, with parking, restrooms, and water) you may notice the “stranded” house boat. This has been here for 20 years that I know of… (Eric noticed Noah’s Ark too! http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/alviso9.html)

To the west (left) of the Marina is the “South Bay Yacht Club”, which has a long and storied history (http://www.SouthBayYachtClub.org and http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/alviso10.html). This is a good place to notice that the Yacht Club is on the inland side of a high levee. The elevation of Alviso has been dropping over many decades. Strong winter storms used to occasionally cause the Guadalupe River to flood the town. (Despite the levees, this area does have flood potential. You may notice that the newer homes are built a bit higher than the street level. 1983 flood: http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/wet.html)

Years ago, before the more prominent signs discouraging visitors from peeking in the windows, I caught a glimpse of the beautiful bar inside, as did Eric: http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/sybc3.html)

Yes, “E. Clampus Vitus”! The source of many interesting markers in California, particularly in the Gold Country! (This marker being in the right side of the SBYC building)

Between the SBYC and the Marina lies the shell of the former “Bayside Canning Company”. (Eric’s write-up: http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/alviso12.html)

It’s noteworthy that it was the 3rd largest cannery in the U.S. at one point, as well as being owned by a Chinese-American.

To the left (south) of the cannery is a large and odd brick building, marked as the “Union Docks and Warehouse”.

It’s now a private residence, which you can look down upon from the public levee walkway.

Just before the active railroad tracks leave town to the north, there’s an easily overlooked old place on the left. Eric Carlsen refers to it as “Laine’s Grocery”, though it had several incarnations before that, as well as a newer, yet faded, “tattoo parlor” sign since Laine’s closed around 1960. http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/structure.html

To the right of Laine’s Grocery, the trains zip northward from Alviso, through the mysterious “Drawbridge” (http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Draw/draw1.html). To the left of Laine’s lie a few stately old homes. The large yellow one has a marker out front. (Eric’s write-up: http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/structur3.html)

The other two homes of note, on the same block, are the very stately and tall 1887 Italianate “Tilden-Laine” home http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/structur2.html

(You can see a bit of “Laine’s Grocery” on the right side of this photo.)

…plus a cute gray cottage. (Perhaps you like it better in “hot pink”? http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/marthouse.html )

A bit south, along the eastern side of the tracks, lies the historical “Vahl’s Restaurant”. http://www.yelp.com/biz/vahls-restaurant-and-cocktail-lounge-alviso (Eric Carlsen’s write-up: http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/vahls.html)

The whole building is a time warp from the 1950’s, even including one of the bartenders (“Frank”) and the “piano man” who plays once or twice a week.

The back door, on your way to the restrooms, has a “classic” padded and patterned vinyl door!

In addition to Vahl’s quaint bar (and Vahl’s restaurant, which I can’t rave about), Alviso has the very popular Maria Elena’s Restaurant. http://www.yelp.com/biz/maria-elenas-restaurant-alviso (Eric’s write-up: http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/alviso7.html)

…as well as the now closed “Marina Restaurant”. It used to be called the “Marina Seafood Grotto”, then turned into a Korean Restaurant shortly before it closed around 2010. http://www.yelp.com/biz/marina-restaurant-and-bar-alviso (Eric’s write-up: http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/grotto.html)

..a photo thru the glass door of the Marina, frozen in time, 4 years without a customer except the “Ghosts of Alviso”!

Last, but not least, along the eastern edge of the tracks, a bit south of Vahls, lies the crumbling H.G. Wade warehouse and the neglected home next door. You may have already spotted the warehouse, depending which way you entered town. Several “Western” movies were said to have been partly filmed at this warehouse. (The house is behind the green tarp. It used to be more visible, including when Eric took photos: http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/hornhouse.html )

That’s it! Enjoy your visit to Alviso! Be sure to read-up on the SJ Underbelly links before you go, as well as look for the painted mural map at the main crossroad in town, near Maria Elena’s Restaurant.

If you have any interesting stories or pictures, please be sure to leave a comment!