Midtown San Jose has a rich history that begins in the 1920s when San Jose, then known as The Valley of Heart’s Delight, was producing 90 percent of the fruits and vegetables in the state of California. Midtown was home to several canneries and many of the workers called the new homes popping up across the area home. To support that community and the canning industry, independent businesses sprung up, creating a booming and diverse neighborhood. As San Jose grew from a land of agriculture to the Capital of Silicon Valley, Midtown became the connector between Downtown San Jose and so many of the suburban neighborhoods spreading across the city. The one constant has been a diverse and ever-growing collection of independent businesses. Over the years, some famous and favorite San Jose institutions have come and gone in Midtown. From Lou’s Village, the famed seafood restaurant where a smiling Lucille Ball once ate, to the Fiesta Lanes, one of the many lost San Jose bowling alleys of years gone by. And while the landscape of Midtown continues to evolve, many business icons of the past still stand proudly in their midtown home. Today Midtown San Jose is a vibrant, colorful, and independent business-packed corridor that links several communities, including Burbank, Willow Glen, Rose Garden, and Buena Vista, among others, to Downtown San Jose and Santana Row. The community is home to a world of different foods, jam-packed antique stores, vintage clothing, retro neon signs, and so much more.
Time Deli
Time Deli began its day as a neighborhood market run by
the carlino family. In addition to sandwiches, the store offered fresh meats, produce, and wine. The building was once covered in signs including its iconic neon clock, and giant cow, and fish. The clock actually predates the market. It was there when carlinos moved in, in 1950-hence the name
"The Time Market." The cow and the fish signs were added in the 1960s.
Western Apliances
San Jose's Western Appliance sign, surely the South Bay's most spectacular example of neon signage, stands regally on West San Carlos Street, once a major artery to and from the city's downtown. 1960s city sig ordinances restricted the construction of rooftop signs, so the legs of the sign pierce the roof and go straight through the store. There used to be three blinking balls adorning the sign's spires but the orbs were removed when they proved to be a distraction to planes flying into San Jose Airport. The arrow also used to be animated.
