Is Your Downtown Busy Or Bleak?

asp3 said:
Ours is dead and has been for several years. There are a number of factors contributing to this.

  1. We have a relatively large homeless population that tends to stick to the downtown area

    That is probably the biggest contributor and at least in part leads to the rest of the problems I'm listing.

  2. There isn't much interesting stuff in downtown San Jose

    The regulations and fees for setting up new businesses is very high here meaning only large, boring shops and restaurants (that people can visit in more pleasant areas) can afford to be there.

  3. They cracked down on live music after one particularly bad club added more crime and other problems downtown

    Without interesting events there isn't much reason to be downtown.

None of these things are happening now but there are times when our downtown does get a bit more hopping. The Shark Tank (where the San Jose Sharks hockey team plays) is close to downtown so a lot of people park in the restaurant areas then walk to the arena for the game. The arena is also used for some larger music artists (Pink, Elton John, etc...) and those events draw people in. We also have a First Fridays art walk most months of the year that increases the traffic in the art district. The convention center also has big conventions which increases traffic downtown.

There have been a whole bunch of high rise apartments buildings and condos which may help bring enough people in to lift the downtown area, but with companies allowing employees to work remotely they might not fill up quickly. We're also supposed to get the Google village downtown, but with the employment changes that might not happen now.
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I'm from Santa Cruz. I absolutely do not live anywhere near there now and never plan to see that town ever again. I left in 85 and was back for a visit for the last time 5 years later. I don't know much about downtown San Jose. We would go the the malls of coarse. In their day when they were the thing to do. I can only imagine what Downtown Santa Cruz looks like these days.
 
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Pinky said:
We're going downtown to pick up our daughter this morning, to go Xmas tree shopping. It's always busy downtown here in Toronto, as it is in every suburb, every day
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Pinky, I'll bet there are some cute shops with unique items. I miss browsing places like that. We had one off the main downtown area in an old vintage house. The woman who owned it retired and closed it. I thought about it during the holidays as it would be fun to go there.
 

I have heard that usual "Christmas Downtown" here in the village has been cancelled ?

It's a shame for those that would indulge, cannot do so.

I have to admit, it was very "Christmacy" Decorated trees, & storefronts, folks walking around sipping coffee , hot chocolate, or ?? The few years that it did snow, dads pulling the kids on sleds, etc. You get the picture.
 
Remy said:
I'm from Santa Cruz. I absolutely do not live anywhere near there now and never plan to see that town ever again. I left in 85 and was back for a visit for the last time 5 years later. I don't know much about downtown San Jose. We would go the the malls of coarse. In their day when they were the thing to do. I can only imagine what Downtown Santa Cruz looks like these days.
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We visit Santa Cruz several times each year. The downtown area is a lot more charming (and much busier) than downtown San Jose, but it's a bit touristy in places. We visit a strip mall like area north of downtown which has several wineries, a brewpub, bakery, charcuterie, candy store and other things. We go because it has the winery with the only wine club we belong to. We also love to ride our bicycles down Cliff Drive, out on the pier and back. We rarely go downtown but sometimes we have a reason to do so. Sometimes we just go out to cliff drive, find a bench and look out at the ocean. We did that back in October with some Chinese take out after visiting a couple of wineries in the aforementioned strip mall.
 
Being a small city we don't have much of a downtown, just a small indoor mall. Many stores have closed. It is supposed to be upgraded eventuallty but the pandemic has put everything on hold. Not far from downtown; a resort casino, hotel, convention centre, amphitheater , restaurants, cinema, indoor water park, performance venues, office tower and film studio is supposed to be built. I can see them building the casino when I drive by and that part was supposed to open last April. So I guess you could say it is bleak right now.
 
asp3 said:
We visit Santa Cruz several times each year. The downtown area is a lot more charming (and much busier) than downtown San Jose, but it's a bit touristy in places. We visit a strip mall like area north of downtown which has several wineries, a brewpub, bakery, charcuterie, candy store and other things. We go because it has the winery with the only wine club we belong to. We also love to ride our bicycles down Cliff Drive, out on the pier and back. We rarely go downtown but sometimes we have a reason to do so. Sometimes we just go out to cliff drive, find a bench and look out at the ocean. We did that back in October with some Chinese take out after visiting a couple of wineries in the aforementioned strip mall.
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Even in the 80's, downtown had it's homeless people. The town I live in now didn't have much when I moved here 25 years ago, but that has changed. I do miss the ocean.
 

Is Your Downtown Busy Or Bleak?​


Pretty freaking busy
Lotsa independent stores, eateries
It's a bit of a throwback to the '50s/'60s

I really like it (and I'm no townie)

Big enough, but not too big
Quite a ways off the beaten path

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It may very well be Oregon's best kept secret (don't tell anybody)

I'm from the Portland area (300 mi north)
Nothing good there now
 
Our small local towns haven't changed much in the past year....people still doing their normal shopping. The few times we've been to the larger towns, in the past year, they also seem to have the normal activity....with the exception of so many restaurants being shut down, or carry out only. We've only been to Kansas City 2 or 3 times in the past year, and that area also seems to be about the same...heavy traffic, busy stores, etc.
 
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My closest downtown, two miles away has one old timey small grocery store, two restaurants, two wine stores, one knickknack store and a gas station. That's it. It hasn't changed much during the pandemic.
 
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I haven't had any reason to go downtown since I quit working. The only reason to go downtown then was that's where most of the law firms were and, of course, that's where the courts are.
 

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