25 interesting facts about San Jose

Did you know that San Jose is home to the world’s largest Monopoly Board?

Nah, just kidding. If you know us, you know we’re here for the deep cuts — and there are plenty of interesting factoids to go around. As connoisseurs of the quirky and unconventional, we put together a list of San Jose’s history, oddest characteristics, and more. Maybe you’ve lived here your whole life and know some of this, or maybe you’ll learn something new.

Either way, test your local knowledge with these 25 interesting facts.

Civic

• San Jose laws limit owners to five licensed animals total — and no more than three dogs. Yes, two dogs and three cats is okay, five cats are fine, but don’t dare break the law with two dogs and four cats.
• San Jose has eight sister cities: Dublin, Ireland, Guadalajara, Mexico, Okayama Japan, San José, Costa Rica, Pune, India, Tainan, Taiwan, Veracruz, Mexico, and Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Photo by SJtoday staff

History

• In January 1951, San Jose was hit with a freak tornado that damaged the area of Delmas Avenue and San Fernando Street. While there were no injuries or fatalities, a 12-block area was hit the hardest — and a house was unroofed.
• The Civic Center is the site of some cool historical events. It has hosted major sporting events (Jack Dempsey vs. Joe Louis), served as the venue for the 1981 World Games I, hosted The Who’s first US tour, and welcomed other great artists including The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Frank Sinatra.
• Founded in 1847, Oak Hill Memorial Park is the oldest + largest secular cemetery in California. Many influential immigrant families are buried there, like Donner, Reed, Branham, Townsend, and Murphy.
• Remnants of California’s first and largest mercury mining operation, the New Almaden mines, can be seen at Almaden Quicksilver County Park.
• San Jose was California’s first capital — our city held the title briefly from 1849 to 1851.

Pop culture

• Meet Mineta International Airport’s largest VIP: Tai the elephant — who shut down the airport for three days. She and actor Bill Murray filmed a scene inside Terminal C for the 1996 film, “Larger Than Life.”
• The San Jose Flea Market is mentioned in the New York Times bestselling novel “The Kite Runner.” (Spoiler: it’s where Amir meets his future wife.) The author, Khaled Hosseini, attended Independence High School.
• Best known for his roles on “That ‘70s Show” and “RoboCop,” actor Kurtwood Smith graduated from San Jose State University — and there are plenty more notable Spartans on the alumni list.

Statistics

• In 2025, SJ ranked No. 2 among the Happiest Cities in the US, according to WalletHub. The rankings used metrics like income-growth rate, depression rate, and average leisure time spent daily.
• San Jose recycles the most among large American cities.
• The San Jose region was found to have the second-longest life expectancy out of 40 US metro areas, averaging 84.55 years — about 5.46 years longer than the US average.
• The residents of San Jose speak more than 56 languages.

Food

• Eaters vs. Iguanas. San Josean professional eaters Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie once took on Iguanas’ Burritozilla Challenge — eating a 5-pound, 18-inch burrito in under five minutes. Chestnut finished in 3 minutes and 10 seconds, while Stonie clocked 1 minute and 50 seconds. We’re gonna miss you, Iguanas.
• In 2015, Anthony Bourdain ate lunch at Minato in Japantown; he ordered the chicken katsu with curry sauce and cod cheek.
• Guy Fieri of “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” once visited Falafel’s Drive-In and Naglee Park Garage.

Photo via Xelipe

Sports

• With 6,256 participants digging into the ground, the construction of the San Jose Earthquakes’ stadium set the Guinness World Record for the largest ground breaking event ever.
• The Hellyer County Park Velodrome is NorCal’s only facility dedicated to bicycle racing, and it’s one of just 26 velodromes in the country.
• A race track... made up of downtown streets? In 2005, San Jose hosted its inaugural Grand Prix of the Champ Car World Series and more than 62,000 fans flooded in on race day.

Photo via Chuck E Cheese

Just for fun

• The highest temperature ever recorded in San Jose was 109° in September 2022, while the lowest was 18° in 1894.
• Things invented in San Jose: floppy disks, Eggo waffles, hard disk drives, The Wave, Chuck E. Cheese. San Jose is one of the metro areas with the highest number of patents per capita.
• We may not be known for skyscrapers, but from 1926 to 1970, the Bank of Italy building was the tallest building between SF + LA.
• San Jose is the only city in Santa Clara County with cannabis storefronts — there are currently 16 of them.
• Sanrio’s first-ever US Gift Gate store opened in 1976 at SJ’s Eastridge Center. Do you remember this shop?

Your turn. Think you can get one over on us? Let us know your favorite local trivia tidbit and you just might make it into the newsletter.