I moved to alviso at 10yrs old in 84. After the last flood. Just after the streets had been paved but before sidewalks. Small quiet community. Cool place for kids in the 80s. Quiet streets and open fields to ride go carts motor cycles shoot bb guns. i used to put my skateboard ramp in the middle of the street and skate for hours. a place with it's own ghost town. many people either didn't believe there actually was a ghost town out there or didn't care so there wasn't a lot of people that went out there but for those of us that did it was an interesting day trip walking along the train tracks to get out there and explore what was left. We didn't really fully understand or appreciate what we had back then. People in the surrounding areas, Milpitas, San Jose, Santa Clara, mountain view either didn't know what alviso was or only thought of it as the stinky place with the sewage treatment plant. It's crazy that its now considered such a famous historical land mark that people want to visit and learn about.
I would visit Alviso in 1966-90's. Called it The Land of Forgotten Dreams and Dinosaur Land. For all the boats and abandoned projects. I loved it. We'd smoke and cruise and look. I never took a picture. and on RU-vid I've never seen any old pics. So if you have some stuff from before it got all dandyfied, you should make a video.
Growing up in Fremont in the 50’s I occasionally saw Alviso’s streets flooded at high tide. At my high school it was common to say to a fellow student who was wearing short jeans “you must be from Allison”.
I’ve been to Alviso for a bit i think after 2021 after that building caught on fire, because it looked quite familiar to me. It has a nice hiking trail nearby from what i can recall.
My suggestion is the Sunol water temple, and Niles Canyon. As a courier in the 90s I drove the 84 dozens of times; it was a straight shot between Fremont and the 680 corridor. (Rotten during rush hour, though.) The water temple is currently closed, but its history would be a good story.
You would also have to track down how San Jose helped divert port development money to what would become the Port of Redwood City. Changes to San Jose runoff that both increased flooding but also silted up the South Bay. Alviso did have a rather inventive levee added that would use one inlet to let tide water in and another outlet for water and silt that kept a little boat harbor open but San Jose later blocked that inlet as the absorbed Alviso. The little harbor filled up and there is no harbor. Quite a change from when it was once considered a deep water port. I expect no efforts at preserving history for Alviso will be allowed. The sprawl that is San Jose will want the land to be considered as having always been San Jose. Developers that sit on the city and county boards would much like people to forget there even is a South Bay. A San Jose study showed it is quite economical to fill in all that wet water stuff to a build city upon.
@AnvilDragon The eco-fiends not allowing dredging for the marina and filling in adjacent areas have not helped. As if pushing people out to as far away as Stockton and Modesto and having them commute in is good for the ecology?
ahhh, he Alviso Mud Flats.... I and a friend would go there in c.1966-76 and drive around... I called it The Land of Forgotten Dreams. And "Dinosaur Land". The roads were mostly gravel. So many boats unfinished. Concrete , fiberglass, wood..... I recall 2 guys that would be there working on a steel boat a good 100ft long. Sadly I never took any photos. There was a grocery store where I found that Mexican Chocolate with cinnamon......I couldn't find that stuff after we left So Ariz.... Sadly by 2000 Alviso was being turned into what I assume is some kinda San Jose Seaside Community... The armpit of the SF bay.... None of your pics capture the Alviso I saw.... I really regret not taking photos.
I had roommates in The City in the 80s from San Ho. They were fascinated with the dereliction of Alviso. We joked about a fictional punk band called Alvisos Only Whore (in Old English capitals, no apostrophe).
@@claesvanoldenphatt9972 Well, I've always called San Jose the Arm Pit of the Bay. And some years ago I called SF the A..hole of the bay, and considering it's location it is fitting. So Alviso would be near the heart?? I'll have to think about that.
Many, many thanks for the video. As a kid growing up in Fremont, we used to make fun of Alviso as the armpit of the Bay. (Yeah, I was stupid!) Btw- I worked 1 summer at Del Monte cannery in San Jose. I was a junior in high school and had to lie about my age. That was 1976. Pretty good money, shity-ass job! I think the cannery closed down 30 years ago.
@@TheHypnotstCollector Yeah. Shit happens, I guess. At least the Warriors won today. I'll take S Curry over R Barry any day. Although Franklin Mieuli was quite a character!
That is one thing I'd love to see happen more on the west coast is preserve their history. There are old single room school houses down windy dirt country roads in Arkansas that someone preserved even though it is no longer used.
Alviso never flooded in the 1990's, (fact). Alviso never had a hospital, (fact). Though it had a Clinic for the needy who didn't have enough of financial support for the family. Origins of movement, Robert Kennedy.
The brick warehouse has been removed. Sad it lasted that long only to be burned, likely by some asshole arsonist. Hopefully the brick was repurposed. The cannery's roof looks to have collapsed near the front of the building. I could see part sticking up at a weird angle. I took a little trip there from San Francisco after seeing this video and needing to pick up something I purchased online in San Jose. Was an interesting side trip.
