by Stan Rezaee

Created on: September 12, 2010

San Jose, CA has a rich history in the state and it’s known around the world as the "Capital of the Silicon Valley". Despite its fame, it has often been overlooked in pop culture due to its location between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Because of this, most the youth residents have a negative outlook at the city for being plain and boring. However it has had place in both pop culture and the culture of California.

One of the most well known references to San Jose in literature is the Jack London novel, “White Fang.” It has a chapter were San Jose acts as a setting for the events in that chapter. Michaela Roessner novel “Vanishing Point” set in San Jose were many survivors have gathered to live in the Winchester Mystery House.

In television, season 2 of "24" has a subplot that involves Kim Bauer trying to escape from LA with Megan, a child she baby sits but has an abusive father, to her Aunt Carol's place in San Jose. Early in the season, Jack Bauer had warned Kim of the nuclear attack and had advised her to leave the city and go to San Jose for her safety. However San Jose is only mentioned and no events actually take place in the city as Jack is able to transport the nuke over the Mojave Desert.

Than there is the video game “Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction” which has a playable character who was born in San Jose. The character, Chris Jacobs (voiced by Phil LaMarr) is a former Delta Force operative from the United States. He also appears in the sequel, “Mercenaries 2”.

San Jose has also contributed to pop culture in many ways while being the hometown of many known musicians and artists. Motley Crew bassist, Nikki Sixx, was born in San Jose. Joe Murry, creator of the 90’s cartoon “Rocko’s Modern Life” (famous slipping adult content past the censors) was born and raised in San Jose while attending De Anza College for his AA. Another known animator of from San Jose is Jhonen Vasquez, who created “Invader Zim”. All of them have made a reference to San Jose in their work.

The city has also contributed to the music industry as several bands were setup in San Jose. One of the most well known is the Doobie Brothers, which was formed in San Jose in the 70’s. Sadly; San Jose is also the home of Smash Mouth, we apologize for that.

While San Jose may feel like a city with no real cultural identity to many, one actually needs to look into the cities history to know how San Jose has had an influence on pop culture.

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