Defending history from becoming history: SJ neighborhood fights to preserve its identity

AFTER DECADES OF residents requesting historic status, San Jose is starting the process to create a new city landmark district — the first since 2007.

The San Jose City Council earlier this month voted unanimously to nominate Alameda Park/Schiele Avenue as a historic district, with Councilmember Omar Torres absent. The designation would protect homes in the tree-lined neighborhood west of downtown along Schiele, Harding and Pershing avenues between Stockton and Hoover avenues. The area includes Queen Anne, Tudor and Spanish Revival style houses built in the 1800s and bungalows built in the 1920s.