MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA

'Milpitas' (IPA pronunciation: mɪlpitʌs) is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of Highway 237 and generally between Interstate freeways 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south through the city. With Alameda County bordering directly on the north, Milpitas sits in the extreme northeast section of the South Bay, bordering the East Bay and Fremont. Milpitas is also located within the Silicon Valley. The corporate headquarters of Maxtor, LSI Logic, Solectron and Adaptec sit within the industrial zones of Milpitas.
The name ''Milpitas'' is a variation of the plural diminutive of ''milpa,'' a Mexican Spanish word for "garden where maize is grown." The proper diminutive form of ''milpa'', though, is actually ''milpilla,'' not ''milpita.'' Thus, in Mexico, several towns and villages have the name ''Milpillas,'' but there is no ''Milpitas'' in Mexico. The word ''milpa'' is a word derived from Nahuatl ''milli'', meaning "agricultural field" and ''pan.'' meaning "on."
The following is taken from Charles G. Mann, ''1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus'', Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2005. pp. 197-199.
"Indian Farmers grow maize in what is called a ''milpa'' . The term means 'maize field' but refers to something considerably more complex. A ''milpa'' is a field, usually but not always recently cleared, in which farmers plant a dozen crops at once, including maize, avocados, multiple varieties of squash and bean, melon, tomatoes, chilis, sweet potato, jicama, amaranth (a grain-like plant), and mucuna (a legume). In nature, wild beans and squash often grow in the same field as teosinte (an ancestor of corn), and beans using the tall teosinte as a ladder to climb toward the sun; below ground, the beans nitrogen-fixing roots provide nutrients needed by teosinte. The ''milpa'' is an elaboration of this natural situation, unlike ordinary farms, which involve single-crop expanses of a sort rarely observed in unplowed landscapes.
"''Milpa'' crops are nutritionally and environmentally complementary. Maize lacks the amino acids lysine and tryptophan, which the body needs to make proteins and niacin. Beans have both lysine and tryptophan, but not the amino acids cysteine and methionine, which are provided by the maize. As a result, beans and maize make a nutritionally complete meal. Squashes, for their part, provide an array of vitamins; avocados, fats. The ''milpa'', in the estimation of H. Garrison Wilkes, a maize researcher at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, 'is one of the most successful human inventions ever created.'
"Wilkes was referring to the ecological worries that beset modern agribusiness. Because agriculture fields are less diverse than natural ecosystems, they cannot perform all their functions. As a result, farm soils can rapidly become exhausted. In Europe and Asia, farmers try to avoid stressing the soil by rotating crops; they may plant wheat one year, legumes the next, and let the field lie fallow in the year following. But in many places this only works for a while, or it is economically unfeasible not to use the land for a year. Then farmers use artificial fertilizer, which at best is expensive, and at worst may inflict long-term damage on the soil. No one knows how long the system can continue. The ''milpa'', by contrast, has a long record of successs. 'There are places in Mesoamerica that have been continuously cultivated for four thousand years and are still productive.' Wilkes told me. 'The ''milpa'' is the only system that permits that kind of long-term use.' Likely the ''milpa'' cannot be replicated on an industrial scale. But by studying its essential features, researchers may be able to smooth the rough ecological edges of conventional agriculture. 'Mesoamerica still has much to teach us.' Wilkes said."
So the name ''Milpitas'' as used by Jose Maria Alviso to name his land grant, ''Rancho Milpitas'', thus most likely meant "little or precious garden where many crops can be grown," reflecting the rich alluvial soils of the area. As a nineteenth century California Spanish idiomatic expression, the reason Alviso used ''Milpitas'' to name his rancho, occupying more than 4,000 acres (1,618 hectares), is, for the present, lost to us. Given the extended meaning attached to ''milpa'', however, the most reasonable modern American equivalent expression to ''Milpitas'' might be "backyard vegetable garden." Such an understatement for a seven square mile (eighteen square kilometers) rancho reveals that Alviso may have possessed a sense of humor. And reminds one of Governor Leland Stanford referring to his ten square mile ranching and timber complex near Palo Alto, CA as his "farm."
Milpitas is a middle-class suburban community that is demographically similar to San Jose's Berryessa and Evergreen Valley communities. Milpitas has a large middle-class Vietnamese American population. Other significant ethnic groups, respectively in size, are Filipino Americans, Latinos, Caucasians, Chinese Americans, African Americans, and Samoans.

Contents

History

Geography

Urban layout

Climate

Demographics

Law and government

Economy

Education

Issues and concerns

Crime

Pollution

Controversy

Sunshine Law

Culture and recreation

Parks

Media

Radio

Television

Infrastructure

Communications

Transportation

Notable Movies featuring Milpitas

Trivia

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

History

Milpitas was first inhabited by the Tamyen (also spelled ''Thomien, Tamien, Thamien'', or ''Tamiayn''), a linguistic subgroup of the Muwekma Ohlone Indians who had resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for thousands of years. The Ohlone Indians lived a traditional life based on everyday hunting and gathering. Some of the Ohlone lived in various villages within what is now modern-day Milpitas, including sites underneath what are now the Elmwood Correctional Facility, the Calvary Assembly of God Church, and Higuera Adobe Park.⁴

During the Spanish expeditions of the late 1700s, several missions were founded in the San Francisco Bay Area. During the mission period, Milpitas was only an unnamed region that served as a crossroads between Mission San José de Guadalupe in modern-day Fremont and Mission Santa Clara de Asis, now on the Santa Clara University’s campus. After the Mexican government took over the vast missions lands and distributed them among the ''Californios'' (Mexican pioneers living in California), the brief but lively "rancho" period began. The land in modern-day Milpitas was divided between the 6,352.9-acre (25.7 km²) Rancho Rincon de los Esteros, the 4,457.66-acre (18.0 km²) Rancho Milpitas and the 4,394-acre (17.8 km²) Rancho Tularcitos. [1] Ignacio Alviso was granted Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros, José Higuera was granted Rancho Tularcitos, and José María Alviso occupied Rancho Milpitas (The latter now has a middle school named after it in southeast Milpitas.). Jose Maria Alviso was the son of Francisco Xavier Alviso and Maria Bojorquez, both of whom arrived in San Francisco as children with the Anza Expedition. (A son of Ignacio Alviso was also named Jose Maria Alviso, this has led to some confusion by researchers.) Due to Jose Maria Alviso's descendents' difficulty securing his claims to the Rancho Milpitas property, much of his land was either swindled from the Alviso family or had to be quickly sold to American settlers. Both landowners had built Spanish-style adobes on their properties. Today, both adobes still exist and are the oldest structures in Milpitas. The seriously eroded walls of the Higuera Adobe, now in Higuera Adobe Park, are encapsulated in a brick shell built c.1970 by Marian Weller, a descendant of pioneer Joseph Weller. [2], but the Alviso Adobe can be seen mostly in its original form. Prior to the city acquiring the Alviso Adobe it was the oldest continuously occupied adobe house in California dating from the Mexican period and is gradually being restored and undergoing seismic upgrades by the City of Milpitas. Alviso Adobe History Park is to be opened, after the restoration is completed, as an educational museum with historic items, trees, buildings, and documents.

In the 1850s, large numbers of Americans of English, German, and Irish descent arrived to farm the fertile lands of Milpitas. The Burnett, Rose, Dempsey, Jacklin, Trimble, Ayer, Parks, Wool, Weller, Minnis, and Evans are among the early settlers of Milpitas. ¹ (Today many schools, streets, and parks have been named in honor of these families.) These early settlers farmed the land and set up many businesses on a section of what was then called Mission Road, which by the late 20th century became known as the "Midtown" district. Yet another influx of immigration came in the 1870s and 1880s as Portuguese sharecroppers from the Azores came to farm the Milpitas hillsides. Many of the Azoreans had such locally well-known surnames like Coelho, Covo, Mattos, Nunes, Spangler, Serpa, and Silva.
There is a local legend that during the late 1800s, when the U.S. Postal Service wanted to locate a Post Office in the town, there was some support for naming the town, ''Penitencia,'' after a Roman Catholic confessional that served local Indians and ranchers and that stood near a creek running along the Mission Road. Prominent land owner and civic leader, Joseph Weller, felt the Spanish word ''Penitencia'' might be confused with the English word "penitentiary." Instead of choosing ''Penitencia,'' he suggested another popular name for the area, ''Milpitas,'' after the name of Alviso's property, ''Rancho Milpitas.'' [3]
In the early 1900s, Milpitas served as a popular rest stop for travelers on the old Oakland–San Jose Highway. At the intersection of that road with the Milpitas-Alviso Road, Smith's Corners, built in 1895 and later renamed Campbell's Corners, was a saloon that served beer and wine to patrons for a century before becoming a restaurant in 2001 and still stands. In the 1920s, one of America's earliest "fast food" chain restaurants, "The Fat Boy", opened nearby but was demolished in 1985. Another of Milpitas' most popular restaurants was the "Kozy Kitchen" established in 1940 by the Carlos family in the former "Central Market" building. (Kozy Kitchen was recently demolished in 1999 when Jim Carlos closed the restaurant. [4].) Even in the early 1950s, Milpitas was still a farming community of 800 people who walked a mere one or two blocks to work.
On January 26, 1954, Milpitas was incorporated as a city. However, the newly formed city soon faced what some local residents considered a serious threat. When San Jose attempted to annex Milpitas, the "Milpitas Minutemen" were quickly organized to oppose annexation and keep Milpitas independent. Almost all Milpitas registered voters voted "No" to annexation on the 1961 election because of vigorous campaigns that had stirred up the town. Following the election, the anti-annexation committee, who had compared themselves to the Revolutionary War Minutemen who fought the British on Lexington Green - a role filled in this case by the neighboring city of San Jose - adopted an image of Daniel Chester French's Minuteman statue, that stands near the site of the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA, as part of the official city seal. In the 1960s, the city approved the construction of the Calaveras overpass. Formerly at a junction with the Union Pacific railroad, Calaveras Boulevard had a bridge passing over the railroads after the construction was completed. Even though the good side was that local residents could now drive over the railroads without waiting for minutes when a train passed, the bad side was that a long-time residential area, including houses owned by city leaders, had to be purchased by the city and either moved or demolished. ''(Paragraph source)'' ²
Starting in the 1950s with the construction of the Ford Motor Assembly Plant, and accelerating in the 1960s and 1970s, extensive residential and retail development took place. Hayfields in Milpitas rapidly disappeared as high-tech industries and residential developments sprang up. Soon, the once rural town of Milpitas found itself as a bustling San Jose suburb. In a mere 30 years, the population jumped from about 20,500 in 1970 to 62,698 in 2000. Because the high-tech computer industries increased labor demand was met in large part by skilled workers from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, the percentage of Asian American residents skyrocketed from 12% of the population in 1980, to 37% in 1990, and boomed to 51% in 2000. [5]
In the early twenty-first century, Milpitas light rail transit system station was added, making it the northeasternmost light rail destination in the region. On January 26, 2004, the city celebrated its 50th anniversary of incorporation and issued the book ''Milpitas: Five Dynamic Decades'' to commemorate 50 years of Milpitas' history as a busy, exciting crossroads community.

Geography

Milpitas is located at (37.434586, -121.895059). Milpitas lies in the northeastern corner of the Santa Clara Valley, which is south of San Francisco. [6] [7]. Milpitas is generally considered to be a San Jose suburb in the South Bay, a term used to denote the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 35.3 km² (13.6 mi²). 35.1 km² (13.6 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.44%) is water.
The median elevation of Milpitas is 19 feet (6 m). At Piedmont Road, Evans Road, and North Park Victoria Avenue, the elevation is generally about 100 feet (30 m), while the western area is almost at sea level. The highest point in Milpitas is a 1,289-foot (393 m) peak in the southeastern foothills.
To the east of Milpitas lie the foothills, rolling hills, and mountains of the Diablo Range. Monument Peak, the most prominent summit in the eastern Milpitas hills, is one of the oldest and most well-known symbols of Milpitas. It currently has a broadcasting antenna which provides several television channels to the South Bay.
Although not within Milpitas' city limits, Monument Peak, Calaveras Reservoir, Arroyo Hondo, Laguna Valley, and the surrounding region are culturally and historically considered part of Milpitas. ''(Loomis, Patricia - Milpitas: A Century of Little Cornfields)'' Many Portuguese farmers from the Azores have settled there, including the Coelho, Covo, Mattos, Serpa, and Silva families. They are often nicknamed by longtime Milpitans as the "hill people." These Azorean families still own the undeveloped lands in the Milpitas foothills, such as the Silvas living on Old Calaveras Road. ⁴ The southeasternmost hills belong to the City of Milpitas, which then leases the lands to cattle livestock companies.
There are also many creeks in Milpitas, most of which are part of the Berryessa Creek watershed. Calera Creek, Arroyo de los Coches, and Piedmont Creek are some of the creeks that flow from the Milpitas hills and dump into the San Francisco Bay. (''See'' Berryessa Creek)

Urban layout

Milpitas is divided into three sections by Interstates 680 and 880. To the west of I-880 is a largely industrial and commercial area. Between I-880 and its eastern counterpart freeway, I-680, is an industrial zone in the south and residential neighborhoods in the north. Other residential neighborhoods and undeveloped mountains lie east of I-680.
In reality, Milpitas has no concentrated downtown "center," but instead has a busy downtown zone with many retailers and restaurants. The busier parts of Milpitas can be considered to be the section of Calaveras Boulevard west of Main Street and reaching all the way to Highway 237. The so-called "Midtown" region, the oldest part of Milpitas, has many historic residences and was the only commercial district that existed before 1945. Midtown is situated in the region where Main and Abel Streets run parallel to each other. A USPS post office, Saint John the Baptist's Elementary & Junior High Catholic School, the Senior Center, and Elmwood Correctional Facility are all in the Midtown section of Milpitas. The Milpitas Civic Center, which includes the City Hall and local branch of the Santa Clara County Library, is not located in Midtown, but stands at the intersection of Milpitas and Calaveras Boulevards. The Civic Center is separated from Midtown by the Calaveras overpass. The boundaries that divide major Milpitas neighborhoods and districts include Calaveras Boulevard and the Union Pacific railroad, which runs from north to south.
Almost all of Milpitas' homes were built after World War II. The first housing developments constructed after the war were Sunnyhills and Milford Village, which were both built in the 1950s. ''(Source'': ²)

★ 'Bersford Village' is a townhome community constructed in the late 1990s by local builder Shapell Homes. It is adjacent to the City Hall and the newly renovated Town Center shopping area.

★ 'Sunnyhills' is one of the first racially integrated neighborhoods in the United States. Minority leaders Ben Gross, Al Augustine, and Oliver Jones played a major role in the development of Sunnyhills. Many of the houses were designed as two-story homes.

★ The 'Milford Village' homes were designed to be affordable and sold rapidly. It is bound to the north by Calaveras Boulevard, to the east by La Crosse Avenue, to the south by Yosemite Drive, and to the east by Carnegie Drive. The western and northern sections contain a large Latino population because of the more affordable homes available there. [8]

★ 'Parktown', south of Yosemite Drive, was developed by Art Sassone in the 1960s. Sassone designed it so that its residents could walk to nearby parks without crossing a busy thoroughfare. Though it did not meet a few minimum requirements, the Milpitas City Council immediately accepted the Parktown Plan. Parktown's streets are named after famous national parks in the United States. Today, the houses remain in good condition. Parktown lies east of Interstate 680 in the extreme southeast section of Milpitas.


★ 'Hillcrest', south of Parktown, is a new condominium and single-family home development built in the early 1990s. Besides the construction of much new housing, Hillcrest Park was also built, along with an expansion of Ben Rogers Park. Before its construction, Hillcrest was undeveloped land that bordered Sinnott Elementary School and Piedmont Road.

★ 'Sylvan Gardens' is a 104-home tract located between modern-day Elmwood Correctional Facility and Calaveras Boulevard. It is located in the Midtown area.

★ 'Summitpointe', built in the 1990s, is the site of multimillion dollar homes and is located on the eastern hillside near Summitpointe Golf Course and Ed R. Levin County Park. There are currently 88 homes in this exclusive, gated community.

★ 'Spring Valley Homes', on Vista Ridge Drive near Ed R. Levin County Park, are new multimillion dollar homes overlooking Los Coches Creek and Spring Valley Golf Course. There are currently 19 homes and 26 total lots, and the development was constructed in 1978.
'Apartments':

★ 'Driftwood, Calaveras Heights, and Laura Apartments' on Adams Avenue provide housing for low-income families.

★ 'Monte Vista and Parc West Apartments' are middle-class apartments on South Main Street. The apartments lie directly west of the Great Mall of the Bay Area.

★ Adjacent to the Great Mall, 'Parc Metropolitan' also are middle-class apartments that border the mall on its north side.

★ 'Spinakker Pointe and Mill Creek' are another group of middle-class apartments located off Dixon Landing Road exit of I-880. They surged in residency during the technology boom.

Climate

Set within a mild Mediterranean climate zone in California, Milpitas enjoys warm, sunny weather with no extreme temperatures or snow. Having one of the mildest climates in the United States, the city's temperature seldom drops below 35 ºF (2 °C) and very rarely experiences snowstorms, ice storms, or blizzards. During the winter, temperatures are relatively warm at an average of 40 °F to 58 °F (4 °C to 14 °C). Showers and cloudy days are frequent during this season, and as spring approaches, the rainstorms gradually dwindle. In summer, the grasslands on the hillsides dehydrate rapidly and form bright, golden sheets on the mountains. As opposed to Milpitas' rainy, cool winters, the Californian summer is dry and hot. Temperatures frequently swelter over 100 °F (38 °C) on hot days. From June to September, Milpitas experiences little rain, and as autumn approaches, the weather gradually cools down. Though many temperate-climate trees drop their leaves during fall in the South Bay, many oaks and palms retain the same density of foliage as they did in the summer due to the warm winter temperatures.
:''See also: San Jose's climate''

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 62,698 people,^[1] 17,132 households, and 13,996 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,785.2/km² (4,622.9/mi²). There were 17,364 housing units at an average density of 494.4/km² (1,280.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 30.87% White, 3.66% African American, 0.62% Native American, 51.81% Asian, 0.63% Pacific Islander, 7.48% from other races, and 4.94% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.61% of the population.
There were 17,132 households out of which 43.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.1% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.3% are nonfamilies. 11.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.47, and the average family size was 3.72.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.6% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 38.0% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 7.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there are 110.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.4 males. The disparity in male to female ratio in Milpitas has resulted in a common nickname for the city, "Milpenis."
The median income for a household in the city was $84,429, and the median income for a family was $84,827. Males had a median income of $51,316 versus $36,681 for females. The per capita income for the city was $27,823. About 3.3% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.5% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over. [9]
Different parts of Milpitas has varying income levels. Housing in a few parts of Milpitas may resemble those in Alum Rock or East San Jose, while other new housing tracts may be resemble those of the Mission San Jose area in Fremont. Though the city is middle-class on average, some residents are high-income, and some are also low-income. In many parts of Milpitas, new housing developments can be seen next to older ones. In essence, the city is not completely rich or completely poor, but rather a mixture of people with many different education levels and occupations.
Milpitas has a relatively high living cost compared to many non-urban parts of California, but the living cost is actually more affordable compared to other South Bay bedroom communities.. For example, a regular one-story, detached single-family home with a 1,500-square-foot (140 m²) living area may cost $600,000 to $700,000 in the city. These prices are actually average and slightly more affordable in the San Francisco Bay Area, as a similar house may cost well over a million dollars in nearby upper middle-class Palo Alto or Saratoga. Reasons for the expensive housing include the regional industries, mild climate, foreign investment in the West Coast's housing, and a huge demand for limited homes.

Law and government

The city is headed by one mayor, one vice mayor, and three council members. As of 2005, Milpitas is served by mayor Jose "Joe" Esteves, vice mayor Robert Livengood, and council members Armando Gomez, Jr., Althea Polanski, and Debbie Giordano. Jose "Joe" Esteves, Armando Gomez, Jr., and Althea Polanski were recently reelected in the 2006 midterm elections. The city manager is Thomas C. Williams, and the city clerk is Mary Lavelle. The city's seal (right) portrays a farmer standing in the Santa Clara Valley, with the golden hills of Milpitas rising to the east.
The Milpitas Municipal Code, which has eleven sections, can also be found online.
The Milpitas Police Department has a long tradition of reaching out to the community and its citizens. Most recently, in the Spring of 2007, the police department conducted a youth academy, in which teenagers were able to experience various aspects of policing, including the K-9 program, use of force issues and Internet safety.^[2]
The police department has an ethnically diverse employee composition.^[3]
The Milpitas fire department is headed up by Chief Clare Frank, who has been serving as chief since 2005.

Economy

The computer industry, which includes computer equipment manufacturing and software programming, is the largest source of employment in Milpitas. In Milpitas, more than 50% of all Asian Americans are employed in the computer industry.
[10]
Milpitas is home to the headquarters of Sandisk, Linear Technology, LSI Logic, Solectron, JDSU and Adaptec. Many other companies have offices in Milpitas including Quantum, Maxtor, Cisco Systems, Avaya, KLA Tencor, Seagate, LifeScan,Gaia Online, Sipex, and Symantec. Creative Technology's well-known U.S. subsidiary, Creative Labs, is based in Milpitas.

Education

Main articles: Milpitas Unified School District

Milpitas' public schools are run by the Milpitas Unified School District. The area schools are among the most ethnically diverse in the United States. [11] The school district was founded in the 1950s when the city was just incorporated. Formerly, James Lick High School in Alum Rock was the closest high school to Milpitas. Samuel Ayer High School (now the Milpitas Teen Center and Adult Education Center on Calaveras Road) was founded as its only high school. In the 1980s, Samuel Ayer High School closed, and Milpitas High School was built on Escuela Parkway. ''See'' Milpitas High School.
Milpitas has one library, a branch of the Santa Clara County Library system. The library is scheduled to be moved to the former Senior Center building on Main Street.

Issues and concerns

Though Milpitas is a small suburban community in the South Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, some problems and concerns do exist in the city.

Crime

Overall, Milpitas is a relatively safe city with a low crime rate and has an average of only two or three homicides annually. Over the last ten years, the crime rate has dropped 17%. Much of the crime that does occur tends to take place in the lower-income neighborhoods of Milpitas. The "XIV" Norteño gang is active in some areas and may inscribe gang markings in a few parks, but it is not as dominant as it is in East San Jose.
Methamphetamine is the most widely abused narcotic in the South Bay and is produced locally in the San Jose region. Because of the West Coast’s cheaper methamphetamine prices, the drug is more widely used in Northern California than any other narcotic.
The movie River's Edge was based on a 1981 murder that happened in Milpitas. [12]

Pollution

Milpitas often experiences odorous air emanating from the Newby Island landfill and the Zanker sewage treatment plant. The odor is especially serious west of Interstate 880 because of its close location to the San Francisco Bay. The City of Milpitas is currently attempting to remedy this air quality problem and encourages its residents to file odor complaints [13].
Local creeks and the nearby San Francisco Bay suffer somewhat from water pollution originating from street water runoff and industrial wastes. The creeks in Milpitas, especially Calera, Scott, and Berryessa Creeks, used to be prime fishing spots for native rainbow trout until industrial pollutants killed the fish starting from the 1970s.
The I880 corridor has experienced relatively elevated levels of air pollution from freeway traffic. For example eight hour standards for carbon monoxide have been near to exceedance for the last two decades.^[4]

Controversy

Sunshine Law

The Milpitas City Council voted 3-2 on January 16, 2007 to do away with the idea of having citizens oversee a commission that monitors the city's sunshine law, opting instead to name two councilmen to supervise the post. ^[5]

Culture and recreation

As a suburb within the ethnically diverse San Francisco Bay Area, Milpitas has a unique culture and a sense of community. In Milpitas, no ethnic group can be thought of as either a majority or minority. The ethnic mix includes Indonesians, Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Mexicans, Indians, and African Americans. As a result, the city is a virtual melting pot, which is quite evident in the community's culture.
Milpitas residents also enjoy various visual and performing arts. The Milpitas Alliance for the Arts, founded in 1997, is an organization which promotes and funds murals, plays, sculptures, and many other forms of art. The "Art in Your Park" project has put many sculptures in local Milpitas parks, including a ceramic tower in Hillcrest Park, a sundial in Augustine Park, and a historical memorial in Murphy Park. The Milpitas Arts and Wine Festival is also held annually every August, displaying many different types of visual and performing arts while giving visitors samplings of both exotic and Californian wine.
Because of Milpitas' diverse ethnic mix, the town has a rich variety of different restaurants and cuisines. Malaysian, Indonesian, Singaporean, Chinese, American, Vietnamese, Italian, and many other cuisines offer Milpitans a wide choice of quality foods. Milpitas Square, home to the flagship 99 Ranch Food Market grocery store, provides countless authentic Asian restaurants.
The large recreational and community services in Milpitas gives it a reputation as having one of the South Bay's best recreational programs. The Milpitas Sports Center on Calaveras Road hosts a variety of sports, including swimming, tennis, soccer, and baseball. The Milpitas Recreational Services Department offers a wide range of tutors and coaches in basketball, dancing, karate, and other leisure activities. The Miliptas Teen Center and the Milpitas Senior Center also provide residents with fun, activities, and educational opportunities.
Milpitas is also home to the largest Bay Area shopping mall in land area, the Great Mall of the Bay Area. Great Mall's premises is the conversion of a Ford automobile assembly plant that shut down in the 1980s after competition from Japanese automobile manufacturers forced it to close.
Other Milpitas shopping centers and plazas include Milpitas Town Center, Milpitas Square, Jacklin Square, McCarthy Ranch, Parktown Plaza, Beresford Square, and the City Square.
In the past, Milpitas had a very different culture from that of its modern suburban state. As late as the 1950s, Milpitas was an unincorporated rural town with the Midtown district on Main Street as its main center of business and social activities. Back then, many people knew each other and walked only one or two blocks to familiar workplaces. Many old businesses, such as Main Street Gas (operated by the Azorean Spangler brothers), Smith's Corner Saloon, and Kozy Kitchen were well-known places which were favorite spots for old-timers to chat or stop by. The Cracolice Building was one of the oldest commercial buildings in Milpitas and was the site of many political conventions and meetings. "As Milpitas Goes, So Goes the State" used to be a popular slogan around the town. Most of the land now within modern-day Milpitas' boundaries were used for strawberry, asparagus, apricot, and potato cultivation until the postwar boom during the 1950s and 1960s.

Parks

Ed R. Levin County Park is the largest park in Milpitas. The County of Santa Clara Parks and Recreation Department runs the park. Monument Peak can be accessed through trails that lead north through the county park. The park also provides facilities for hang gliding and paragliding and includes a newly built dog park. Two golf courses, Spring Valley Golf Course and Summitpointe Golf Course, are located in the Milpitas foothills. Both have upper-class estates located adjacent to them. Milpitas also has 28 small suburban parks which are generally 3 to 10 acres (12,000 to 40,000 m²) large. Together, these parks total 166 acres (672,000 m²) of land area.

Media

Milpitas' local newspaper is the weekly ''Milpitas Post''. The paper is distributed at no charge to all Milpitas residents every Thursday. The city is also served by a daily newspaper, the ''San Jose Mercury News''. Other available newspapers in Milpitas include the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and the ''New York Times''. No radio stations broadcast from Milpitas, but signals can be received from many other South Bay stations.

Radio

:''Note: FM channels have decimal points, but AM do not.'' [15][16]
'Country':

★ KRTY, 95.3 (Empire Broadcasting)
'News':

★ KGO, 810 (ABC)

★ KLIV, 1590 (Empire Broadcasting)
'Light rock/Adult alternative':

★ KBAY, 94.5 (San Jose)

★ KOIT, 96.5
'Modern Rock':

★ KITS, 105.3 "Live 105"

★ KCNL, 104.9, "Channel 104.9"
'Hip-hop/R&B':

★ KYLD, 94.9 "Wild" 94.9 (San Francisco)

★ KDON, 102.5 (Monterey)

★ KMEL, 106.1 – "106.1 KMEL" (San Francisco)
'Urban AC/R&B':

★ KISQ, 98.1 Kiss FM

★ KBLX, 102.9 "The Quiet Storm" (Berkeley)
'Heavy metal/Classic rock':

★ KFOX-FM, 98.5

★ KEZR, Mix 106.5

★ KSAN-FM, 107.7 - "The Bone"
'Pop':

★ KMKY, 1310 - Radio Disney
'Classical':

★ KDFC, 102.1
'Jazz':

★ KCSM, 91.1 (noncommercial)

★ KKSF, 103.7
'Regional Mexican':

★ KRZZ, 93.3 - La Raza (San Francisco)

★ KSOL, 98.9 - Estereo Sol (San Francisco)

★ KZSF, 1370 - La Caliente (San Jose)

★ KAZA, 1290, Radio Casa (Gilroy)
'Asian':

★ KSQQ, 96.1

★ KSJX, 1500

Television

Analog television service available to Milpitas includes: [17]

★ KTVU, 02 - FOX news station

★ KRON, 04 - My Network TV news station

★ KPIX, 05 - CBS news station

★ KGO, 07 - ABC news station

★ KQED, 09 - PBS

★ KNTV, 11 - NBC, "NBC 11," broadcast from San Jose's Loma Prieta Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains

★ KDTV, 14 - Univision (broadcast from Mount Allison in Fremont)

★ KBWB, 20 - independent, "Your TV20"

★ KTSF, 26 - San Francisco Asian TV

★ KMTP, 32 - European (German, Italian) and Asian TV

★ KICU, 36 - independent, "Action 36, Cable 6" (broadcasted from Monument Peak in Milpitas)

★ KBCW, 44 - The CW

★ KSTS, 48 - Telemundo (broadcast from Mount Allison in Fremont; shares same antenna as KDTV)

★ KTEH, 54 - PBS (broadcast from Monument Peak in Milpitas; shares same antenna as KICU)

★ KKPX, 65 - i

★ KSFS, 66 - Spanish language TV

Infrastructure

Communications

Like most other Bay Area cities, USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL are readily available to Milpitas. The USPS post office on Abel Street is Milpitas' main office for postal mail and is the only USPS post office in the city. ZIP code 95035 is exclusively for Milpitas and is the only standard ZIP code for the city. 95036 is a new ZIP that is used sometimes for post office boxes in Milpitas. Until the merge with SBC, Milpitas had relied on Pacific Bell for its telecommunications services.

Transportation

From north to south, the major east-west roads in Milpitas are Dixon Landing Road, Jacklin Road, Calaveras Boulevard, and Landess Avenue/Montague Expressway. From east to west, the major north-south roads are Piedmont Road, Evans Road, Park Victoria Drive, Milpitas Boulevard, Main Street, Abel Street, and Barber Lane. Milpitas roads that reach into the hills are, from north to south, Country Club Drive, Old Calaveras Road, Calaveras Road, and a private ranch drive, the historic Urridias Ranch Road.
As with many other Californian suburbs, Milpitas has divided roads that are maintained well by the local city government. Street signs are in green, as opposed to San Jose's blue ones. Like the San Jose public works system, all pedestrians must manually press a button in order to turn the pedestrian signal lights on (unlike the South Bay cities, San Francisco has automatic pedestrian lights at intersections and do not have "press to cross" buttons for pedestrians).
Not all streets in Milpitas have bicycle lanes or sidewalks. Piedmont Road, Evans Road, and Jacklin Road have excellent bike lanes and sidewalks with ample spacing, but Montague Expressway and South Milpitas Boulevard have limited sidewalks and narrow bike lanes, which causes some problems for workers commuting by bike or on foot. The roads most favorable for recreational jogging and biking are Evans and Piedmont Roads.
Highways Highway 237, 680, and 880 link Milpitas to the rest of the Bay Area. Interstates 680 and 880 lead north to Fremont and south to downtown San Jose. On the other hand, Highway 237 begins at Milpitas and goes west to Sunnyvale and Mountain View.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) runs light rail (high-speed transit) and local buses for public transportation. VTA bus routes in Milpitas are 46, 47, 66, 70, 71, 77. [18]
The Altamont Commuter Express provides 3 morning express train service towards Milpitas from neighboring cities in San Joaquin and Alameda County, and 3 returning evening trips. Although the nearest stop is located near Great America Park, in San Jose, shuttle busses are provided with stops in Milpitas.
The nearest airports to the city are the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) and Reid-Hillview Airport in East San Jose, the latter which is for small private airplanes. Although Milpitas is bordered by the San Francisco Bay in the extreme northwest, that area is not accessible to ships and boats. Being landlocked, the city depends on the Port of Oakland for oceangoing freight and on the Union Pacific Railroad for cargo transport.
An extension of Bay Area Rapid Transit from Fremont to San Jose is being studied, and would include one or two stations in Milpitas, including a BART-light rail transfer at Montague. [19]

Notable Movies featuring Milpitas

The "Milpitas Monster" was filmed in the town in 1976. Originally started as a high school project it developed into a feature length film. In the quiet town of Milpitas, California, a gigantic creature is spawned in a polluted, overflowing waste disposal site. The townspeople rally to destroy the creature, which has an uncontrollable desire to consume large quantities of garbage cans.
The movie "River's Edge" was inspired by the true story of a murder that happened in Milpitas in 1981. It is a story about a teenage boy murders a classmate and shows off the body to his friends. The names and races of the individuals involved were changed. The story was "Hollywood-ized" for dramatic purposes. The filmmakers added stories that did not occur and characters that did not exist. It starred some relatively unknown actors at the time named Keanu Reeves, Crispin Glover and Ione Skye as well as veteran actor Dennis Hopper.

Trivia

The top marquee of Atari Games' 720° arcade videogame, released in 1986, has a boombox-like design, with the words "Made in Milpitas" on the bottom, a homage to Milpitas, where Atari was formerly located.

See also

Nearby cities:

★ San Francisco

★ Oakland

★ San Jose

★ Santa Clara

★ Sunnyvale

★ Fremont

★ Hayward

★ Los Gatos

★ Cupertino

★ Palo Alto

★ Mountain View
Physical features:

★ Monument Peak

★ Calaveras Reservoir

★ Oak Ridge (California)

★ Arroyo Hondo (Santa Clara County, California)

★ Black Mountain (near Milpitas, California)

★ Berryessa Creek

★ Calaveras Road

References

1. Milpitas, California Demographics
2. [The Milpitas Post, March 15, 2007 issue]
3. City of Milpitas Police Department Official Site
4. C.Michael Hogan, Marc Papineau, Ballard George et al., ''Environmental Assessment of the I880/Dixon Landing Road Interchange Improvement Project, Cities of Fremont and Milpitas'', Earth Metrics Incorporated, Federal Highway Administration Publication, March, 1989
5. San Jose Mercur News, ''Milpitas will be its own watchdog'', January 18, 2007
[14]

Bibliography

The following books on Milpitas have been used as significant references for this article. Many of the books are not available at a regular store or are out of print, but all are available at the Milpitas branch of the Santa Clara County Library. These books are also recommended as resources for further reading.

★ ''Milpitas: A Century of Little Cornfields.'' By Patricia Loomis. ISBN 0-935089-07-1 Available from the Milpitas Historical Society.

★ ''Milpitas: Five Dynamic Decades.'' By Mort Levine, et al. Available at the Milpitas city hall or call the City of Milpitas. ''Note: Much of the information in this article is derived from this reference. ''

★ ''History of Milpitas.'' By Madge Craig.

★ ''Historic Sites Inventory.'' Prepared by Judith Marvin-Cunningham

External links

★ City of Milpitas

★
★ Milpitas Police Department

★
★ City of Milpitas official statistics

★
★ City Council

★
★ Planning Division

★ GoMilpitas.com, Milpitas Community Website since 1997

★ Milpitas Historical Society

★ Milpitas Chamber of Commerce

★ Milpitas Alliance for the Arts

★ The Milpitas Post, Milpitas' weekly newspaper

★ Wikitravel guide to Milpitas