Patios are made for World Cup parties, whether they be Italian, Irish or German. The vision came to me while drifting from Sharks Way toward The Devine.
If one starts in Little Italy, segues through the Irish syndicate of San Pedro Square, and then jaywalks across Market and down Devine toward the German confluence of Teske’s and the Germania Hall, visions of massive European street parties emerge. It only takes imagination, curiosity and some literary inspiration—all in all, a creative way to collapse the past and the future into the current moment.
Anyone who witnessed the overwhelming success of the Super Bowl street parties in San Pedro Square can imagine ways it should grow even bigger. So that’s what I did while walking around.
First of all, this column, in general, has its origins in the application of the French avant-garde to San Jose back streets. Encouraged by Guy Debord’s Theory of the Dérive—an experimental technique of aimless urban drifting through varied ambiances—I took an intentionally performative approach to exploring San Jose neighborhoods.
But that was 2005.
These days, San Jose is a different place and Santa Clara has an NFL stadium. The World Cup is coming to the South Bay, and I can see the future of street parties for the Italians, the Irish and the Germans. All of which should be connected.
The nodal points along Sharks Way and Devine Street are perfect examples. In textbook San Jose fashion, Sharks Way used to be St. John, which used to be Saint Augustine, while Devine is a short little side street that connects San Pedro to the German front line just north of St. James Park. Devine is the quintessential interstice, an ambient splitter route that no one ever uses.
In one sense, we just should rename Devine Street as “The Devine.” It sounds so much better. If we can have The Alameda, then we can have The Devine. And no, Devine Street was not named after the famous drag queen. I wish I could say that.
Instead, Devine was named after, and misspelled after, a local judge, Mr. Davis Divine who arrived in the neighborhood the night before San Jose was selected as California’s first capital. He was instrumental in the building of the original railroad between San Jose and San Francisco. Anyone who takes Caltrain has Davis Divine to thank.
These days, Devine (with an ‘e’) connects the Irish with the Germans. Any psychogeographic drifter with a newspaper column can easily venture north from the McEnery-O’Flaherty-Mulvehill sphere of influence at San Pedro Square and then segue across Market to Teske’s Germania, pretty close to where Judge Davis Divine originally lived. So there is precedent when you see local judges holding court at the Teske’s bar. (See what I did there?)
One block over, where Hobee’s now sits, one finds another legendary institution, Germania Verein, a social organization for German-Americans going back to the nineteenth century. The banquet room is located in the back house, while Hobee’s now occupies the front.
But I mentioned patios. When the World Cup finally arrives, huge parties should happen all along Sharks Way, especially the patio in front of Poor House and the Little Italy Cultural Center. All of which connects to the Irish contingent at San Pedro Square, a place that demonstrated tremendous potential during Super Bowl weekend. From there, it’s easy to see how everything could progress down the street to Teske’s and Hobee’s, the latter of which will open a killer beer garden sooner and not later.
If all of it happens in a connected, continuous fashion, then this part of San Jose will come alive like never before. You don’t have to be some politician barking about “vibrancy” to understand this.
Maybe this is wishful thinking. Some people might say I am suffering. I want San Jose to be different from what it is. I want parties in the street, at every corner, in every public space, on every night during the World Cup, like many big cities in Europe.
So in the meantime, I remain positive. I will celebrate the future vibes from Sharks Way to The Devine, and hope for the best. The only thing missing is the French.
