.East Village San Jose: New Name, Old Memories

Last week, the East Santa Clara Street Business Association rebranded itself as East Village San Jose, officially renaming a corridor from Seventh Street to 22nd Street.

In other words, the stretch from Skip Spence’s former stomping ground straight to Neal Cassady’s old house is now a village. A brand-new mural by Lila Gemellos on the corner of 10th and Santa Clara was also unveiled with new East Village iconography. Skip and Neal are not on the mural since they were too obscure for the celebration. Nevertheless, it is to their legacies that I will now turn.

Skip was once a formidable player in the psychedelic rock scene of the ’60s. He was the drummer on the first Jefferson Airplane album before splitting from the band. He was also the one who introduced the Doobie Brothers to each other, when they all lived in various places in downtown San Jose. Tom Johnston of the Doobies has told stories ever since about the times he stepped off the porch of their 12th Street house and then segued down to Skip’s flat.

Skip had co-founded the influential band Moby Grape and also released a beautifully strange solo LP, Oar. Sadly, due to drug use and other forms of suffering, his mental condition deteriorated. By the ’90s, he was living in the halfway houses of downtown San Jose, where he was often spotted along Santa Clara and San Fernando, in the immediate vicinity of SJSU. Metro even ran a long cover story at that time.

Sad photos still exist of Skip sitting on the sidewalk in front of F&P Liquors, which is now the smoke shop next door to Needle to the Groove. The photos are not pleasant.

On a better note, Neal Cassady’s old house still exists at 1047 E. Santa Clara. Neal was the prime culture-jammer behind much of the Beat Generation, immortalized as Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road, and also the chattering freak who drove the bus for Ken Kesey’s Merry Band of Pranksters.

In 1952, Neal and his wife Carolyn arrived in San Jose, where he worked for Southern Pacific Railroad. Kerouac stayed with the Cassadys several times during those years, with Carolyn and Jack famously having an affair. Across the street from the house, the vacant lot at 21st and Santa Clara used to be a liquor store where Kerouac bought wine and cigarettes.

When poet Allen Ginsberg stayed with the Cassadys for several weeks in 1954, even more drama unfolded. Carolyn walked in on Ginsberg and Neal as they were engaged in the act. A few days later, she drove Ginsberg to San Francisco and sent him on his way. Ginsberg wrote a few seminal poems while staying at the Cassady house, including “In Back of the Real,” in which he wandered desolate in the old San Jose railroad yard. Many of my early columns were inspired by that poem.

Skip Spence and Neal Cassady were not the only ones, however.

Thankfully, Jack Licursi’s old barber shop still remains. Built by Jack’s dad in 1926, the street-level business sits empty, almost unchanged since Jack passed away last year at the age of 96. The facade is included in the mural.

Licursi was one of all-time giants of local civic life. Born in San Jose, he earned his barber’s license the summer before the US entered WWII and started working in his dad’s shop. From then on, every eminent political figure in San Jose knew Licursi. He was founding president of the original East Santa Clara Street Revitalization Association 35 years ago.

I’m not ignoring the current-day businesses. Needle to the Groove is a great record store and Neu2u Thrift Boutique has lasted even longer. Last Round Tavern has great pizza. Vegan Donut & Cafe, where the mural sits, is one of many vegan places along this corridor, including Tofoo Com Chay and Vegetarian Bistro. Down the street, one also finds wondrous examples of worn ’70s medical office architecture.

The ghosts of Cassady, Kerouac, Spence and Licursi can rest assured. It takes a village to raise a neighborhood, or maybe vice-versa. Much potential remains on this street. There’s nowhere to go but up.