IN 1980, San Jose carved itself up into what's often lambasted as the "mini-mayor system," a fragmented balkanization of 10 jagged, haphazard regions represented by 10 councilmembers with their own individual fiefdoms. Although many other large cities implement a similar system, San Jose's attempt at such a scheme has often come under scrutiny, if not unabashed ridicule. It's one more way that Silicon Valley behaves less like a metropolitan area and more like a gaggle of small towns duct-taped together.

Perhaps that's part of the reason that many people have long since lost the desire to explore San Jose beyond their own little secure locales. Since I deplore such provincial attitudes, I led my own little tour in these pages last summer, focusing on forgotten, obscure, hideous and ignored wastelands that "normal" people would never consider visiting: rundown motels, boarded up churches, wrecking yards, forgotten strip malls and the likes thereof. Honestly, I had no idea what the result was going to be, but luckily, the tour found its audience, and the widest possible variety of people—young and old, natives and expats—emerged from the woodwork and chimed in with feedback. A few who had long since left San Jose emailed me, saying things like, "Oh yeah, I remember that dump. I used to live right over there." A few out-of-towners even said they were going to save that issue and carry it with them whenever they came back to town. In a bizarre, surreal, if not presumptuous way, I felt like I had somehow united factions of San Jose with that project, and I soon realized that what cuts across all council district boundaries is the poetic beauty of the underbelly and the forgotten wastelands. People are cringing for the seedy side of America's 10th largest city.

There was so much more to explore that it is time for a sequel. Summer is sequel time, after all. In the interest of being a uniter and not a divider, all 10 City Council districts are represented here. And it is your town, too, so get into it.

District 1

The Cabaret, defunct '80s rock club

Back in the '80s, the seedy Cabaret rock club was San Jose's midsize music venue and hosted all the national touring bands of the day. If you were at least 21 and you could tolerate commercial FM radio in that decade, you would go to the Cabaret. Bands like Kansas, Blue Oyster Cult, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Y&T showed up on a regular basis. Tight jeans, coke spoons and G.A.S.S. shoes abounded. Strangely though, nothing has inhabited this building ever since then, and it makes you wonder how many bodies are buried behind the walls of the place. Oh, the stories ...

District 2

Burned Santa Teresa Apartments building

About a year and a half ago, a strange fire took out much of this building. Thankfully, all of the residents survived despite losing many of their belongings. Nowadays, you aren't allowed to venture inside, and the property is surrounded by chain-link fence and tarp, supposedly preventing further exploration. Hey, if Rome and Greece can turn their ruins into tourist traps, why can't San Jose?

District 3

Wattis Construction Yard, 964 Stockton Ave.

District 3 is hailed by many as the city's most important one, primarily because it includes an arena, a city hall and an airport. But aside from all those things, the district is also home to the Wattis Construction Yard, which occupies a sizeable splotch of land at the north end of Stockton Avenue. This uniquely photogenic yard is home to a regiment of wrecked and rusted construction equipment that would make any urban blight exploration junkie cringe for more. The beauty of the place lies in the sheer poetry of its ruins.

District 4

South Bay Yacht Club/Alviso

If you climb up the concrete steps from Hope Street near the Guadalupe River in Alviso, you will find what's left of the South Bay Yacht Club. Over a century ago, Alviso was originally intended to be the South Bay's main port district, where goods were shipped off to Frisco and Sacto up north. These rusted boats have been sitting out here in the marsh since God knows when, and the area still has flooding problems, an issue that's starting to, um, resurface again. But we still have the bucolic remains of what once was and what could have been. Long live Alviso.

District 5

Pink Elephant Center

Located in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, the legendary blighted strip mall on King Road has been there for decades and reminds one of what this locale was like before Highway 680 was built. Simply put, there cannot exist an "east San Jose" without the Pink Elephant Center or the Pink Elephant Barber Shop, which is located inside. Strangely, the Pink Elephant Bakery and the Pink Elephant Laundromat are located across the street and no longer occupy the Pink Elephant Center itself.

District 6

Abandoned SMC building

Just as the Pink Elephant Center straddles the border of Districts 5 and 3, this forgotten collection of rundown palaces occupies Park Avenue in District 6, just past the railroad tracks from District 3. You can totally see Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Pierluigi Oliverio duking it out over who should be forced to deal with this one. The abandoned SMC plant sits in the foreground and a gloriously defunct roofing business sits there on the left. This one is an exemplary roadside attraction and absolutely worth a visit.

District 7

Story Road Animal Hospital

By now everyone has formed an opinion on the Little Saigon circus, the next act of which involves putting up banners along Story Road between McLaughlin and Rogers. Basically, this is a neighborhood that most wouldn't even visit unless they missed an exit on the freeway, which, incidentally, would put them right at this building, the Story Road Animal Hospital. A killer example of old school signage greets one from the sidewalk. You see a back dog trying to climb up to the cat, who sits perched on top, overseeing the graffiti-stained buildings and the traffic nearby.

District 8

Barn with A&W sign

A long time ago in a San Jose far away, we were blessed with several A&W franchises. This was the celebrated burger chain with such masterpieces like the Teen Burger, the Mama Burger and the Papa Burger. You could get A&W root beer in frosted mugs as late as probably the mid-'80s. Only a few A&W joints are still actually left, but those particular items are long gone from the menu. We don't want to know who owns this holy shrine in the east hills of District 8 or where he or she even found the A&W sign, but the property looks like a deserted movie set more than anything else. In my opinion, it easily rivals the nearby Sikh Temple in all its righteousness.

District 9

Hacienda Gardens Shopping Center

This is the quintessential suburban wasteland shopping center that's been thrown away like yesterday's newspaper. In fact, the place has gone through so many different phases of decay, ruin and tear-down that most people have long since given up even trying to keep up with what's going on. It used to house a department store called MacDonald's—unrelated to the fast food chain—and also a killer bookstore called the Little Professor, as well as a great hobby shop called Van's. The new additions have yet to find tenants and here you see what used to be the corner of the place on Hillsdale.

District 10

Former site of Farrell's and the Almaden Lounge

Everyone who grew up in south San Jose during the '70s had at least one birthday party at Farrell's. This was a classic 1890s-themed ice cream parlor and restaurant with all the accoutrements. The singing employees all had sideburns and wore straw hats. The menus were on newsprint. It was the gay nineties reborn, complete with every piece of nostalgia hanging all over the walls. After it closed, the building became City Diner instead. Also a centerpiece in this mall was the Almaden Lounge, a classic old-school dive bar complete with vinyl booths and a big swordfish above the bar. Alas, no more.

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