About San Jose
San Jose, sometimes spelled San José, is the third-largest city by population in California, the tenth-largest by population in the United States, and the county seat of Santa Clara County. San Jose was founded on November 19, 1777, as San José de Guadalupe, the first civilian town in the Spanish colony of Alta California. San Jose has an average of 301 days of sunshine and an annual mean temperature of 60.5 °F (15.8 °C). It lies inland, surrounded on three sides by mountains. Public art is an evolving attraction in the city. The city was one of the first to adopt a public art ordinance at 1% of capital improvement building project budgets, and the results of this commitment are beginning to have an impact on the visual landscape of the city. The city is home to many performing arts companies. San Jose possesses about 15,950 acres of parkland in its city limits, including a part of the expansive Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.