Historic, vacant restaurant in downtown San Jose goes up in flames
A fire burned a vacant historic building in downtown San Jose early Thursday, built during the futuristic architectural boom of the 1960s.
The two-alarm fire at the former Bo Town restaurant, once a popular Chinese and Vietnamese seafood eatery, was reported at 5:11 a.m., according to the San Jose Fire Department. The restaurant at 409 South 2nd Street closed in 2019 and was most recently used as the San Jose location for LVL UP arcade until January 2022.
No one was hurt in the fire and there was no immediate word on what caused it.
The building was constructed during the heyday of the so-called "Googie" architectural design that incorporated modern, dramatic angles, neon flourishes, and Jetsons-like space-age designs that appeared in countless coffee shops, restaurants, and commercial strips.
The structure, with its zig-zag roof and retro-futuristic facade, is expected to be replaced by a 30-story mixed-use development. The project was approved in December 2022 and at the time, the City of San Jose indicated that the building was eligible to be listed as a San Jose city landmark.
The Silicon Valley Business Journal reported that the developers have included plans for a new restaurant space on the site that would incorporate some of the original building design. The Bo Town freestanding sign was planned to be featured outside the development, according to San Jose Spotlight.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported the Bo Town restaurant was in business at the site from the early 1990s to 2019 and was previously the site of the Sambo's restaurant chain which was criticized for its racist name and imagery. The chain eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1981 after a series of lawsuits.
