wandering soul photography

An Phoenix, AZ based photographer specializing in portraits, personal branding, and boudoir photography for the every day woman. Whether you are on a self love journey, celebrating a milestone, in need of branding photos, or simply want to capture the essence of your beauty at this time of your life, we will work together to create the session of your dreams. 

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Hey there! My name is Lydene, currently Phoenix-based, however I will always be a PNW girl at heart. I have a beautifully blended family of 8. Yep... real life Brady Bunch here! When I'm not working you can catch me chasing a toddler, at one of the kid's sporting events or in the kitchen cooking. Busy mommas, when I say I can relate, I can R E L A T E!

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Photography

WANDERING SOUL

Welcome,  Wandering Soul

I'M TAHNEE!

When I think about it, I believe  I simply stumbled into this passion of mine. Even though it feels as if a path had been laid before me. 

It is a passion of taking special memories and turning them into a moment. A split second in time that could have been missed in the blink of an eye. It's these moments that make up a lifetime and some of them should never be missed, nor forgotten. For some are to precious and to pure.

After the birth of my daughter I found myself constantly reaching for the camera, trying to hold onto the memories we shared. From every day playing to dressing her up I would be taking photo after photo of her. -Truth be told I still do it to this day. But I was led down this road purely on a what if? What if I could be apart of someone else's memories with their loved ones and make it an unforgettable moment? Was I capable of that? 

There was only one way to find out. I started asking family & friends if I could photograph them, and as time went on something in the stars aligned. My soul knew the camera belonged in my hands.

Discovering myself in photography awoke a side of me that loved connecting with others. Seeing their vulnerability and admiration for their loved ones, but also themselves. I get the honor of not only witnessing but freezing moments in time that are so intimate. A mothers soothing touch, a partners long lingering and loving gaze, a woman basking in the glory of her feminine naked beauty. ​

These moments are unforgettable,

These moments are to be held,

These moments of stillness are my gift to you.

| I AM WOMAN | I AM MOTHER | I AM STRONG | I AM CREATIVE | I AM EARTHY |

| I AM SENSITIVE | I AM BRAVE | I AM MOODY | I AM SPIRITUAL | I AM SENSUAL |

YOUNG HEART | OLD SOUL

I am a country-farm girl through and through

There is a beautiful little girl who calls me momma

My tattoos make me feel more confident

I have a wicked sweet tooth; chocolate is my weakness

Along with chocolate I'm a huge foodie

 I swear like a sailor

I'm a night owl; there is just something about a starry night

 I love adventuring and spending my time in nature

I have two large dogs named Maverix & Timber

I enjoy searching into the depths of my witchy spiritual soul

 .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . about me

• Aztec Ruins
• Black Canyon
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• Devils Tower
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Fred Russell Photography

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T raveling gives me the opportunity to observe and enjoy the colorful world around us. Photography is the way of sharing these colorful photos of nature.  Nature is always changing and capturing these images is endless.  I enjoy the color and sharing the pictures. 

I have been very fortunate to be able to travel and see many wonderful places in North America. The purpose of the web site is to share the photos with those who have not had the opportunity to travel.

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Adam K. Watts was born in Santa Clara, California and was raised primarily in the heart of "Steinbeck Country" in Salinas, California. He has always been an artist and has made forays into writing, painting, composing, dancing, performing arts, and digital photography. As a child, his mind was caught by the poetry of Robert Frost; the words from "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "The Road Not Taken" resonated with him. The ideas of looking into the woods with longing to enter and turning away out of duty and responsibility, and the desire to travel a path few have seen, have lent his soul the aspect of the seeker. This aspect has been reflected in many of his works; images that bespeak of places that call, of paths that make you want to walk them, and corners that beg you to come to look and see what is just around them, or the enticing caress of the wandering wind asking you to walk with her for a brief interlude.

He was also shaped at a young age by Man of La Mancha, a musical play inspired by Cervantes and Don Quixote. Tilting windmills is a metaphor for pushing back against the machinery of civilization advancing at the price of beauty and the human spirit. He believes that advancement can and should be achieved, but the cost should not be valor or honor or justice. An impossible dream? Perhaps.

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• Valikari: Explore and use the fantasy language of Valikari. It is available for open-source use under specified (and quite reasonable) limitations.   Note: Valikari is the language from the land of Valikara, introduced in The Flames of the Phoenix. This novel is with my publisher and will shortly be available. Meanwhile, we can utilize the language created for it. It is also used in my other stories and is usually referred to as the common tongue or trade tongue.

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• Secession of the Southern States: A quick reference for the history curious to the sequence in which states seceded from the US and the exact reasons given for this at the time. These reasons are typically glossed-over in discussions of the subject.
• Tulsa Race Riots of 1921: A brief overview of the horrific destruction of Black Wall Street in the Greenwood area of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. [PAGE COMING SOON! Further reading here .]
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Home > United States > 40 Most Instagrammable Places in San Jose, CA: Photo Spots in San Jose

40 Most Instagrammable Places in San Jose, CA: Photo Spots in San Jose

By Dymphe / April 16, 2023

The most Instagrammable places in San Jose are perfect for photography! If you want to take pictures in California, the photo spots in San Jose are amazing!

San Jose is a great city in the United States that's very nice to travel to. It's the largest city in Northern California and you can find it in Santa Clara Valley.

If you want to go to a city with many things to do and to see, this place is perfect! For example, the San Jose Museum of art is great.

Also, the photo spots in San Jose are incredible. For that reason, it's great to travel there if you want to take wonderful pictures. The San Jose Instagram spots feature flowers, lots of colors, views, and more.

So there's definitely something in the city you'll love for photography! To make sure you find the best locations, I made this list of the 40 most Instagrammable places in San Jose!

Table of Contents

1. Flowers at San Jose Municipal Rose Garden

One of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose is the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden.

Here you find a beautiful garden with lots of roses.

These roses are wonderful to capture.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by 🌙 Mary | Fashion | Beauty (@mary.bears)

Flowers are always great for taking photos, as they make your photos very happy!

Besides that, it is also a great way to add some color to your photos. This is one of the most colorful photo spots in San Jose for sure.

For example, the garden is great if you want to add some red to your photos!

But the roses at the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden come in different colors! You also find here yellow, white, and more colors of roses, which is awesome!

You can stand in front of some of the roses and surround yourself with them when taking pictures.

2. Instagrammable Welcome to San Jose Mural

The next one of the Instagrammable places in San Jose is great if you like blue.

One of the best murals in the city of San Jose is definitely this one.

Here you can see the text "Welcome to San Jose". This is great text for photos. The text makes this one of the best photo spots in San Jose!

That's because the mural allows you to create your own postcard from the city!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kirstie Chan 🌻 (@kfclovesyou)

You can stand in front of the mural and be part of the postcard yourself!

Another lovely thing about the mural is the color of the wall. It is a very bright shade of blue that lets you take very colorful photos here!

Besides that, the color of the letters matches very well with the color of the wall!

3. Mural at K-Café Patisserie & Tea House

At K-Café Patisserie & Tea House you find this lovely mural. This venue is great if you want to have tea when you are in the city of San Jose. Moreover, it is the perfect spot for a high tea!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by K-Café Patisserie & Tea House (@kcafeteahouse)

On the wall, you can see the outside of a K Café. This is lovely to capture, as it is a very realistic drawing. It almost looks like you are standing in front of a window when you take photos here! This is one of the cutest photo spots in San Jose.

Besides that, the colors are lovely. The green color looks beautiful with the brown colors in the photo.

Another great aspect of this one of the Instagrammable places in San Jose is that you can sit in front of it! This makes it possible to do all kinds of sitting poses!

4. Instagrammable Palm Trees at San Jose Museum of Art

The San Jose Museum of Art is an amazing art museum in the city that is worth seeing when you are here!

If you like palm trees, this is one of the best photo spots in San Jose. At the San Jose Museum of Art, you find these lovely palm trees.

These palm trees make this one of the best San Jose Instagram spots for sure!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tracy Paige (@tracy_paige)

That's because the palm trees look very pretty. They are very tall, which is great! Moreover, because of the length, they appear in front of the sky in your photos. The color green and the blue color of the sky look awesome together!

Also, the front of the museum itself is great to capture as well. You can see here white letters surrounded by a red gradient, which is beautiful! That's also why it's one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose.

Furthermore, the building of the museum features a lot of repeating elements. This looks great in the photos you take here!

5. San Pedro Square Market

San Pedro Square Market is a place where you can find many food vendors. This is a great way to try out new food when you are in the city of San Jose.

Besides that, it is also a very photogenic place and one of the best photo spots in San Jose!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Visit San Jose (@visitsanjose)

When you stand in front of the building, you can capture the name of the place, which is great.

It is great to show you are at this place in your photos. Furthermore, the letters have a great color.

What's great is that the color of the letters repeats in other elements of the building.

Another great thing about this place is the blue vintage car that stands in front of the building. This is a great car to pose in front of!

6. San Jose Flower Mural

Here is another one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose that features a pretty mural!

There are flowers here with the name of the city in the middle of it. This makes it immediately clear you are in the city of San Jose.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yvette ☕️Coffee | OC Blogger (@lipsticksnlattess)

Besides that, the flowers add a very happy feeling to all the photos you take here, which is awesome!

To make the best photos here, make sure to stand in the middle of the mural!

You can find the mural in downtown San Jose at 21 North 3rd Street.

7. Instagrammable Arch With Red Flowers in San Jose

Here's another one of the best photo spots in San Jose that you can find at the Rose Garden.

Inside the Rose Garden, you find this beautiful arch with roses.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Wen | Travel Content Creator✈️ (@wen_the_travel_begins)

What's great about this spot is that you can surround yourself with roses. That way your photo is full of roses!

Besides that, the color of the roses makes your photos very happy. The red and pink colors of the flowers look very pretty!

A fun way to pose here is when you hold some roses yourself. That way you are completely part of the photo! You can also stand behind the arch, making the flowers look even bigger.

Also, it is great to wear something that features the colors red and pink. So if you like red and pink, it's definitely one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose!

8. Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph

You can find the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in downtown San Jose. This is one of the best San Jose Instagram spots for sure!

This is a beautiful building that is great for your Instagram feed.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by @erin_deleon

It is a very stylish place with lots of classical elements and white stone. This is great if you want to take some neutral, but stylish photos!

When taking photos here, consider wearing something formal to make more elegant pictures!

9. Lick Observatory

Another one of the best Instagrammable places in San Jose is Lick Observatory.

You find this place on the summit of Mount Hamilton. This is a mountain that you can find about 20 miles from the city center of San Jose.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by JOANA KAIMI (@joanakaimi)

From here, you can get an amazing view of the surrounding area! If you love gorgeous views, this place is definitely one of the best photo spots in San Jose.

In the background, you can see many mountains, which is great!

Furthermore, there is a lot of beautiful nature at this place, which is great to capture as well.

Another lovely aspect of this place is that you can visit it during sunset. Then, you can capture the sun going down, which looks magical from the mountain!

10. Pretty Displays at Eastridge Mall

Eastridge Mall is the perfect place if you want to go shopping when you are in San Jose. But there is more than shopping! You also find here some of the best photo spots in San Jose.

That's because there are beautiful store displays, like this one.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Daisy🌸 (@daisyydanielaxo)

This mural features a lot of white and pink flowers, which look amazing.

Furthermore, there is a lot of green nature.

What I like about this spot is that it covers your whole photo!

11. Santana Row

Santana Row is another great place if you want to go shopping in San Jose.

At Santana Row, you find a lot of shops and restaurants that are great to visit.

Besides that, this is one of the San Jose Instagram spots.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kᴀʀᴇɴ Yᴇʀᴀ Vᴀʟᴇɴᴄɪᴀ (@karenyera)

You find here a lot of colorful elements that look wonderful in all the photos you take here.

Also, there are palm trees in the background that give your photos a feeling of summer, which is great!

So if you are looking for one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose for a summer vibe, go here!

12. Communication Hills Grand Staircase: Instagrammable View in San Jose

The Communication Hills Grand Staircase is another one of the best photo spots in San Jose.

From here, you have a wonderful view of the city of San Jose. You can see many of the houses from up here!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ༺ 林嘉欣༻ (@_.samante._)

Furthermore, the staircase is a perfect place for taking elegant photos.

That's because the stone railing looks very classical.

You can pose in front of the railing and have the view behind you for the best photos!

13. Palm Trees at San Jose State University

Another one of the best most Instagrammable places in San Jose is at the San Jose State University!

Here you find a road with palm trees next to it.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by BRI ♌️ (@briannaelisethompson)

These palm trees add a feeling of summer to all the photos you take here, which is great!

Also, there are several palm trees next to each other, which makes it an even more special spot!

14. Terrace of Nirvana Soul

If you are looking for a place with great coffee while you are in San Jose, go here! Nirvana Soul is a lovely coffee shop in the city.

Besides that, it is also one of the best San Jose Instagram spots.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nirvana Soul (@nirvanasoulcoffee)

That's because the front of the coffee shop is very photogenic.

You can see here the logo of the coffee shop!

This is a beautiful logo that features the name of the place and what they do. Moreover, the color of the letters is very pretty! This terrace is one of the prettiest photo spots in San Jose for sure.

What's great is that you can sit in front of the coffee shop at a table next to the window. That way you can take the best photos here!

15. Wings at Myth Taverna & Lounge

You find this next one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose at Myth Taverna & Lounge.

Here you can see this amazing mural that features wings.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vic m. (@leodoescardio)

These white wings are great for taking Instagram photos.

You can stand in the middle of the wings, and pretend they are yours, which is awesome! The wings belong to the best Instagram photo spots in San Jose because they are so cute!

Also, the colors at this spot are lovely. They are very simple, which is great if you want to take neutral photos!

16. Japanese Friendship Garden San Jose

The Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose is a beautiful place to visit.

You can go here for a relaxing stroll while wandering through nature you find there.

Besides that, it's also one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose.

There are many plants and trees that are great to pose in front of!

Furthermore, there are many walking paths through the garden, which makes it easy to do so!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by katie takemoto (@katie.takemoto)

17. In Front of the San Jose Museum of Art

You can also take photos in front of the San Jose Museum of Art and have the whole building in one shot!

Furthermore, you can capture the large building next to it, which looks great!

What's great as well is that there are palm trees in this shot too.

Another great aspect of this one of the San Jose Instagram spots is that there is a sculpture. This sculpture is very colorful and is lovely to take photos with! The colorful sculpture makes it one of the best photo spots in San Jose.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Isabelle Du (@isabelle.du)

18. Pillars at Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

The pillars at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum are amazing for your Instagram feed. You should definitely go to this place if you want to get a unique photo in San Jose!

What's great about this one of the best photo spots in San Jose is that the pillars have a lot of decorations.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Keerthi Nirmal✨ (@keerthirakesh)

Also, the pillars are very symmetrical, which looks great in the photos you take here! The symmetry makes it one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose.

Furthermore, the color of the pillars is very beautiful and elegant!

19. Instagrammable Murals at Eastridge Mall in San Jose

At the Eastridge Mall, you find another one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose.

That's because on the outside of the mall you find these lovely murals.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Patricia Rubio (@mrspatrubio)

There are several murals that each are great for taking pictures!

What's great is that the murals feature many colors and many different patterns. This makes it possible to take a variety of colorful pictures at this spot!

Also, you can take both photos from the side and from the front. Both options are great for taking photos here!

20. Inside Nirvana Soul

Nirvana Soul is not only great from the outside, it is also lovely when you go inside! That's because the interior of the coffee shop is very photogenic.

This is another reason why Nirvana Soul is one of the best photo spots in San Jose!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Francesca Mota ♌︎ (@francesca_mota)

The most prominent feature of the interior is the pink ceiling. This color is very pretty and great if you want to take pink photos when you are in the city of San Jose!

Also, what's great is that the coffee cups match the color of the ceiling. This is a small detail to add to your photos, but it looks awesome!

21. Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose: Instagrammable Place With Lots of Colors

At the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose , you find some beautiful colorful spots.

These San Jose Instagram spots you find here are great if you want to take happy photos when you are in the city!

What's great as well is that the pattern is very diverse. This makes for some very fun photos!

You can stand in front of the colorful elements, and have color surround you, which is awesome!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by YumiLi_🌽 (@richyumili)

22. Garden of Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

The garden of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is nice for taking photos when you are in San Jose.

The garden features a lot of green nature, which is great if you want to add that color to your Instagram feed!

Also, it is always great to add nature to your shots!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ALYSSA BROOKE (@missalyssa_brooke)

For example, you can stand in front of a large palm tree here.

Another special aspect of the garden is the unique pattern you find here. This makes the place that much more special than a regular garden!

When taking photos here, try to take photos from a bit further away and higher up! That way, you can better capture the pattern of the nature of the garden!

This is definitely one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose with nature!

23. Inside K-Café Patisserie & Tea House: Instagrammable Place in San Jose With Flowers

The K-Café Patisserie & Tea House is also great to capture from the inside.

That's because the interior of the tea house is very pretty! There are pink elements everywhere!

Also, there are flowers throughout the place, which is awesome!

The many decorations make this a wonderful place for taking Instagram photos! It is one of the best photo spots in San Jose for capturing beautiful decorations.

Another great thing about this place is that you can sit on the sofa when taking pictures here. This allows you to do some sitting poses!

24. Alum Rock Park

Alum Rock Park is a great park for taking photos!

You find here a lot of nature that is wonderful to see and to take photos of!

It is especially a great place if you want to capture the color green.

Also, the bridge inside of the park looks very photogenic and gives a certain sense of mystery to photos!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by 𝕀𝕧𝕪 ℕ𝕘𝕦𝕪𝕖𝕟 🍃 (@ivy.ng1212)

25. Instagrammable Sign of Hotel de Anza in San Jose

This sign at the Hotel de Anza is one of the best San Jose Instagram spots.

That's because of the colors. The red color of the letters stands out in comparison to the black and dark background! This also makes the sign look a bit mysterious.

The mystery makes it one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose.

You can take the best photos here when you lower the camera. That way you can capture everything in full, including the sign!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Iconic HOTEL DE ANZA (@hoteldeanza)

26. Winchester Mystery House

The Winchester Mystery House is one of the most iconic landmarks in San Jose. It's a very interesting place to see. Also, it is one of the best photo spots in San Jose!

That's because of the architecture of the house. This looks very beautiful.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lauren 🌻 (@teachtoblossom)

What's great too is the garden in front of it. This is the perfect place to stand when taking photos at this spot.

That way you can have beautiful nature and the house in one shot, which is great. The trees in the background look amazing.

27. Wings at Tostadas Midtown

For another one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose go to Tostadas Midtown.

Here you find these amazing black wings.

These wings are great to stand in front of, such that it looks like the wings are yours!

Another great thing about the wings is the yellow that surrounds them. These yellow elements add movement to the mural, which looks great!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by TOSTADAS #2 (@tostadas.midtown)

28. District San Jose

District San Jose is a bar in the city of San Jose. Next to it, you find this lovely alley, which is one of the best photo spots in San Jose for sure!

The alley is very picturesque. Here you find a lot of plants that look lovely.

Furthermore, there are several lanterns on the wall that are great to capture!

When you wear something black, you can make even better photos! That's because there are also many black elements! That way you match the spot!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Destini G. (@destinigia)

29. Mural at Hotel de Anza

Another lovely spot at Hotel de Anza is this mural.

This is a very large mural that is very photogenic.

It features the face of a woman with many decorations next to it, which looks awesome!

Also, it is a great place to add the color purple to your feed! For those who love purple, it's one of the best San Jose Instagram spots.

The best way to take photos here is if you take them from the side. That's because the mural is rather large, which makes it difficult to capture the mural from the front. From the side, you can get everything in one shot!

30. Instagrammable San Jose Postcard Mural

This mural is great if you want to create another postcard when you are in San Jose! You find this spot at the PricewaterhouseCoopers building.

The mural has the text "Greetings from San Jose" on it, which looks great!

It is the perfect way to appear on your own postcard! It's definitely one of the most unique Instagrammable places in San Jose.

What's great as well is that the letters of the words feature some of the city's highlights, which is awesome!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by @camilleconsul

31. Colorful Mural at San Jose Learning Center

If you love colors, the next place is one of the best photo spots in San Jose! You find this colorful mural at the San Jose Learning Center .

It is one of the best San Jose Instagram spots, especially if you want to add some color to your Instagram feed!

There are many different colors on this wall, which look very beautiful!

Also, the pattern of the mural is very unique!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ⓟⓔⓝⓔⓛⓞⓟⓔ (@pennynpennyn)

32. California Theatre in San Jose

The California Theatre is a great venue if you want to attend a show in San Jose. I definitely recommend going here when you are doing a trip to the city!

But if you don't attend a show, it is also a great place for taking photos!

That's because of the photogenic outside of the place!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lizzie Zerebko (@lizziezerebko)

You find here a sign that has the word "California" on it. This sign gives all your photos here a retro feeling

Also, what's great is that you can find modern buildings in the background. This contrast is wonderful to capture!

33. The 55 South

The 55 South is a great lounge to hang out when you are in the city of San Jose. This is a very fun place to visit when you are in the city!

Besides that, it is also one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose.

That's because of the lights you find here hanging from the ceiling. These lights are great to capture!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by 55 South (@the55south)

34. Instagrammable Colorful Terrace in San Jose

The terrace of K-Café Patisserie & Tea House is great to capture as well. You'll love it if you're looking for San Jose Instagram spots!

You find here a lot of colorful objects that are great for taking photos!

There are a lot of blue and pink elements that appear in several places.

What's great is that you can sit on the terrace when taking photos here!

Moreover, what's great is that you can see the name of the tea house in the background!

35. City Hall Rotunda

The City Hall Rotunda is a great industrial building in the city of San Jose. It is one of the best photo spots in San Jose for industrial pictures!

What's great about this spot is that there are so few colors. You can almost only see the color grey here, and a bit of blue from the sky.

If this is something that fits well on your Instagram feed, you should definitely go here!

Also, when taking photos here, consider wearing something grey to fit in!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erica Leung (@ericuhhhleung)

36. San Jose Center for the Performing Arts

The San Jose Center for the Performing Arts is great for taking photos!

At this place, you can attend a show, but you can also only take photos here. The building looks very beautiful.

What's great is that you can see a poster of a musical in the background. This makes it immediately clear what the building behind you is all about!

Another lovely thing about this place is the plants and trees you can see here.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Amy Yakima (@dance10amy)

37. SoFA District

This mural at the SoFA District is amazing to capture. It is one of the most Instagrammable places in San Jose if you are looking for a colorful place!

There are lots of colors in this mural, which makes it possible to take some very happy photos!

Also, when you take photos from up close, you can fill your whole photo with color!

What's great is that you find many other murals in the SoFA district. So if you finished taking photos here, you can take photos at another spot!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ankita Arora (@arora.aankita)

38. Monopoly in the Park: Unique Instagrammable Place in San Jose

If you want to find one of the most unique photo spots in San Jose, go here! At Monopoly in the Park, you find the largest game of monopoly, the popular board game.

You can stand on the board, which makes for some great pictures!

When taking photos here, make sure to capture the word 'Monopoly' in your photos. That way everyone will immediately recognize it!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Adriana Verduzco Lic# 01272002 (@monopolygrl)

39. Tostadas Midtown Sign

At Tostadas Midtown you can also take lovely photos of the inside. The inside also belongs to the most Instagrammable places in San Jose.

You can stand in front of one of the walls where you can see the name of the restaurant "Tostadas". This is a lovely wooden wall that also features some branches.

I'd definitely recommend having food here and taking some great photos!

40. Instagrammable Pool of Hotel Valencia Santana Row in San Jose

Hotel Valencia at Santana Row is a great place to stay when you are doing a trip to San Jose. You can also take some amazing photos if you're staying there.

The pool of the hotel is great for taking photos! The blue color of the water is lovely to capture.

Furthermore, there are many sun umbrellas and sunbeds, which add a feeling of summer to your feed! So it's one of the best San Jose Instagram spots in summer!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hotel Valencia Santana Row (@hotelvalenciasj)

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Prosecutors put men on death row. This California D.A. wants to take them off

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Capital punishment in California exists in law, but in practicality ended in 2019 when Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered death row to be dismantled.

Still, 625 men and 20 women remain incarcerated with death sentences, facing the unlikely but possible prospect that under a different governor, they could be executed. About one-third of the condemned are Black .

In recent months, Santa Clara County Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen , once a prosecutor who believed in capital punishment and one who rejects association with the progressive prosecutor movement , has been quietly preparing to ask courts to change the penalties of 14 men from his county who are waiting for that ultimate sentence to be carried out.

In most cases, he wants the court to re-sentence these men (Santa Clara has no women on death row) to serve life without parole. But in a few separate cases, already completed last year, he has requested that they be given the chance of freedom.

Why? An inherent racism in our justice system handed down from slavery to mass incarceration and capital punishment, he cites as a main reason.

“[W]e are not confident that these sentences were attained without racial bias,” his office wrote in a motion to courts expected to be filed in coming days in multiple cases. “We cannot defend these sentences, and we believe that implicit bias and structural racism played some role in the death sentence.”

For activists in the death penalty world, that’s an old argument. But coming from a mainstream prosecutor, it’s a mic drop.

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Rosen’s unprecedented move (he is the only prosecutor in California to have made such a blanket request, and the only one I could find nationwide) has gone largely unnoticed. But it represents a new battleground in the fight over the death penalty.

While many prosecutors around the state and the nation have stopped the use of the death penalty moving forward, Rosen is the first to look back and answer the question — with collective action — If it isn’t fair now, how could it have been fair then?

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Rosen’s move to undo what he sees as the ongoing injustice of past convictions puts pressure on other prosecutors to follow suit, especially those such as George Gascón who have made their reputation as reformers but who have failed to go as far. Gascón’s office said he has been examining death penalty sentencing on a case-by-case basis and 29 people have been re-sentenced out of more than 120 on death row convicted in L.A. But he is unlikely to ask for a group re-sentencing in an election year , with a solid conservative challenger.

“It doesn’t mean that I think things are as bad today as they were 50 years ago, I completely reject that idea,” Rosen told me. “But I also trusted that as a society, we could ensure the fundamental fairness of the legal process for all people. With every exoneration, with every story of racial injustice, it becomes clear to me that this is not the world we live in.”

Elisabeth Semel, director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley, calls Rosen’s move “highly significant” because it examines every case in his jurisdiction, and has the potential to convince others that it isn’t just single cases that require examination, but the death sentence as a whole — a position the Legislature’s Committee on Revision of the Penal Code recommended in 2021.

Currently, about 35% of those on death row are Black, despite Black people making up only about 7% of California’s population. An additional 26% of death row inmates are Hispanic or Mexican. Overall, nearly 70% of death row inmates are people of color.

Semel points out that it’s not just the race of the alleged perpetrator that can lead to the death penalty, but also the race of the victim and the attitudes of those in charge of the prosecution. Suspects accused of killing a white person, for example, are more likely to face the death penalty than those accused of killing a person of color.

“There is nothing, nothing that these cases have more in common than racial discrimination, whether we are talking about privileging white victims, meaning seeking the death penalty in white crime, or disadvantaging Black clients,” she said.

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The inherent unfairness of the death penalty, whether because of race or its finality, has been debated for years, often with soul-searching arguments that go beyond politics. Illinois Gov. George Ryan, a Republican, in 2003 issued a blanket commutation for all 167 inmates facing the death penalty in his state, citing worry that “the demon of error” was ever-present — one of the first and boldest actions by a prominent politician against the death penalty.

Former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, did the same in 2022, re-sentencing 17 death row prisoners to life without parole. Twenty-three states , including Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico, have abolished the death penalty.

But California politicians, and voters , have been less certain. Over the years, voters have decided to keep the death penalty when asked via ballot measures. Rosen has asked for it four times, and won capital punishment in one case — that of defendant Melvin Forte, convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering a young German tourist . Forte’s sentence is among those Rosen is seeking to change.

Newsom, despite his moratorium, hasn’t gone as far as Brown or Ryan. That leaves the death penalty in California largely in the hands of locally elected prosecutors such as Rosen who have virtually no political incentive to revisit past capital convictions.

I am not one to easily believe politicians, but when I asked Rosen why he was putting himself out front on a controversial issue, he told me it was because it was the right thing to do. Then he told me how he came to that conclusion, and it feels genuine because I experienced something similar myself.

Rosen’s views on the death penalty had been shifting since the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Shortly after, he put into place a series of prosecutorial reforms meant to address racial bias, including deciding not to seek the death penalty in future cases.

But it wasn’t until two trips to Montgomery, Ala. — once the capital of the Confederacy and now home to the Legacy Museum , which traces the history of slavery through mass incarceration of people of color — that the past took on relevance for him as a matter of contemporary justice.

How can a museum have such an impact? I went myself because I couldn’t quite imagine. A modern monument in what can only be described as a dismal city where the ghosts of millions of trafficked humans seem ever present, the museum lays out with astonishing clarity a history that is painful, but necessary to acknowledge.

Twelve million Black people kidnapped from their homes overseas and sold at American auctions.

Nine million Black Americans subjected to the domestic terror of Jim Crow-era violence that left justice in the hands of racist vigilantes. The museum documents the lynching of a 3-year-old girl, along with her 10-year-old sister — just two of dozens of children killed, often while law enforcement watched.

That violence forced many to move to the North and West to avoid murders, rapes and beatings. But even in those supposed safe havens, including California, 10 million Black Americans found that, just like in the South, they were segregated into lesser housing and lesser schools, and ultimately had lesser opportunity.

Banks wouldn’t lend, police used crimes such as jaywalking to arrest, schools failed to teach. And beyond that secretive repression, they were still not immune to the violence of the slave states — California may have lynched at least 350 people between 1850 and 1935.

That segregation and bias led to 8 million Black Americans systemically over-incarcerated though laws and policies that targeted people of color, and communities of color, turning vigilante justice into legal imprisonment.

At the Legacy Museum’s sister site, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the weight of that oppression and pain takes on literal significance. Rectangular steel markers, their shape like a coffin hanging from a limb, serve as monuments to 4,400 Black Americans lynched between 1877 and 1950.

The markers begin at eye level, but walking down from the hilltop site, they begin to hang over visitors, casting long, cold shadows.

It is impossible to pass beneath them and not feel their historical weight.

“I think that if more people went there, they would think a little differently about our country, and hopefully act a little differently also,” Rosen told me.

“I went there supporting the death penalty,” he said. “I left not so sure anymore.”

Though I was less certain about the death penalty before visiting Montgomery, I came away, like Rosen, with no doubts that its origin is dark and tainted.

Rosen said the realization that was most profound for him was how often supposedly illegal lynchings took place with the support of law enforcement — too often victims were handed over by deputies or killed on the courthouse steps.

“If not considered lawful exercises of state power, they weren’t unlawful,” Rosen pointed out. “Nobody was prosecuted for them.”

It was not until well into the 20th century that outcry over that semi-state sanctioned murder made it untenable even in the South. The answer to that outrage was to move the killing back inside the courthouse, with the use of the death penalty.

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Bryan Stevenson , the founder of the Legacy Museum and a death penalty lawyer, calls Rosen’s decision “remarkable” because it takes that true but sidelined history and turns it into mainstream policy.

“It says something about our ability to confront history honestly and to turn the page in a meaningful way,” Stevenson told me. “Some people may not understand it, some people may have issues with it. But the truth is that we can create a future that allows us to begin to experience something that feels more like freedom, more like equality and more like justice than we’ve ever experienced in this country.”

A devout Jew, Rosen said the museum and his own experiences as a prosecutor made him question if the death penalty can truly be separated from that foundation of lynchings — and if killing as punishment can ever be just or come from a place of moral authority regardless of race.

“It’s not like I open the Bible and the penal code and figure out what to do,” he said. “I think that in my lifetime, we will look back and say it was not right to execute people.”

Rosen’s office has reached out to all the victims in the cases he is examining. Some are relieved to have finality in the case, he said, knowing the death penalty is really just a never-ending appeal. Some would prefer to keep the death sentence regardless of whether it takes place or not.

Some have simply moved on after so many years and are open to his argument that there should be limits to human justice. Rosen tells them he wants his power, and ours, to end at deciding where people who commit the worst of the worst crimes die — in prison.

He makes no excuses for horrific crimes that led to the death sentences in his jurisdiction. A grandmother stabbed to death. A wife shot and rolled down a hill, still alive. A gas station attendant killed to prevent his testimony about a robbery.

But he points out that many of the crimes that led to the death penalty decades ago would not have garnered the same punishment today. Some of the perpetrators were convicted as teenagers, some were accessories to the crime at a time when laws made fewer distinctions. Many have been imprisoned for more than 30 years. Some had unfair trials.

One of those men is Willie Branner, a Black man who was convicted in 1982 by an all-white jury of shooting and killing jewelry store owner Edward Dukor during a robbery in Milpitas. The prosecutor in that case removed Black, Asian and Jewish jurors, including removing one female Black juror in part for being “overweight and poorly groomed.”

Recently, a federal court ruled that Branner was entitled to a new trial based on that less-than-impartial jury.

Now 74, Branner has been, as they say, a model prisoner. I messaged with him recently, and he told me he is relieved that his family no longer has to worry about him someday being executed. He dreams of possible freedom, opening a tailoring business and working to “help rebuild our society for the rest of my life, God willing.”

Branner does not know how his sentence will work out, only that it will not end with death. He is not claiming he is innocent, just that he has changed in the decades since the shooting, just as Rosen has changed since he first began prosecuting.

“It’s not that I think that the people on death row in my county have not committed horrible, terrible crimes. They have,” Rosen said.

There is no doubt, he believes, that decency and public safety demand people be held accountable for their harms.

Even when that means holding ourselves accountable for ours.

More to Read

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March 18, 2024

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Seeking redemption: A death row inmate’s journey into L.A. County’s largest psych ward

Dec. 13, 2023

Anita Chabria is a California columnist for the Los Angeles Times, based in Sacramento. Before joining The Times, she worked for the Sacramento Bee as a member of its statewide investigative team and previously covered criminal justice and City Hall.

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