Legacies collide at Santa Clara and Fifth
Almost improbably, the turf underneath San Jose’s City Hall near Fifth and Santa Clara streets suddenly has emerged as a battleground of history. It does not need to be so. On this plaza, there is room enough for different memories.
Let me explain: On Friday, the fans of the Grateful Dead are honoring the 50th anniversary of the band’s first performance as the Dead in a so-called “Acid Test” in a Victorian home at 43 S. Fifth St., about where the council chamber is now. History buffs and Deadheads are interested in putting up a plaque to honor that performance, which helped shaped the course of psychedelic rock and became the focal point of several histories.
The Victorian has been moved to a site at 635 St. James St., eight blocks away, but the band’s advocates would like to see a memorial or plaque on the south side of City Hall, near where Fifth Street deadends into the plaza.
Ordinarily, this should not be a problem. But the corner of Fifth and Santa Clara is a place of tragedy for San Jose police. It’s where two San Jose officers, Gene Simpson and Gordon Silva, were slain in a shootout in 1989.
Now there are plans afoot to erect a memorial for fallen police officers, possibly on the City Hall plaza. And the proponents of that idea question the plaque for the Grateful Dead. To them, it clashes with a solemnity of the place. Though LSD was legal at the time of the Acid Test, it clashes with law enforcement culture.
A December night
On the night of Dec. 4, 1965 — after the Rolling Stones performed at the Civic Auditorium — the Dead, previously known as the Warlocks, combined with Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters for the LSD-influenced show on Fifth Street. Historians say it shaped how the band related to its fans for 30 years, setting the template for the Dead’s brand of rock.
In former Stone Bill Wyman’s autobiography, he writes that band members Keith Richards and Brian
Jones stopped by the party.
Twenty-three years and change later, a tragedy unfolded outside Winchell’s Donuts, a half-block to the north. A mentally unstable man seized Simpson’s gun and shot him. In the ensuing shootout, Silva was fatally wounded.
You can understand that this is a sensitive place for police, particularly given that they often feel under siege for how they do their jobs now.
In fact, there are already two small plaques in the ground to mark where Simpson and Silva fell — one near the fountain at City Hall plaza, and the second across the street. The plan is for something more elaborate to honor all 12 slain officers in department history, including — most recently — Michael Johnson.
“If the police memorial is at City Hall, I don’t think it would necessarily be appropriate for a row of Hollywood stars surrounding it,” says POA Vice President James Gonzales.
The advocates for a plaque for the Dead, who include public relations consultant Dan Orloff and Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy, say there’s enough room at City Hall to remember both events.
I think they’re right. A plaque for the Dead won’t detract from the memorial for the cops. It will serve to show just how rich — and complicated — our history is.