Berryessa, San Jose Berryessa, San Jose The Berryessa District or North Valley in the North San Jose region of San Jose, California is located in the northeast portion of the city, between Coyote Creek and the Diablo Range foothills. The name comes from a member of the prominent Basque–Spanish Berreyesa family: Nicolas Berreyesa, a Californio settler who was granted Rancho Milpitas in 1834. The name North Valley is sometimes used by locals to refer to Berryessa. Informal use of the term sometimes also includes parts of Milpitas and Alviso to mean the northern portion of the Santa Clara Valley. In the late 19th
Almaden Valley, San Jose Almaden Valley, San Jose Almaden Valley, or simply Almaden is a valley and primarily upper middle class residential neighborhood of San Jose, California, in South San Jose. It is named after the New Almaden Quicksilver Mines, which were named after the mercury mine in (old) Almadén, Spain, and produced mercury that was used to process ore during the Gold Rush. Like its Spanish namesake, California's Almaden had a number of quicksilver mines. The mercury was used during gold extraction in the California Gold Rush, but the mines were closed in 1975 and have been converted into Almaden Quicksilver County Park.