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San Jose, California (U.S.)

Santa Clara County

3:5 image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright.

Current Flag
City Hall Flag
Former flag
The seal

See also:

Current Flag

Text and image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) from American City Flags by permission of David B. Martucci.

Design

The flag of San José is a horizontal tribar of gold, white, and blue stripes in proportions of 1:4:1. Centered on the white stripe is the city seal, one unit in diameter on a field of 3 by 5 units. The seal is encircled by a black-edged gold band, the outer edge of which is bordered by a narrow gold stripe, which in turn is bordered by a slightly wider black stripe. On the top half of the gold band in black block letters, clockwise, runs CITY OF SAN JOSE. Centered on the lower portion of the band is CALIFORNIA, in the same letters. Separating the two legends on either side is a small black six-pointed star. The field of the seal is white. In its center is a shock of wheat, with a bunch of purple grapes on either side curved along the seal’s inner edge, their stems joined in a gold bow below the wheat. Centered below the seal, and attached to it, is a small gold cartouche-shaped oval bearing the legend FOUNDED 1777. The seal was adopted officially on 9 September 1850.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Symbolism

The grapes and wheat sheaf indicate the area’s main agricultural products in the mid-19th century.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Selection

The flag was developed by the rules committee and the Historic Landmarks Commission of San José, beginning in August 1968, at the request of the city council.
Flag adopted: 5 June 1984 (official).
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Designer

Unknown.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

More about the Flag

The city’s name is written with an accent on the letter “e” of “José”, a convention that is frequently ignored. In any case, capital letters in Spanish are normally not accented unless the accent is needed for clarity.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

City Hall Flag

The city of San Jose in Santa Clara County, California, USA, has a flag for the building for city hall. There are four poles outside the building and they fly the US flag, the California flag, the City of San Jose flag and a flag for city hall. It is a white rectangle with what looks like an outline of the building profile and the words "San Jose City Hall" on it.
Picture: www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=c25a4cc4-e72e-4b5b-8a2d-d33cb6554c09
San Jose flag flying directions: www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/cp_manual/CPM_2_1.pdf
Michael P. Smuda, 30 October 2010

I don't think that this flag is "acting" as a building flag, but as a departmental flag. In some cities in USA, the "City Hall" is one of the city departments, consisting of a city clerk, assistant and receptionist.
Valentin Poposki, 31 October 2010

Former flags

The City of San Jose, California has had a variety of flags. The current flag is only the most recent variant in a long evolution of flags, most of which were flown, but never officially adopted. The adoption was often ex-officio by the mayor, as in the case of a plain white flag with the city's seal which was used for a number of years in the 1950s and 1960s. A temporary commemorative flag, as in the case of the 1976 bicentennial flag designed by a policeman and intended to be flown for a year, but instead was used for at least a decade because no one told the purchasing department. Or just a variant as ordered by the cities purchasing department, such as the current design, in which the wreath of grapes around the seal has been eliminated.
Jim Ferrigan, 23 November 2002

image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright.

The first flag of San José was designed by Clyde Arbuckle, the city historian, who worked with the historic
landmarks commission. The flag has a white field bordered with three stripes, one inside the other. From the outside edge, they are white, gold, and blue, the last two colors being those of California. The city seal, without the lettering around the seal or the cartouche below it, is in the center of the field. Above the seal, SAN JOSÉ, CALIFORNIA runs horizontally; below the seal is FOUNDED 1777, all in large black letters. The flag's proportions are 3 by 4.5. It was officially adopted 2 June 1969.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags, Raven 9-10, 2002-2003

Seal

image located by Paul Bassinson, 30 May 2019

Source: https://cdn.firespring.com