By Khalida Sarwari
The San Jose City Council this afternoon will vote on whether to designate a restaurant building a historic landmark in the city’s Japantown district.
The Historic Landmarks Commission recommended the designation of the Ken Ying Low building at 625 N. Sixth St. as Historic Landmark No. 180. The city’s Japantown, located just north of the city center, evolved from one of San Jose’s six Chinatown settlements in the late 19th century.
The commission believes the building contributes to the city’s Japantown historic district because it dates to a time when Japanese immigrants who came to Santa Clara County for agricultural work were establishing a community in San Jose, according to the commission.
The building is also reminiscent of the interconnectedness of Japanese and Chinese Americans who settled in close proximity to each other for security and tolerance, the commission said.
If approved by the council, the Ken Ying Low building would be eligible for a property tax reduction and be exempted from a construction and building tax for future improvements. It would also give property owner Natalia Davidenko a tax break for renovating the building.
The Ken Ying Low restaurant building was built as a Japanese boarding house in 1887, but it has since undergone numerous alterations. The area in which the rectangular, two-story building is located became known as the city’s Chinatown, also known as Heinlenville. In 1915, a Chinese man purchased the building as the new site for the Ken Ying Low restaurant.
When the area was razed in the 1930s, Ken Ying Low was one of the few Chinese establishments that survived, according to the city landmarks report.