CSJ: Convention Center Parking

On a Saturday night in December, with «Christmas in the Park» in full swing, concerts and plays galore, this parking garage was closed to the public due to «private party parking». It’s dead to me now. I ended up at the «Standard Parking» lot at 1 Almaden Blvd, which was only a couple of blocks away from the theater and only $ 15 (instead of $ 20 at the Convention Center). At 1 Almaden, I was greeted by a very friendly attendant who explained the ins and outs of the lot and took my money up front. No waiting in a line to pay after an event like at the Convention Center parking. 1 Almaden is my new downtown parking spot.

Avoid this garage! It looks nice, conveniently located, clean, looks too good to be true because it is. I regret not having read the reviews before. «Traumatic», «Nightmare», «Horrible» — pervious reviews describe my experience perfect, with the addition of «Expensive». I waited in line to paid $ 13 for 4 hours, then sat in gridlock for 20 minutes trying to exit. By the time I reached the gate I could not leave because I had overstayed and was required to pay $ 2 more. I wasted another 5 minutes trying to get out, all the while adding to the logjam and frustration of the drivers behind me. City of San Jose — you are so missing an huge opportunity here.

Have you ever had one of those nightmares where you’re stuck in a maze and you simply cannot get out no matter which turn you take? Imagine that and then multiply it by about 50 and you get this parking garage. Narrow spaces galore. Huge poles everywhere. Tight corners at… every turn. Add to the mix confusing signage, broken payment stations and general sense of panic and your nightmare parking experience will be complete in this garage. Two years in a row, my friend and I have utilized this garage while attending the Fit Expo and while neither one of us thought last year could be topped, it somehow happened this year. Stuck between two oversized SUVs parked in compact car spaces! We thought we were fine until the «whoops» moment hit us and panic set in. Thankfully with a little team work, we were able maneuver our way out of that spot unscathed though not un-​traumatized. The search continued with more disappointment as we encountered countless trucks hogging up 1.5 spaces, spaces so tiny even a squirrel riding in a wagon couldn’t fit into them and more of those huge round poles that would have even The Stig feeling a little nervous. By the time we finally did secure a space (a mere 30 minutes later) it was another team effort and a lingering thought of «hmmm, I wonder if the car next to us can even open their door now?»
My words of advice? To the person in charge: add more spaces labeled «big giant truck» and ditch the thousands of «compact car» spaces. FIX YOUR BROKEN PAYMENT STATIONS and have them more visibly labeled. To the general public considering parking here: avoid if possible as there are plenty of other garages and open lots nearby. It’s not worth the mental fatigue, stress, anger and general frustration of trying to park here. I doubt that my friend and I will be back for round 3 next year.

This garage is a winner… of the most traumatic parking experience of all time.
Let’s play a game of never have I ever.
Never have I ever had such a traumatic parking experience as at this lot. I attended the SJ Fit Expo two years in a row, having already had a memorably difficult time parking the first year.
Never have I ever seen a garage like this with compact spaces, obnoxious parkers, and unworking ticket machines so memorable that we actually could give a minute by minute replay of parking events. And, we thought we couldn’t top last year. Oh boy, were we wrong.
The debacle:
–Add in way too many «compact» spots, tiny parking spaces, awkward angles, spots next to poles, and obnoxious drivers, and you have the perfect recipe for a parking disaster
–Huge trucks that take up two spots or decide to park in compact spots anyway
–Unworking ticket machines so you can never pay
All of this leads to — desperation which propelled me to try to fit into a spot between two huge SUVs which I would never usually choose to attempt. The next thing to happen is a long (literally 30 minute) process of trying to back out of a spot I half parked in. Never have I ever been so close to hitting another car that one of us had to get out of the car and put our hand in between to make sure my mirror didn’t fall off.
I’ll still have PTSD if I attempt this garage again next year. Not to mention by the time we got to the expo, I felt like I had done a workout.
So never will I ever park here again. The end. *drops the mic*

I have heard stories of people cheating around the system to avoid parking lot fees, just that this time, the system cheated me here, for which I had to pay 21 times MORE the parking fee.
So, I enter the parking lot and planned to leave in almost 7 – 8 mins, we all know the deal that we have to pay for the parking at the pay station with the ticket you receive. This time, the pay station took my ticket, my credit card, charged it $ 1 for my total spent time, gave me a receipt and then DID NOT throw out the parking ticket! One cannot leave a parking lot without a parking ticket. After getting some technical assistance and talking to the manager, the only solution they left me with was to say you lost ticket and pay $ 20 for it. Insane! I had the receipt but that does not help.
Not sure how may times people have experienced this, but the next time I go in, I might make big fuss out of it, if it does not give me the ticket.

We accidentally parked here trying to go the the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. Long story short, we were told the Tech museum WAS the Children’s discovery museum. So when reading that parking is a flat $ 5 when validated at the Tech museum, of course we parked here.
Unfortunately the same isn’t true about the Children’s discovery museum. They do not validate parking here. So instead we paid $ 4/​hr for 2 hours of parking. Since I’m from SF these rates don’t seem bad to me at all. But there are a lot of lots in this area, so depending on where you’re going, do your research before deciding to park here.

I accidentally drove into this parking lot during graduation season, Parking spots are absolutely horrible. EVERY SINGLE spot is compact. It’s even worse than regular «compact» parking spots. My Prius could barely fit in the lines.
After finally finding a parking spot, some jerk parked extremely close to my car so I had to climb in through the passenger side…
Parking is more than the other parking lots in DTSJ. Avoid if you can. FYI SJMA does not validate.

Night rate not as advertized — web site claims $ 3 flat rate, reality is $ 3 per hour. Automated system, so no appeals on the price. Lots of spaces and nice traffic light at the Almaden entrance. If full rate ²⁴⁄₇ is OK then go here, otherwise almost every other lot close by is cheaper.

Worked fine for me. The first level seemed to be valet-​only, but there was plenty of space on the second level.
The price was $ ¹⁄₂₀ minutes. It sounds like there’s no grace period, so if you enter, you pay a minimum fee. But honestly, if you can’t afford the 50 cents or a dollar… And don’t even talk to me about parking prices in SF.
The garage itself is HUGE; maybe that’s why other reviewers have gotten lost in it? You can enter from either Almaden or Market and drive straight through to the other side. It’s not exactly a maze, rather just a concrete football field with posts every 20 feet.

Normally I park in the lot above the Camera 3. If I had gone there it would have been free since it was Sunday afternoon. But I have a new Nissan Leaf (100% electric, 0% gas), and wanted to try out the charging stations (they have two).
But both spots were occupied by regular gas cars that could not get any benefit from the chargers, and keeping me from using them. The signs do not prohibit non-​EVs from parking there so far as I could tell, so the car owners were not technically doing anything wrong. But the garage owners should change that. Unless I hear it has changed, I won’t go back.
I didn’t have time to change lots once I had gotten there, so they got $ 4.50 from me. When I left one of the spots was open, and the other was blocked by a different car than was there earlier.

The parking garage itself while nothing to write home about is not too bad (other than being overpriced — but what isn’t downtown?) No, my review is for the very rude man who works in the Cashier Stand near the Market Street exit.
After a very relaxing yoga class at Downtown Yoga Shala I returned to the parking garage with my two hour time validation sticker. I went to the booth to have the validation applied to my ticket and was met with a moron who I had to spend ten minutes arguing with on whether or not the sticker was real — and if real, if it was valid, and if valid, if it really applied for the time stated and if it applied for the time stated if I had really only been in the parking garage for less than two hours (hello, check the ticket!) and if I had actually gotten the validation today!
What is the point of getting validation at the Local Businesses down town if the parking attendants do not want to honor it? Seriously, FOR SHAME!
Overall, the parking lot may be convenient but it is SO not worth the hassle of dealing with the attendant on a power trip.

This place is scary if you are by yourself. There is an endless maze where everything looks the same and there is no real clear signage for how to get around. At the bottom level (LL) there is no indication of having to go to the second level to pay… The directory is not very clear… UGH. I paid five bucks for 2 hours which was meh… Deb N’s review should be posted because her directions of how to get to your destinations are a million times clearer than the parking lot. ARGH.

Like most convention center parking, it’s convenient to the venue but since they mostly have a captive audience, they also put on the big time price gouge. Plenty of decent parking around the area if you dont mind walking

I had a good experience with this parking lot. $ 5 validated parking for the SJ Tech museum, 1 block away.
Enter on the Market side, drove to the second floor, parked in the S13 section near the entrance to the SJ Convention Center. Take your ticket with you for the SJ Tech museum to validate at their information desk.
Go through the yellow doors to SJ convention Center, make a right and enter the Marriot Hotel, exit the Marriot Hotel Lobby on the Market Street side, cross San Carlos street, pass the Montgomery theater and you are at the SJ Tech museum.
When you get back to the parking lot, insert your validated tix and pay your $ 5 either cash or credit card. Take your tix stub, drive to the exit and insert it into the machine to let you exit. There is a attendant at the exit if you need help.
Regular rate is $ 3 an hour, $ 3 after 6pm.

We decided not to park in the garage and immediately exited after entering. We were in there for a total of 2 minutes and 8 seconds. Our time would have been less if the parking lot wasn’t such a maze and the pay machines weren’t so darn hard to find. We were charged $ 0.50! For TWO minutes! Really! Where can you go in 2 minutes? It’d take at least that long just to walk out of the parking lot! And the machine wouldn’t take cash! Now, I know $ 0.50 isn’t a lot of money, but it’s the principle that matters and if that happens to me 20 times, I’d be out $ 10 bucks.
The website says that parking is $ 2.00 after 6PM on weekends. I have to admit this is cheaper than other lots, but you can park for free at the meters after 6PM.