TO: RULES AND OPEN FROM: Mayor Matt Mahan
GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Vice Mayor Pam Foley
Councilmember Carl Salas
Councilmember Peter Ortiz
Councilmember Domingo Candelas
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: 3/6/2025
Approved Date: 3/6/2025
SUBJECT: Honoring the Grateful Dead’s Start in San José
RECOMMENDATION
Direct Staff to:
1. Explore installing an artistically designed plaque, honoring the Grateful Dead’s first official performance on the San José City Hall campus.
2. Coordinate with community-based organization, San Jose Rocks, to privately fundraise for the creation and installation of an artistically designed plaque.
3. Report back in 30 days with the cost estimates for installation and final site verification.
4. Allow for a special event to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s first concert, which took place at 43 South Fifth Street; now the location of the Council chambers on the San José City Hall Campus.
BACKGROUND
San José is the only city in the world that can lay claim to the first ever Grateful Dead performance. The milestone event took place on December 4, 1965, inside a large residence at 43 South Fifth Street, the present-day location of the San José City Council chambers. The house remained on Fifth Street until 2002, when San José acquired the property to build a new downtown city hall. Preservationists helped save the historic building, which was moved a mile away to 635 St. James Street, where it still stands today. The exact site of the Grateful Dead show is now located roughly beneath the current city council chambers.
By honoring the Grateful Dead's authentic birthplace, San José can further recognize its unique role in popular music history. The city’s downtown core not only witnessed the birth of the Grateful Dead and RULES COMMITTEE: 3/12/2025
ITEM: C.2
the Doobie Brothers but also served as a hub for musicians who attended San José State University and performed in local venues, including the Smothers Brothers, Stevie Nicks (of Fleetwood Mac), and members of Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Moby Grape. The Grammy-winning Mexican-American band, Los Tigres del Norte, also formed in this area, underscoring San José's multicultural musical legacy.
Additionally, honoring this historic moment highlights San José’s prominent role in the history and development of the broader countercultural movements of the 1960s in the Bay Area, which profoundly influenced American mainstream culture, politics, media, and technology. The performance was organized by novelist and countercultural figure Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. The residence was known as the headquarters of the San José State chapter of the anti-war Students for a Democratic Society.
By December 2025, San Jose Rocks hopes to install an artistically designed Grateful Dead plaque on the City Hall campus that celebrates San José’s unique role in music history and give fans a dedicated site to recognize the band's legacy. City staff should collaborate with San Jose Rocks to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the band's first concert.
Proposed Grateful Dead Plaque Language (Initial Draft)
AT THIS SITE ON DECEMBER 4, 1965, THE GRATEFUL DEAD PLAYED THEIR FIRST SHOW.
THE PERFORMANCE TOOK PLACE INSIDE A LARGE RESIDENCE AT 43 SOUTH FIFTH STREET. COUNTERCULTURAL FIGURE KEN KESEY AND HIS "MERRY PRANKSTERS" ORGANIZED AN "ACID TEST" AT THE HOUSE AND HIRED A BAND FROM NEARBY PALO ALTO TO AUGMENT THE EXPERIENCE. JUST DAYS BEFORE, THE GROUP HAD DECIDED TO NAME ITSELF THE “GRATEFUL DEAD." THE BAND WENT ON TO BECOME ICONIC ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAMERS. WHEN SAN JOSE’S NEW CITY HALL WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 2002, THE HOUSE WAS MOVED TO 635 ST. JAMES STREET. THE EXACT
SITE OF THE GRATEFUL DEAD PERFORMANCE SITS ROUGHLY UNDER THE CURRENT
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.