Second & San Carlos Parking Garage

I reviewed the wrong place, but this garage seems great!

I had a most unfortunate experience the other night with this parking garage. I lost my ticket while walking back from the restaurant I had been dining at for the evening. I did have my validation, however, and proceeded to the person who was working. I was informed that I would have to pay $ 5. This makes no sense. If I have validation, and I just lost the ticket between here and the restaurant, why would you charge me?
This isn’t the first issue I’ve had here, either. I once parked here during an event, and they had no signs at the time I parked. When we were leaving, again with validation, we were informed that during events, validation doesn’t. count? Ummmmmm. What? That’s not only ridiculous, it’s complete bullshit. if that is the case, it needs to be clearly marked before hand.
The worst part has to be that the employees never give a flying fuck. They don’t care if they alienate you as a customer for the rest of time. They don’t care what your story is. They just want their $ 5. It’s ridiculous. Never Again, guys. This was your last chance to give customer service. You really blew it.
The good news is, I don’t live in San Jose. I don’t ever need to go back to downtown EVER AGAIN. So I won’t. Single Barrel is gone, so what’s the point? Good bye San Jose. I can’t say I’ll miss your bull shit.

I parked at this garage many times. It’s a convenient parking garage in downtown, but there’s a few other parking garages too. Nothing amazing, but parking rates can be $$$$ if you do not get your ticket validated at one of the stores, restaurants, or whatever in downtown. Just take note of the parking rates ($ 1 per 20 mins on weekdays and $ 5 flat rate on weeknights and weekends etc)! Make sure you hold onto your ticket! Don’t lose it! Be sure to pay your ticket at the machine before you head back to your car. The machine accepts cash or credit, so it’s convenient for those people who never carry coins or cash! Anyways, I usually park here cause I’m too annoyed with driving around downtown looking for side street/​metered parking, and if I park in the garage I do not have to worry about running back to the meter to put in more coins! So just park in the garage if you hate downtown parking :) Um just a note, the stairs in this garage is stinky and usually full of trash. Also, just be careful when parking and walking in this garage! Probably not the safest location. Lol.

The City of San Jose’s parking validation program is awesome. Park in a City of San Jose garage and take advantage of two FREE hours during weekdays and FREE parking evenings and on weekends. Check out the City’s website for a list of participating businesses:
Here’s how it works. Take the parking entry ticket from the dispenser and keep it with you. Show the parking entry ticket to the participating business and they will give you a rose-​colored validation coupon to be used in conjunction with your parking entry ticket or the business will validate your parking entry ticket using a validation machine. When you return to the garage, insert the parking entry ticket into the yellow automated payment cashier machine in the entry area. The machine will ask you to pay a balance or insert a validation coupon before returning the ticket.
WITH validation at Market and San Pedro, Second and San Carlos, Third Street, and Fourth Street garages:
– Weekdays until 6 pm: Two hours of FREE parking
– Evenings after 6 pm: Parking is FREE until 6 am the next day
– Weekends: Parking is FREE from 6 am Saturday or Sunday until 6 am the next day

I had to deal with a confrontational parking attendant at this location. The parking was unattended and I left the $ 10 in the box. Then a guy calls me from the other side of the street, wearing no badge or tag, and asks me where I’ve parked. I ask him if he can show me anything identifying him as a worker in that parking. He got vexed and antagonistic, told me that «he had nothing to show me for no ten dollars».

This garage is memorable to me.
In my draft line I had one word, «Bikers.» And here, while I’ve used it several times since I still remember exactly the instance that word describes.
Two bikers came in under one ticket and were not allowed to leave under one ticket. The manager threw a fit and spent 5 minutes arguing with them, but thankfully we left before any possible shenanigans ensued.
I enjoy using this garage because it’s local, easy to get to, and generally the people watching? Superb: D

Excellent location. Short walk from Tech Museum, Plaza De Cesar Chavez, south market St, and all the popular cafes and restaurants around. Get parking validated at the Tech Museum (parking will be $ 5 or less for up to 24 hours) or some of the other places in downtown (
) — TWO hours of free parking on weekdays up to 6pm.

good enough… cant really expect them to do better in the middle of downtown san jose…

#82. Honestly, the only good thing about this garage is the location. It’s a short walk to Market, right across from SJSU, and surrounded by a number of good eats. But if I’m not in a rush, I try to find parking elsewhere. Why?
— Small parking spaces. I drive a compact car, so it’s not a big deal. But I don’t know how the larger vehicles manage. Some of those spaces need a little TLC. Couldn’t park in a space because the wheel stop was broken and scattered. There goes a good spot.
— Layout. The garage in general is small, which isn’t a problem, but it can get confusing with the setup of the floors and ramps. One time, it took me ten minutes to find my car, even though I clearly remembered parking on the third floor.
— Service. You probably won’t have to go to them, but I have to get my ticket validated with them every time through a parking program. And some of the parking attendants here… let’s just say that I have encountered much happier people at other places.
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My 2¢:
— This place is a good deal for students who go to SJSU. ~$ 160 semester is not bad for downtown parking.

I always park here when I come to downtown. It’s an easy walk back from most places, Cesar Chavez Plaza, Camera 12, California Theatre, San Jose Rep and other large venues.
This garage is your basic parking garage with multiple levels and accessible stairs and elevators. The stairs surprisingly didn’t smell like pee! (It did the last few times I dropped by for Fanime…) You pay for parking downstairs before you leave and there’s usually an attendant to help you with anything.
I just got back from watching a Cinequest (woo film fest) movie at the California Theatre and they gave out validation so I didn’t have to pay that $ 5 flat rate for parking after 6pm. Most big venues like Camera 12 will give you validation for a few hours so it’s actually not that bad. The attendant there was friendly enough to show my friend how to put in the validation ticket into the machine since he didn’t have a clue how it worked.
2^nd and San Carlos isn’t the best parking garage ever but for the easy access, the nice attendant and the pee-​less stairs, I’ll give it the BOTD.

I think overnight parking ranges between $ 15-​$ 20+ a night however, the nice gentleman charged me only $ 10. It was on the early morning of Martin Luther King’s holiday; I woke up early per usual to get up for work. We were staying at The Fairmont so after I got everything cleaned, put away, thrown, and packed, I noticed the 3 guys (boyfriend, his brother, and our monster) still asleep so I went downstairs w/​my luggage and everything to get my car to The Fairmont.
A luggage, a backpack, and a car seat was definitely not an easy task for me to juggle and carry but I managed. When I finally packed everything in the car, I made my way to the exit so I can pay. The guy asked if I am Filipina, I told him I wasn’t. I get that a lot… nobody ever guess that I am Vietnamese! Anyhow. The guy was doing his thing to transact me whilst I pulled out my cash, $ 20 I was thinking but when he said, «Just $ 10», I was delighted and thankful for the discount and bid him a good day. What a great way to start Monday morning!
Cash or checks only.
P. S. The «extra» cash intended for this was used for my breakfast. Yay!

We pulled into the parking garage in the morning. It was quite easy to pick up one of their tickets and find a parking spot. At the end of the day we came back and used
their automated machine to pay for parking. Luckily we had a parking voucher from eating at Original Joe’s that gave us a great discount. The original cost was $ 5 for parking and with the voucher, it was free. The machine was easy to use and accepted credit cards although we didn’t have to pay.

SJSU Parking Permit for this garage $ 160
Be warned. You need to jump through some hoops to get this.
Necessary items:
1) $ 160 cash or credit
2) $ 10 CASH for activation fee
3) a COPY of your student ID (They won’t copy it for you)
4) a copy of your schedule from MySJSU WITH UNITS VISIBLE (they are picky about that too)
I find that a little excessive but It is cheaper and less of a headache to park there than at the school.

After 6pm = $ 4. Not bad at all. Arrive before 6, pay the flat fee plus a small amount for arriving early (normal fares). There were lots of empty spaces and it’s a central location. Good show, parking garage…

I think this garage was designed for Mini Cooper’s only!
The spaces are so small and tight, which are qualities I look for in women, not parking spaces!
The whole place has a strange layout to it, your constantly driving up and down small hills, the elevator is really old, with sticky floors, and the stairwell smells like urine…
Nothing like the smell of pee to get you in a good mood!
It used to be free to park here after 6, which made it worth while to suffer through all that crap, but since you have to pay for it now… its not quite a good value.
The location is nice, if your destination is nearby, but there are other parking lots around the area that way better than this garage.

Damn it, it used to be that after 6pm the lots were free. Now they’re charging. This lot wasn’t great to start with and it seems easiest to just go to the top where you dont have to deal with how cramped the spots are.

the spaces are sooooo small :(my giant volvo needs room to breathe while i’m at yoga (i only use this garage when i attend yoga class at soula across from bally’s).
i like the little machine that takes my ticket and validation card. i find that the less human interaction in a parking garage the better.
the elevator is undergoing some kind of repair that is lasting about a decade so be prepared to use the stairs. not sure how long this will last but its been out of service for the past month :(
i can’t comment on price since i always get validated parking :) 2 stars for the small spaces, broken elevator and annoying layout.

$ 15 dollars for a lost ticket. I know its my fault, but man… what a rip off for this dingy garage

Only half the parking spaces are decent. One side of the garage slants. So if you don’t want your car to get hit, stay on the side with the flat surface. Also, the elevators are kind of busted, so just take the stairs.

$ 3 for parking?
They better pay for my car insurance.
…$ 3 for parking???
They better get me a complimentary Camera 3 movie ticket.
…$ 3 FOR LETTING ME PARK MY CAR IN SPACES TIGHTER THAN A NUN’S V****A!!!
There better be a huge black dude standing next to my car for security!
…I’m just saying.