The five-acre lot in Japantown seems as flat and innocuous as can be. Yet historians and neighbors haven't been so palpably excited about a construction site in two decades.
Or, more accurately, about what lies beneath it: Heinlenville. It was San Jose's last Chinatown.
Starting on Tuesday, historians, archaeologists and two community members will spend 10 days digging on the block bounded by Jackson, Sixth, Taylor and Seventh streets. Their hope? To find a trove of post-1887 artifacts from the lost community that provided a rare sanctuary amid the anti-Chinese hostility gripping California.
UPDATE: More here.