The major draw along S. Congress Avenue is Hotel San Jose, a remake of one of the once thriving automobile tourist courts that catered to visitors approaching the city from the south. The San Jose reinvented the
tourist hotel into a trendy modern lodging facility. The minimalist approach to refurbishing and furnishing the rooms contrasts with well-designed landscaping that converted the parking lot into patios, pool, and private gardens, yet retaining the low-scaled, modestly built tourist-court rooms that once populated the fringes of urban areas along highways prior to the interstate system.