A six-mile stretch of San Jose streets on Oct. 11 will be temporarily converted into a car-free thoroughfare for residents to explore neighborhoods on foot, bicycle or skateboard.

Hosted by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, the inaugural event is being called Viva CalleSJ.

It’s the largest open street event to ever happen in Silicon Valley, according to bicycle coalition outreach manager Carlos Velazquez. San Jose Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services will run the event with the coalition’s support.

The Knight Foundation, which funds art and community events in cities across the country, awarded a $200,000 grant to pay for Viva CalleSJ.

The route will stretch from St. James Park in downtown through Market Street/First Street, along the Calle Willow Business District and then east along Keyes/Story Road to Emma Prusch Park. Vehicles will be prohibited during the 10 a.m.-3 p.m. event.

Completing the entire route is not required, though it is encouraged.

One goal of Viva CalleSJ is to motivate residents to explore areas often overlooked or avoided because of a bad reputation and to encourage residents from different neighborhoods to interact.

“The main thing I believe all of us want is to be able to explore … the rich neighborhoods of San Jose,” Velazquez said. “It’s a big, sprawling city, and some people never really explore the city. They may never go to the east side of San Jose, and maybe they have unfortunate stereotypes about that neighborhood.”

Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services Superintendent Ed Solis said residents will discover a plethora of hidden gems and see firsthand the dazzling diversity that San Jose has to offer, from Spanish-speaking neighborhoods that he compared to San Francisco’s Mission District to Little Saigon, the largest Vietnamese community outside Vietnam.

“That’s what this does: breaks down social barriers,” Solis said. “We took a look at cultural boundaries in San Jose. … If you look all around San Jose, there are great communities, from Almaden to Willow Glen to Japantown.”

Another reason San Jose is investing its resources into Viva CalleSJ is because the event ties in with its initiative to become one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country and encourage alternative modes of transportation, Velazquez said. Since working for the bicycle coalition, he has started biking to work. And that has opened his eyes to the community in new ways.

“I discover restaurants, cafes, stores, little nuances about neighborhoods that I’d never noticed before, so I see things that I would never have noticed if I was in a car,” Velazquez said. “I get to experience the city in a way that I never did before.”

Julia Baum can be reached at jbaum@community-newspapers.com.