{"id":129,"date":"2026-05-21T18:09:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=129"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:09:27","slug":"this-is-the-creepiest-strip-mall-in-san-jose-according-to-backrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=129","title":{"rendered":"This is the creepiest strip mall in San Jose, according to \u2018Backrooms\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Not only does the new horror movie \u201cBackrooms\u201d place the nexus of suburban dread in San Jose, it identifies the exact intersection.<\/p>\n

Read more Northern California\u2019s largest anime convention coming to Bay Area<\/a><\/p>\n

Opening May 29, the movie draws on the canon that director Kane Parsons created in his YouTube series set in huge and disquieting empty rooms, which in turn was inspired by a photo of a former furniture store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

In the movie, the titular rooms are reached through a mysterious door in the furniture store Cap\u2019n Clark\u2019s Ottoman Empire, which is said to be at Capitol Avenue and McKee Road in San Jose.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unlikely that the neighborhood is a hangout for Parsons; his Bay Area stomping ground is a couple hours away. Now 20 years old, he attended Marin School of the Arts, on the Novato High School campus, and his videos show recognizable North Bay sites.<\/p>\n

But the sinister tech elements of \u201cBackrooms\u201d made Silicon Valley the natural choice for the movie\u2019s setting, and a perpetually going-out-of-business furniture store would not be out of place at the real-world Capitol & McKee, an area of strip malls and discount stores.<\/p>\n

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The corner is the site of the Capitol Square shopping center \u2014 tenants include Ross, Marshalls and Cardenas market \u2014 and a more downscale mall across the street with Grocery Outlet, Dollar Tree and a space that used to house a Fallas Discount Store.<\/p>\n

In the movie, Coquitlam \u2014 a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia \u2014 stands in for San Jose. The building used for Cap\u2019n Clark\u2019s exterior is a defunct furniture liquidator.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s promotion has given Cap\u2019n Clark\u2019s a real phone number for its fax machine: (408) 357-2875. Fans who tested it have reported receiving a fax-back flyer for Cap\u2019n Clark\u2019s or for South Bay Bulletin Board, another \u201cBackrooms\u201d invention.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Film distributor A24 is selling a Cap\u2019n Clark\u2019s T-shirt ($40) that affirms the San Jose cred, with the 408 number and \u201cSanta Clara Valley, CA\u201d prominently displayed. Locals might quibble with the description of the store as \u201cright off State Route 680.\u201d That freeway is not a state highway but part of the interstate system.<\/p>\n

Read more Dogs sent from Oakland to rescue shelter were killed \u2014 some after being reported adopted<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not only does the new horror movie place the nexus of suburban dread in San Jose, it identifies the exact intersection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"\nThis is the creepiest strip mall in San Jose, according to \u2018Backrooms\u2019 - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=129\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This is the creepiest strip mall in San Jose, according to \u2018Backrooms\u2019 - 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