Public Street Lighting in San Jose

You may notice when you arrive in San Jose that all of San Jose's public street lighting is yellow. The city was one of the first in the country to convert its lights to energy-efficient, low pressure sodium lamps to save electricity as well as reduce light pollution, which interfered with the nearby Lick Observatory's views of the night sky. In return for the favor, the Lick Observatory christened a newly discovered asteroid 6216 San Jose.