THE FEDERAL REALITY Investment Trust knew what it was doing when it designed Santana Row in San Jose. The posh city within a city, which sprang to life late in 2002, turned out to be just what many Silicon Valley types were looking for: a grand-scale European promenade where the rich and beautiful could live, stroll, devour sushi, or shop for $500 sweaters. In the same way that Las Vegas is a manufactured adult Disneyland plopped down in the middle of a desert, Santana Row is a contrived urban epicenter plopped down in the suburban sprawl of Silicon Valley. It is the Las Vegas of San Jose.

Situated on a 40-acre plot at the corner of Stevens Creek and Winchester Boulevards, Santana Row is turning into one of San Jose's most successful commercial endeavors in its 226-year history. FRIT did away with the plot's former inhabitant – a one-story, dilapidated shopping center called Town and Country Village – and went for a trilevel urban oasis with upscale dwellings, high-end retail, and gourmet eateries.

To understand how surreal Santana Row is, look across Winchester at a microcosm of what San Jose has to offer in the way of commerce and culture: the Winchester Mystery House, an ancient theater complex, and a locally owned coffee shop. Now turn around and gaze on Santana Row. It looks like it dropped from the sky, and spending time there is a bit like being transported into another dimension: an artificial, aristocratic, Disneyland escape from the bedroom communities that dominate the local landscape. We're not in San Jose anymore, Toto.

Above the ground-level shops are two stories of luxury lofts and apartments; elegant French balconies overlook the strip. Combining old European architecture with the cookie-cutter approach to many planned communities, the lofts' colorful façades exemplify quintessential Vegas artificiality. Down on the streets, there's plenty to keep a curious visitor occupied. Foodwise, Straits Cafe (333 Santana Row, Ste. 1100, San Jose. 408-246-6320) is jammed on Friday and Saturday nights. Hipsters rub elbows over eclectic pan-Asian fare, while smoky jazz acts occupy one corner of the café. Those in search of a quiet, intimate dining experience, keep walking. The thunderous roar of the place can be deafening at times. From Straits, it's only a short stroll through the oak trees on the brick-lined central promenade to Yankee Pier (378 Santana Row, Ste. 1100, San Jose. 408-244-1244). Chef Bradley Ogden's first adventure in Silicon Valley, Yankee Pier is fashioned after a New England seafood house, and so, naturally, there's a 10-foot-tall lighthouse in the middle of the bar.

If you're still game, continue your leisurely stroll down the row for some gallery-hopping. The Art of Peter Max Gallery (334 Santana Row, Ste. 1035, San Jose. 408-615-1590) is the first gallery anywhere to showcase all-original works by the legendary artist. Also worth a visit is Red Ink Studios (356 Santana Row, Ste. 2000, San Jose), the impermanent home of the guerrilla art movement of the same name. The movement gets permission to temporarily inhabit unleased properties and then leaves artwork behind in the process. The work currently on display is heavily dependent on recycled motorcycle parts.

That last exhibit stands out like a sore thumb on Santana Row, where every other retailer is upscale with a capital U – from the Ecco shoe store to leather-goods store Mulholland San Francisco. And while Silicon Valley is home to some pretty wealthy folk and the row has proved popular, one has to wonder if all these stores are going to last. Many are having 70-percent-off blowout sales already. Could it be developers overestimated the presence of Melrose wannabes in the South Bay?

One thing they probably didn't overestimate is the highly developed tech savvy of most Silicon Valley residents. So it's impressive but no surprise that Hewlett Packard's Next Generation Network Practice Group installed a high-speed LAN tying all of Santana Row together. While you're sitting at the outdoor chess tables on the central promenade, you can access the LAN by 802.11b wireless technology and make the evening's dinner reservation at a restaurant 100 feet away. Inside the opulent Hotel Valencia (355 Santana Row, San Jose. 408-551-0010), every room has a computer with a high-speed connection. If you don't want to leave your room, you can send pages to the printer at the front desk and have them delivered to you. Even the pool offers wireless access.

When all is said and done, Santana Row is worth a visit just for the spectacle. What's left at the end is the monolithic fog of Stevens Creek traffic as you make your way back to reality.

If you go

Directions From San Francisco or the peninsula, take 280 South to San Jose and exit at Winchester Boulevard. Turn left on Moorpark Avenue, then left on Winchester. From the East Bay, take 880 South to San Jose. Exit at West San Carlos Street/Stevens Creek Boulevard. Turn left on Santana Row. There's unlimited free parking.