It is one of San Jose's most historic Chicano/Mexican-American districts and noted for being a center of the Chicano Movement and grassroots activists such as Californian civil rights leader César Chávez.

Divided into three individual art pieces, called Bienvenidos, Garden of Life, and The Three Sisters', the art installation was inspired by the diversity and the rich cultural history of the Mayfair area and by the spirit of growth embodied in the Mayfair Community Garden adjacent to the site.

The Sinclair Freeway (CA-680) forms Mayfair's eastern and southern border, separating it from the King & Story neighborhood to the south and from the Alum Rock district to the east.

It hosts the Mexican Heritage Plaza, a notable cultural center and school of Chicano/Mexican arts.

The neighborhood hosts the Mayferia (portmanteau of "Mayfair" and "feria", Spanish for fair), a celebration of the community and greater East San Jose's Chicano/Mexican heritage.