San Jose, Dia de los Muertos altar of man unhoused for service dog under threat of removal by Caltrans

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — A homeless man in San Jose is struggling to keep his Dia de los Muertos altar standing after Caltrans reportedly threatened to tear it down.

The altar was erected in memory of the service dog who died shortly before becoming homeless.

It is located near the corner of 7th Street and Virginia Avenue in San Jose.

Miguel Maruyama’s service dog ‘Nacho’ is commemorated on the Dia de los Muertos altar, also known as ofrenda, along with his collar, harness, toys and photographs.

VIDEO: Homeless Berkeley fire victim with Stage 4 cancer finds temporary home

“The size of this shows how much I love him and how much I miss him,” Maruyama said. “I’ve had him since he was born, he’s been with me for almost 12 years.”

Nacho was trained as a service dog to help his now 19-year-old son with his epilepsy.

“He was a very important person in our family, we miss him very much,” he said.

But the massive altar was built on Caltrans land, on the shoulder of a ramp to I-280 in San Jose.

Maruyama moved here with his son last month after he lost his job, was evicted and Nacho died.

“We recently received notice from Caltrans that we were trespassing because we were on state property, and they issued a notice that the altar would be demolished today, supposedly this morning,” he said.

VIDEO: The lives of homeless pet owners in San Francisco and the support they need

Caltrans posted ‘notice to vacate’ signs around the campground over the weekend and said all personal items and camp debris must be removed by 8:30 a.m. Monday morning.

“I’m really sad about it because it’s part of our tradition,” he said. “Mexicans are celebrating Day of the Dead just a few days from now, so I was really sad that they were going to tear down the altar before Day of the Dead,” he said.

ABC7 News reached out to Caltrans and they said they are delaying cleaning up this site for now, but did not specify if this was due to the Day of the Dead holiday.

“I’m really happy that the city is going to let me keep this for another week, but I still don’t know what to do next, I still don’t know what’s going to happen.” “This is happening in a week because we still have to move out of here in a week and I still have nowhere to go,” he said.

Meanwhile, Maruyama returns Community donations via GoFundMe for help getting back on your feet.