

Ask HN: The Essential Silicon Valley? - rjurney

I'm a serial compulsive/degenerate (can't stop, help!) entrepreneur from Atlanta, and I'm coming to the bay area this summer for a few days, maybe a week, to find out what the 'Valley Advantage' really is first hand.  I've got a list of places to see, a silicon valley guidebook, I've done mucho historical research and googlage and I've gotten some introductions, but I still need more activities/things to see &#38; do.<p>Can y'all help me with some suggestions for events, sites, bars/restaurants/whatever that would be good to visit to get a sense of the 'valley advantage?'<p>Trip date is week of June 8th.
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wooster
The advantage the Valley has isn't so much a collection of discrete items,
it's more of a gestalt.

I'm a believer in geography influencing thought, so let's start there. The
weather is fantastic and there are plenty of awesome things to do all year.
Since it'll be summer, try driving up Page Mill and one way or another along
Skyline, find someplace to hike. Windy Hill Summit or Russian Ridge would both
be good, as they give a great overlook of the area. On a clear day, you can
see the ocean, San Jose, and San Francisco from Russian Ridge. On your way
out, get lost in the streets of Woodside to get a good sense of just how much
wealth has been accumulated here. Hop on 280 North, and head up to San
Francisco, get a burrito in the Mission, hang out in Golden Gate Park, watch
the sun set from Battery Spencer (<http://amid.st/p1197>), etc. Spend some
time wine tasting in Napa or Sonoma (or Cupertino, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz,
etc). Wander around the Stanford Campus (although Spring Quarter will be just
ending). My point is, people enjoy living here. There's plenty to do, lots of
little communities with their own character, and the weather is great. In my
view, that's a huge part of the advantage.

As far as specific places... try Coupa Café (<http://amid.st/p61>) in Palo
Alto. On weekdays, I usually see a few people pitching ideas, working on
iPhone/web/whatever apps, professors having spirited discussions, etc. Most of
the area around University Ave is good for that. Buck's of Woodside
(<http://amid.st/p1>) or Sundance (<http://amid.st/p1190>) are good places to
spot VC's, but you'd have to know who's a VC to see them. The Four Seasons
(<http://amid.st/p1193>) in East Palo Alto is usually empty. Garden Court
(<http://amid.st/p1192>) is a little more central and usually a little more
happening hotel-wise, although there are several other places in downtown that
are good.

Most of the big VC firms are either on Sand Hill Road or on Middlefield in
Menlo Park, although there are several in downtown Palo Alto. Do a search for
"venture capital" in Google Maps, then zoom in on Palo Alto to get a good idea
of where to drive if you just want to see where things are at.

You'll be in town the same time as Apple's WWDC in San Francisco
(<http://developer.apple.com/WWDC/>). You may want to see if there are any
parties you can crash (there will be... check Upcoming.org). Or, just hang out
at The Chieftain (<http://amid.st/p1183>), The Tempest
(<http://amid.st/p1189>), The Thirsty Bear (<http://amid.st/p1191>)
[surprisingly, -not- a gay bar], etc. There is usually a party during WWDC on
the weeknights at 111 Minna (<http://amid.st/p1194>), although there may be
guest lists (check Upcoming).

Hackerdojo (a hacker space I'm involved in starting) should be open by then.
Come check it out: <http://hackerdojo.pbworks.com/>

I could probably go on. Shameless plug: check out my places on Amidst for more
specific places in the area: <http://amid.st/~andrew>

Really, the best way to figure it out is to live here.

~~~
menloparkbum
This is good advice, but aside from 111 Minna, the SF bars listed are crap.
I'm assuming they are listed because they are all about a block from Moscone.

If you want a safe brewpub style bar, go to 21st Amendment instead of Thirsty
Bear. Irish Pub, go to Irish Bank instead of The Chieftan. SF style dive bar,
Zeitgeist instead of Tempest.

~~~
wooster
Yup, they're there because they're close to Moscone, and I agree on your
recommendations.

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rg
The "classic SV" along the south-western corner of the bay (Cupertino,
Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park) dates from the old days (the
'60s to the late '80s). Back then, all the VCs lived up north in urban San
Francisco, and all the startup employees lived in auto-oriented suburbs down
there.

Eventually many VCs moved their offices south, but nowadays more and more of
the startups are actually in San Francisco. The SF lifestyle of easy
walkability, little dependence on cars, vastly better restaurants, bars,
shops, and entertainment, and all the other advantages of a dense city, appeal
more to many of the current generation of hackers, and make SF more
characteristic of contemporary startups than the old historic corridor located
an hour south.

One of the interesting sights every morning now in San Francisco are all the
private wifi-equipped coaches picking up employees for their free hour ride
down to Google, Microsoft SVC, and other mega-employers located on large
campuses in SV. Those employees, like startup founders, increasingly prefer to
live in SF (and refuse to commute by car for two hours a day).

The "valley advantage" is much the same in both areas, and there's a fair
amount of interchange, but the two areas are very different, and they are far
enough apart to discourage casual traveling between them. Lots of people who
live down in the suburbs of the old SV don't really feel comfortable anywhere
in SF except Moscone Center for WWDC (and may only come up to the city once a
year). Lots of people who live in SF can't imagine living in the upscale
suburbs down south where you have to get in a car to go anywhere at all (and
they may only go down to Stanford a few times a year).

But both are very interesting areas, and both have good people. For the
"classic SV", look in the towns along the western hills from Cupertino up to
Menlo Park; for the "contemporary SV" look around SF.

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ajju
There are a lot of interesting places to visit in the valley but I am not sure
you'll be able to get a snapshot of the valley advantage in a few days. The
valley advantage is more about the connections you build in the course of
living and working there.

If you attend popular geek events though, you might get a good approximation.
Stanford always has something interesting. Last time I was there, a CS class
was hosting some very interesting guest lecturers. I emailed the prof asking
him if I could attend (as a GT student at that time) and he said sure.

Non geeky recommendation: Half moon bay, it's a nice beach

Avoid at all costs: The tilted / haunted house (called something like that) -
Fake tourist spot, highly boring and a waste of time.

~~~
rjurney
My hope is that while I can't personally get the valley advantage in a few
days, I can at least talk to others who experience it, and get some sense of
it by observing the 'network' of people there interacting.

~~~
ajju
Sounds like a good plan!

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keefe
There's nothing hugely interesting posted yet, but SDForum
<http://www.sdforum.com/> often has interesting events with lots of networking
opportunities. One big advantage is that many conferences are here - for
example Google I/O just one week before you arrive, which is something to keep
in mind if you have not booked tickets. I have hear that the four seasons in
palo alto gets various luminaries staying there, but that could simply be a
vicious rumor. You should visit Moffett Field itself - I work there, all you
need to get in is a government ID. They'll ask you where you are going - tell
them to building 19, it is where all the contractors go and they will just
wave you through - though I think telling them you want to see hanger one is
equally valid. If you ask, the guard will also get you a map that could point
you there. It's more interesting for historical reasons than anything else,
fyi. You can't get back to ames, though. I guess one advantage is the
community of developers and investors that happen to be around here, which is
something that is difficult to see on a short visit. For coffee in mountain
view I recommend red rock and blue bottle in SF, barefoot down further south
in san jose. The bars in mountain view and sunnyvale are not worth visiting,
some in palo alto may be and definitely downtown SF - check yelp for details.

~~~
rjurney
Thanks, that is helpful.

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aristus
SF has a good community of geeks. DoloresLabs and NoiseBridge are at 83 Weise,
near 16th street and Mission. And I host an open hacker house every Wednesday
from 8am to 6pm: archivd.com/open-hacker-house

But I would not try to schedule in too much if you only have a few days. Hang
loose and see what comes up.

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srn
when?

What you're looking for isn't exactly a tourist attraction.

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kineticac
plan the trip around big events, such as Google I/O. I'm not entirely sure
you'll be able to just come here and meet people on the streets and get the
most out of it. I feel the advantage is being able to meet with people
casually because you're all local, without needing to go through the
formalities of a serious meeting that you need to plan for.

Take some time to visit San Francisco and the coast for some nice views and
other fun things as well =)

~~~
rjurney
I'm going to the hadoop summit, which should help. I've been to SF as a normal
tourist, and this time its all about startups.

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qu1j0t3
Don't miss the Computer History Museum, near Moffett Field.

~~~
mdoar
For wry laughs, go to Frys in Sunnyvale at lunch time and watch for about 30
minutes. You'll see employees with minimal technical knowledge (but lots of
self confidence) being reeducated about the products they sell by the guys who
actually created the products, who are visiting the store to look at their own
offspring.

------
jgrahamc
There's quite a bit of Silicon Valley in my book: The Geek Atlas.
<http://oreilly.twi.bz/a>

~~~
rjurney
Thanks! I'll take a look.

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herdrick
Time the trip to go to SHDH.

