A Visitor's Guide to Silicon Valley | Hacker News Reader

A Visitor's Guide to Silicon Valley

steveblank.com

124 pointsterrisv44 comments

I remember going to the Valley in 2002 and expecting tours of all the famous companies etc... I made the "pilgrimage" to Apple headquarters, expecting some sort of museum or something. Security basically escorted me out of the lobby. Intel does have a little thing you can view at least.

For the most part Silicon Valley is very uninteresting to just visit unless you like seeing corporate office parks from the outside.

Stanford and SLAC are a bit more accommodating, and there's the Computer museum. Other than that, you're right.

That's kind of part of it though. It's a living, working institution. The best work is going on now. It's not a museum that people come and visit for historical purposes. Normally when something becomes a tourist attraction it's well past being a living entity. Intel and Apple are historic, but they're also well still alive. That's part of the energy of Silicon Valley.

But you can visit some of Apple's former buildings for free. Look on folklore.org for addresses. There's at least one 70s-tastic office park at 20863 Stevens Creek.

Ditch all the startup stuff and spend a couple of hours reading up on where to find great Vietnamese food, sushi and burritos. The South Bay is full of treasures and these are well-documented online by obsessive, hungry people.

One gripe about the Burritos there - try to find a place that serves something other than 'mission' style burritos, because quite honestly they all taste the same to me after they're loaded down with 2 pounds of the exact same ingredients... I much prefer san diego style, which is just meat and guac. You can really taste the quality or lack thereof.

What's so special about Vietnamese food in the Valley? I'd really like to know.

Vietnamese food is both delicious & cheap in Silicon Valley. I would say it's authentic in San Jose, but I'm not qualified to judge how legit it is. Vietnamese food may not be as familiar as other cuisines in America, but it is one of the best comfort foods.

Pho (Beef Stock with Rice Noodles) - About $6 with satisfying broth and exotic cuts of beef http://www.yelp.com/biz/pho-tau-bay-san-jose

Banh Mi (Very Cheap French Baguettes Sandwiches) - No more than $3[1] and comes with your choice of meat http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=banh+mi&ns=1&fi...

[1] - Here in NYC, there is a dearth of good Vietnamese food. NYC Banh Mis are easily $6-8 for a subpar product. Contrast that to paying $2.50 in Milpitas for a giant Banh Mi.

Yummy, cheap, authentic Vnese restaurants in South Bay area. Since business is in our blood and everybody thinks they can cook, Vneses here are racing each other to open restaurants, the result is a ton of choices for quality and prices for us foodies. Yeah, I'm Vnese myself, and think that the quality of Vnese restaurants here are second to none, including inside Vietnam.

For business meetings and casual outings, try Vung Tau restaurant @downtown SJ or Paloma Cafe @Grand Century Mall on Story Road (try the beef stew there).

Really casual outings, try the food court of Grand Century Mall, chicken noodles by Pho Ga An Nam on Story Road (not on Google Maps! you got to ask a Vnese dude for directions! :) )

a little more upscale: Three Seasons @Palo Alto, Xanh @Mountain View.

btw, "pho" really is fast-food for Vnese like hamburger for Americans.

bonus: the best "French" bakeries are actually Vnese! For mouth-watering cake and desserts, try the bakeries in the Lion Plaza on Tully Road.

I have all that where I live.

Lee's Sandwiches.

As for the Burritos, meh. Nobody in the bay area serves a proper breakfast burrito (Eggs, Potato, meat, cheese, and some kind of salsa but not pico, and no beans or rice). Almost nobody serves burritos enchilada style, and green chile is conspicuously absent from almost everything.

That said, the burritos can still be tasty, but they can't hold a candle to anything served in New Mexico. It's like Pepsi vs. Coke... they don't have that special kick.

I'd almost suggest skipping PA, especially the corner of Emerson and Channing, unless you enjoy crammed traffic of people trying to get in/out of Whole Foods.

The really remarkable thing about Palo Alto is how unremarkable it feels.

That said, the burritos can still be tasty, but they can't hold a candle to anything served in New Mexico.

That's just not a fair comparison :)

Don't think I ever had a decent burrito since I moved up here. I'm spoiled since I used to live in SoCal. I agree about the Vietnamese food and the sushi.

For everything that goes on here, it is surprisingly very...quiet. The people in Silicon Valley are about execution and then self-promotion rather than the other way around. So when you have a bunch of dedicated people who are trying to prove themselves, you have less people showcasing the startup culture. Living it is more than any charm. This is the ultimate compliment I believe.

You really will be surprised when you see what this place is like considering it all.

"Quiet" is a very diplomatic term for what Silicon Valley is.

It is a deathly boring suburb hell, with absolutely nothing interesting in it except for what might go on inside some of those office buildings and private residences.

There's no culture there. There are virtually no interesting activities whatsoever, except for work (if you're lucky) and mostly solitary hobbies (at best).

The place is an embarrassment in pretty much every way except technologically, and in that the residents are rich enough to keep the streets clean.

Almost no culture.... there are always a few people doing cool things no matter where you go. But in SV it's a lot harder to find them, or see evidence of them.

SV has one good thing about it. Unintentionally it is the most zen place on earth, because it will teach you the emptiness of money or moving up the career ladder -- the entertainments and distractions are so laughably poor and the treadmill is implacably fast.

Here's my personal list:

  * Frys
  * The great mall / Valley fair mall
  * Great America theme park
  * Santa Cruz beach + boardwalk
  * Downtown Palo Alto
  * Tech museum + art museum in San Jose
  * Johnny rockets

Three words:

In-N-Out

Yeah I had In-N-Out once, it was ok enough.

St. Johns is a great burger place just off 101, around Santa Clara. Good programming bookshop nearby also.

If you only went once you probably didn't get anything from the 'secret' off-menu. That's part of the In-N-Out experience.

I'm just glad there's a Fry's in Webster, Texas modeled after the ISS. Such a wonderful place to go with friends before a LAN party.

I've been here 10+ years. SV is about people and activities rather than touristy sights. It's things like Friday night bike party in SJ, midnight roller-skating in SF (first time for me was pure adrenalin-pumping, flying down the hills around Union Square with full traffic and barely know how to brake!). Bay-to-Breakers "race :) ". Inventor Fair. 9:20 Special Swing Lindy dance club (just watching the dancers is breath-taking in itself). Hiking up Mission Peak in Milpitas or Rancho San Antonio, Cupertino for some righteous views of the Bay.

Yeah, this place is about doing things, I guess.

Is Lindy popular among the startup crowd?

I live in Mountain View, and the only thing I think this is missing is the outdoor activities that living in the bay offers. If you enjoy hiking checkout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevens_Creek_Reservoir You'll be able to see PA to SJ when you get up high enough.

If you dirtbike, check out met-caf or make the trek to Hollister. Totally worth it.

This is great. I visited for the first time this past summer and spent most of the day on CalTrain with no clue where to go other than Stanford.

Mirroring this: I have visited friends twice in Palo Alto. Aside from the great little restaurants and visiting a couple companies where we had "ins", I had no idea where to go or what to see. We decided that to really do the silicon valley right, it takes more than a few days of visit, because all of the cool stuff is about knowing people doing things.

"I had no idea where to go or what to see"

That's because there is nowhere to go. And nothing to see.

The only reason I'd ever voluntarily go to SV is to visit friends unlucky enough to live there, or to get a job.

I was with you up until the 'get a job' part.

Wasn't another hn'er starting a wiki about moving to the valley? I know this is all about visiting but I think it would make a great addition.

That'd be an incredible resource. If it doesn't exist yet, please, someone create it.

This was the link --- http://svstartup.com

Thanks! Moving to San Fran in 2 days (from New Zealand). Hopefully there's some useful stuff in there.

If one is looking for a vacation plan, this is the worst guide to the area I have ever seen. I suppose it's useful if you're taking a job at Google, and want a realistic taste of the boring reality your life is to become. I wouldn't share this with any normal person looking to take a vacation, though... they would be rightfully pissed off.

It's amusing to see a place I grew up written up as a tourist attraction.

Lucky devil!

It will be a while before I visit, so much of this content isn't immediately exciting or relevant - but just providing so much context enhances my understanding of Valley relationships and geography.

Before, I didn't really know how to connect Palo Alto, Mountain View, and San Francisco (obviously, because I'd never really tried). Now I know the way to San Jose!

This really whet my appetite.

I'm moving to the Valley this Spring, about ten years later than I should have. I've been there just about every year, of course, but it's not the same as being immersed in it 24/7.

Anyone else about to make the same jump? I'd love to compare notes once I'm over there with other new settlers.

There are dozens of Stanford seminars that anyone can attend. Some, like ee380.stanford.edu , are online, but you miss out on a lot that way.

If you do a bit of research, you might even take advantage of office hours.

The same is true of UC Berkeley, but it isn't in the valley.

Great! I'll be there next week.

A California subtlety often missed by those who didn't grow up here (and many that did) is the fact that Silicon Valley started out a lot like the other 'the valley' that grew up with the aerospace / defense industry, the San Fernando Valley, which have extensive similarities, including small details like the Fry's electronics and bigger details like the main drags through town. Ventura Blvd. and 82 are basically the same El Camino Real. The 101 (which parallels Ventura Blvd for quite a distance) is marked as El Camino Real, as is 82 in Silicon Valley. Both have foundations in the Spanish missionary trail. They're basically two sections of one very long road.

If you've seen Steve Blank's presentation on the 'secret history' of Silicon Valley you'll see where I draw the parallels. Lockheed Martin, Rocketdyne, General Dynamics, Litton, Rockwell, and many others were once based there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo

But the divergence was inevitable I suppose - the valley up north has gotten comparatively nicer in the past 15 years, though, as San Fernando's fortunes have faded a bit. The SF valley now basically lacks a coherent high technology business base and all the aerospace and defense has moved out. It's been replaced by Hollywood entertainment, healthcare, porno, import/export, and a bunch of other smaller industries and some light manufacturing. It's not defunct in any way - it's still pretty nice, but it's just not as nice as up north. Most of the newer wealth is in other areas of LA.

Both are nearly entirely made up of suburban housing and low laying office parks and are situated just outside of the main urban area. The biggest/tallest buildings are the chain hotels and a select few office buildings. Strip malls are everywhere, which is where all the good food is.

It's an interesting kind of an 'alternate reality' in the other end of California that many people aren't aware of. Personally I'd rather live bayside in Santa Monica or San Francisco (and have in both), but to each his own, some people like the suburbs more.

All the big Southern California aerospace spending was big in WWII and for a decade or two after (Lockheed, Douglas, Hughes North American Aviation, &c.), but for various reasons in the 60s congress started moving those contracts elsewhere, especially throughout the South (e.g. a lot of NASA stuff went to Florida). Perhaps the kind of tech that was being done in Silicon Valley had a more plausible transition to non-defense uses, or perhaps defense-related contracts just continued a bit longer there than in SoCal?

Anyone else notice the first comment on the blog?

I think the counterpoint is an interesting one: SF is an expensive place to live, and I've never been a fan of California's politics (an opinion, obviously). Meanwhile, Texas is a beautiful state with millions of people, half a dozen top notch universities, relatively low taxes and a definitively cheaper cost of living (outside of Austin proper).

I'm sure SF is nice, and I've love to visit... but there are more places to work than just there. I also find it interesting that geography plays such an important part in the startup culture when we're all sitting infront of multi-megabyte connections capable of HD video and chat.

I have great personal affinity for Texas but am having trouble coming up with a list of half a dozen top notch universities. I can come up with three (UT, TAMU, Rice) and a few more if you set the bar a bit lower, but none of the these (arguably Rice) is in the league of Stanford, Berkeley, and Caltech, and only the first three are in the same league as UCLA, UCD, UCSD, UCI and USC. Even UCSB and UCSC are good.

Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that as wonderful as Texas is, if you're interested in universities it is sadly lacking. (I mostly know about math departments, so if I'm really wrong about either state, I would like to know.)

UT, A&M, TTU (Good for Business, Math and Enginnering), Rice, Baylor.... OK, five. Actually, U of H is picking up the ball in a lot of areas, too.

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