Potlatch 7

Native Guide: Silicon Valley Quick Guide
compiled by David Bratman


Bookstores: a selection of the best independent outlets

Menlo Park

Kepler's (new)
1010 El Camino Real
The best general new bookstore in the Valley

Feldman's (used)
1170 El Camino Real
An intriguing general used bookstore

Two Sisters (new)
605 Cambridge Ave, at El Camino
The best feminist bookstore in the Valley

Wessex (used)
558 Santa Cruz Ave
Particularly good for used literature


Palo Alto (downtown)

Bell's (used)
536 Emerson St
Something of a collector's shop

Renaissance (used)
230 Hamilton Ave
Lots of cheap used SF

Chimaera (used)
165 University Ave
Also good for classical and jazz CDs

Stacey's (new)
219 University Ave
A fair amount of technical books

Stanford (new)
On campus at White Plaza, near Mayfield and Lomita
Has a tremendous computer section downstairs. Stanford Bookstore Palo Alto (University and High Streets) carries business and medical books.


Palo Alto (California Street, near Page Mill and El Camino)

Printers Inc (new)
320 California St
Large, and with a cafe on site

Know Knew Books (used)
415 California St
Another good store for used SF

Future Fantasy (new)
3705 El Camino Real
The neighborhood specialty SF store


Mountain View

Printers Inc (new)
301 Castro St
Also has a cafe, but not otherwise as good as the one in Palo Alto

Ananda Bookbuyers (used)
317 Castro St
Extensive, with probably more used SF than any other in the Valley

East West Books (new and used)
324 Castro St
A unique Asian and New Age bookstore


San Jose

Computer Literacy (new)
2590 N. First
Huge selection of technical books. Branches are also at Apple Computer in Cupertino, and at 520 Lawrence Expressway in Sunnyvale, in a little shopping center off Titan Way right across from Fry's.

Recycle (used)
138 E. Santa Clara St
Another good store for used SF

Woodruff & Thrush (used)
81 E. San Fernando St
Very old, very dusty: enter at your peril!

Hicklebee's (new)
1378 Lincoln Ave in Willow Glen
A fine children's bookstore


Restaurant Hunting

There are many good restaurants in Silicon Valley. Two of the highest concentrations are in:

Downtown Palo Alto
The yuppie capital of the Valley. Its restaurants, which range from $8 lunch places to "fine dining" experiences run by chefs imported from San Francisco, are as notable for their atmosphere as for their food.

Downtown Mountain View
The finest collection of Chinese and Thai restaurants south of San Francisco. There are also many other fine establishments. Eat hearty!


Silicon Valley History

An Algonquin tour is being offered on Monday. If you want to explore on your own, here are some of the most notable sites:

Palo Alto (downtown area)

Hewlett Packard garage
367 Addison St, near Waverley
In the garage behind this house two Stanford grad students built their first oscillators in 1938-39.

Federal Telegraph Company
Emerson and Channing St
A plaque marks where Lee deForest developed the vacuum tube in 1909-13


Palo Alto (south area)

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Foothill Expwy & Hillview Avenue
Where the computer mouse and its interfaces were invented. Steve Jobs paid a historic visit here in 1979. Main entrance around the corner on Coyote Hill Road.

Fairchild Semiconductor
844 E. Charleston Rd near San Antonio Rd
Now a Repo Depo with a plaque. Here the first commercial integrated circuit was manufactured in 1959.


Stanford University campus

The Red Barn
Electioneer Road near West Campus Drive
A plaque marks where Eadweard Muybridge took his stop-motion photos of galloping horses in a stunning display of 1870s high-tech ingenuity.

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
2575 Sand Hill Road
High-energy physics, and the auditorium where the Homebrew Computer Club met in the 1970s. Tour information at 650-926-2204. For a quick view of the accelerator, get on southbound I-280 at Sand Hill, and you'll immediately pass over it on a bridge. Look to the right (but not if you're the driver!): neat, huh?


Mountain View

Byte Shop
1063 El Camino Real, between Shoreline and Castro
Now an adult video store, this was probably the world's first computer store in 1975. The first Apple I computers were sold here in 1976.

Netscape
501 E. Middlefield near state Hwy 237
The fast-growing campus of Silicon Valley's latest big success story


Cupertino

Homestead High School
Homestead and Mary Avenues
Where both Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs were students and took their first electronics classes

Apple Computer
The company's first offices (1977) were at 20863 Stevens Creek Blvd, next to the Good Earth restaurant between Stelling Rd and DeAnza Blvd. During most of the 1980s they occupied the buildings along Bandley Drive (off Stevens Creek in this area). The current campus is on Infinite Loop, near DeAnza and Mariani Ave. And Texaco Towers, where the Macintosh was designed, is at 20431 Stevens Creek, next to the defunct gas station at the corner of DeAnza.


Santa Clara

Intel
2200 Mission College Blvd, near Montague Expwy and US 101
There's a small free museum in the lobby on the history of the microprocessor.


San Jose

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
On Park at Park & Naglee
A fine Egyptian museum nestled among other interesting buildings here at the Rosicrucian world headquarters. Open Wed - Mon, 10 am - 5 pm. Admission $7 adults, $5 student/seniors, $3.50 children 6-15, under 6 free. There's a planetarium as well, separate admission, show at 2 pm. Info at 408-947-3636.

Tech Museum of Innovation
145 W. San Carlos St, downtown
The Valley's best science museum. Info at 408-279-7150.

Winchester Mystery House
525 S. Winchester Blvd, near Stevens Creek Blvd
The Valley's most unusual pre-silicon tourist attraction. Familiar to readers of Michaela Roessner's Vanishing Point. Info at 408-247-2101.


Silicon shopping

Fry's Electronics

The original electronics superstore. Several locales with weird exterior & interior decor, among them:

The original, with giant Enter and Escape keys on the doors
1177 Kern Ave, Sunnyvale, off Lawrence Expwy near Oakmead.

The Egyptian Tomb
600 E. Hamilton Ave, Campbell, at Highway 17

The Cowboy Ranch
340 Portage Ave, Palo Alto, off El Camino near Page Mill

The Mayan Temple
550 E. Brokaw Road, San Jose, off 880

The Planetarium
440 Mission Ct., Fremont

Weird Stuff Warehouse
384 W. Caribbean, Sunnyvale, near Lawrence Expwy and highway 237
A bonanza of obsolete computer parts


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