Nerd tours of Palo Alto

Out of towners venturing south of San Francisco into "silicon valley" (oooh) looking for photogenic landmarks that scream high tech can be easily disappointed. There is no Statue of Liberty of information technology, no Grand Canyon of wafer deposition, nor a Mount Rushmore of datacenters.

One exception: Stanford University's palm trees on Palm Drive gives a nice welcome-to-California smattering of palm trees, along with the architectural bubble that is Stanford:


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And Palo Alto recently installed a big egg made of printed circuitboards next to Pizza My Heart. Not that it would ever compel anyone to get their camera out.


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While in LA, one can drive by the opulent homes of movie stars by following "Star Maps." Not so in Silicon Valley: only the real estate prices are opulent, while the real estate is nothing more than a quiet neighborhood of Eichler three bedroom homes. The stars of Silicon Valley don't appreciate gorgeous architecture anyway. Geeks prefer low rent, minimalist workspaces, and unassuming dress. So when you come to find a "California Landmark" plaque next to the decrepit shack they sat in while solving differential equations, celebrate instead the lack of aesthetics used in inventing technologies.

Take for example, the mediocre splendor of Palo Alto's 165 University Avenue, famous for hosting such startups as Logitech, Google, PayPal, and Danger:


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Or the old Fairchild Semiconductor building at 844 Charleston Road, where the first commercially practical integrated circuit was invented, later hosting a "Repo Depo":


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And let's not forget the architectural wonders of the Hewlett-Packard garage at 367 Addison Avenue:


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Exquisite.