The New Company Town

The American company town reached its heyday between Reconstruction and the 1920's. The lack of basic services across the nation's empty expanses necessitated that businesses create schools, stores, and churches for their workers; the number of company towns reached an estimated peak of 2,500 about a century ago, after which the automobile and rising affluence reduced the importance of living close to one's employer.

Here in the Bay Area the original raison d'être---providing basic services---for company towns had vanished long ago; nevertheless, company towns are being carved out in existing, highly developed cities.

Google's planned 1.2 million sq. ft. campus (Verge)

Google dominates Mountain View (pop. 80,000):

At a January 22nd, 2013 meeting, Google's VP of real estate David Radcliffe gave the city council something of an ultimatum. "We can either grow up, taking the buildings we have now and making them bigger and denser, or we can sprawl out in a continued march through neighboring business parks and communities."

The company has bought or leased a total of nearly 2 million square feet since that meeting, including giant parcels west, south, and east of the company's traditional North Bayshore haunts.

Facebook's Anton Menlo apartments

Facebook is building a $120 million complex in Menlo Park (pop. 33,000):

The social network said this week it is working with a local developer to build a $120 million, 394-unit housing community within walking distance of its offices. Called Anton Menlo, the 630,000 square-foot rental property will include everything from a sports bar to a doggy day care.

One of Facebook's corporate goals is to take care of as many aspects of its employees lives as possible. They don't have to worry about transportation—there's a bus for that. Laundry and dry cleaning? Check. Hairstylists, woodworking classes, bike maintenance. Check.

And then there's Apple's "spaceship" headquarters in Cupertino (pop. 61,000):

Steve Jobs' vision (Wired photo)

Everything in this building is the best. The toroid glass of the roof curves scientifically to shed rainwater....Of course, it only has 9,000 parking spaces, but that’s supposed to encourage people to take an Apple shuttle to work. And once they arrive, they’re not going to want to leave. The fitness center has a climbing wall with pre-distressed stone. The concrete edges of the parking lot walls are rounded. The fire suppression systems come from yachts. Craftspeople harvested the wood paneling at the exact time of year the late Steve Jobs demanded—mid-winter—so the sap content wouldn’t be ruinously high.

Apple and Google (Alphabet) are the two most valuable companies in the world; Facebook is #7 and rising. For the sake of the 21st-century company towns that they are building, here's hoping that these companies stay valuable for a long, long time. (Term for the kiddies to look up: white elephant).

O, to be Young Again

LinkedIn regularly e-mails a list of Bay Area jobs that its computer thinks---yes, I'm anthropomorphizing---I'm qualified to do. (This particular e-mail didn't filter the list.)

The number of opportunities causes me to wish that I were 30 years younger. OTOH, I'd probably have a hard time affording the rent.

Lee's Comics, San Mateo

"Print is dead"---Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters, 1984.

Although we have become accustomed to the disappearance of newspapers, magazines and bookstores, it was nevertheless jarring when Lee's Comics closed its San Mateo store last month. For 29 years Lee's had been a fixture on El Camino Real south, on the way to Hillsdale Shopping Center.

Twice a year Lee's would have a sale, when we would fill a shopping bag with heavily discounted comics and graphic novels; at a list price of $20 or more, graphic novels often cost more than a "real book." Even at the sale prices, our youthful interest waned and our trips to the store--and purchases--grew more infrequent.

Despite unfavorable demographics, the owner has promised to keep the Mountain View store open. We wish him well.

None Were More Satisfying

After a day of business in the South Bay my colleague and I were ready for a relaxed meal. I suggested seafood, but he had a better idea: beer and a grilled entree at the Tied House in Mountain View.

With widescreen monitors and large bar, the cavernous tavern is popular during football season. On this Tuesday afternoon it was nearly empty.

He and I split a flight of five 6-oz. beers. I ordered a plate of wild-game sausages (boar and lamb), warm potato salad, and cole slaw. We talked about follow-up steps, debriefed the meetings, and toasted our hoped-for success.

In recent months I've had fancier and more expensive lunches, but none were more satisfying. © 2015 Stephen Yuen

Men's Kaffee Klatsch

Tuesday morning at Starbucks

Men as a group don't engage in conversation as much as women do, but that broad general statement, of course, masks infinite variations.

At Starbucks a group of older guys carried on conversation and experienced bonhomie for well over an hour. It's common to find women's kaffee klatsches but coming upon the male version is rare.

It takes a while to regain one's footing during retirement. These guys had found theirs.

Maru Ichi, Mountain View

Kuro ramen broth is black from roasted garlic.
Toppings: roast pork, egg, sprouts, stewed pork and cod roe

When in Mountain View and craving a bowl of ramen, we head to Maru Ichi on Castro. The noodles are fresh and the broth, especially kuro (roasted garlic) style, is tasty without needing the enhancement of MSG. The varied toppings are also a treat---it would require hours to assemble them at home.

The restaurant's policies of no reservations and cash-only do not deter the crowds; during peak periods the wait is at least 30 minutes. If the line gets too long, we sometimes abandon Maru Ichi for other excellent restaurants on Castro Street. But usually we wait it out; when you get a taste for something you just have to have it.

Not Chamber Music

It's not on the bucket list, but last night I attended my first heavy metal concert, the Mötley Crüe "final tour" at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. (When some of them need cash, anticipate the we-mean-it-this-time Final Tour.)

Being unfamiliar with the genre, I watched both Alice Cooper (the opening act) and Mötley Crüe with bemusement: pounding rhythm, faux explosions, and lots of screaming into the mike (if one doesn't know the song, the words are unintelligible). Also, when the musicians "talk" to the audience, every other word is the F-word. This wasn't chamber music.

I enjoyed myself more than I had anticipated. The special effects were well-coordinated and spectacular. Age-related hearing loss, plus earplugs, made the decibel level tolerable. The crowd was well-behaved, despite its tattooed, pierced, and colorful appearance.

Mountain View noise curfew rules called a halt to proceedings at 11 p.m., which was all to the good. Time for aging rockers and their fans to go to bed.

Alice Cooper kicked off proceedings while it was daylight.

Mötley Crüe -- the pyrotechnics were brighter and louder than the 4th of July.

The musicians left the stage and performed the quiet encore on a raised platform.

Adjusted Upward

The hard drive had stopped working, so I hurried to the Palo Alto Fry's to pick up a replacement. [The 2009 MacBook Pro was on the cusp of obsolescence, but a $70 one terabyte (1 TB) Seagate hybrid drive--if it worked--would keep the computer going for at least another year.]

I parked myself in a corner of the nearby Starbucks to change the drive. Starbucks has electric outlets galore, where I could plug the adapters for both the MacBook and the external drive that booted Mac OS while the hard drive was out of commission. Kudos to Starbucks also for leaving me alone; no one asked what I was doing with a mess of cables, screwdrivers, boxes, and parts strewn across a table meant for lattes and frappucinos.

Unfortunately, the new hard drive wasn't recognized by the computer. Next I'll try replacing the SATA cable (bottom left in the photo), which various tech sites suggest could be the problem. Also unfortunately, Fry's didn't have the cable, which had to be ordered from Amazon. Resolution (repair or replace the laptop) would have to wait a couple of days.

[Update - 5/10: the new cable worked. The total cost of the fix was $120, much less than a new computer. The latte and frappucino budget has been adjusted upward accordingly.]

Correlation, Causation, or Coincidence

The high unemployment rate among new college graduates has been all over the news. If I were in that demographic, I would consider a move to the Bay Area, and not only because of assortative mating.

Item: South Bay Leads U.S. in Job Growth.

The South Bay has the fastest job growth of any of the nation's large urban centers, according to a survey by federal labor officials. Santa Clara County posted a 3.3 percent increase [bold added] in job growth over the one-year period that ended in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The Houston region of Texas was in second place nationwide with a 3.1 percent increase in payroll jobs over the same 12-month period.

Item: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area second in nation in college-educated adults.

The South Bay metropolitan area has the nation's second-highest proportion of college-educated residents -- 45.3 percent of adults 25 and older. The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area ranks second in the nation only to the Washington, D.C., metro area, which has 46.8 percent of its population college educated. The San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area ranked fourth, with 43.4 percent.

To be sure, the Silicon Valley unemployment rate of 8.4% is about the same as the national average and is nothing to get excited about. But it's significantly better than the California unemployment rate of 10.9%, and the trend is going in the right direction.

Fertile Ground

Looking east to Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and the Bay.

The area of the strip of land running from Menlo Park in the north to Cupertino in the south is barely 100 square miles. Seen from above it resembles dozens of other mixed-use suburban areas around the country. There are few distinguishing landmarks--the Moffett aircraft hangar and Stanford's Hoover Tower come to mind.

Companies headquartered here have a combined market capitalization of over $1 trillion.

What mysterious alchemy makes this so? There are other places with beautiful scenery, mild weather, and great universities. There are other places--think of oil or gold--with vastly greater endowment of physical assets. There are seats of government which divert and absorb rivers of wealth through taxation or power.

The wealth here is created by the voluntary actions of billions of people who purchase Silicon Valley products and services. It's created by the millions of investors who foresee returns, i.e., an even greater future, from this mysterious alchemy.  Developers from all over the world come here to try to divine the formula.

As for me, I like to enjoy the scenery.

They're Paying Me for This?

This is not my dream job, but somehow I can't stop thinking about it. Silicon Valley companies are hiring hundreds of shuttle-bus drivers:

As Valley companies build out their private transportation system they're creating relatively cushy jobs for a decidedly low-tech group of employees: the drivers who operate the buses.

At Google's Mountain View headquarters, there is a special facility designed to keep workers happy and relaxed during their downtime, a Google spokesperson said. It's got a kitchen stocked with food, televisions, bunk beds for napping, exercise equipment and showers for washing up afterward. [snip]

Genentech drivers, uniformed in black fleece vests with the transportation program's logo, gRide, embroidered beneath the lapel, earn between $17 and $30 an hour, plus benefits, and quarterly bonuses of $250, [Genentech manager Daniel] McCoy said. In addition, employees often pool their money to provide holiday bonuses, McCoy said.

The downside is the split shift:

One Genentech driver starts her day at 5:30 a.m. By 8:30 a.m., she's dropped off her passengers at the company's headquarters, and waits until 4 p.m. to start shuttling employees home before she clocks out at 7 p.m. Drivers can sometimes pick up extra paid hours by washing or fueling the buses, McCoy said.

To empty-nesters or near empty-nesters, the split shift is a feature, not a bug. Driving a high-tech, air-conditioned shuttle bus in the morning, then having the choice of exercising, napping, or hanging out in the company lounge with free food and wi-fi, then taking the wheel again in the afternoon sounds like a great way to spend the day, even without being paid.

And to get the job we don't have to answer those tough interview questions...

Rancho San Antonio Park

Four miles in, the elevation is 1,600 ft.

Recent appointments in Mountain View have not been tightly scheduled, and I've been using the 3-hour gaps in the calendar to walk the trails at the Rancho San Antonio Park open space preserve.  I've never been much of a hiker, and my lack of training and aerobic capacity were clearly in evidence when a mere four-mile (but hilly!) route initially left me gassed.

Now that I've been going at least once a week since March, I've found enjoyment increasing along with endurance.  A mile in from the parking lot is Deer Hollow Farm, the destination for most families and school groups.  The casual strollers also drop off at the farm, while serious runners charge up the wooded hills. I plod after them, catching up on the inventory of old podcasts. Lately I've been listening to classical music or have turned off the sound completely. Being alone with one's thoughts has not been a familiar experience. It's not easy to dismiss the inner voice that insists that one always be entertained or be doing something useful.  Eventually the tumult subsides.

The trails alternate between woods and meadow, creeks and sere. Chipmunks, squirrels, and butterflies cross the path fearlessly. Occasionally one sees deer, but thankfully no mountain lions.

Last week I walked four miles to the end of the utility road that services the power lines and four miles back along the opposite ridge. Sunburn and blisters were the price, and inner peace, at least for that day, was the reward.

Charity to a Stranger

On the way home Monday we lost an iPhone. We called its number, and a young man answered. He had found the iPhone at the Mountain View Caltrain station.

Colin couldn't wait the 30 minutes for us to return to Mountain View. He said that he would leave the phone at the snack bar. We asked Colin for his contact information. He said he didn't believe in accepting rewards.

We picked up the phone from the man at the snack bar, who wouldn't take a reward either. The man said that he thought Colin was a student at Saint Francis High School.

In recent years I've spent time volunteering to help others but haven't had much experience being the recipient of a good deed. I was surprised, touched, and somewhat at a loss.

Thank you, sir, and thank you, Colin of Saint Francis, for your act of charity to a stranger.

Community Center 2.0

Photo from the SJ Mercury News.

To these eyes the more interesting story in this morning's Merc was right below the banner head re Google's earnings. In August the Hacker Dojo was created in an old building formerly tenanted by a glass company.  The gathering place is

a "community center" for code monkeys, startup dreamers and anybody else with an unquenchable thirst to take technology in new directions.

A typical evening at the Dojo in Mountain View sometimes looks like chaos — two friends cobbling together a robot out of chips, circuit boards and servo motors; a clump of technical writers packed like sweaty sardines into a meeting; people squinting silently into their laptops, oblivious to the coming night.

With our virtual networks growing exponentially faster than the real, a place where we can make a physical connection becomes paradoxically more important. Online dating only takes us so far. We need to meet, work with, and/or make love to the live person to seal the deal. 

The founders and sponsors of the Hacker Dojo are showing that the spirit of the Valley is stronger than ever. They subscribe to the the belief that if you build it people will come....and create. 

Saturday in Shoreline Park

The information revolution has made volunteering much easier. Needs are publicized, skills, money, and time are matched to tasks, and coordination between and within organizations is much improved. But traditional methods can be effective, too. Last weekend the Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley (VCSV) held its fundraising walkathon, the 15th annual Human Race in Mountain View.

I normally don’t do more for charity than open my checkbook, but no one else was available to represent our Foster City church. Besides, the doctor said that I should walk every day, and this year’s miracle nutrient—Vitamin D—is produced by exposure to sunlight.

The ladies in the booth for the Interfaith Hospitality Network gave me a yellow shirt and fortified me with a blueberry muffin.

Pushing aside thoughts of skin cancer and cardiac arrest, I embarked on a pace of 15 minutes to a mile (which sounds better than 4 miles per hour) and eased past an eight-year-old on roller skates and a women with a spaniel. An 80-year-old man with a cane ate my dust.

National Semiconductor, one of the fixtures in the valley, was one of the principal sponsors and sent a team of over 100 blue-shirted volunteers. Their enthusiasm was an indication perhaps that the harsh working atmosphere of the seventies and eighties had been banished. Somehow, National Semi has survived into the 21st century while larger, sexier companies are long gone.

I finished the five kilometer walk at 9:30 and helped myself to another muffin. It doesn’t count if it’s for a worthy cause. © 2008 Stephen Yuen