Silicon Francisco

Ask anyone about what we have on the West Coast and you’ll get a long list of things, but high on the list you’ll see technology. We’re known for being technologically advanced here, even beyond other urban locations like the East. The more specific you go, the closer you get to San Francisco. But why does The City have such a reputation for tech? We’ve discussed and read about how the imperial metropolis absorbs and claims responsibility for the accomplishments that surround it. In this case, the obvious reason is that the Silicon Valley, which contains ten of the oft considered top twenty most inventive cities in the world, is a wholly controlled member of the San Francisco Contado.

The connections between San Francisco and Silicon Valley are numerous. In fact, the magazine that originally published and popularized the term “Silicon Valley,” did so from its San Francisco office. The two locations are intertwined in economic history, as many of the major companies there were funded by San Francisco entrepreneurs. Anyone who’s ever been to the Metreon can tell you that it’s a center for technological entertainment, and while it was created by Sony, it sports many of the advancements either directly created or made possible by the innovators in the valley. As a center of gaming culture alone, it is a celebration of concepts like the GUI and, obviously, microchip tech that were created in Silicon Valley. It’s kind of the closest thing to an honorary museum the Valley has, yet it’s located in the depths of the Valley’s geographic emperor, San Francisco. Speaking of geography, Silicon Valley’s northern most city is considered to be San Mateo, which, on a macro level, runs almost right up to the City. San Francisco not only claims Silicon Valley, it borders it.

In addition to The City claiming spoils, it also provides the Valley with workers. Huge numbers of Silicon Valley employees live in San Francisco. It could be said, in fact, that the city takes on an interesting thematic interaction with Silicon Valley in this way, becoming the urban, residential, liberal, entertaining yin to the Valley’s conservative, work-based, no-nonsense yang. While The City is a place to go out to parties, have a fancy meal, or go to a park, Silicon Valley is a place to work; a center of capitalism under the shadow of a leftist heaven. It is for these qualities that people use these two separate worlds, and thus the two locations become reactions to each other. In what way could they be more linked?

Beyond all the hard evidence, though, the most important way in which the Valley earns its place in the Contado is the simple feel of it. San Francisco feels like a place where technology thrives. If you don’t know what I mean, stop by the Apple Store on Stockton. That technology comes from the Silicon Valley. That’s all there is to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley
Jumping off point or not, this has to be mentioned as a great source of information about the history and identity of the Silicon Valley.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115352188346314087.html
An interesting article about the spirit of invention in recent history, this piece contributes to the “feel” of tech that I discussed above, as well as supplying the list of the top twenty most inventive cities.

http://www.siliconvalleyonline.org/cities.html#santacruz
This website supplies a canonical idea of the geography of the Valley, both specifying which cities belong, and communicating the proximity to San Francisco.

http://westfield.com/metreon/
Information can be found here on the sort of, to continue the museum metaphor broached above, exhibits the Metreon contains. It’s easy to trace these things back to the Valley.

http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/sfghetto
The most interesting linking piece I found on this subject, this blog entry discusses the mutual reliance these two locations have on each other due their opposing human identities.