Today
it is one continuously developed area primarily at the
southwest edge of San Francisco Bay. It definitely includes
the cities of San Jose, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale,
Fremont, Milpitas, Menlo Park, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los
Gatos, Campbell and Santa Clara. Does it stretch as far
north as Redwood City and Foster City? Probably yes if
you, like Oracle, Brocade and Siebel, are located there.
Similarly if you are located in Morgan Hill or even Gilroy
to the south - but the Monterey peninsula is its own region.
Some
might also argue that the East Bay communities of Fremont
and Milpitas, as well as the Pleasanton/Livermore valley
or the Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley areas are in Silicon Valley.
Figuratively speaking they may be, even though geographically
they are their own valleys and regions. Before Silicon
Valley got its moniker, it used to be a luscious fruit
valley, and was known as the Valley of Heart's Delight.
IBM's large South San Jose campus was once a thriving
walnut farm, and the last fruit canning company has only
recently left the area.
Two
other naming oddities are located between San Francisco
and Silicon Valley. Firstly, a former county fair site,
with a large indoor amphitheater, which some writer one
described as nothing more than " glorified cow palace".
The name stuck, and today The Cow Palace is a sports and
entertainment destination all by itself today.
Secondly,
the San Francisco 49'rs football team plays their home
games in what is now called Monster Park. Of course, many
locals still prefer to call affectionately call it Candlestick
Park. (The affection comes from the suffering they have
suffered thanks to the wind, rain and mud on that little
outcrop). And at every function we attend in Silicon Valley,
people are surprised to learn that Monster.com is not
paying a dime for the naming rights. They don't even know
that Monster Cable is the real sponsor. Really makes us
wonder why Monster Cable and Video didn't just change
their own name to Candlestick Cable and Video.
As
for tourist attractions in Silicon Valley, there are none!
Of course, if you are an electronics geek you will like
the giant Fry's Electronics super stores. If you are from
outside North America you might enjoy the Stanford Shopping
Center, wandering around Stanford University Campus, or
even the Valley Fair Shopping Mall. If you are lucky you
can get a tour of NASA/Ames research facility at Moffet
Field or the joint Toyota/GM Nummi autoplant in Fremont.
Try the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose to stimulate
your brain or Paramount's Great America to stimulate your
fears.
Then
the next day, drive over the hill to Santa Cruz or Monterey,
or up the freeway to San Francisco or Muir Woods or Napa,
and become a real tourist. Further afield, but still within
four hour drive, you will find the Yosemite Valley, Big
Sur, Hearst Castle, Bodega Bay and Lake Tahoe regions.
Then you will start to appreciate why Northern California
is such a special place.
The Silicon Valley name and allure has been so popular that it has spawned many imitators, including Silicon Beach (San Diego Area) and Silicon Alley (New York City).
Here is a table of some of the companies that have their headquarters in Silicon Valley or the greater San Francisco Bay Area. This shows the real power of the area.
| Semiconductor |
Intel |
| |
AMD |
| |
National Semi |
| |
Cypress |
| |
Altera |
| |
IDT |
| |
Xilinx |
| Hardware |
Apple |
| |
H-P |
| |
SUN (Now part of Oracle) |
| |
Cisco |
| |
nVidia |
| |
Logitech |
| |
SanDisk |
| Software |
Ebay |
| |
Facebook |
| |
Twitter |
| |
Google |
| |
Oracle |
| |
Yahoo |
| |
Adobe |
| |
Autodesk |
| |
Cadence |
| |
Electronic Arts |
| |
Intuit |
| |
Salesforce.com |
| |
Sybase |
| |
Symantec |
| |
VMware |
| Financial |
PayPal |
| |
eTrade |
| |
Charles Schwab |
| |
Wells Fargo |
| |
Visa |
| Biotech |
Genentech (Now part of Roche Switzerland) |
| |
Affymetrix |
| |
Bio Rad Labs |
| |
Gilead Sciences |
| Equipment |
Agilent |
| |
Applied Materials |
| |
Varian |
| |
KLA-Tencor |
| |
Lam Research |
| Other |
Tesla Motors |
| |
Dolby Labs |
| |
Zynga |
| |
Netflix |
| |
Peet's Coffee and Tea |
| |
The Gap |
| |
Levi's |
| |
Tivo |
| |
Williams-Sonoma |
Footnote:
Many cities have nicknames too. Names they have inherited
from stories, songs, reality and folklore. A few of the
better known ones are: