locations and establishments mentioned frequently
- work/the base/Moffett Field/Ames
- The NASA-Ames Research
Center, is part of historic Moffett Field, located between San
Francisco and San Jose, adjacent to the towns of Mountain View
and Sunnyvale. The huge building is "Hangar 1," built to house the
Navy's airships -- click
it to see a broader view of the base, from a different perspective.
The lab building where I work is visible in this picture, just
behind the hangar.
- El Camino (Real) and the 101
- "The royal road" -- another trail with the same name ran between
Mexico City and Santa Fe, but this one connected the California
missions. Now it's the main drag through my part of Silicon
Valley; I live close by. Up here el Camino stretches between
South San Francisco and north San Jose; down in LA the
name's attached to a bit of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH)
in Redondo Beach. These bell signs can also be spotted along
US highway 101 in central California. Up here the 101 runs
right past Moffett Field and eventually goes over the Bridge;
at the other end in LA, passing through The
Stack, it's the Hollywood Freeway.
- Stanford Theater
- Grand old renovated cinema with a balcony, in downtown
Palo Alto. Doesn't show new movies; instead it's a
repertory house featuring classic films, usually in
excellent condition and part of a themed festival. In
keeping with its timeless nature, "Lost Horizon" was
the first I saw there. Live organ music nightly as the
mighty Wurlitzer rises up out of the stage
before & after the 7:30 show!
- Peet's
- Coffee chain way better than Starbucks. The one
I'm seen at (daily) is in Los Altos -- it's where I harvest
the newsprint I read in the sauna at the gym. Occasionally
I go to their other nearby branch in Palo Alto. Although
they've had Northern California operations since 1966,
until recently they stayed local. Now they're expanding --
I've been to branches in Portland and Manhattan Beach
(where the prices are lower).
- Trader Joes
- A food and beverage store once peculiar to SoCal. I go for
the nuts, best dairy values, and frozen chicken, among many
other things. Great variey of cookies -- and check their
breakfast cereal selection!
- Yaohan and Ranch 99
- Japanese and Chinese supermarket chains. They each have
in-house eateries off to the side. Don't know how
widespread Ranch 99 is, only seen 'em in California;
Yaohan was once common in Japan (although their Home Islands
operation went bankrupt) and they not only have stores
out here, they've even established a beachhead in New
Jersey. More Yaohan details can be found in
this entry.
UPDATE: Yaohan's now out of business in the US,
too -- the local store (and perhaps the rest in
the domestic chain) is basically unchanged except
for a new name, Mitsuwa.
- Fry's
- West Coast "big-box" electronics chain. Loved for
the wide selection, low prices, and goofy themed decor;
but also despised for their
legendary
poor customer relations.
- Amoeba, Tower
- Record stores I frequent. The former is only in the
City and Berkeley; but there's a branch of the latter
in my neighborhood.
- the City
- San Francisco the
Bridge the Golden Gate. Less
enlightened folk make fun of those who
call it The City (especially San Jose boosters,
who correctly point out how their metropolitan
area now has a higher population) -- these people
are often a subset of the great unwashed who use
the derogatory, offensive term "Frisco." We
are not amused, and now you know better.
- Castro Street
- The main 'downtown' avenue of Mountain View, now
lined with restaurants and a few bookstores -- it runs
between el Camino and the 101. There's another one up
in San Francisco, which runs south near the end of
Market Street, through the district with the same
name.
- Mountain View
- one of the older communities in the Valley of
Heart's Delight. I live here, real close to the
borders of neighboring Los Altos and Palo Alto.
- the Valley of Heart's Delight
- Archaic name for Silicon Valley.
- the bikepath
- I ride to work at least once a week, and
there's a great stretch of my commute where I can use
the Stevens Creek Bike Path. This
entry has details, including pictures.
- DC/"inside the Beltway"/home
- I am from Washington, a D.C. native
(born in Georgetown), and friends and
family still live back there.
- Biltmore Street
- Where I was roomies with Tim
in the 1980's -- it's in Adams-Morgan, just
north of Dupont Circle in downtown DC, near
Rock Creek Park.
- College Park
- (Maryland) -- location of my school, the U of M;
my parents and Wunderland live nearby. Kendall
called the intersection of Knox Road and
Route 1 "the Great Magnet."
- Nags Head, the Outer Banks
- ...of North Carolina, where my god-daughter
lives; also known for the Lost Colony, Wright
Bros, Cape Hatteras, Brew Thru & etc.
- NoCal / SoCal
- Northern California / Southern California. (The
folks up North put on airs about how their part of
the state is superior to the Southland,
or so they think. Nice trees up here, definitely.)
- The Void
