A few Saturdays ago, Nathalie and I had the opportunity to spend some time out in Silicon Valley. Thanks to a contact we had made while we were on the island of Nusa Lembongan in Indonesia, we were able to score 'inside access' to the inner workings of the heartland of the cradle of technology. Like any adventure worthy of a productive Saturday, we started off at a bar...at 10:30 in the morning. If you can't imagine how that would turn out, click below to read the end result.
We met our friend Michael back in July during those iconic three weeks where Nathalie and I got stuck off of the coast of Bali. Michael was visiting Indonesia in search of the elusive Mola-Mola fish (spoiler: he didn't see it). Nathalie and I got to know him in between dives and in the evenings over drinks. As we got to know each other, Michael told us how he has been working for a major tech firm in the Bay-area for the past few decades and spoke highly of the region. We let him know that we were thinking of visiting California at some point in the near future and he told that we should look him up should we ever make it out that way.
Fast forward two months and we find ourselves driving southbound on I-280 (relatively) early on a Saturday morning. Our meet up was in the town of Cupertino, home to everyone's favorite Rosaceae-inspired computing company and where Michael was currently living. The plan was to meet at the generic BJ's Brewhouse and ss it would turn out, this restaurant was about as close as you get to Apple's headquarters without trespassing. The three of us agreed to order a sampler of beer and get ready for a day of catching up, drinking, and people watching. We settled in and got ready to observe how people living and working in one of the most fabled places on the planet spent their Saturday.
Over 150 years later, this gold rush mentality is still alive and well in Silicon Valley. However, instead of the miners being gritty men, they're alluring young women, and the prize that they're prospecting for isn't gold, it's Bay-area nerd-money. That's right, I witnessed the modern gold rush lead by a nefarious group of gold-digging women out to fulfill the ultimate fantasy of any socially awkward 20-something with more digits on their bank balance than a Japanese phone number.
I was utterly blown away by how many hot women were walking around BJ's Brewhouse. A few years back, I was visiting New York and spent a day with my colleagues on Wall Street. After work, they took me to a nearby bar where I also witnessed a disproportionate amount of beautiful women waiting to ambush the banking world's wealthy elite. But that was at the epicenter of the world's financial system, and this was in New York; the modern world's original mega-city. By contrast, these women in Cupertino had made an effort to go all the way out to San Jose's suburbs and hang out at this restaurant on the periphery a business park just in hopes of striking it rich. I was impressed.
Instead of looking like some uber-futuristic office space, the Apple campus (at least the part we saw fromthe circular road Infinite Loop Road) looked like any other office park built in the past 15 years. I was immediately driven to thoughts of my employer's second campus in the suburbs of Brussels, along with countless other new-ish suburban business parks. Given, I didn't have a chance to go into any of their buildings to take a look inside, but from the outside, nothing really seemed out of the ordinary.
After doubling back through the mall two times (in part to get pictures of the shops above), we finally found the Chinese restaurant. As it would turn out, Dynasty Seafood Restaurant is also a favorite event hall among the Chinese-American community. How do I know this? Because the moment we stepped in the door, we had joined an already in progress Chinese wedding. A bit taken back and feeling completely out of place, we had turned around to leave when Michael reached out to the staff to see if they would serve us. The restaurant's owners, ever the enterprising individuals, had quartered off a seating area available for customers to come in and have a bite. We had arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon and at that point were the only guests not related to the wedding. To top it off, Michael and I were still pretty drunk, and Nathalie was doing everything to suppress us.
It was probably the beer talking, but I felt this strong sense of nostalgia roaring up from the first half of this year when we were in Southeast Asia. Add in the two weeks I spent in Beijing nearly ten years ago, and I jumped right into my environment, no holds barred. Michael, who speaks Mandarin (he grew up in Singapore), ordered our dinner. I also brought out my very rusty and extremely poor Chinese to try and impress the waitress (it worked). Throughout the meal, I was both delighted and enlightened by my surroundings. In my first post about being in California, I talked about how I am mostly unfamiliar with the influence Asian immigration played in the United States (this is mainly due to me growing up in the Southeast). Being at this wedding brought me a lot closer to seeing the connection between the two continents.
Special thanks to Michael who was an absolutely fantastic host! It was a blast catching up and getting a glimpse of your neighborhood. Hopefully, you'll finally see that Mola-Mola.
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| Apple HQ |
Fast forward two months and we find ourselves driving southbound on I-280 (relatively) early on a Saturday morning. Our meet up was in the town of Cupertino, home to everyone's favorite Rosaceae-inspired computing company and where Michael was currently living. The plan was to meet at the generic BJ's Brewhouse and ss it would turn out, this restaurant was about as close as you get to Apple's headquarters without trespassing. The three of us agreed to order a sampler of beer and get ready for a day of catching up, drinking, and people watching. We settled in and got ready to observe how people living and working in one of the most fabled places on the planet spent their Saturday.
Hanging Out At Your Average After-Work Bar
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| How our day started (Michael in the background) |
As mentioned above, BJ's Brewhouse in Cupertino is the closest watering hole next to Apple's headquarters. One could easily envision that this bar would be some sort of snapshot straight out the oh-so-near future complete with the latest technological accomplishments on full display (think 'asking Siri to have the bar bring you a beer'). Instead, it was just your generic, American after-work bar. As the day slowly opened up before us, we watched a parade of mostly normal looking IT folk (if such a thing exists) coming in for lunch, an afternoon beer and a chance to watch college football on the many TVs scattered throughout the bar.
Sure, the people were a bit geeky and probably would get eaten alive at a more philistine-friendly establishment, but overall, other than the group of people who looked like they were the inspiration for the cast of HBO's Silicon Valley. Other than the one guy who was wearing his reading glasses over his sunglasses while reading the menu, most of the people in the bar didn't stand out in any particular way...except for one demographic.
The 21st Century 49ers
For those of you who aren't familiar with California's history, the state (or rather the territory as California didn't become a state until 1850) was by and large unpopulated before the 1840s. In the latter part of that decade, gold was found in the hills surrounding the Bay-area leading to a gold rush. This, in turn, lured prospectors out to the western-most edge of the continent to find their riches. While most didn't strike rich, the rush fostered the development of the state and the coining of the name "49ers" for those who headed out to California in 1849. |
| This guy would be furious with how well the nerds were doing (credit to the film "Revenge of the Nerds") |
I was utterly blown away by how many hot women were walking around BJ's Brewhouse. A few years back, I was visiting New York and spent a day with my colleagues on Wall Street. After work, they took me to a nearby bar where I also witnessed a disproportionate amount of beautiful women waiting to ambush the banking world's wealthy elite. But that was at the epicenter of the world's financial system, and this was in New York; the modern world's original mega-city. By contrast, these women in Cupertino had made an effort to go all the way out to San Jose's suburbs and hang out at this restaurant on the periphery a business park just in hopes of striking it rich. I was impressed.
Just Another Office Building
While the day went on and the lunch crowd came and went, Michael and I got drunk (Nathalie had long since stopped as she was the designated driver). By the time it hit three in the afternoon, it was time to go. Michael had been telling us about this fantastic Chinese place he knew and was quite insistent that we give it a try. Before we headed off though, we wanted to take a quick tour of the Apple campus to see where some of the most sought-after talents work at one of the world's most admired companies. As it would turn out, my expectations were once again totally off.Instead of looking like some uber-futuristic office space, the Apple campus (at least the part we saw from
The American Mall Succumbs
After a quick spin around the Apple campus, Michael set us on a course to his famed Chinese restaurant which so happened to be located in the heart of a shopping center. Once we parked the car and walked through the door, we were greeted to one of the saddest sights in all of the modern world: a dying mall. A relic of the eighties, still clinging to life despite the majority of the units vacant, the Vallco Shopping Mall once again showed me another part of Silicon Valley that might be unknown to an outsider. Among the numerous observations, the two that most stood out were:- Amazon and other online retailers seemed to have seriously killed off most shops. This could be attributed to the differentiating tastes of the local population and potential lack of motivation to want to go out shopping
- Given that the people with the money have a different idea of how to spend it, the tenants who remained weren't what you'd find anywhere else.
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| Saturday night action down at the RC car racing center |
For the first point, it's pretty straight-forward. The local demographic is made up of people who have made their money pioneering the digital revolution. Shopping online is commonplace practically anywhere, and Silicon Valley is no doubt a prime example of innovation disrupting an established industry.
For the second point, I was way more thrown off. Where there were shops (and I honestly think the mall has about a 30% occupancy rate), they weren't selling clothing or shoes or other items you'd associate with a shopping mall. In their place were stores catered to their customers; comic book stores, role-playing game (RPG) shops, a knife and 'battle ax' emporium, and perhaps most amusing; an RC car racing center complete with two tracks for the ultimate model car race. It seemed like this mall was being kept alive by the local population but only by a fragile string and only through very unique businesses.
Finishing Off On the Sidelines of a Chinese Wedding
After doubling back through the mall two times (in part to get pictures of the shops above), we finally found the Chinese restaurant. As it would turn out, Dynasty Seafood Restaurant is also a favorite event hall among the Chinese-American community. How do I know this? Because the moment we stepped in the door, we had joined an already in progress Chinese wedding. A bit taken back and feeling completely out of place, we had turned around to leave when Michael reached out to the staff to see if they would serve us. The restaurant's owners, ever the enterprising individuals, had quartered off a seating area available for customers to come in and have a bite. We had arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon and at that point were the only guests not related to the wedding. To top it off, Michael and I were still pretty drunk, and Nathalie was doing everything to suppress us.
It was probably the beer talking, but I felt this strong sense of nostalgia roaring up from the first half of this year when we were in Southeast Asia. Add in the two weeks I spent in Beijing nearly ten years ago, and I jumped right into my environment, no holds barred. Michael, who speaks Mandarin (he grew up in Singapore), ordered our dinner. I also brought out my very rusty and extremely poor Chinese to try and impress the waitress (it worked). Throughout the meal, I was both delighted and enlightened by my surroundings. In my first post about being in California, I talked about how I am mostly unfamiliar with the influence Asian immigration played in the United States (this is mainly due to me growing up in the Southeast). Being at this wedding brought me a lot closer to seeing the connection between the two continents.
* * *
After we finished our early dinner, we decided to call it a day. Michael and I had started drinking around 11:00 in the morning, and by the time we had dropped him off, it was close to 7:00 in the evening. Nathalie, who was a great sport at the end of the day was ready to head back up to San Francisco and unwind in front of a movie. I hadn't planned on having such a learning experience when I woke up that morning, but by the time it was all over, I had gone to bed enriched. Silicon Valley might be the forefront of the technological revolution continually unraveling before us, but when it's stripped down to its core, it's just another copy/paste of upper-class suburbia, albeit with a geeky twist. Maybe it's not so quixotic after all.Special thanks to Michael who was an absolutely fantastic host! It was a blast catching up and getting a glimpse of your neighborhood. Hopefully, you'll finally see that Mola-Mola.
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