The suburban office park that launched Silicon Valley
16 comments
·April 27, 2025glaucon
The transcript of the Alf Brandin interview is here - https://exhibits.stanford.edu/shs/catalog/pk029xq7977 . The in-browser viewer was a bit difficult from my point of view but you can download a PDF. For some reason the first eight pages are missing.
jasonfarnon
I think the pages are mixed up (there is a relevant "todo" on the cover page). For example p.1 of the transcript is PDF page 12 and p.2 ends up on PDF page 23. It's still a great read. The bad pagination almost works well, breaking up the pages of land development details with a random page from when he's in college putting a horse in a dorm room to prank his buddy.
drmpeg
Who remembers when route 237 was country road with a flashing signal at Maude Avenue? The Bier Garten (not sure of the spelling) on the corner was a favorite lunch hangout with awesome cheeseburgers.
marsten
I remember that! 237 was a country road through a lot of grassland. The only thing of note in that part of the bay was a few streets of houses in Alviso. Great America was surrounded by empty space when it was built.
dboreham
I think I remember 237 being 2-lane. Definitely remember the first Fry's location.
marsten
No wonder Varian is still here after all these years. A prepaid 99 year lease for $41k!
esafak
I'm a bit sad I never got to see the orange groves.
divbzero
I recognize Terman from the names of places at Stanford but never knew he played such a big role in the early days of Silicon Valley.
marsten
Terman gets a bad rap because his father, Lewis Terman, was a proponent of eugenics. There used to be a Terman middle school in Palo Alto named after Frederick, but the bad association with the Terman name compelled them to rename it. Which is unfortunate because if anyone deserves to have a school named after them in Silicon Valley, Frederick Terman should be high on the list.
mycall
Been here for 27 years and had no clue. Thank you.
black_13
[dead]
umanwizard
To potentially save folks a click: it’s Stanford Research Park.
pests
If all you’re looking for is the answer, which can be found with a quick google. There is more to the article than just that.
umanwizard
Nevertheless, clickbait headlines annoy me.
matt-p
"The history of Stanford Research Park"
Would mean much very little/nothing to most people, so I don't really see this as click bait.
The emphasis on using the outside green environment to inspire productivity should be rediscovered.