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Birthplace of Silicon Valley in Shambles

Posted by samzenpus on from the preserving-the-past dept.

CowTipperGore writes "Founded by William Shockley in the mid-50s, Shockley Semiconductor Lab is generally credited with starting the Silicon Valley boom. When he was unable to lure his former Bell Labs coworkers to join him, he filled his ranks with the best and brightest engineering school grads, including Gordon Moore and others who later went on to form Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel. The building at 391 San Antonio Road, Mountain View, California, is the original site of the company but, unlike the HP Garage, this building has received little protection or preservation. It recently housed a fruit stand, where visitors could find a small display about Shockley above baskets of fruit. The fruit stand is now closed, leaving the future of the building in the air."

10 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Opening bid... by beckerist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do I hear 100$?

  2. Sounds like a guy worth honoring... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful
    From the Wikipedia link:

    Instead he founded the core of a new company in the best and brightest new graduates coming out of the engineering schools.

    Only a year later the staff was already fed up with Shockley's increasingly bizarre behavior. In one famous incident Shockley's secretary accidentally cut her finger and he became convinced it was a plot against him. He then ordered everyone in the company to take a lie detector test to track down the culprit. It was later demonstrated she had cut herself on a broken thumbtack and Shockley calmed down, but the damage was already done. This had proven to be a decisive example to several key personnel of Shockley's increasing paranoia, and a group of eight engineers decided they had had enough.


    As for the building itself, I always have a bit of a struggle in deciding how to approach potential landmarks. The problem is that every time we reserve land as a "landmark", we reduce the ability of that particular area to advance. That land could be used for a larger, more modern building supporting new and exciting development. And yet, what would we lose to history if it was torn down?

    In the end, I think there must be a balance struck. Unless the site is incredibly valuable to history, it should be thoroughly documented (including the transfer of any and all objects/materials related to the site to a historical society) and then allowed to be replaced or torn down.
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    1. Re:Sounds like a guy worth honoring... by evw · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unlike the HP garage, which behind a reasonably cute house in a reasonably cute neighborhood (and HP has put up the money to buy and restore the house and garage), Shockley Semi was in a very unremarkable building. It's great to have a landmark sign there but do you really need to preserve the cheap building?

      Just a few blocks away is another notable site:

      http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21522

      NO. 1000 SITE OF INVENTION OF THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY PRACTICABLE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - At this site in 1959, Dr. Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation invented the first integrated circuit that could be produced commercially. Based on 'planar' technology, an earlier Fairchild breakthrough, Noyce's invention consisted of a complete electronic circuit inside a small silicon chip. His innovation helped revolutionize 'Silicon Valley's' semicondutor electronics industry, and brought profound change to the lives of people everywhere.
      Location: 844 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto

      It's also in a pretty unremarkable building.

      Just a few blocks from the HP garage is another interesting site:

      NO. 836 PIONEER ELECTRONICS RESEARCH LABORATORY - This is the original site of the laboratory and factory of Federal Telegraph Company, founded in 1909 by Cyril F. Elwell. Here, Dr. Lee de Forest, inventor of the three-element radio vacuum tube, devised the first vacuum tube amplifier and oscillator in 1911-13. Worldwide developments based on this research led to modern radio communication, television, and the electronics age.
      Location: In sidewalk, SE corner of Channing Ave and Emerson St, Palo Alto

      That building is already long gone. Unless there's something remarkable about the building or you have a sympathetic property owner, I say let progress march on.

    2. Re:Sounds like a guy worth honoring... by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think there is an issue of scale...I mean, standing in George Washington's home, or standing on the Pyramids, contrasted with a dinky fruit stand that was really more like the building that housed the first failed startup (complete with hellish boss) that contained a group that moved on to do great things.

      It's pretty slim.

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      ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
    3. Re:Sounds like a guy worth honoring... by jackbird · · Score: 4, Informative
      Can you imagine downtown being pretty much a museum?

      Come visit Philadelphia sometime. It's nice.

    4. Re:Sounds like a guy worth honoring... by Plutonite · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have stood on the great pyramid and have been in Alexander's room of enlightenment, and Saladin's wall of Cairo, and the scenes of many great battles where tens of thousands died. Let me tell you: it's all a dinky fruit stand. Chirping crickets, blowing sand. We just like to fool ourselves.

  3. Since it is a "tech building" by session_start · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why not preserve its memory in a virtual world. That way you could use the physical land for something more useful, and still have the digital landmark for everyone to tour... I'm sure someone could make it happen and even profit from it...

  4. Nooooooo! by Dr.+Photo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not the fruit stand! Please say the fruit is ok!!

  5. Lol by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think we should tear it down so future generations can imagine it to have been an amazing place, instead of just another chunk of disposable cinder block.

    Seriously. While I'm all for preserving historic architecture this place is a fricking dump...It was a dump even when it was new, just the kind of place that you would expect to house a startup that was run by a crackpot who only hired kids straight outta college (because his former colleagues refused to work with him).

    Tells you something about the place that during the 50s a bunch of kids right out of school were so fed up that they quit in a group after one year. Think how likely that would be today, and imagine what it would have been like back then, when you expected to stay with a company much longer.

    --
    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  6. Re:wtf? by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You think the Romans wouldn't have torn it down if they could have? It's not like they had reliable explosives to make it collapse like we do now. Imagine you'd have to tear down that stadium with pickaxes.

    The collosseum was abandoned (or rather, ceased to be used) because they switched to the Christian faith and those games were seen as heathen. Do you REALLY think they would not have torn it down if they had any chance to? We have a rich history of destroying 'heathen' places of worship, you think some huge reminder of that time like the collosseum would have survived if they saw any chance to actually destroy it?

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