So I live in silicon valley and it’s sort of like living wedged in between various kingdoms, what with Google and Facebook to the north-west and Apple to the south and various other big companies with huge sprawling campuses all around here. Knowing those places shuffle around billions of dollars is kind of nuts (especially in relation to the poverty all around them).
But I’m also aware that I live in the city where Atari got started. I’m not a big Atari person but I know the history and prominence of that company, and since moving to Sunnyvale (just one letter shy of the hell mouth) I’ve kind of poked around to see what vestiges remain of those game companies from the pre-00s. You can look up addresses of the old HQs and warehouses but much of the time you’ll just find some condos and apartment buildings.
But today, prompted by that recent visit to the Computer History Museum, I decided to look up Andy Capp’s tavern, the spot where the first Pong prototype was installed and Atari realized they had a hit. Turns out the tavern is long closed, of course, but the building still stands as a comedy club. I went there once many years ago, before I knew what used to be there and it was literally right up the street from my house.
And before it was this Rooster T. Feathers place, it was a comedy and dance club called Country Store, fitting in with this area’s former status as orchards for miles.
Now I think I’ll go watch a random comedian and see if I can get any sense of the dive bar it used to be. Turns out these old silicon valley people loved to hash things out at the bar.