# Silicon Junction, CA

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silicon-junction-ca/8143>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 5, 2000, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silicon-junction-ca/8143 "2000-03-05T12:04:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silicon-junction-ca/8143/1 "2000-03-05T12:04:00Z")

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IIRC, in the 1960s some people used to refer to the area around Palo Alto, CA as “Silicon Junction.” To people familiar with the history and structure of transistors, this was a mildly funny pun. Now people refer to the same area as Silicon Valley. This isn’t funny and besides, how can a “palo alto” be a valley?

Does anyone else recall the term Silicon Junction being used to refer to what is now known in the press as Silicon Valley?

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**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silicon-junction-ca/8143/2 "2000-03-05T15:55:00Z")

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I don’t know about Silicon Junction (other than, I think it’s the name of a microchip co.) but the city of Palo Alto was named for a tall redwood tree under which a group of Spanish explorers camped in 1769.

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**Author:** ![Lawmill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lawmill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawmill)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silicon-junction-ca/8143/3 "2000-03-05T17:40:00Z")

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Hewlett-Packard was founded in Palo Alto, so that was the epicenter of early computer work. Companies began to move south towards San Jose, probably because land was cheaper.

With the Santa Cruz mountains on one side, the current technological area is a valley.

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**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silicon-junction-ca/8143/4 "2000-03-05T21:52:00Z")

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I wasn’t quite born in the 1960s, but I can assure you that Silicon Valley IS a valley. Its “official” name is the Santa Clara Valley. I know, Palo Alto isn’t really part of that, but the computer industry has shifted south, and Palo Alto is no longer its center.

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~Harborina

“Don’t Do It.”