Silicon Valley: tech campuses, historic garages, and universities in California

This campus is the headquarters of Meta in the heart of Silicon Valley. Glass towers and low buildings stand among gardens and courtyards. Workers walk along paths between work areas where desks and cafes spread across several floors. A large sign along a street carries the blue logo of the company. Wide lawns and trees surround the structures. The place shows how tech firms shape their spaces when they gather many thousands of people under one roof or in connected halls.

This corporate headquarters consists of six blue cylindrical towers, each ten stories high, that recall database cylinders. The towers stand in Redwood Shores near the water and form the main site of Oracle. The shape of the buildings refers to the company's history with database software. Between the towers there are paths and green spaces, and the facades are clad in blue glass. Oracle belongs to the large technology companies in Silicon Valley and has built this campus since the 1990s.

Stanford University ranks among the most important universities in this region and has stood on a wide area between hills and gardens since the late 1800s. This institution has trained engineers and founders for decades, shaping many technology companies. Red tile roofs, stone arcades and broad plazas give the campus a calm, almost monastic appearance. In the labs and lecture halls, courses take place that connect new ideas with practical applications. Libraries hold historical documents and technical writings. Students walk on paths between low buildings, palms cast shade on lawns. Hoover Tower rises above the center and serves as a landmark. Besides the classrooms there are museums that display art and scientific collections. The campus sits near the large company headquarters and many garages where firms like HP and Apple began. Visitors can often view the buildings from outside and cross the open grounds.

This garage on Addison Avenue 367 marks the birthplace of Hewlett-Packard, founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in 1939. The building is now registered as a historic landmark and represents the early days of the computer industry in Silicon Valley, which later became a global center for technology.

This research center and headquarters of Google features low modern buildings in bright colors, surrounded by lawns and trees in Mountain View. The campus spreads over several blocks and holds offices, labs, and canteens for the developers who work here every day. On the open spaces stand large statues representing different versions of the Android system—from Cupcake to later releases—that visitors like to photograph. The architecture follows the relaxed style of the California coast with plenty of glass, steel, and wood. In the gardens there are paths for walking, benches, and small plazas where employees sit during breaks or lie on the grass. The mood remains easygoing and open despite the size. This campus is part of the collection of tech centers, historic garages, and universities in Silicon Valley.

This Apple headquarters forms a ring of low buildings surrounded by planted areas. The glass walls bring in daylight, and the design follows clean lines. A visitor center offers models of the site, a store with branded products, and a rooftop that lets you see the circular glass and concrete structure set among the hills of Cupertino. The place sits in Silicon Valley, where other large tech companies also keep their offices.

This garage belonged to the home of Steve Jobs' family. Here Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak assembled the first Apple computers in 1976. The small building in a residential area of Los Altos shows where the ideas began that later led to the products and headquarters in Cupertino. Passersby can get a view from outside of the place that became part of Silicon Valley history.

This museum tells the story of semiconductors and Intel microprocessors since the company was founded in 1968. The displays show early chips, old computers, and tools from the first years. Visitors can see how processors changed from large boards to tiny pieces. The museum sits in Silicon Valley, where many technology firms have their centers. It fits with the garages in Palo Alto and Los Altos where other well-known companies started.

This residence sits on the edge of San Jose and shows the will of one woman to keep building. Sarah Winchester had workers add rooms, stairs, and doors for 38 years without a fixed plan. Today, steps lead into ceilings, doors open onto walls, and narrow passages end abruptly. The house has 160 rooms spread across several floors. Visitors walk through Victorian parlors, kitchens with old stoves, and corridors that twist. Windows look onto courtyards or other walls. The architecture feels like a puzzle made of wood and glass. In a region where tech companies show rational progress, the Winchester Mystery House reminds travelers that people can also build without logic.

This visitor center at NASA's Ames Research Center presents rocket models, flight simulators, and displays about NASA missions. The facility fits into the tech landscape of Silicon Valley, where major technology firms and research institutions stand close together. Walking through the exhibition rooms, guests can see replicas of space capsules and engines developed over recent decades. Some simulators let visitors experience what flight feels like. The center sits near the campuses of Google and Oracle, reminding people that aerospace engineering advances here alongside computers and software.

This store on the Google campus sells T-shirts, hats, water bottles, and other items with the company logo. Shelves display clothing in the typical Google colors: blue, red, yellow, and green. Visitors also find small figures of Android mascots, notebooks, and USB sticks. The Google Merchandise Store sits beside other low buildings on the Mountain View campus. Many employees and tourists stop by to pick up a souvenir from the heart of Silicon Valley.

This museum in downtown Oakland shows life and nature in California through three permanent exhibitions. One features paintings and sculptures by artists from the state, a second walks through the history of the region from the Gold Rush to the tech industry, and a third presents the landscapes and animals that live between the Pacific coast and the desert. The buildings surround a courtyard with gardens and terraces where visitors can rest between exhibitions. Lake Merritt is a short walk from the museum.

The Exploratorium in San Francisco offers about 600 hands-on experiments that explain perception, biology, and physical phenomena. This museum sits at Pier 15 with views of the bay. Visitors turn wheels, look through lenses, hear sound in different rooms, and test optical illusions. The exhibits show how the brain processes images, how light works, and how organisms respond to their surroundings. In dark booths you touch objects by feel, at open tables you mix colors or build simple circuits. Children and adults often stand side by side trying the same devices. The building has large windows letting in daylight while ships pass outside. In the context of Silicon Valley, the Exploratorium shows how curiosity and hands-on learning shape the region's scientific culture.

The California Academy of Sciences brings research and public exhibits together under a living roof in San Francisco. This institution shows how the region combines technology with the natural world. The planetarium, aquarium, and rainforest dome share space in Golden Gate Park. Native plants grow on the roof, absorbing rainwater and cooling the building. Visitors see models of the solar system, Pacific fish in large tanks, and butterflies moving freely among palms. The complex runs research programs and displays on climate, evolution, and biodiversity.

This art museum occupies a former post office built in 1892 and displays contemporary work by artists from California. The collection includes paintings, photographs, and sculptures, often connected to digital media and new technologies that match the technical surroundings of Silicon Valley. Rotating exhibitions bring in work by regional artists who explore culture, change, and urban experiences. The building still shows its sandstone facade with Romanesque arches, while the interior spaces are bright and modern. Located in downtown San Jose, the museum sits close to tech firms, universities, and startups that shape this part of California.

This shopping street in Silicon Valley offers fashion boutiques, restaurants, and cafés in a residential district with apartments on the upper floors. The buildings show different facades of brick and stucco, arcades provide shade along the sidewalks. Trees stand in rows between the shops, fountains and benches invite visitors to rest. In the evening people come to eat or walk, during the day they visit stores or meet in the cafés. The atmosphere recalls a European street, while all around the office towers of San Jose remain visible.

This shopping center sits in Palo Alto near the university and offers over one hundred shops and restaurants under the open sky. Pathways run between flowerbeds and fountains, and there are many benches for resting. The center lies in the heart of Silicon Valley, where people working in tech and students often come to shop or eat.

This museum sits in downtown San Jose and presents the technological development of Silicon Valley from the early days of computing to the present. Displays start with the first microprocessors of the 1960s and move forward to current software and hardware. Visitors can sit at terminals, control robots, and follow the steps of building circuit boards. Entire rooms are devoted to the beginnings of companies like HP, Apple, and Intel, showing original devices from the founders' workshops and garages. Children and adults learn by touching and testing how technology works and how it has changed over the decades. The museum is part of a wider network of sites in the region that trace the shift from orchards to the center of the computer industry.

This main street dates from the 1920s and sits in a residential neighborhood of San Jose, several miles south of the office towers and research centers of Silicon Valley. Cafes, restaurants serving traditional fare, and local shops line the blocks. The low buildings have storefronts and porches, and the sidewalks are wide and tree-lined. During the day residents come to shop or have lunch, and in the evening tables on the patios fill up. The feel is that of a small town, though downtown San Jose is only a few minutes away by car.

This corporate campus in Redwood City houses the administrative offices, studios, and central services of Electronic Arts. The headquarters belong to the major gaming companies in Silicon Valley, standing alongside the campuses of tech firms like Apple, Google, and Meta. Low buildings and office spaces define the site, where teams work on titles across different genres. Electronic Arts began in the early 1980s and grew into one of the largest publishers in the industry. Visitors do not find public museums here like the Intel Museum in Santa Clara, but the campus shows the presence of the gaming industry in the region. Engineers and designers use spaces for development and testing, while administrative departments coordinate sales and marketing. The headquarters sit not far from Stanford, where many graduates start their careers in technology.

This campus houses the teams that run eBay's online commerce platform. The site sits in San Jose with low office buildings and wide lawns between them. Developers, marketing staff, and managers come together here each day. The architecture looks plain with glass and concrete. Nearby you find other tech company locations across Silicon Valley, and the streets buzz with employees walking between buildings or taking breaks on terraces during daytime.

The three towers of Adobe Headquarters rise in San Jose and gather the software company's global research, development, and administration departments. Glass reflects the California light and lets the buildings merge into the surrounding parks. Employees walk between the wings, where labs, workstations, and meeting rooms create the software that designers and publishers use. The architecture is modern and plain, fitting the clean style of the Silicon Valley tech industry.

This building complex in Los Gatos serves as the headquarters of Netflix, one of the first streaming services in the world. Employees here develop algorithms, plan series and films, and manage the platform that reaches millions of subscribers worldwide. The offices occupy modern buildings with glass facades and open workspaces. The company started in the late 1990s as a mail-order DVD rental service and later shifted to online streaming. Los Gatos sits at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San Jose, and marks the southern edge of Silicon Valley. This Netflix center shows how digital entertainment is managed from California's technology hub, much like the campuses of Meta, Apple, Google, and Oracle in the area.

The former Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale served as the company's main site from 1999 until 2021. Several buildings on the campus housed development teams and administrative offices where the firm ran and improved its web services. Today the complex is part of Silicon Valley's record of rapid change in the technology industry.

This NASA research center lies in Mountain View and was created in 1939. Technicians develop space technologies in the labs, conduct flight simulations, and work on projects for crewed missions and satellites. Visitors sometimes see wind tunnels, test facilities, and exhibitions about earlier space programs, while older aircraft and rocket stages stand outside on the lawns.

Berkeley University was founded in 1868 and lies north of Silicon Valley. This institution trains students in computer science, robotics, and other technology fields across fourteen faculties. Research labs on campus have educated developers and founders for decades, many of whom go on to work at tech companies in the Valley or start their own. Red brick buildings and shaded paths define the grounds. From campus you can see San Francisco Bay.

This museum has shown the aerial military history of the base since 1933. The collection includes aircraft, equipment, and archival documents. It fits into this Silicon Valley overview because Moffett Field sits near the tech campuses and garages where HP, Apple, and other companies began. Like the Intel museum and Stanford's research labs, this museum preserves records of technical development, though here the focus is on aviation and military history that also shaped the region.

This museum shows how computers developed over centuries. More than two thousand objects range from mechanical calculating machines of the 17th century to today's microprocessors and network technologies. Visitors can see early punch card machines, first transistor models, mainframes from the 1960s, and the prototypes of personal computers that made Silicon Valley famous. Guided tours explain how the invention of the transistor and the microchip changed daily life.

This museum collects 14,000 photographic prints from the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and Edward Weston. The collection shows how photography developed in California while the electronics industry was taking shape nearby. Visitors see landscape images by Adams, portraits by Cunningham, and experimental work by Weston. The exhibition runs in a building on the Stanford University campus, where the history of technology and the history of art sit side by side.

This venue serves Mountain View as a gathering place for concerts, theater plays, and exhibitions. The hall seats 600 visitors and sits in the middle of a city shaped by many technology companies. Performances here range from classical music to modern productions and happen regularly. The architecture fits into the cityscape and draws locals and visitors looking for cultural programs in the heart of Silicon Valley.