The commute is horrible, whether by car or Caltrans. Many firms locate down in the heart of the valley for many reasons including that office space is consider

The commute is horrible, whether by car or Caltrans. Many firms locate down in the heart of the valley for many reasons including that office space is considerably less expensive, infrastructure is theoretically somewhat more robust, traditionally the biggest money firms are down there, many of the firms down there are related by chains of nepotism, there are fewer "distractions" for workers in those boring areas, executives can afford more posh places down there, .... The valley proper, back when I worked there, had all the elements of an old-school company town: easy for workers to move into, hard to move out; collusive hiring practices across firms; not much to do beside eat, work, sleep, and pay rent; even its own set of camp-follower brothels. It's an ugly, horrible environment and you're darn right it influences the decisions of some to simply not work there.