8 ms·

Ask HN: Moving to Mountain View CA – Places to go to hang with fellow geeks?

47 points by mrburton 9y ago

I'm looking to see where geeks hang out in mountain view? Coffee shops, co-working spaces, etc. Suggestions?

RNeff 9y ago
Try the Hacker Dojo, was in MV, now in Santa Clara. https://hackerdojo.com/ https://hackerdojo.com/
coderholic 9y ago
Welcome! RedRock is a nice place to work out of, although it gets busy and hard to get a seat if you turn up after ~10am, but gets quiet again in the afternoon. I also like working (on https://ipinfo.io https://ipinfo.io) from the library, which has tons of desks and great wifi.
feross 9y ago
Philz Coffee on Middlefield Rd. is an excellent place to work. I wrote large portions of WebTorrent and StandardJS at that coffee shop.
- Nuzzerino 9y ago
  I think that location was also shown in an episode of Silicon Valley.
csnewb 9y ago
Hana Haus in Palo Alto is a great co-working space, and is about a 15 minute drive from MV. Otherwise I really enjoy the Mountain View public library, just make sure to get there early before it gets flooded with engineers and Stanford students. The study environment there is even more intense than my old college library.
- nijaru 9y ago
  I live in the east bay, but I have stopped here when visiting my grandparents and it's a nice place.
aanet 9y ago
1. Red Rock in downtown Mtn View - great place to work / meetup / chat with fellow geeks. Best thing - great Wifi! 2. Data St Coffee is also great - though Wifi isn't as good 3. Mtn View Library is also good - but my experience with Wifi wasn't as great 4. Hacker Dojo, when it was in Mtn View, is a great place. Now it's moved to Santa Clara
- ovrdrv3 9y ago
  "Data St Coffee" with bad Wi-Fi? They had one job
  - jdoliner 9y ago
    Data St. Coffee is, I believe, actually referring to Dana St. Roasting Company. So the bad Wi-Fi is marginally more forgivable.
    - DrScump 9y ago
      Dana St. is more basic, open, casual, and old-school. Live music here and there (with loud salsa music bleeding over from next door otherwise). Years ago, they were the first to have WiFi at all in downtown (except perhaps Printers Inc.'s upstairs cafe).
- holychiz 9y ago
  I think you meant Dana St. Coffee.
jayavanth 9y ago
Umm.. This new place called anywhere!?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
jedberg 9y ago
You'll see a lot of people say "Red Rock", and there is a reason why. It's very friendly to tech meetings. They have an upstairs with a bunch of power and wifi, and they don't seem to kick anyone out even if they stay for hours. I've attended multiple meetings there as both a founder and investor. It's kinda funny actually how much of a default meeting place it is. Also the office for 500 startups is right down the street, so you'll see a bunch of the 500 startups people roaming around.
- hkmurakami 9y ago
  Is Mozilla HQ still around downtown or did they move?
  - khuey 9y ago
    Mozilla is down on Evelyn between the freeways now.
- khazhoux 9y ago
  Their espresso is ridiculously bitter. You've been warned.
  - Florin_Andrei 9y ago
    I mean, it's espresso. It's supposed to be bitter.
    - khazhoux 9y ago
      A better term would be tart. It's extremely acidic.
ageitgey 9y ago
Not to be flip, but literally anywhere. Mountain View is a pretty small place with just one main street - Castro St. You'll see people coding on laptops at every cafe and restaurant around there. It's the same way in Palo Alto around University Ave and to a lesser extent, Menlo Park around Santa Cruz Ave. Your biggest problem with be the inability to escape the "tech world" since nearly everyone you meet will work in tech. But if you want to meet up with someone to code or chat, the suggestions for both RedRock Coffee (Mountain View) and Philz Coffee (Palo Alto) are great.
- harlanji 9y ago
  Used to live in MV, comment is legit. I still drive down to RedRock from SF at times on the weekend, years after moving (40ish mi).
- nwenzel 9y ago
  Currently live in Mountain View. Red Rock is the epicenter. Lesser known (but pointing it out here so it gets more business and stays in business) is Olympus Caffe & Bakery. It’s not really suited towards long coding sessions. But it’s easier to talk without being overheard by 18 other startups. Agree with other posters. The challenge is escaping tech. I have two kids and every parent at their school works for Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Apple, HP, some startup unicorn, or some new startup. Me? Oh, uh yeah. I’m a founder of a 50-person startup.
  - hangonhn 9y ago
    I've written thousands and thousands of lines of code at Red Rock. The wifi can be a little flaky and the seating isn't ideal but the coffee is good and the business is a non-profit. Bring a pair of headphones if you want to escape the noise.
    - DrScump 9y ago
      But if there's a performance upstairs (and, yes, Open Mic counts), please have manners and don't take your loud conversations upstairs with you. I recommend the Assam tea. Real, loose leaf in a real pot.
taurath 9y ago
People will say "literally anywhere", and its true that those are the places that geeks hang out (they outnumber non-geeks by 5:1). But finding geeks that are actually open to conversations is harder - there isn't really a place that people hang out where they're open to new people except bars or interest meetups.
- petercooper 9y ago
  I've not yet been there despite donating to them but I assumed somewhere like https://hackerdojo.com/ https://hackerdojo.com/ could fit the bill.
- ajeet_dhaliwal 9y ago
  That’s what I was thinking, what does it even mean to ‘hang out with fellow geeks’. You can’t just randomly strike up a conversation with anyone who’s in the middle of coding in a coffee shop anywhere in the world, I would find that annoying. There would need to be a meet up or event where everyone is expecting this.
Techonomicon 9y ago
Anywhere is the truth, if you really want to actually meet people who share interests then go to those sorts of places (cycling events, rock climbing gym, etc). Red Rock is a great coffee shop, I'm partial to Dana St, there's the hacker dojo, but for me I enjoy the friends I've found outside of the "forced" situations.
kearneyandy 9y ago
It's pretty incredible how many people rock climb (at Planet Granite in Sunnyvale). People are interested in talking there as well, as opposed to lots of cafes where people are heads down. Meetup groups for things like Ultimate Frisbee, Spikeball are good too.
jpnelson 9y ago
\o/ welcome!
- perrohunter 9y ago
  \o/
jxramos 9y ago
Check out the meetup.com scene in the South Bay Area; lots of fun events hosted at Google, LinkedIn, Nvidia, various small startups etc close enough to Mountain View. Search for a piece in a tech stack of interest and you'd usually find some hits. Check their recent calendar of past events to gauge how active they are.
- DrScump 9y ago
  SVLUG meets at Cavium in San Jose nowadays, although they used to meet at the Symantec cafe space for years.
chrisprobert 9y ago
Coupa Cafe on Ramona St. in Palo Alto, or the one in Y2E2 at Stanford.
sureaboutthis 9y ago
Isn't this like asking, "I'm going to a Major League Baseball game. Where can I hang out with baseball fans?"
- tristanj 9y ago
  Most people who live in Mountain View, and silicon valley in general, aren’t tech workers. There are a lot of people working in the services industry, management, finance, marketing, etc or just not working in general (kids spouses or retired persons). Here is a quora post that illustrates this: in 2013 only 12% of people who lived in SF were actually tech workers. https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-SF-inhabitants-are-tech-workers-Those-who-commute-from-SF-should-be-included-But-do-not-include-those-who-commute-to-SF-for-work https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-SF-inhabitants-are-...
throwawayrp 9y ago
I'll be surprised if human's communicate with each other in Silicon Valley? Do update this thread in few months if you happen to really connect with fellow geeks :)
russelluresti 9y ago
Afternoon hangout is Red Rock cafe, as many have mentioned. Evening hang out is Steins Beer Garden (usually on the outdoor patio - you'll find a lot of big groups there).
perrohunter 9y ago
Hit me up, we can go for lunch and socialize :P disclaimer: i work in tech
DrScump 9y ago
Another option is Specialty's (the built-in typo always makes me cringe) on Ellis St by 101. It's more of a bakery/cafe. Symantec is down the street. Parking is a problem anytime around lunch. WiFi was a problem for months on end; I haven't tried it lately. Trivia: when Moffett Field was still a thing, that 101 exit was known as Moffett South Gate.
mrburton 9y ago
Thanks for the suggestions! I curated a list based on the feedback. - RedRock Coffee 9x - Philz Coffee 2x - Olympus Caffe & Bakery - Coffeebar - HackerDojo - Dana St Coffee - Coupa Cafe - Y2E2 I talked to a friend who recently moved to MV, and she told me Red Rock does have poor wifi; too many people using it? When I move to Mountain View - I'll be sure to post it on Hackernews so I can meet up with some folks. I love programming and I also enjoy playing bullet chess. :)
flyingscotsman 9y ago
The Bierhaus and Steins are fine establishments but Mountain View is a strange place and I soon left for the City. As an expat, I absolutely recommend the best way to meet people is to go out on a bike ride with a local group (try Alto Velo) nobody cares who you are or what you do, but everyone is pleased to see you. Do well.

47 points by mrburton 9y ago

I'm looking to see where geeks hang out in mountain view? Coffee shops, co-working spaces, etc. Suggestions?

RNeff 9y ago

Try the Hacker Dojo, was in MV, now in Santa Clara. https://hackerdojo.com/ https://hackerdojo.com/

coderholic 9y ago

Welcome! RedRock is a nice place to work out of, although it gets busy and hard to get a seat if you turn up after ~10am, but gets quiet again in the afternoon. I also like working (on https://ipinfo.io https://ipinfo.io) from the library, which has tons of desks and great wifi.

feross 9y ago

Philz Coffee on Middlefield Rd. is an excellent place to work. I wrote large portions of WebTorrent and StandardJS at that coffee shop.

Nuzzerino 9y ago
I think that location was also shown in an episode of Silicon Valley.

csnewb 9y ago

Hana Haus in Palo Alto is a great co-working space, and is about a 15 minute drive from MV. Otherwise I really enjoy the Mountain View public library, just make sure to get there early before it gets flooded with engineers and Stanford students. The study environment there is even more intense than my old college library.

nijaru 9y ago
I live in the east bay, but I have stopped here when visiting my grandparents and it's a nice place.

aanet 9y ago

1. Red Rock in downtown Mtn View - great place to work / meetup / chat with fellow geeks. Best thing - great Wifi! 2. Data St Coffee is also great - though Wifi isn't as good 3. Mtn View Library is also good - but my experience with Wifi wasn't as great 4. Hacker Dojo, when it was in Mtn View, is a great place. Now it's moved to Santa Clara

ovrdrv3 9y ago
"Data St Coffee" with bad Wi-Fi? They had one job
- jdoliner 9y ago
  Data St. Coffee is, I believe, actually referring to Dana St. Roasting Company. So the bad Wi-Fi is marginally more forgivable.
  - DrScump 9y ago
    Dana St. is more basic, open, casual, and old-school. Live music here and there (with loud salsa music bleeding over from next door otherwise). Years ago, they were the first to have WiFi at all in downtown (except perhaps Printers Inc.'s upstairs cafe).
holychiz 9y ago
I think you meant Dana St. Coffee.

jayavanth 9y ago

Umm.. This new place called anywhere!?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

jedberg 9y ago

You'll see a lot of people say "Red Rock", and there is a reason why. It's very friendly to tech meetings. They have an upstairs with a bunch of power and wifi, and they don't seem to kick anyone out even if they stay for hours. I've attended multiple meetings there as both a founder and investor. It's kinda funny actually how much of a default meeting place it is. Also the office for 500 startups is right down the street, so you'll see a bunch of the 500 startups people roaming around.

hkmurakami 9y ago
Is Mozilla HQ still around downtown or did they move?
- khuey 9y ago
  Mozilla is down on Evelyn between the freeways now.
khazhoux 9y ago
Their espresso is ridiculously bitter. You've been warned.
- Florin_Andrei 9y ago
  I mean, it's espresso. It's supposed to be bitter.
  - khazhoux 9y ago
    A better term would be tart. It's extremely acidic.

ageitgey 9y ago

Not to be flip, but literally anywhere. Mountain View is a pretty small place with just one main street - Castro St. You'll see people coding on laptops at every cafe and restaurant around there. It's the same way in Palo Alto around University Ave and to a lesser extent, Menlo Park around Santa Cruz Ave. Your biggest problem with be the inability to escape the "tech world" since nearly everyone you meet will work in tech. But if you want to meet up with someone to code or chat, the suggestions for both RedRock Coffee (Mountain View) and Philz Coffee (Palo Alto) are great.

harlanji 9y ago
Used to live in MV, comment is legit. I still drive down to RedRock from SF at times on the weekend, years after moving (40ish mi).
nwenzel 9y ago
Currently live in Mountain View. Red Rock is the epicenter. Lesser known (but pointing it out here so it gets more business and stays in business) is Olympus Caffe & Bakery. It’s not really suited towards long coding sessions. But it’s easier to talk without being overheard by 18 other startups. Agree with other posters. The challenge is escaping tech. I have two kids and every parent at their school works for Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Apple, HP, some startup unicorn, or some new startup. Me? Oh, uh yeah. I’m a founder of a 50-person startup.
- hangonhn 9y ago
  I've written thousands and thousands of lines of code at Red Rock. The wifi can be a little flaky and the seating isn't ideal but the coffee is good and the business is a non-profit. Bring a pair of headphones if you want to escape the noise.
  - DrScump 9y ago
    But if there's a performance upstairs (and, yes, Open Mic counts), please have manners and don't take your loud conversations upstairs with you. I recommend the Assam tea. Real, loose leaf in a real pot.

taurath 9y ago

People will say "literally anywhere", and its true that those are the places that geeks hang out (they outnumber non-geeks by 5:1). But finding geeks that are actually open to conversations is harder - there isn't really a place that people hang out where they're open to new people except bars or interest meetups.

petercooper 9y ago
I've not yet been there despite donating to them but I assumed somewhere like https://hackerdojo.com/ https://hackerdojo.com/ could fit the bill.
ajeet_dhaliwal 9y ago
That’s what I was thinking, what does it even mean to ‘hang out with fellow geeks’. You can’t just randomly strike up a conversation with anyone who’s in the middle of coding in a coffee shop anywhere in the world, I would find that annoying. There would need to be a meet up or event where everyone is expecting this.

Techonomicon 9y ago

Anywhere is the truth, if you really want to actually meet people who share interests then go to those sorts of places (cycling events, rock climbing gym, etc). Red Rock is a great coffee shop, I'm partial to Dana St, there's the hacker dojo, but for me I enjoy the friends I've found outside of the "forced" situations.

kearneyandy 9y ago

It's pretty incredible how many people rock climb (at Planet Granite in Sunnyvale). People are interested in talking there as well, as opposed to lots of cafes where people are heads down. Meetup groups for things like Ultimate Frisbee, Spikeball are good too.

jpnelson 9y ago

\o/ welcome!

perrohunter 9y ago
\o/

jxramos 9y ago

Check out the meetup.com scene in the South Bay Area; lots of fun events hosted at Google, LinkedIn, Nvidia, various small startups etc close enough to Mountain View. Search for a piece in a tech stack of interest and you'd usually find some hits. Check their recent calendar of past events to gauge how active they are.

DrScump 9y ago
SVLUG meets at Cavium in San Jose nowadays, although they used to meet at the Symantec cafe space for years.

chrisprobert 9y ago

Coupa Cafe on Ramona St. in Palo Alto, or the one in Y2E2 at Stanford.

sureaboutthis 9y ago

Isn't this like asking, "I'm going to a Major League Baseball game. Where can I hang out with baseball fans?"

tristanj 9y ago
Most people who live in Mountain View, and silicon valley in general, aren’t tech workers. There are a lot of people working in the services industry, management, finance, marketing, etc or just not working in general (kids spouses or retired persons). Here is a quora post that illustrates this: in 2013 only 12% of people who lived in SF were actually tech workers. https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-SF-inhabitants-are-tech-workers-Those-who-commute-from-SF-should-be-included-But-do-not-include-those-who-commute-to-SF-for-work https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-SF-inhabitants-are-...

throwawayrp 9y ago

I'll be surprised if human's communicate with each other in Silicon Valley? Do update this thread in few months if you happen to really connect with fellow geeks :)

russelluresti 9y ago

Afternoon hangout is Red Rock cafe, as many have mentioned. Evening hang out is Steins Beer Garden (usually on the outdoor patio - you'll find a lot of big groups there).

perrohunter 9y ago

Hit me up, we can go for lunch and socialize :P disclaimer: i work in tech

DrScump 9y ago

Another option is Specialty's (the built-in typo always makes me cringe) on Ellis St by 101. It's more of a bakery/cafe. Symantec is down the street. Parking is a problem anytime around lunch. WiFi was a problem for months on end; I haven't tried it lately. Trivia: when Moffett Field was still a thing, that 101 exit was known as Moffett South Gate.

mrburton 9y ago

Thanks for the suggestions! I curated a list based on the feedback. - RedRock Coffee 9x - Philz Coffee 2x - Olympus Caffe & Bakery - Coffeebar - HackerDojo - Dana St Coffee - Coupa Cafe - Y2E2 I talked to a friend who recently moved to MV, and she told me Red Rock does have poor wifi; too many people using it? When I move to Mountain View - I'll be sure to post it on Hackernews so I can meet up with some folks. I love programming and I also enjoy playing bullet chess. :)

flyingscotsman 9y ago

The Bierhaus and Steins are fine establishments but Mountain View is a strange place and I soon left for the City. As an expat, I absolutely recommend the best way to meet people is to go out on a bike ride with a local group (try Alto Velo) nobody cares who you are or what you do, but everyone is pleased to see you. Do well.