4 ms·

> Today Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and other super zips are exclusively [A slight exaggeration] $500k incomes and up. In the 1960 census records you will find these

by gumby 3y ago

> Today Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and other super zips are exclusively [A slight exaggeration] $500k incomes and up. In the 1960 census records you will find these good neighborhoods occupied with plumbers, painters and other blue collar workers. This was unfortunately a deliberate consequence of the dot com boom, not something that happened in previous tech booms. Until around 2000 Palo Alto actually had a lower median income than some surrounding towns due to a policy of promoting section 8 housing, some SRO residences for the homeless etc. Those prior booms didn't suck in as many outsiders and mostly were nerds making fun tech (think of the mac). NYT amusingly published an article were they said how weird the SV was because people who drove mercedes cars still shopped at Costco rather than at "proper" shops appropriate to their "station". Dot com sucked in a bunch of people who came only for the money ("I'm starting a company -- need a tech cofounder" is the complete opposite of those days when it was "I'm starting a company -- we're big enough that we need some business people"). Then we started to have fancy restaurants and pretentiously-named magazines about how to spend your money. And then in 2000 the real estate people got control of the city council. The SROs were turned into boutique hotels and the city was re-organzied for the lucky. PA used to be a town where the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and the like got started. Harold and Maude was (partially) filmed here. But such things are now inconceivable.

epicureanideal 3y ago
Although what goes up can come down... if some other state or region within California permitted large amounts of construction, enabled businesses to move in, and threw a few hundred million at building a great university, property values here would drop a lot. With less intention and planning it will take longer, but could still happen, and there are some natural pressures pushing things in that direction.
- gumby 3y ago
  If only. Palo Alto is one of the few cities fighting the state’s efforts in this regard. It’s really shameful.
flakeoil 3y ago
It took off when they lowered the interest rates after the dot com crash. The issue was the too low for too long interest rates that drove the increase in home ownership (and rents).
Rinzler89 3y ago
>PA used to be a town where the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and the like got started. Harold and Maude was (partially) filmed here. But such things are now inconceivable. I remember how in the 80's and 90's there were still movies like Mrs. Doubtfire with characters on minimum wage renting in downtown San Francisco lol
- gumby 3y ago
  In those days SF was a bedroom community for Silicon Valley. SF still had a thriving art scene and was worth living in — I made that commute for a while, thankfully carpooling with Larry McVoy. Then in the same dot com boom…well that is well documented. People say SV grew up the peninsula and absorbed SF, but I prefer to think of it as SF was sacrificed as a honeypot.

by gumby 3y ago

epicureanideal 3y ago

Although what goes up can come down... if some other state or region within California permitted large amounts of construction, enabled businesses to move in, and threw a few hundred million at building a great university, property values here would drop a lot. With less intention and planning it will take longer, but could still happen, and there are some natural pressures pushing things in that direction.

gumby 3y ago
If only. Palo Alto is one of the few cities fighting the state’s efforts in this regard. It’s really shameful.

flakeoil 3y ago

It took off when they lowered the interest rates after the dot com crash. The issue was the too low for too long interest rates that drove the increase in home ownership (and rents).

Rinzler89 3y ago

>PA used to be a town where the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and the like got started. Harold and Maude was (partially) filmed here. But such things are now inconceivable. I remember how in the 80's and 90's there were still movies like Mrs. Doubtfire with characters on minimum wage renting in downtown San Francisco lol

gumby 3y ago
In those days SF was a bedroom community for Silicon Valley. SF still had a thriving art scene and was worth living in — I made that commute for a while, thankfully carpooling with Larry McVoy. Then in the same dot com boom…well that is well documented. People say SV grew up the peninsula and absorbed SF, but I prefer to think of it as SF was sacrificed as a honeypot.