SiliGone Valley

Episode Notes History San Jose Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Show Notes You can support our Patreon Find out more at https://three-minute-modernist.pinecast.co Auto-Generated Transcript   SiliGoneValley-TapPlastics Tue, 8/16 10:34AM • 3:46 SUMMARY KEYWORDS plastics, cray, tap, display, clientele, measurements, replaced, computer history museum, stores, alameda, supercomputer, mountain view, unevenly, cut, work, plexi, trimming, individual, shrunk, task SPEAKERS Christopher Garcia   Christopher Garcia  Come with me. We're going to Silicon Valley   Christopher Garcia  TAP plastics, the fantastic plastic place. TAP plastics was a chain of stores that specialized in providing plastics for pretty much everything. They built. trophy cases they did. Replacement Windows, it was everything you needed. That was plastic or Plexiglas you would go to tap plastics for I only ever use two of them one in just outside of downtown San Jose, on the Alameda, or Yeah, the Alameda. Or maybe it was San Carlos, no, the Alameda. Stop questioning yourself, Chris. And the other one in downtown Mountain View. And what's impressive about places like tap plastics, is how thoroughly they have been replaced by online services. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It does make it a little harder when you have something in hand that you want to get replaced. And you don't have the tools to actually do the measurements, for example. But I used that plastics a lot when I worked at the Computer History Museum, most notably for the Cray one. So I was given a task more busy work than anything of putting new side panels on to the Cray one supercomputer so that we could display it and actually have people sit on it. This was a fun task. I did all the measurements and sent it in, went and picked it up and none of them fit. And I couldn't figure out why. And we brought it back again, and they cut a little slice, little off, they put it in. And again, it didn't fit out four or five different back and forth. We did until I realized what had happened. The original plates have actually shrunk. And we're actually almost completely loose of their side aluminum holdings. But when you measured them, you couldn't actually get them to be right in because they had unevenly warped. So some were much narrower than others. This was annoying. But that plastics bless them. They went back and they read cut and they retrained four or five times without annoyance, which is amazing, because I wasn't thinking about TAP plastics was it was a drop off and pickup sort of situation most of the time. Yeah, they had things on the shelves, things like Plexi, cleaner, all that sort of thing. Individual pieces, like if you wanted the display piece, you could almost always get it from the floor. But for the most part two was about trimming and cutting. And that's what I used it for excessively and I wished today, I have a display case I want to get a new panel for but there's no easy way to do that. And that's what tap plastics and other stores like that, that did things like plastic and wood cut paneling and so forth that were local, made possible was to not necessarily do it yourself, but to interact directly and to go back and forth with an individual spot. And I think we need more of that. I think losing that has been hard. I think TAP plastics is what I think of when I think of a store that recognized its customers and customer base and focused on them as their clientele so that they could keep a loyal audience and you know what, to this day me they have Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Our Patreon Auto-Generated Transcript SiliGoneValley-HoldersOnDeAnza Wed, 8/3 2:03PM • 5:45 SUMMARY KEYWORDS holders, places, saratoga, boulevard, breakfast, country, pancakes, wonderful, couple, family, original, santana row, denny, country inn, many great memories, pancake, business, holder, silicon valley, trader SPEAKERS Christopher Garcia   Christopher Garcia  Come with me. We're going to Silicon Valley   Christopher Garcia  On July 27 2022, Holder's country inn on Saratoga, Sunnyvale or deAnza Boulevard, or whatever it's called at that moment, burned down. Well, it didn't burn down the fire gutted, the interior damage the roof, and it will likely have to be raised. Holders is an interesting story that, in a way, inhabit several points in Silicon Valley.   Christopher Garcia  From their website in 1957, Jack and Anne holder sold their Dairy Queen business in Roseburg, Oregon, and moved their family to the Valley of heart's delight. And open Uncle John's Pancake House in Santa Clara. I seem to remember that vaguely. And I do remember a coffee shop on, I believe, Scott, that seemed to be in that same realm. It was a wonderful, wonderful place.   Christopher Garcia  But what I'm actually more connected to was the holders country in at the Old Town and Country village. And that was across the street from Valleyfair. And what is now today, Santana row. And I only went there a few times, there were usually long lines, particularly on the weekends, but from 1967 through 1999. Holders country inn was one of the primary places you would go for breakfast in the morning. Places like mini gourmet was sort of in a different realm. And just a little later, it informed how places like Stacks would do their breakfasts. The portions were large and delicious, particularly the pancakes were fantastic. I usually get pancakes and sausage and do pigs in a blanket. Of course, the biscuits and gravy were also phenomenal. What's wonderful is that even when they were forced to move to relocate the destruction of the town and country to be replaced by Santana row in 1989, meant that a number of places had to leave. And they found the spot on DeAnza Boulevard in a prime location. And at that point, it wasn't quite as prime. I believe the Home Depot was already there. I think what is now a Japanese sushi place at that point might have still been the Carl's Jr. There was another Japanese restaurant, I believe a couple of plant stores where they're still the Trader Joe's was not there yet for sure. Nor the Popeyes for that matter. You had the Taco Bell. Couple of other places, I think there was a KFC. And you had to pretend your arms just a little bit further down. It was a solid part of town. And that part was definitely going to be growing and growing rather quickly. And what ended up happening was it became the breakfast spot once we lost the original Pancake House, which is just on the other side of 85. And again, even more of a following when Clark's closed. These were all replaced mostly by new businesses that were drawing in sort of the family get the Trader Joe's is an excellent example. But you also had the CVS, the things up and down there. I think in 99, probably through about 2007. Maybe less than that. You had diddums, for example. And you had the new library that in the same ish neighborhood. It was turning that area into more and more of a not necessarily destination, but a place where you would stop when you're doing a dozen other things. And holders was phenomenal. There's still one on Saratoga Avenue, which opened in 1995, which was at the original hole the holders was in the Paseo and when they knocked down the original to build the new one, which now has the AMC and all that move down which is a good thing. Actually. That one still active, still wonderful. Lots of outdoor seating very important. It's places like these that we lost when we lost the original Pancake House that a lot of them have been going away lately. They're a step up from Denny's. But the most important thing about them is they are dependable family type restaurants but are a level above your Applebee's your Denny's your things like that because they are serving. I don't want to say more genuine food but it's it's hearty. It has a authenticity towards this idea of what an American   Christopher Garcia  breakfast is. I think one of the things that I really enjoy is that they very Are you pointedly note that their family of six sons and a daughter are all still in the business that their parents founded? That's wonderful to see. Because that sort of continuity leads to the traditions of reasonable prices of good food of great dishes that need to continue on down the line. I'm sad to see this one go to Silicon Valley. Hopefully they'll rebuild. But honestly, even if they don't, I'll have many many great memories of stuffing my face full of pancakes at holders country and on data Boulevard. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Note For more on the History of San Jose - Go to History San Jose Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes http://siligonevalley.weebly.com/ Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes If you've got anythign Rooh's Cafe Salsa related, drop me a line! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Eulipia - 1977 to 2012 Cafe Stritch - 2013 to 2022 Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes A wonderful collection at History San Jose Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes THe San Jose Flea Market, also known as the Berryessa Flea Market, is closing after a 60 year run. Hear Chris wax nostalgic about it, and somehow focus on the slides. LATE BREAKING NEWS!!! The San Jose Flea Market released a statement saying they are not closing! Episode will stay up, but it looks like this one is a win for the good guys! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Another casualty of the COVID-19 Restaurant Mass Extinction Event! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes The flagship of the Camera Cinemas, and one of the most loved and lost theatres in San Jose. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Founded in Menlo Park, with a direct connection to one of the greatest Art Collestors in US history, The Velvet Turtle taught me a lot about what Dinner could be! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Josh Keene and Chris Garcia used to go to High School together. They also used to go to shows. Here, they talk about stuff from the 90s! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Laser Tag was big, and Laser Quest was the competitive, social version that allowed you to shoot at your friends without the mess of Paint Ball or the copyright issues of Q-Zar... Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Harry's was a small local chain that was delightful. Roast Beef, Roast Turkey, mashed potatoes, and carrot cake. That might be a regular order for me, and one of the reasons I'm a big boy to this day... Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes The Winchester Drive-In was a place of absolute joy for a young kid and his family! You could watch on the big screen, eat the terrible food, ride on the horse swings, and overall, have a great time! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Roberta Jones found Santa Clara Junior Theater in 1961, and she was still at it when I was a kid acting, and later stage-handing, from 1983 through 1991. She was a force and some incredibly talented kids came through and had a lot of fun! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes IMAX, and the largest screen in Northern California at the time, the Pictorium was a wonderful piece of the Great America experience in the 70s through to the 90s. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes The Tidal Wave was an out-and-back single loop coaster that was a lot of fun and a lot of folks first loop! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Marine World Africa USA was a hugely popular theme park where you could get upclose with animals, later included a waterpark, and would move to a little city called Vallejo before changing names... a lot. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes A true flying coaster, where you could pretend you were Superman. It didn't last long, but man, was it freakin' scary!!! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Many important aspects of Steampunk culture happened here. The debut of Gail Carriger, the introduction of Steampunk Scholar to the world, and you can make an argument that it was the first dedicated Steampunk con in the world. Well, it'll be an argument. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes The place had a leaky roof, was a terrible place to keep artifacts, and more than once did I have to sleep there, but it was also a place of multi-sensory magic! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes The Computer Museum History Center was the Silicon Valley spin-off of The Computer Museum in Boston. It was a magical, strange, wonderful place, that eventually became some other museum that is now dead to me. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes One of Douglas Adams' final appearances was at the Museum, featured him telling stories, and gifting a wonderful artifact of his career that you can still see on display at some museum. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes The connection Steve Jobs had with Silicon Valley was deep and wide. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes The Wooden seating area in the back was where it was at, but it was one of those places you'd go for a good cup Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes A machine that was one of the fastest computers in the world, of an architecture that had never really been tried, named after a state that it never was used in, the Illiac-IV was one of the most interesting computers in the world, and now it's in some museum. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Mid-Century Modernism took a beating in the 2000s, and the loss of the Santa Clara library was one of the ones that hurt me the most. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Little Chef COunter was one of the inaugural stands at San Pedro Square Market. The Poutine really opened up my eyes! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes IN the 80s and 90s, Ruth Court was the place to go and see all the Christmas (and one set of Hanukah) lights in December! And I was there!!! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Yes, some of their lyrics are problematic these days, and honestly were then too, but Clubber Lang was an absolute force, one of the best Funk bands of the early 90s who had a rhythm section that was tighter than anything, and horns that blew away an audience! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes I will not wax quixotic on Sinister Sam, rather I shall let the lyrics of their magnum opus, Work stand for rthem - Work, it really sucks, I don't wanna go, but I've got to. I've got bills, that I've gotta pay, and I don't wanna go to work today. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Another Mid-Century Masterpiece that really deserves more love than it ever received. Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes A legendary member of the early 90s Third Wave Ska scene, Los Gatos' own Skankin' Pickle was too many awsums! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Powered by SGI, a fun bit of entertainment! a RE-STORED EPISODE FROM 2018 Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes We're re-posting first series episodes before we start to record new episodes and interviews! This one, about the wonderful Family Arcade/Restaurant in Santa Clara/Sunnyvale! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co

Episode Notes The Re-Boilding of SiliGone Valley starts here, with one of the few surviving episodes, this one on Weird Stuff, the wonderful tech re-seller in Sunnyvale that closed in 2018! Find out more at https://siligone-valley.pinecast.co