You won't find Zelenograd in California, but I include it on this site because the place has a heck of a background story. A couple of American-born fellas grew up in New York and became part of the rather fervent pro-Communist, WWII era movement. The guys - Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant - were quite bright and obtained engineering degrees. They also started spying on the US for the Soviets with Barr, in particular, doing work for Julius Rosenberg. Both men were able to obtain detailed information on US weapons and transportation systems. From time to time, the government would make note of their strong political leanings and peers and have them fired from this job or that. The FBI, however, failed to maintain its surveillance. To make a long story short, the engineers eventually fled to Russia when they felt the US spy ring crumbling. While in the Soviet Union, they embarked on a program to improve the state of microprocessor and electronics research. So, they helped convince Khrushchev about the value of a Soviet Silicon Valley. The Russian's set up Zelenograd on the outskirts of Moscow, creating a city dedicated to science. Scientists working at Zelongrad secured a number of major accomplishments, although the city failed as a replica of Silicon Valley. On the computing front, the Soviet system just could not keep up with Western and Asian production. Barr and Sarant had very long careers working for the Soviets, enjoying prominence at times and suffering from neglect at others. Their story is captured in Engineering Communism by Steve Usdin.