San Francisco has long played a peripheral but crucial role in nurturing Silicon Valley proper. The city, in fact, fostered the region's start as a technology hub. The US Navy along with myriad enthusiasts performed wide ranging experiments with radio technology. Such work, at the turn of the century, encouraged the entrepreneurial, hobbyist spirit that would play a crucial role in the development of electronics, semiconductor, PC and internet technology. Perhaps on more simplistic terms, San Francisco offered Silicon Valley residents a connection to a vibrant, biggish city. When summing up all the factors that contributed to Silicon Valley as we know it, I think it's crucial to keep San Francisco's cultural role in mind. During the 1990s, San Francisco enjoyed a more direct connection to the technology economy, playing host to hundreds - perhaps thousands - of dot-coms. The city also has the closest ties to the biotechnology industry and to the arts via LucasFilm. You can explore San Francisco's technological and cultural influence on the Valley here. (As always, contributions are welcome. Please send write-ups and photos to ash (at) theduckrabbit.com. All contributions will be subjected to editing.)