Santa Clara
Silicon Valley city offers NFL and theme park fun, history, and high-tech
WITH ITS SPRAWLING HIGH-TECH offices, Santa Clara at first glance may seem like other Silicon Valley cities. But there’s much more. In Santa Clara, you can trace California history from the Ohlones onward, learn how chips that gave the valley its name were created and immerse yourself in a treasured National Football League team.
The San Francisco 49ers are the reason that, at least for sports fans, Santa Clara burst onto the spotlight in 2014 with the opening of Levi’s Stadium. The 69,900-seat arena fills on game days but it’s a draw yearround for other sporting events, concerts and a 49ers Museum where exhibits bring to life Super Bowl championships with Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and other greats.
Close by Levi’s is one of the west’s largest theme parks, California’s Great America, known for thrilling rides, family-friendly entertainment and a water park that’s expanding as the South Bay Shores in 2020.
History, Culture & High-tech
To get a sense of local history, head to Santa Clara University and its lovely gardens and church, founded in 1777 as the eighth of California’s missions. Although the current church dates only to 1925, it holds mission remnants, such as a crucifix brought to Santa Clara in 1802.
Galleries at the university’s de Saisset Museum describe the world of the Ohlones, who lived here for millennia, the early missionaries, and also showcase art by Chagall and Picasso.
A Santa Clara visit wouldn’t be complete without delving into computers. Intel, the pioneering company whose silicon chips power smart phones and laptops, offers a look inside the industry at its museum.
You’ll see a “fab” facility where chips— whose origins are simple beach sand—are made in a space thousands of times cleaner than hospital operating rooms.
Expanding Horizons
Like the rest of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara is in the midst of development. There’s a planned revitalization of downtown and a hotel, restaurant and nightlife project called Related Santa Clara in the works near Levi’s Stadium.
The city already offers an array of shopping and dining at Valley Fair, home to Versace, Armani and other boutiques. And, at Santa Clara Square, there’s a brewery— Bare-bottle—opening in 2020, Fleming’s steak house plus Indian, Asian, Italian, Halal, Greek and Mexican restaurants that reflect the area’s ethnic diversity.