San Francisco’s emergence as the most important city on the West Coast in the 19th century was simply attributable to fortunate geography. The San Francisco Bay Area’s evolution into the most important region in the world for technology innovation and investments in the late 20th century owes to a more complicated confluence of events. Post-World War II, the Bay Area retained many of the service men and women who came through during the war. Moffett Field, located on the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay between San Jose and Palo Alto, became a hub for military technology. Companies such as Lockheed grew to employ thousands in the area. Nearby Stanford University and its vast research capabilities fed the growing appetite for high-tech innovation.
