Vacuum-tube valley

 Silicon valley didn't transition directly from fruit orchards to silicon chips.  Vacuum tubes took center stage for a while.

Here's a California historical landmark on the NE corner of Emerson Street and Channing Avenue in Palo Alto, commemorating the Federal Telegraph Company, founded by radio/electronics pioneer Cyril Frank Elwell (August 20, 1884 – 1963), who graduated from Stanford in 1907.