ART WALKER'S WAGON WHEEL. 282 Middlefield Rd.,
Corner Whisman and Middlefield. Mt. View. YO. 7-1244.

The "Wheel", as was often referred by locals was a western-themed bar that opened in 1960 and was hugely popular with the local population. During the 1970s and 1980s, the top engineers from Fairchild and National, which were two of the bigger companies working in Silicon Valley at the time, would often meet at the tavern after work to celebrate accomplishments.

It was an important meeting place where even the fiercest competitors gathered and exchanged ideas. They would drink and talk about the problems they faced in manufacturing and selling semiconductors. This intermingling of companies led to the sharing of ideas, which contributed to the incredible pace of technological growth in the region at this time.

People would get together and talk about technical problems. It was a place that young men and women of the semiconductor industry, would head after work to have a drink and gossip and brag and trade war stories about circuits, and other mysteries of the trade.

The interior of the bar featured upholstered booths and tables. Guests could order any number of cocktails from the wooden bar, as well as food, of which the hamburgers seemed to be the most popular. The western theme continued with wagon wheels and pictures, as well as an entire replica of a wagon on the roof of the building.

Turns out the place got into some trouble over its card room. The Wagon Wheel became the subject of a failed fight by city leaders to keep it open after its card room came under fire for not being in compliance with California's 1997 Gambling Control Act. The bar closed in 2000. The city bulldozed it in 2003, despite the faint protests of old-time valley chippies. The good folks at the Computer History Museum purchased the old, replica wagon wheel that once stood in Walker’s Wagon Wheel, a Mountain View watering hole that was geek central back in the day.