I left in Jan, 1992 (Big layoff at GTE a year earlier), I don't really know if it was before or after the downtown redevelopment, so I assume that happened after I left. The M.V. used bookstore I don't recall, although there were a couple of good ones in Palo Alto. My weekend routine was to do the bookstore circuit on my bicycle: Mtn View, Palo Alto, Stanford, Menlo Park, and a long ride by the Bayshore near Moffett for the wildlife. I had a friend who lived on a sailboat in the Palo Alto yacht harbor (before it was closed), so I'd often stop there for a drink and a smoke on the way home. Other times I'd go through town and stop at Palo Alto Joe's (across from Ford Aerospace) to pick up on the latest industry and spook gossip from the engineers who hung out there. It was rumored to be an Aviation Week news bureau and a hangout for Russki spies, too.

BTW, have you ever visited the Frank Lloyd Wright house on the Stanford campus? When I was there, I believe it was reserved as a residence for the University President. It was all very civilized. If I had stayed there much longer I probably would have become a Republican.