Celebrity chef Michael Mina overseas the stadium’s high-end steak house, which offers inside-the-park tailgate parties throughout the season.īeyond football, the venue is slated to host college football games, domestic and international soccer matches, motocross events, concerts, wrestling, and more. If you do venture out to eat, it’s not all lukewarm hot dogs and soggy fries. If you’re lucky enough to settle into a luxury suite, check out the woodwork: it’s made of sustainable bamboo.īefitting a stadium in the heart of Silicon Valley, Levi’s Stadium is also high-tech to the max, with fan-friendly touches like Wi-Fi access in every seat, so you can tweet, post, and chat about the game, not to mention order food without missing a play. The stadium, slated to host Super Bowl 50 in 2016, also boasts eco-friendly features like a living roof, solar panels, and field irrigation that uses recycled water. Players now huddle, punt, and play in 68,500-seat Levi’s Stadium, a high-tech marvel northwest of downtown San José. This cultural campus provides a place for 19 partner programs to tell their history, like the harrowing journeys made by Vietnamese boat people, and share their traditions at lively festivals, like the annual Dia de Portugal.Īfter decades in a foggy, chilly wind tunnel known as Candlestick Park, the San Francisco 49ers football team has moved south to one of the snazziest stadiums around.

For a fascinating look at the broad range of immigrants who have settled in the region, tour the collection of preserved buildings-from early banks to a former stable-that make up History Park. Other buildings shed light on various early trades and businesses, such as a recreated print shop, where costumed volunteers let kids try out an early printing press.

First, there are expansive displays and historical buildings (imported to the park campus) that showcase the region’s amazing agricultural roots, including historical images, machinery, and other mementos. It’s a chance to imagine what the region was like before computer chips, gigabytes, and tech startups became the heartbeat of the region. Think of this extraordinary complex, at Kelley Park, as the Santa Clara Valley’s memory book in real life. Other weird facts: the mansion has 52 skylights, 47 fireplaces, 40 bedrooms, 40 staircases, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, 3 elevators, 2 basements, and 13 bathrooms but just one shower. Guided tours let you ponder the heiress’s unusual designs, including doors that open onto blank walls and a stairway that leads straight into a ceiling. Whether spirits gave her pointers or not, Sarah designed one heck of an oddball house. Why the unending, breakneck pace? Because Sarah had been convinced by a medium that all the spirits of the people killed by Winchester firearms had placed a curse on her family and would haunt her forever unless she moved West and built a house to match their specifications, as revealed to her in séances. Construction began on the house in 1884 and continued, almost nonstop, until 1922-racking up a bill of $5.5 million. Perhaps Silicon Valley’s strangest and yet most enduring attraction is Winchester Mystery House, a 160-room Victorian mansion that was owned and built by Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester fortune.

Winchester mystery house virtual tour