A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from July 25, 2004
Silicon Alley
"Silicon Alley" was always a name more than a place. It was meant to imitate California's Silicon Valley nickname. Mark Stahlman claims that he coined it and that he had Broadway in mind.

Although the name "Silicon Alley" is only a decade old, the internet boom seems very far away. "Silicon Alley" is not often used.



"Subject: NYC - silicon ALLEY" shows up in an internet post by Jason Denmark on February 16, 1995. Another Jason Denmark post on June 16, 1995 is "Subject: SILICON 'ALLEY' POSITIONS."

An August 10, 1995 post by David Gordon: "The dx.com Internet Business Center is a state-of-the-art facility in New York City's Silicon Alley." The Digital Exchange location is 1 W. 20 Street.

An April 5, 1995 post is by Alex Santic of Silicon Alley Connections, 527 Third Avenue.

In a March 6, 1997 internet post, Mark Stahlman writes: "I recently got up at a New Media 'Summit conference' in NYC (yes, I also coined the term 'Silicon Alley' and helped to start a local chamber-of-commerce for New Media)..."



"Silicon Alley" credit is often given to Business Week.


30 January 1995, Business Week, pg. 82:
MANHATTAN TURNS INTO "SILICON ALLEY"
How the city is snaring multimedia startups
(...)
It's true: Manhattan is emerging as the gritty breeding ground for new media, earning it the dubious title of Silicon Alley.



13 February 1995, New York Times, pg. B2, col. 3:
But perhaps the most visible evidence of new media growth can be found in downtown Manhattan, where much of the city's creative community is concentrated. From the Faltiron district to TriBeCa and SoHo, dozens of new media entrepreneurs are hanging out shingles. In fact, sop many are now situated in these new neighborhoods that some in the business have taken to calling the area "Multimedia Gulch" and Business Week magazine dubbed it "Silicon Alley."


23 February 1998, New York Times, pg. D4:
But Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan's announcement last week that this city would henceforth be known as "Digital Coast" elicited little more than snickers and derision from its geographic rivals.

"Already people are talking about 'Digital Toast,'" sniffed Mark Stahlman, a co-founder of the New York New Media Association and the man who coined the derivative Silicon Alley label to describe the cluster of Internet companies in lower Manhattan.

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Streets • Sunday, July 25, 2004 • Permalink


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