[sach1]

So why would it take off there instead of in a larger city with more resources?

I'm not disagreeing with you completely, but I would like to know more about what other factors you would consider to have been more impactful. I don't know that you really need hippies around to get that kind of 'california capitalist' mentality either tbf.

[seydor]

It won the transistor lottery, then the money oiled the machine.

Recent events prove that there was nothing ideological about it. Once a positive feedback loop is established, it's difficult to break

[sach1]

The money would follow ideology, so it depends on where you think that taxonomical line lies.