Wait, Where is Alan Kay's Office?

My search began at PARC's in-house library. Back before the Web, the books and journals kept here were the researcher's main lifeline to outside ideas. Over time, the librarians' job, of course, grew to include cataloging the ever growing pile of PARC's own research, papers, books and miscellaneous print ephemera generated.

The librarians I met at PARC have been there, more or less, since its inception. Unfortunately, none could recall exactly where Alan Kay sat. BUT, they figured they must have kept copies of old phone lists on hand, and there was a chance such a list might also include a list of offices.

While they rummaged through various filing cabinets, I proceeded to wander the halls along with PARC's head of media relations. We poked our heads into the office of a nice, gray-bearded gentleman who appeared just as I'd imagine a late 1970s, Silicon Valley computer scientist to look: running shoes, jeans, t-shirt and a demeanor that was both professorial and mellow.

After a few minutes of deliberation, he provided his best guess: Pod 23.

PARC is a three-level structure: The physical science labs are on the ground floor. The computer and social scientists are on the second floor. Administrative offices, the library and cafeteria are on the top floor. Each floor is arranged into various "pods," numbered clusters or blocks of offices that more or less relate to one general area or discipline.

We headed to the pod in question. I snapped a photo:

Maybe it was one of these offices? A corner office perhaps? No one seemed to know.

As we headed back upstairs, a librarian briskly approached. She found an old copy of a phone list from 1975. In addition to everyone's office and home phone numbers, PARC included the physical office numbers.

"2059," she smiled.

Jackpot?

Not quite. She explained that PARC was remodeled after Kay's time. Part of the construction included the addition of a new wing, and the renumbering of the offices and some pods. She took us down a long hallway, explaining how the new wing must have started somewhere around there. She pointed down another little hallway towards a series of offices where Kay may have sat. She couldn't say for sure.

Before we parted ways the friendly librarian reminded me of Ed Regis's Who Got Einstein's Office?, a book that explores Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study and the legendary minds that drifted in and out of its halls and offices.

There truly is something mystical about places like this. All that history, all the current research we've yet to witness, all those future discoveries we can't yet fathom. It creates a certain electricity in the air for those in the know.

The fact no one could recall exactly where the center's most famous researcher spent his days dreaming about the future of computing and making it a reality, seems almost fitting, too. His legacy is about bits, interface, and the freedom that comes with allowing our bodies to dissolve into the ether. Right?

Oh whatever. By my next visit, I hope someone has figured out where his office is. I'm dying to see it.*

*If anyone does know like, say, Alan Kay himself (who I tried to email, unsuccessfully), please lemme know!