Villa St, Old Mountain View

After having spent months frequenting downtown Palo Alto, it's been a refreshing change to head south an extra five minutes to Mountain View. In some senses, downtown Mountain View is everything that it's slightly northern counterpart is not: uncrowded, with an older, although equally tech-savvy crowd, and filled with ethnic restaurants rather than posh French cafes.

My biggest draw to downtown Mountain View is twofold: one part easy-to-find, free parking, one part Red Rock Coffee, home to some of the tastiest brews and speediest wi-fi I have found in any coffee shop. Both of these are found on Villa Street, which is also home to several other restaurants and a hair salon. Like most of Mountain View, it has a more modest, casual atmosphere than some of the neighboring towns, and is the perfect place to grab a coffee, a drink, or get some work done.