The Stanford AI Lab was an extraordinary place. This was due to its location in the Stanford foothills but also because the administrator, Les Earnest, set the tone for the whole endeavor. Les recently died at the ripe age of 93, failing to meet his end goal of 113. I'd like to remember both the AI Lab and Les. Tall and lanky, Les nearly always wore a dashiki. He had a puckish sense of humor. And this was fundamental in establishing the lab's "atmosphere".
The saga begins with the recruitment of John McCarthy from MIT to Stanford in 1962. McCarthy set about creating an AI Lab and eventually hired Les to manage it. Sometime in the 1960s, Sylvania built the "Donald C. Power Laboratory" in the Stanford hills (the fact that the sign said "D.C. Power Lab" was always amusing). This lab was meant to be a doughnut/torus but they only built a quarter of it. To reach it, you had to drive (or bicycle) up Page Mill Road (you could use Old Page Mill) and then turn right on Arastradero. The steep driveway was at the turn to the left that led to Rossati's Beer Garden (known to this day as "Zots").
Probably due to the remote nature of the lab, Sylvania abandoned it and sold it to Stanford for $1. Somehow (and I don't know the story), McCarthy and Earnest moved the wet-behind-the-ears AI Lab into the building.
I know I first visited the lab when I was in high school, circa 1967. My buddies Bill Parrish and Hal Samson were approved users of the machines. We went at night and would ring the front door bell. A scruffy grad student would answer the door and just let us in (who else would be there at that time?). We could basically explore the building.
Never a big game player (why play a game when you can write code), I
will admit to playing Spacewar on the enormous graphics displays. One
experimental version was looking out the window of a spacecraft --- but I
have been told the code has been lost.
I want to emphasize the extraordinary nature of this place. You could find an empty terminal (they were glass CRTs) and the strange keyboard (designed by Les) had additional control keys labeled Meta and Alt. The display proclaimed "Take me, I'm yours!". And you could just log into the machine. No approval, just type your initials and you were in. Your files would be deleted, eventually, but it was there for you. This was Les in action. He understood the power of interactive computing and made it an open facility.
Les (and McCarthy) also permitted the Computer Music folks to begin experimentation during the night. It was one minute of compute time for every second of sound. This is where John Chowning invented the FM synthesis algorithm.
The building was always occupied with grad students and faculty. It was the only place at Stanford that had interactive computing. Don Knuth wrote Tex there.
The building had many nooks and crannies and the doors were labelled with places from Middle Earth. The machine room in particular was labelled "Mordor". There was a large lounge with a television and tables and couches. Another room held the computer controlled vending machine (another Les device). The vending machine was stocked with "pot stickers" from Louie's, the familiar name for the lab's favorite chinese restaurant. To operate the machine, you typed your initials and password into a nearby teletype and specify a slot. The door would be opened and your account would be charged and eventually you'd have to pay.
Les was very tolerant of the goings on. For example, Hans Moravec lived above his office and was on a 26 hour day. If you wanted to talk to Hans, you asked someone "What phase is Hans on today?".
The room below the computer room had a few mattresses and a lamp. It was dark and very cool due to the HVAC. The whoosing sound in the ducts covered up all external noise. I slept there after all night programming. I would occasionally spend all night largely because I wanted to see the sunrise. I would go outside, watch the sun slowly illuminate the ground. The scent of dew on the earth would top it off. And then I would go downstairs to sleep.
Volleyball was another Les inspired activity. In mid-day, a voice was come on over the PA system announcing "Bounce Bounce!" and a bunch of motley students and faculty would head to the outdoor court.
Les also sponsored the "Spring Orgy" with such events as the Felt Lake Cross Country (I took 3rd place one year) as well as the "Slow Bicycle Race" where the last person to cross the line won. Les was heavy into bicycling and worked with the racing community. He was prominent in mandating helmets and instigated rule changes.
Eventually, the CS Dept. tired of having this alternative hideout and moved SAIL down to the campus and Margaret Jacks Hall. The musicians proceeded to take over the building and remained there until Stanford rebuilt the Knoll after the Loma Prieta earthquake. And then they too were removed.
The building was hardly maintained by Stanford and so developed rot. Parts of the outdoor walkways were roped off. After the building was emptied, Stanford razed it and sold the land to a horse stables. An ignominious end to a glorious place.
Les left Stanford and started up a company, Imagen, to take advantage of the nascent laser printer business. His memoir tells the story. Eventually, McCarthy hired Les back in 1980 and Les was part of the Stanford community until he retired.
Les was an amusing and engaging personality. He enabled the whole facility and made it fun and exciting to be there. I've worked in other well-known laboratories but I assure you, SAIL was really extraordinary.
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