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Chapter 33
ROSS ARRIVES IN SAN FRANCISCO
The Alamo Square neighborhood of San Francisco has long been considered one of the city’s
most beautiful. The few blocks that make up the modest district sit snugly near the center of the
city, framed by the past and with views of the future. The square is lined with bright “painted lady”
Victorian homes built in the late 1800s, thanks in part to money from the Gold Rush years earlier. To
the east, across gritty Market Street, modern glass skyscrapers are erected almost daily to house the
fortunes being minted by the new gold rush—a wave of handsomely funded private companies, many
of them valued at more than $1 billion, so-called unicorns. After the bubble had popped years earlier,
there had been a resurrection of start-ups returning to the city, and billions of dollars ready to fund
them.
On a bright and chilly afternoon in the summer of 2012, in the park in the middle of Alamo
Square, a group of children giggled as they bounced through the playground, and unleashed dogs
barked as they chased one another on the hilltop. And there, amid this happiness, Ross Ulbricht lay on
the grass, inhaling his new city.
Ross fell in love with the Bay Area from almost the moment his feet touched the ground in San
Francisco. Everything looked so magical and new. The flat, prairielike avenues of Texas were
replaced by streets that seemed to undulate like a never-ending roller coaster. The billboards along
the freeway didn’t talk about NASCAR, Jesus, or the best rib-eye steak in town but rather advertised
mystical search engines, social networks, and even new digital currencies.
He had arrived in this wonderful universe a few weeks earlier, wide-eyed and full of vigor. All
he owned now was a small bag of clothes and his laptop. He felt as free as he ever had: the homeless
kingpin of one of the fastest-growing drug empires in the world.
The decision about where to stay was simple. His pal from Austin, René Pinnell, who now lived
in San Francisco, and his girlfriend, Selena, offered up a spare room in their small but welcoming
apartment. Soon after Ross unpacked his few belongings, the three friends settled into a new routine,
spending evenings exploring the city, cooking dinner, and talking about the meaning of life. (There
was, however, one thing Ross didn’t talk about: the Silk Road. He was never going to make that
mistake again.) They played card games together, Twister, Scrabble (Ross often won), and hugged
each other good night.