In its first years, the mall's main walkway was punctuated by several parks showcasing aspects of local history, ranging from apricots to Klystron tubes.
Varian was founded in 1948 as Varian Associates by Russell H. Varian, Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the Klystron, the first tube which could generate electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies, and other electromagnetic equipment.
His professor Mark Oliphant had seen the klystron at Stanford University but it produced insufficient power to be useful as a radar transmitter.