Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Art Zaragoza, a customer at Le Web Cafe, enjoys espresso while surfing the Net.

The browser revolution led to opening of Le Web Cafe

By Suzanne Cristallo

Hann So is a Cambodian by birth, an American by citizenship, a mathematician and physicist by education, a software engineer by profession and, now, a coffeehouse entrepreneur by choice.

His Le Web Cafe on S. De Anza Blvd., just beyond the Saratoga border, reflects much of his life, which he says is very different from where he started.

Two revolutions have influenced So's major life choices. The first was the start of war in Cambodia in 1970, which prompted his parents to send him out of the country to study in Paris when he was 15. He abandoned the medical studies he was pursuing there after visiting his brother in Grenoble, where he took up math and physics.

In 1976, a visit to his parents, who by this time had immigrated to the United States and settled in Berkeley, led So to the University of California, where he altered his studies again and graduated in industrial engineering and operation research. The contacts he made there led him into software engineering for the next 16 years.

The second revolution to influence the course of So's life came three years ago. A software program called the Browser exploded onto the Internet, which hitherto only highly technical people had the background and the computer equipment to navigate.

The Browser allowed for the first time the entrance of nontechnical people into cyberspace, where they could share and retrieve information in visual form from people all over the world.

So decided to board the bandwagon. He had the idea to create a social environment where people could congregate and get on the Net. He understood not everyone could afford the equipment it takes to participate from home. Thus, Le Web Cafe was created to fill what So saw as a glaring need.

It is a small coffeehouse serving cappuccinos and lattes, pastries, coffee and tea, desserts and flavored drinks. Sandwiches are coming soon as the lunchtime trade grows. What makes Le Web unique are the five computers set up on various coffee tables around the cafe.

For $5 per half hour, patrons may surf the Net while they drink their espressos. For $20, they can buy a special "cybercard," which allows browsing on the Net for up to three hours. A bulletin board lists home page information or Web sites, and So has provided a special section on his home page for French-speaking customers.

So invites everyone to "take a test drive on the superhighway." Similar coffeehouses exist in Europe, New York, Chicago and Seattle, he says.

Le Web Cafe, 1071 S. De Anza Blvd. Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri. and Sat., 9 a.m.-midnight, Sun., 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Web site: http://www.lewebcafe.com. Telephone: (408) 342-1071.