This is the kind of endearing story that any new parent would share with their close friends. I’m a new parent, too, and my son recently saw his first bear in Lake Tahoe. I’ve shared this with any friend who wanted to listen. But Zuckerberg isn’t telling this story in a private conversation. It’s the opening anecdote of a 10-minute video by Bloomberg, where a journalist visits Zuckerberg at his Lake Tahoe “retreat” (it’s actually a massive, lakefront compound) to talk about “life, history and being human.”
The video contrasts Zuckerberg’s ambition and futuristic vision for humanity with a glimpse of his life outside of his Silicon Valley office. Lake Tahoe is a starring character in the video — and I couldn’t help but think this was intentional. A sunny day in Lake Tahoe is the prop that softens up Zuckerberg’s image
The cloudless day, the clear water, the sunwashed green of the pine trees. It’s the kind of scene that might be used to convey someone as down-to-earth, outdoorsy, relatable and friendly — even if this person is walking on their private pier at their pair of lakefront properties that cost a combined $59 million.
I grew up a few miles down the road from Zuckerberg’s Tahoe compound, in a neighborhood that used to be affordable for locals. Tahoe has always been a destination for wealthy tourists. But interspersed between the second homes, my neighbors were teachers, firefighters, housecleaners, plumbers and contractors. People chose to live in Tahoe because they were looking for a different way of life, opting out of the corporate grind. It used to be possible to work at a ski resort or a restaurant and make enough money to afford rent on an old A-frame. But that way of life is getting harder to find, in large part because of Silicon Valley’s influence. Now, more than half of Tahoe’s workforce commutes from outside of the basin; many live in Nevada cities where housing is cheaper.