Abandoned

A surprising number of buildings on ARC/Moffett Field are abandoned.  In some cases this is because they were built with or contaminated by one or more hazardous materials, like asbestos or PCBs.  In other cases, they just weren't being used enough to stay open.  Until a few years ago, Moffett Field was built as an active Naval Air Station.  Now that the Navy is gone, a lot of the buildings and facilities are closed.

Incidentally, breaking into them is a really bad idea.  The police here keep a fairly close watch on them, and even if you do sneak in successfully, some of them are contaminated with various unpleasant substances.  Some of them almost certainly have zombies living in them.  Well, not "living", but you get the idea.

Bowling Alley

If you peer in through the glass doors, it looks like the bowling alley still has at least some of its furniture.  Who knows?  The inside may have racks of crumbling old bowling shoes, alleys still set with dusty bowling pins, and row upon row of unused bowling balls.  More likely it's just got some ratty carpets and a few broken chairs, but that's a lot less entertaining to imagine.

Exchange

This was once a sort of department store for Moffett Field Naval Air Station.  It closed a few years ago.  If you're looking for an operating Navy Exchange, the nearest one is in Monterey.  Currently, there are plans to adapt the Moffett Field Exchange building to support the Internation Space University program that will be held here in the summer of 2009.  It will likely be converted to communal space, and possibly classrooms.

Exchange Home and Garden Center

Yes, at one point Moffett Field had its very own home and garden center.  It's closed now, and there are signs up telling you not to feed the cats.  However, in the Fall of 2008 a company that develops electric cars began using the building.  There have been no reports of enormous electrical discharges, lightning-animated monsters, or mad scientists going "MUAH-HA-HA!" yet, but optimism remains high.

Hangar One

Hangar One has been closed for many years.  A number of plans have been put forward for what to do with it, since it really is a cool building, but at the moment it's locked, contaminated with asbestos and PCBs, and filled with about a thousand metric tons of pigeon poop.  No joke, that may be the most dangerous substance in there.  The bacteria that can breed in well-aged bird crap stagger the imagination and give epidemiologists nightmares.

The Lost City

There's probably a proper name for this area, but The Lost City seems as appropriate as anything.  (If you see Enik, tell him he still owes me fifty bucks.)  This is a network of streets with many buildings that used to be a residential community for people working at Moffett Field and their familiies.  It's just to the west of ARC; if you turn left instead of entering through the main gate for Moffett Field, you're there.

Not everything in the area is abandoned; the Navy maintains at least a few buildings for various purposes, so there are a few people here and there.  Also, there are several parks in the neighborhood.  Someone is still mowing the grass, and there's at least some working playground equipment.  As of this writing, there aren't any signs up telling people to keep out, so presumably they're open for public use.  Just remember that there are no water fountains, working rest rooms, etc.

Since November 2008, they've been tearing buildings (and trees!) down, seemingly with the intention of putting up new buildings.

McDonalds

The Moffett Field McDonalds closed in April of 2008.  That was just before all the summer interns arrived, which certainly qualifies as "inconvenient timing".  Since I have had people driving by actually stop, roll down their windows, and ask me whether it's open, let me say it plainly:  McDonalds is closed.  There is no food there.  Stop knocking on the drive-thru window looking for a cup of coffee and a McMuffin, you're embarrassing yourself.

Parcheesi's

Parcheesi's appears to have been a restaurant.  Aside from that, almost no information has been found.  The building is either built up against the Recreation Center, or it's part of the same building.

Zombie Housing

The laundry room is surrounded by residential buildings, all closed.  It looks as if they were closed in a hurry, since most of the furniture is still in place and intact.  In addition to the usual contaminants (asbestos, leaded paint, and so forth), there's also a lot of broken glass where various bonehead have smashed windows to get inside, so watch your step around there.