533 Stevens

On the back of nearly every Kaypro machine you will find the address

533 Stevens Avenue
Solana Beach, CA 92075

In May 2025 I had the chance to visit Solana Beach so I took the opportunity to visit the campus where Kaypro designed and made their machines. I also met with two of the architects for the buildings on that campus.

Let me begin by thanking Michael and Janice Batter the architects of the Reception Building and the Warehouse Building (Janice is Andy Kay's daughter). Also, Brittany and Marco who work for the Storage Facility that now owns the property. Thomas Brase also needs credit for doing the initial research on this subject.

The pre-Kaypro Days

Non-linear Systems (NLS) bought the undeveloped property in October of 1966.

Escrow is scheduled to close early next month on the 21-acre site just north [it is actually south] of Warren Junior High School in Solana Beach for the future home of Non-linear Systems, Inc. ... Andrew Kay, Non-linear president, told the Coast Dispatch that the amount to be paid for the Stevens street site 'is in excess of $200,000.'
(The Encinitas Coast Dispatch, September 8, 1966)

Non-Linear Systems of Del Mar will move to a new location in Solana Beach by March 15th [1968], according to an announcement by Andrew Kay, who heads this Del Mar electronics firm.

The new building, soon to be constructed, will be located on the Solana industrial tract south of Warren Junior High School.
(The San Dieguito Citizen, November 2, 1967)

From my interview with Allan Kay "I joined Non-linear Systems in 1964. Shortly after I joined we built our new buildings [at 533 Stevens, Solana Beach] to look pretty much like how the nearby junior high school buildings were arranged." (I will refer to them as the "assembly buildings" on the rest of this page with building 1 closest to the parking lot and 4 at the back of the property).

This is where they built and tested their meters and multi-meters that they had become known for. They also housed the other departments likes sales and design. These buildings would continue to serve as the assembly areas and offices in the Kaypro era.

"Andrew designed the four long and narrow buildings that house the company's administrative offices and production facilities in a way that allowes employees to enjoy California's balmy climate. Similar to public schools in the state, rooms are connected by outdoor breezeways. Andrew says proudly, 'You have to go outside to get anywhere.' Rather than communicating by memo or phone, employees generally poke their heads in office windows."
(Financial Enterprise, Winter 1984-85)

There was also a building in the back right of the two pictures below (I will refer to it as the "old warehouse"). It was built sometime between 1968 and 1970.

Dated March 1970 on back

The Kaypro Days

The sudden success of Kaypro computers required some rapid development of the property to accommodate the growing company.

Three major "structures" were used to make this happen.

The Reception Building and Modified Assembly Buildings

A new reception office was added to the left side of the existing assembly building 1 with a security office added as a second floor. The first floor was mostly still the existing building.

To replace the loading bay that was lost where the reception building now stood a larger loading area was added to the middle of the assembly building 1.

"Also obscuring Kay’s spare but functional building tiers is a brand-new reception area designed by his daughter Janice and her husband (who run the Batter-Kay architectural firm). It’s the perfect facade for a nouveau- riche, high-tech whiz-corp like Kaypro today." (San Diego Reader, Jan 19, 1984)

In these three shots notice that there is a blue building running off to the left. This was the existing assembly building 1.

New Loading Bay

A few weeks ago, I took that same drive to Solana Beach, this time expressly to revisit the electronics company, Non-Linear Systems, Inc. Effectiveness Training was still looking well, the eucalyptus trees were a bit fuller than a year ago due to the heavy winter rains, and now NLS looked like it was bursting at the seams. With little trouble it could have passed for a M*A*S*H setting or Boomtown, U.S.A. Cars were parked every-where, including a few in the parking lot, which was mostly filled with large trailers, semi trucks coming and going, fork lifts transferring materials, and construction equipment and workers. A helpful fellow located one last parking space in a corner of a loading dock under construction, "as long as it's only for an hour or so. As I walked up past several tiers of buildings, I had to dodge many stacks of boxes and materials stowed under plastic tarps for protection. At least half of the buildings were in various stages of renovation. Construction workers and plant employees were bustling around and at work on a variety of activities. (May 1983, Tom Leech, San Diego Magazine)

The new loading bay added to the front of the assembly building 1.

Dec. 1983

Building Layout

One final image of the design of the assembly buildings. This one gives a good idea of at least how the remodeled spaces were planned to be used.

"Four tiers of buildings, aligned along a grassy hillside, have outdoor walkways and a faded, bunker like feel that recalls California elementary schools. Father and son have neighboring offices in the uppermost row, but only Andrew's has the bright red-orange door."
(The Executive (Southern California), August 1987, pg 18)

The first section of the campus, row one on the campus, I knew backward and forwards because it was where I worked. You had the lobby at the south end and then accounting and purchasing, but not the head of accounting. It was the accounting minions who worked right next to purchasing, which is understandable. Then our section the office belonging to me, Tom Enright, and Suzanne Kessling. Suzanne was an assistant editor at Profiles. The office was large because we had a big table for disassembling computers and stuff.

And then across the hall was, I believe, networking. And then down the hall was publications, the publications manager, and then the technical writers in one office. And across from that, I believe, was people who dealt with foreign sales. And then came the vats for making the boards and you really wanted to not be down there. It was not pleasant being down there.

That's the only part of the campus that I could list. I think support was on level three in the middle. I know that prior to the warehouse opening assembly was on multiple levels. I think there were three big assembly rooms. Two on one level, one on the other.
(Interview with Marshall Mosley)

Circus Tent

In the June 1983 version of CommuniKay (The employee newsletter) it states:

"Q: What are the short and long term plans for the newly acquired property on the south side of the plant?
A: In the long run it will be offices for Non-Linear, but for now it will either be left vacant of have temporary storage sheds on it."

Well it ended up being used for storage.

"But competing for the attention of anyone who turns off Stevens Avenue and drives the short block up to the plant is a giant white circus tent erected on the hill at the end of the street. The tent and a fleet of sixty storage trailers hold millions of dollars worth of both completed computers and the electronic components from which they are built;" (San Diego Reader, Jan 19, 1984)

Warehouse

Batter Kay also designed the new warehouse building at the back of the property.

A wall was constructed around the assembly buildings for added security and the loading bays in Assembly Building 1 were closed off.

A new warehouse that will house Kaypro's supplies and materials is being planned. The structure will be approximately 45,000 square feet in size and will be located directly behind the sales offices and above the upper level.

Grading will begin in about a month; the tenative completion date is May 1984.
(CommuniKay, Nov/Dec 1983)

"... the 40,000- square-foot facility which the Kays are planning to build on the site won’t be completed until April." (San Diego Reader Jan 19, 1984)

This image is on the second floor of the warehouse. You can see the red beams and the blue water pipes. (Feb 1989)
See on Assembly Building 1 That the loading bay doors are now windows and cars are parked in front of them. Where the circus tent had stood is now additional parking. (I estimate that there were about 200 - 250 parking spots in front of assembly building 1. At their height they had somewhere between 400 and 600 employees at one time.)

FR: When the warehouse was built you were already with profiles at that point or were you still working with inventory?

I was still in inventory when the warehouse opened. Because I had an office on the second floor on the south end. You would walk into the warehouse at the loading dock and walk right into Osha’s (sp?) office. Osha was not federal OSHA. It was a really nice African-American girl named Osha. You would walk into Osha’s office and she was there to direct people. She was also secretary for the head of sales. She sat right next to this steel staircase and you went up the steel staircase to the second floor and there was an open floor plan. My desk was there and about four others. At the west end was a door that entered into assembly, which comprised the entire western band on the top floor.
(Interview with Marshall Mosley)

The Juice Bar

"David Kay was a super health-conscious. He subsidized the juice bar and this is maybe 20 years before Jamba Juice. It was on the third level of original buildings. You could just go up there and they would make you fresh carrot juice and they would make you a fresh smoothie and it was about 75 cents. It was delicious and that was driven by him he insisted on it."
(Interview with Marshall Mosley)

One final Kaypro Campus Image

This was the cover of the December 1987 Spanish Computer News Magazine.

While the buildings are correct the surroundings don't reflect the area around. In the bottom left you see a guard gate that David Kay confirmed to me did exist.

I have since found this photo which appears to be the original that the "painting" was based on.

Here is the full image:

The post-Kaypro Days

The property today is a storage facility.

The warehouse, the old warehouse and the assembly building 4 (See 4th build survival) are the only Kaypro buildings left. The circus tent was taken down once the warehouse was built, the first through third assembly buildings and reception building were demolished to make room for the 5000 block of storage units and the RV parking building (Large building on the right of the image below.)

The office building in the bottom center was built after the Kaypro era. It's architecture is similar enough to the Reception Building that I suspect that they both stood on the property at some point in time. (I am still working on those details.)

Here is an aerial image of the site with the approximate locations of the old buildings drawn on.

Warehouse building

Here are some comparison images of the warehouse then and now.

On the outside the building is mostly the same. When we entered the building it is still a two story complex but rather than being mostly open as a warehouse it has been converted into at least a hundred storage units and the second floor is now throughout the building.

Extra Info

For some more info about the Palm Trees read A Tale of Two Double Palm Trees