.Best of 2013

Take one of the world's greatest concentrations of wealth and brainpower, add in a few hundred ethnic traditions, mix well, bake in 300 days of sunshine a year and you're bound to get something interesting. With some of the country's highest incomes—second only to the nation's capital, thanks to recession-proof Beltway lawyers' salaries—Silicon Valley has bragging rights to great fortunes. But the real riches lie in the astonishing diversity of treasures found in the strip malls and human-scale downtowns of the valley's baker's dozen of cities.