Ask HN: Is there an Akihabara equivalent in USA?

No there isn't, but Akihabara isn't very interesting to a hacker; For the most part it's a tourist destination selling pop-culture artifacts. What you want is a US equivalent of the SEG market, which doesn't exist either.

http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2009/a-visit-to-the-electron...

Even when I lived 5 minutes from Akihabara I rarely bought anything there. You can do so much better ordering online.

AFAIK Fry's is the closest thing we have here in the valley.

Bestbuy

In NYC go to B&H. Not sure if it's directly equivalent, but it's kind of like a mad, orthodox Jewish cross between Best Buy and Santa's workshop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%26H_Photo_Video