The potential for a James Bond villain to attack us from the moon is higher than ever!

Potential moon woman sex, too!

I think I read somewhere that the space elevator must be around the equator and in a region where the weather is nice most of the time.

But it would be awesome as fuck if we could build one.

Wow, that'd be incredible!

I thought a space elevator was a... well an elevator.

You've got Earthbase one on the one side of a giant teather, and on the otherside a spacestation.... and between the two a giant cord on which an elevator worked.

So basically you don't have to spend any rocket fuel or anything to break orbit... one of the hardest and most expensive parts of space travel.

Instead you just take the eleveator up to space... and travel out from there.

And Dracula Moon bases.

I believe you're describing a 'space hook' or whatever the term is.  As I understand it (from memory) you have:

a - Space Elevator - probably a ribbon of carbon nanotube running from ground level to orbit and beyond (counterweight I think requires the elevator to end way above the Earth, far past geosynchronous orbit.  You use treads, lasers, magnetic levitation or whatever to drive elevators up and down the ribbon.  They can stop in orbit, or continue out to the end of the ribbon where you probably launch spaceships for other planets (nearly a free launch)

b - Space Hook or Sky Hook - a line or tether of some kind lowered into atmosphere from orbit.  Cargo is launched from ground or delivered y plane (?) and caught by the hook then towed into space.

I guess I'm thinking about a mix between a space elevator and space cannon, where the tower elevates the object but doesnt put it directly in orbit. Does the definition of an elevator require it to have an ending point?

Manus -

Yes, the space elevator would have an ending point, about 100,000km 'up'. At that point, you'd have a counterweight that would ensure the tether stayed at it's desired location, as well as be the first 'real' space base. At this point, the supplies could be distributed to wherever their destination would want to take them.

Also, concerning the pricing:
There are many quotes as to what it could cost, depending on source. The Japanese have quoted that they can do it for $5b USD (1 trillion yen). Some US studies put it at $6.2B. Still other studies put it at $20-$40B for the first elevator, with massively reducing costs afterwards.

I don't really think NASA has the capability to do this, honestly. They barely can fund the ISS and some piecemeal missions, so I doubt such a serious project should be run by a federal program.

Personally, if I were the governor of California, or any south-western state, I would consider working with private businesses and try to build a spaceport with the elevator. I know that New Mexico has a spaceport - maybe it could be put there?

http://www.spaceportamerica.com/

Is California a valid location for a space elevator?  I read(Arthur C Clarke book) that the location is key and closer to the equator is best. 

You would indeed want to be right on the equator I believe, most of the more recent designs I've seen in science articles, etc. consider a water based location - i.e. something akin to an oil rig right in the equator with the elevator ascending from there.