| The Palo Alto History Project |
| The Hewlett-Packard Garage 367 Addison Avenue |
| 2006 |
| The HP Garage: A Techie Log Cabin U.S. tourist destinations tend to have a lot more pomp than circumstance. Rather than visiting historical landmarks where actual history was made, travelers tend to choose to visit historical monuments. Sure, they’ re pretty and often imposing, but not very historical. Mount Rushmore, for instance, may be a wonder to behold, but let’s be honest---it’s a rather randomly-located piece of gargantuan sculpture. After all, not all that much actually happened out in old Keystone, South Dakota. The monuments of the nation’s capitals are certainly breathtaking, but they mark the former locations of swamps and shacks---offering a celebration of events that took place somewhere else. The Space Needle in Seattle? Even people in Seattle don’t know why it's there… Actually, if you want to see a truly significant historical landmark, look no further than Palo Alto. Perhaps visiting a 12 by 18 foot garage wasn’t exactly what the kids had in mind for your vacation, but there is no finer example of a historical landmark than the HP Garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. Like any worthwhile historical landmark should, the garage marks the start of something really big---truly historical---the birth of Silicon Valley. Indeed, it is possible to link the entire history of the Valley (and to some degree, the Internet and the personal computer) back to this original location, where Bill Hewlett and David Packard began their trailblazing electronics company. But the story of the garage goes beyond its happenstance as Hewlett/Packard’s first workspace. The garage itself has come to signify the Silicon Valley dream of “The Start-up,” much like the log cabin once suggested another type of American Dream. HP’s start-up story has been replicated again and again in the success stories of later Silicon giants with garage origins such as Apple or Google. The dream of what would become Silicon Valley was first promoted by Stanford engineering professor Frederick Terman who envisioned a western technological area surrounding the University that would rival the electronic centers back east. It was he who wooed promising Stanford graduates Bill Hewlett and David Packard back to Palo Alto and set them up with fellowships and part-time jobs in 1938. The Hewlett-Packard story is legendary in Valley folklore. Beginning with $538 in start-up capital, the boys set to work in that one-car shed with a used Sears Craftsman drill press that Packard had lugged out from Schenectady in his car. Packard and his newly-wedded wife Lucile lived on the first floor of the house on Addison originally built for Palo Alto’s first mayor. The landlady (the mayor’s widow who charged just 45 bucks a months for rent) lived on the second floor and Bill in a little shack behind the house just big enough for a cot and a sink. The garage lit by a single, overhanging bare lightbulb, served as the research lab, development workshop and manufacturing plant for HP's early products, including the Model 200A audio oscillator used to test sound quality in radio and TV. Hewlett and Packard’s naming process show what an unseasoned enterprise it was. The boys flipped a coin to decide the name of the company and because Bill won, it was H-P that would one day be listed as a Blue Chip stock on Wall Street, not P-H. For the name of the first oscillator, they chose the name Model 200A, rather than 100A, which might reveal the greenness of the company. And for the product’s original price, the boys chose $54.40, as in “54-40 or fight,” James Polk’s old presidential campaign slogan. These were truly the whims of business world newcomers. While some of their early clients were of the local variety---they helped invent a foot fault indicator for a San Mateo bowling alley---in 1939, HP gained a more prestigious client. They sold 8 of their audio oscillators to Walt Disney to test the state-of-the-art soundtrack for Fantasia. HP used those profits to move to a larger space, at Page Mill Road, and hire a few employees. They were on the road to eventually establishing a 90 billion dollar a year company with over 150,000 employees--- a company that is largely credited for laying the foundation for what would become Silicon Valley. In recent years, the HP company, still located in Palo Alto, purchased the old garage and set about on a million dollar renovation project, delivering the garage, the house and even Bill’s old shack to their original 1940s vintage. So after the obligatory visits to the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39, why not stop by the HP Garage, a truly historical destination. -Matt Bowling |
| Palo Alto: Then & Now |
| The birthplace in all its glory |
| The original oscillator |
| The house and garage before the renovation |
| David Packard with the Queen in 1983. (PAHA) |
| Packard and Hewlett at their garage before renovation |
| Bill Hewlett (PAHA) |
| Packard working in the shop on Page Mill Road (PAHA) |
| The "Birthplace's" plaque |
| 2007 |
| circa 1939 |
| The map below shows the Professorville area |
| The garage around the time when Hewlett and Packard gave the shack its moment of fame. The HP company used this photo as a basis for its recent renovation. |
| The painstaking effort resulted in a current garage that nearly identically matches the original version. This photo is taken from just behind a small gate. |
| Professor Terman, "Father of Silicon Valley." |
| Links: Pictures of the renovation: http://www.pbase.com/pradipta/the_garage HP's site on the renovation: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/histnfacts/garage/ Wikipedia Entry on the HP Garage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard's_garage HP's main website: http://www.hp.com/ |
| Sources: Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto Historical Association |
| The dining room where the partnership was agreed to on January 1, 1939 |
| Inside the renovated garage |
| Inside the house |
| "I lived at 948 Addison Ave., Palo Alto from about 1932 to 1943 during the time Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard had their shop a few blocks from where I lived as a child. I used to ride my bike right past their shop but didn't know about it then. In the past dozen years or so I've purchased many H-P products, mostly printers, scanners, cameras, etc. What memories!! " -Marshall |
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