HP Garage, Technology museum in Palo Alto, United States.
The HP Garage is a one-car garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, behind the two-story shingled house where Dave Packard and Lucile Packard lived and Bill Hewlett slept in the shed. The garage has brown vertical wood siding, teal-green double doors with a central metal latch, and a shallow gable with green trim above. It stands on a concrete slab.
The workspace was established in 1939 with minimal financial resources and initially produced an audio oscillator device. This early product gained recognition through use in a major film production, providing the company with early industry visibility.
The name Hewlett-Packard was settled by a coin toss in 1939, deciding whose surname came first. The first product built here, the HP 200A audio oscillator, was bought by Walt Disney Studios: eight units were used to test and certify theater sound systems for Fantasia. The garage is now a private museum, viewable from the sidewalk and driveway.
The building can be viewed from outside along Addison Avenue, though visitors cannot enter the interior. It is best to plan time for a leisurely walk down the tree-lined street to observe the exterior and take photographs.
The house was previously owned by Palo Alto's first mayor, who lived there with his family before the garage became famous. This connection links two different periods of the city's story at a single location.
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