Historical Background
The HP Garage is a private museum where the company Hewlett-Packard (HP) was founded. It is located at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California. It is considered to be the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley". In 1937, David "Dave" Packard, then 25 years old, visited William "Bill" Hewlett in Palo Alto and the pair had their first business meeting. Both men attended Stanford University, where its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman encouraged his students to establish their own electronics companies in the area instead of leaving California.
In 1938, newly married Dave and Lucile Packard moved into 367 Addison Ave, the first-floor three-room apartment, with Bill Hewlett sleeping in the shed. Hewlett and Packard began to use the one-car garage, with $538 (equivalent to $11,645 in 2023) in capital. In 1939, Packard and Hewlett formed their partnership with a coin toss, creating the name Hewlett-Packard.
Hewlett-Packard's first product, built in the garage, was an audio oscillator, the HP200A. One of Hewlett-Packard's first customers was Walt Disney Studios, which purchased eight oscillators to test and certify the sound systems in theaters that were going to run the first major film released in stereophonic sound, Fantasia.
Logging Your Visit
Please be respectful and stay within confines of the sidewalk. To validate that you physically visited this location simply message me the 4-digit number that you’ll find on the small oval plaque, just below the support column, on the left of the entrance. You need not wait for me to confirm that you'll sent me the correct 4-digit number before logging your visit.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.