Hewlett-Packard (HP) Garage, Birthplace of Silicon Valley

HP Garage Tour

HP Garage Tour

HP Garage Tour

Last Sunday at BarCampBlock, Robert Scoble talked Hewlett-Packard into opening up the famous HP garage, where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started HP in 1939, which is located just a few blocks away from the BarCamp event was held in Palo Alto.

Francine Hardaway shot some video of the tour where the HP archivist talks about HP’s first year when they made their original product, an audio oscillator. One of their early customers was Walt Disney Studios, who purchased 8 of the oscillators to help develop the surround sound system they installed in theaters for the film “Fantasia”.

photos by Brian Solis

Scott Beale
Scott Beale

Scott Beale is the founder of Laughing Squid and is based in New York City. When not running the blog, Scott can be found posting on Threads and sharing photos on Instagram.