Professorville & the HP Garage

Stanford leased its land rather than selling it, so professors who wanted to own their homes built in the nearest tract that was not Stanford’s. The registered historic district is bounded by Addison Avenue, Waverley Street, Kingsley Avenue and Ramona Street. (Wikipedia)

Its typical houses are brown-shingled with gambrel roofs, in styles from Colonial Revival to Craftsman, such as physics professor Fernando Sanford’s house at 450 Kingsley Avenue. (Wikipedia)

In 1938 Bill Hewlett and David Packard began building their first product, an audio oscillator, in the garage at 367 Addison Avenue. It is California Historical Landmark No. 976, “Birthplace of Silicon Valley”, and can be seen from the sidewalk. (NoeHill, Wikipedia)

A few blocks away, at Channing Avenue and Emerson Street, a sidewalk plaque marks the Federal Telegraph laboratory, where Lee de Forest built the first vacuum tube amplifier and oscillator in 1911-13. (NoeHill)