The story begins like this: 1938, Hewlett and Packard, former Stanford University classmates, decided to start a company. The two-story shingle at 367 Addison Avenue had everything they needed: a bottom flat for Packard and his new bride Lucile, a shed in back for Hewlett and a garage they could convert to their workshop and laboratory.
While here, the company created the Model 200A audio oscillator, the company's first product line. An advertisement for the oscillator says to ``write Dept. A for complete information about this and other materials.'' Mancini wonders whether Dept. A was Packard's tiny apartment or Hewlett's 8-by-18 shed.
Hewlett and Packard's time at Addison Avenue was brief -- they outgrew the garage in 1940 after hiring two employees. But their stay was long enough to create, as the plaque outside reads, ``the birthplace of Silicon Valley.''
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California has declared it a historic landmark (No. 976), and HP is now gunning for a federal designation.
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