The Garage

History and location   Photos of restored garage and house   National Park Service (with a couple of original photos.)

Bill and Dave had always opposed HP buying the property – with the decrepit one-car, dirt-floor garage.

367 Addison Avenue was designated as a California historical landmark in 1987. Hewlett’s reaction? A regretful “Now they can’t tear it down.”

Packard told one employee "You know, this is the first time I've been back here in fifty years..." and quietly told another: "I am tired of that damn garage."

Hewlett-Packard, under new CEO Carly Fiorina, purchased the property in October 2000 – after Packard had died and Hewlett had become disabled. The interior is picturesque but not at all authentic -- for example, they did not have a ham radio station in the garage.

"The garage was left behind... So too were the audio oscillator and thousands of other products – all abandoned in the endless pursuit of something better. Only the people remained, and they were cherished and respected..."
– Michael S. Malone, Forbes 

The "Rules of the Garage" – which do not mention the company's responsibilities to employees and community – replaced the long-standing HP Way and Corporate Objectives.

By 1999, the HP principles that had worked for decades in good times and bad – such as "job security based on performance" and "share in the success that they make possible" – were abandoned. Instead of redeploying people to invent new products and develop new markets, there were continual layoffs. Company-wide profit sharing, which rewarded cross-organizational teamwork, was eliminated.

The HP Way and Corporate Objectives were replaced by the "Rules of the Garage" – developed by an ad agency for a $200 million worldwide advertising campaign, including the 2000 Super Bowl. The ads featured new CEO Carly Fiorina – and didn't mention any HP products.

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