Famous tech addresses in Palo Alto

Silicon Valley does not have a single museum in Palo Alto. Its history is spread across ordinary streets: a wooden garage behind a house, a two story office above a shop, a brass plaque set into a sidewalk. You can see most of them in one morning on foot, then add a bike ride or short drive to Stanford Research Park.

This tour starts at the Palo Alto Caltrain station and loops through downtown and Professorville before heading south. Every site is viewed from the public sidewalk. Most are private offices or homes, so please be quiet and respectful, especially on residential streets. For the full story behind each stop, read our Silicon Valley history.

The route at a glance

1. Palo Alto Caltrain station
2. 165 University Avenue, the lucky building
3. 156 University Avenue, an early Facebook office
4. 471 Emerson Street, Facebook's first office
5. Channing Avenue and Emerson Street, the Lee de Forest plaque
6. 367 Addison Avenue, the HP Garage
7. Old Palo Alto, Steve Jobs's longtime neighborhood (general area only)
8. Stanford Research Park: HP, Tesla and Xerox PARC
9. 844 East Charleston Road, the Fairchild Semiconductor site

The downtown part from stop 1 to stop 6 is about 2 miles and takes 1.5 to 2 hours at a relaxed pace. Stops 7 to 9 are spread out. A bike works best for them. You can rent a bike or bring your own on Caltrain.

1. Start at the Palo Alto Caltrain station

The station sits where University Avenue meets the tracks, at the edge of downtown. Trains from San Francisco and San Jose stop here often. Electric service began in 2024. A short walk north of the station, beside the tracks, stands El Palo Alto, the redwood that gave the city its name. It makes a good first photo before you head into town. Our getting here guide covers train times and parking.

Walk northeast up University Avenue, away from Stanford. Within two blocks you reach the first stop.

2. 165 University Avenue, the lucky building

This plain office building above street-level shops is the most famous address in downtown Palo Alto. Logitech worked here. In 1999 Google moved in with fewer than ten employees, coming from a garage in Menlo Park. It outgrew the space within months. Confinity, the startup that built PayPal, used it as an office. Later came Danger, the mobile phone company Microsoft bought in 2008, plus Milo.com, WePay and Yummly.

The building is run by the Amidi family. The same group later started the Plug and Play Tech Center. Locals call it the lucky building or the karma building. There is no plaque, so look for the street number on the doorway.

3. 156 University Avenue

Across the street is 156 University Avenue. By 2007 it was commonly reported as one of Facebook's downtown offices, along with 164 Hamilton Avenue around the corner, though we could not confirm either address in a primary source. As the company grew it leased space in at least five downtown buildings before moving to Stanford Research Park in 2009. There is no marker here today, so treat it as a quick look rather than a stop.

4. 471 Emerson Street, Facebook's first office

Turn onto Emerson Street and walk to number 471, just north of University Avenue. In January 2005 the young company leased this space under the name "The Face Book." Before that, Mark Zuckerberg and his team had spent the summer of 2004 working out of a rented house after moving from Harvard. A small marker on the building records the lease dates, January 10, 2005, to July 30, 2006. It is one of the few corporate history markers you will find downtown.

5. Channing Avenue and Emerson Street, Landmark 836

Walk south on Emerson Street, crossing University and Hamilton Avenues, until you reach Channing Avenue. Look down at the southeast corner. A plaque set into the sidewalk marks California Historical Landmark No. 836, the Pioneer Electronics Research Laboratory.

The Federal Telegraph Company, founded by Cyril Elwell in 1909, had its lab and factory here. Between 1911 and 1913 Lee de Forest developed the first vacuum tube amplifier and oscillator on this site. The state registered the landmark in 1969. The plaque credits the work with leading to modern radio, television and the electronics age. Because the plaque is flat in the pavement, many people walk right past it.

6. 367 Addison Avenue, the HP Garage

Continue a few blocks into Professorville to Addison Avenue. At number 367 stands the small wooden garage where Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard built their first audio oscillator. They made their partnership official on January 1, 1939. The site is California Historical Landmark No. 976, titled "Birthplace of Silicon Valley."

HP bought and restored the house and garage. It is private and not open for walk-in tours. You can see the garage and the plaque clearly from the sidewalk. Please do not open the gate or step onto the lawn. Our HP Garage page has more detail and photo tips.

7. Old Palo Alto, in general terms

Steve Jobs lived for more than 20 years in a modest cottage-style house in Old Palo Alto, south of downtown. He was a familiar sight biking and walking around town. He died in 2011. His family has kept up its well known Halloween tradition in the neighborhood.

We do not publish the address. It is a family home, not a landmark. If you walk or bike through Old Palo Alto, enjoy the tree-lined streets and the older houses, but do not stop to photograph private homes or knock on doors. The neighborhood is worth a ride on its own merits.

8. Stanford Research Park

Head southwest on a bike or in a car to Page Mill Road. Stanford Research Park covers about 700 acres here and holds more than 150 companies. It started in 1951 as the Stanford Industrial Park. The buildings are private, but three addresses are worth a slow pass:

• 1501 Page Mill Road. Hewlett-Packard moved its headquarters here in 1960. HP Inc. is still headquartered at this address.
• 3000 Hanover Street. The former Hewlett Packard Enterprise campus, now Tesla's global engineering headquarters, announced in February 2023.
• Coyote Hill Road. Xerox opened its Palo Alto Research Center, known as PARC, in 1970 and later moved into a long, low building at 3333 Coyote Hill Road. The Alto personal computer, Ethernet and laser printing came out of PARC. Xerox donated PARC to SRI International in 2023.

Facebook also made its headquarters at 1601 California Avenue in the park from 2009 until it moved to Menlo Park in 2011. Do not enter lobbies or parking structures. Security is tight and most sites are badge only.

9. 844 East Charleston Road, Fairchild Semiconductor

The last stop sits in south Palo Alto near the Mountain View border. In 1957 eight scientists who had quit Shockley Semiconductor in Mountain View founded Fairchild Semiconductor here. In 1959 Robert Noyce invented the first integrated circuit that could be mass produced on this site. The state named it California Historical Landmark No. 1000. Today it is an ordinary commercial building. Look for the state landmark marker, take a photo and move on.

Extending the tour

To round out the day, drive or bike up Sand Hill Road, where many of the venture firms that funded these companies keep offices. Our venture capital guide explains who is there. Then cross into Stanford for the Main Quad and Hoover Tower. If you would rather ride with a guide, a Silicon Valley tour from San Francisco often covers Palo Alto, Stanford and the big campuses in Mountain View and Cupertino. For more ideas, see our things to do in Palo Alto.

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