Let’s face it, significant events rarely occur inside garages. The little brick or wooden structure attached to the side of a house more often than not serves simply as a place to leave the car overnight or keep a few bikes.
Not so the garage at 2066 Crist Drive in Los Altos, California, for this was part of the childhood home of late Apple boss Steve Jobs. The tech guru not only spent a lot time in his garage, he also did something very special while inside.
It was there, way back in 1976, that Jobs and best buddy Steve Wozniak bish-bash-and-boshed together the very first Apple computer, a machine that despite not winning any awards for looks, marked the beginning of a revolution in the personal computer industry and gave birth to one of the most successful companies on the planet.
So significant is the address in the eyes of the Los Altos Historical Commission that it’s decided to designate it as a “historic resource”, local news outlet San Jose Mercury News reported this week.
The designation stipulates that any proposed renovations or repairs to the home must first be green-lighted by the commission, which means a desire on behalf of the current owner to, for example, add a faux wood exterior to the building, or perhaps paint it pink, could be met with some resistance.
Incidentally, the home belongs to Patricia Jobs, Steve’s sister. According to the Mercury News, her consent wasn’t required for the designation, which was announced earlier this week following a two-year review by the commission.
Significant events
Once Steve and Steve had finished building the first Apple I computer in the Crist Drive garage, they built 49 more, followed by a load of Apple II machines, before expanding their business by renting out office space in Cupertino.
The commission noted in its evaluation that the address is also where Jobs courted early Apple investors – Chuck Peddle of Commodore Computer and Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital among them.
Whichever way you look at it, Apple started at 2066 Crist Drive, with the commission finally coming around to the idea that the location should be preserved.
“Significant events took place at the subject property,” Commissioner Sapna Marfatia wrote in the evaluation [pdf], adding, “Steve Jobs is considered a genius who blended technology and creativity to invent and market a product which dramatically changed many industries. His influence is expected to be felt by multiple generations forthcoming.”
More recently, the address has been used as a filming location for Jobs, the 2013 movie about the life of the late tech guru, while the old Apple I computers have been selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars at auctions around the world.
As for the company itself, things don’t seem to have turned out too badly.
