The American garage is way more than just a park your car or store you stuff. It has achieved a status in our culture. It’s a place of refuge, recreation, and even innovation. The extra space hidden away behind a garage door can become just the space needed for inventing, creating, or starting a new business. Check out this list from Neighborhood Garage Door Service of Columbus, OH of five famous garage-based companies.
Los Angeles, 1923
Two brothers headed for California from Missouri to start something new. Using their Uncle Robert’s garage, they began filming short-form comedies. Their films were successful enough that they were able to rent the back end of a realty office. Eventually, they made enough money to get into a real studio. They eventually fulfilled a long-time dream by starting a theme park.
Today, Roy and Walt Disney are household names. Disneyland sits in Anaheim, just an hour from the garage where the Disney brothers got their start.
Palo Alto, 1937
A newlywed couple moved into their first apartment together. A family friend moved into the garage out back so they could work together. Putting to use just over $500 of seed money, they designed and built a sound equipment tester called a low distortion audio oscillator. It was their first major hit, and the two friends were on their way.
The two decided to go into business together and formed a tech company. When it came time to name the new endeavor, they decided to use their own names. They flipped a coin to decide whose name would come first. Bill Hewlett won the toss over his friend, Dave Packard. Now their company name is synonymous with computers.
Los Altos, 1976
A pair of Steves combined their mutual love for technology and started a business. They had one shared desire – to make computers that just worked. Their plan was simple. They built the computers in their garage to sell to a local electronics store. Within thirty days, the entrepreneurs sold their first fifty units at a price of $500 each. The Apple I was a hit. Wozniak and Jobs continued to work together to build Apple into a worldwide powerhouse brand. Even after Steve Wozniak stepped out of the company, the company continued to innovate and revolutionize the computer industry. Now, years after Steve Jobs’ death, Apple is still a dominating force in computing and mobile space.
Bellevue, WA, 1994
In the summer of ‘94, Jeff and his New York family moved across the country to Bellevue. When house shopping, Jeff was specifically looking for enough space to work on his new startup called Cadabra. He moved the family into a three-bedroom home with a garage and got to work. In ‘95, Jeff Bezos sold his first book online. Two years later, Cadabra, now known as Amazon, went public.
Menlo Park, 1998
A business school graduate trying to pay the bills rented out three of her bedrooms and the garage to two Stanford students. The two students were working on a passion project trying to improve the process of finding things on the web. Working out of their rented garage, Larry Page and Sergey Brin created and launched their new search engine, Google. That business school grad, Susan Wojcicki, is now is senior vice president of Google. The company now owns her old home and the garage.
Who knows what potential awaits inside your overhead garage door? Neighborhood Garage Door Service of Columbus, OH wants to be a part of the possibilities. Call us today and let us help you make the most out of your garage, whether it needs service or even replacing.
