See what Google’s original office looked like in 1998

When Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google in 1998, they rented Wojcicki’s Palo Alto garage to use as their “global headquarters.”

During a 2014 commencement speech at Johns Hopkins University, she described the circumstances that led to the fateful decision. She said she was newly married and had just bought her house, but could barely afford the mortgage. A mutual friend connected her with Page and Brin, who were still students at Stanford at the time.

“They looked nice,” Wojcicki said. “Their idea sounded kind of crazy.”

Although the name of their new company sounded strange to her and she wasn’t sure what it meant, none of that mattered at the time.

“As long as you pay your rent on time, you can build your Googly thing here,” she recalled telling them.

Eventually, she joined them in sessions eating pizza and M&Ms, she added, with the Google co-founders talking about how their technology could change the world — and how excited they were that the garage had a washing machine. and dryer.

According to Google, the company expanded its workspaces into the three small downstairs bedrooms as the staff grew to six people.

In 2018, to mark Google’s 20th anniversary, the company used archival footage to recreate what the garage looked like in 1998.

The Street View team then posted images of each room, allowing viewers to virtually explore the startup’s original office space in all its crowded glory.

The desk also had a piano keyboard for music breaks and the requisite ping pong table, although pictures show it folded up and tucked away in a corner.

In a 2018 video accompanying the recreated office, Wojcicki said, “Wow, it’s amazing to see that it looks the same. It’s like stepping back in time.”

Google also posted an original grainy video of the garage, shot by the company’s sixth employee, engineer Harry Cheung, who has since moved on to become an angel investor.

After touring the rooms with his camera, he saw Page at work in front of a computer.

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