Alley dwellings as engines of innovation

Alley dwellings, garages, and such are the kinds of buildings people use to foster innovation, because they are cheap to rent. (Jane Jacobs wrote about the value of a "large stock of old buildings" being that low running costs allow cheap rent, and entrepreneurs, artists, and such need low rents in order to experiment with their new ideas.)

This photo feature from the Austin American-Statesman is on the garage where Hewlett-Packard Company started, "Birthplace of Silicon Valley." And the article here, "A glimpse at Hewlett-Packard history." From the article:

But Hewlett "rented this place specifically because the landlord said they could use the garage for a workshop," Mancini said.