This work features one hundred morning skies, photographed from the original locations where Bay Area organizations began. The collection spans well-known institutions and obscure ventures alike, creating a visual archive of entrepreneurial origins. While the built environment transforms, the sky remains constant.

Boudin Bakery, established 1849
Address: 319 Dupont Street, (now Grant Avenue), San Francisco
Boudin Bakery began in 1849 when Isidore Boudin, a baker with French heritage, obtained wild yeast starter from Gold Rush miners. Using his French baking knowledge, Boudin worked with this starter and noticed his bread had a unique sour, tangy flavor that was different from what he was accustomed to. Initially operating from a tent, Boudin later established a permanent location at 319 DuPont Street (today’s Grant Avenue). When the business grew, he moved to a larger space at 815 Broadway, which is where the bakery was located during the San Francisco earthquake on April 18, 1906

Levi Strauss & Co., established 1853
Address: 90 Sacramento Street, San Francisco
German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco in 1853 to open a West Coast branch of his brothers’ New York dry goods business. He needed space to store and sell merchandise arriving by clipper ship for Gold Rush pioneers. The company became a jeans manufacturer through Nevada tailor Jacob Davis, who had been buying denim from Levi Strauss & Co. and reinforcing it with metal rivets. In 1873, Davis and Strauss received U.S. Patent No. 139,121 for an “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings” and began manufacturing the riveted work pants that became blue jeans.

Sierra Club, established 1892
Address: 101 Sansome Street, San Francisco
Journalist Robert Underwood Johnson collaborated with conservationist John Muir on the 1890 campaign to create Yosemite National Park, expanding the smaller state park established in 1864. By 1889, Johnson had encouraged Muir to form an association to protect the Sierra Nevada. Preliminary meetings included artist William Keith, botanist Willis Linn Jepson, attorney Warren Olney, geologist Willard Drake Johnson, scientist Joseph LeConte, and educator David Starr Jordan. In May 1892, Jepson—a young botany professor from UC Berkeley—helped Muir and Olney officially launch the Sierra Club, modeled after the Appalachian Mountain Club. Muir served as president until his death in 1914.

The Clorox Company (Electro-Alkaline Company), established 1913
Address: 839 High Street, Oakland
The Clorox Company began in 1913 when five Oakland entrepreneurs—Archibald Taft, Edward Hughes, Charles Husband, Rufus Myers, and William Hussey—invested $100 each to establish the Electro-Alkaline Company. Using an electrolytic process to convert Pacific Ocean brine into sodium hypochlorite bleach, they created a product that was significantly stronger than other bleaches available at the time. The company’s transformation into a household name occurred when they recognized the potential for residential use beyond their initial industrial market. In 1916, Annie Murray helped test and promote the bleach for home laundry applications, successfully expanding from commercial laundries and municipal water companies into American households nationwide.

Rosefield Packing Company Ltd (Skippy Peanut Butter), established 1915
Address: 1339 Burbank Street, Alameda
Rosefield Packing Company was founded by Joseph Louis Rosefield, a California food businessman who revolutionized peanut butter production. Working from his family business in Alameda, Rosefield developed a groundbreaking process that prevented oil separation, creating the first modern, shelf-stable peanut butter that maintained a consistent, creamy texture without requiring stirring. In 1923, Rosefield licensed his innovative hydrogenation process to another manufacturer to produce Peter Pan peanut butter. Nearly a decade later in 1932, Rosefield Packing Company launched its own brand, Skippy peanut butter, which featured the same non-separating formula that had transformed the industry, establishing both Peter Pan and Skippy as enduring American brands that remain popular today.

Litton Engineering Lab, established 1932
Address: 557 Eaton Avenue, Redwood City
Litton Engineering Laboratories was founded in 1932 by Charles Litton, who used his personal savings to establish a workshop on his parents’ property in Redwood City, where he experimented with high-tech innovations that would eventually result in 65 patents. At the request of Stanford’s Frederick Terman, Litton helped the university build a tube research laboratory and recruit David Packard, while also providing klystron tube-making equipment to Russell and Sigurd Varian for their company, Varian Associates. The company’s transformation into a major electronics manufacturer occurred during World War II, when Litton developed microwave tubes for communications and radar systems. Litton’s innovative klystron tube-making equipment was utilized by Russell and Sigurd Varian at their family firm, Varian Associates, while fellow amateur radio operators William Eitel and Jack McCullough adopted Litton technology for their company, later known as Eimac, establishing Litton’s influence across the emerging electronics industry.

Eimac, established 1936
Address: 592 San Mateo Avenue, San Bruno
Eimac was founded by William Eitel and Jack McCullough, amateur radio operators who met through the Peninsula radio community. Working from Eitel’s mother’s garage, the pair combined Eitel’s glassblowing skills with McCullough’s electrical engineering knowledge to manufacture vacuum tubes for radio transmitters. Drawing on tube-making techniques from Charles Litton, Eimac developed superior power tubes that attracted broadcasters and radio amateurs alike. The company expanded rapidly during World War II as military demand for radar and communications equipment surged, establishing San Bruno as an unlikely center of electronics manufacturing.

Hewlett-Packard, established 1939

Address: 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto

Hewlett-Packard was founded by Stanford classmates William Hewlett and David Packard, who formalized their partnership in a one-car garage behind the Packard residence on Addison Avenue. Encouraged by their professor Frederick Terman—who believed Stanford graduates should build technology companies in the region rather than migrate east—the pair initially pursued various electronic projects before settling on Hewlett’s audio oscillator design as their first commercial product. From test equipment, HP expanded into scientific calculators in the 1960s, then entered computing with the HP 2116A minicomputer in 1966. The company’s 1984 LaserJet printer and subsequent PC lines transformed HP into one of the world’s largest technology corporations. The garage where HP began has since been designated California Historical Landmark No. 976 and is widely recognized as the “Birthplace of Silicon Valley,” marking the spot where the culture of garage-based technology entrepreneurship that would define the region first took root.

Ampex, established 1944

Address: 1155 Howard Avenue, San Carlos

Ampex was founded by Alexander M. Poniatoff, a Russian-born engineer whose company name combined his initials with “ex” for excellence. Initially manufacturing motors for military radar, Ampex pivoted after encountering German Magnetophon tape recorders brought to the U.S. by Army Signal Corps officer John T. Mullin. Recognizing the technology’s potential, Ampex developed America’s first commercially successful professional tape recorder, which Bing Crosby adopted for pre-recording radio programs. The company later pioneered video recording, debuting the first practical videotape recorder in 1956.