165 University Avenue

Office building in Palo Alto, California thumb|Entrance to 165 University Avenue in 2026 August 2025 165 University Avenue or Lucky Building or Karma Building is a small rented office building on University Avenue, the main commercial street in downtown Palo Alto, California, that gave rise to Plug and Play Tech Center and to the Amidi Group. It is run by Rahim & Saeed Amidi, whose family fled from the Iranian revolution in the 1970s.https://www.bbc.com/news/business-10944196 165 University Ave: Silicon Valley's 'lucky building' 2018-08-24 https://web.archive.org/web/20180529064317/http://www.bbc.com/news/business-10944196 2018-05-29 live Located near Stanford University, the building has served as an incubator for several noted Silicon Valley companies, including Logitech, Google, PayPal, Danger, Inc (bought by Microsoft), BridgeBio Pharma, BetterWorks, Milo.com (bought by eBay), WePayWhere to See Silicon Valley https://www.paulgraham.com/seesv.html?viewfullsite=1 2022-12-01 www.paulgraham.com (acquired by J.P. Morgan) and Yummly (bought by Whirlpool).http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/05/the-luckiest-building-in-silicon-valley/ The "Luckiest" Building in Silicon Valley 2014-12-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20140913043614/http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/05/the-luckiest-building-in-silicon-valley/ 2014-09-13 live https://www.bbc.com/news/business-11036924 BBC News - PayPal creator recalls early days 2018-06-21 https://web.archive.org/web/20180825011029/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-11036924 2018-08-25 live YouTube also provides this location as the example address when setting the location of an uploaded video. Until 2000, the ground floor was home to a Palo Alto institution, Chimaera Books & Music. Like many independent bookstores, its closure was due, in part, to competition from the dot com economy.https://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/monthly/1999_Oct_27.CHIMERA.html Chimera takes flight from Palo Alto 2017-09-12 https://web.archive.org/web/20160910163345/http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/monthly/1999_Oct_27.CHIMERA.html 2016-09-10 live References External links 30em News.com: "A building blessed with tech success" San Jose Mercury News: "Rugs to Riches"February 2019 InternetArchiveBot yes New York Times: "Rental Building’s Good Karma Nurtures Success" Max Levchin's Paypal Slideshow: Brings Sleeping Bag to Sleep in Office Logitech History at 165 University with Historic Photos https://web.archive.org/web/20100315134619/http://logistory.wikispaces.com/165+University+Avenue 2010-03-15 Milo.com, the newest startup to occupy the legendary 165 University office space Marketplace, May 18, 2010: "The place for good business karma"February 2019 InternetArchiveBot yes 37.4444 -122.1631 region:US_type:landmark title Category:Buildings and structures in Palo Alto, California Category:History of Palo Alto, California