Steve Jobs' original Macintosh demo site is now rubble
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The Flint Center being demolished -- image credit: Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group. It was the site of the original Steve Jobs launch of the Mac and it lasted until the time of the M4 Mac mini, but finally the famous Flint Center Apple event site is being demolished.
It's famous for being where Steve Jobs unveiled the original Macintosh in 1984. It's famous for staging key Apple Events right up to 2014 and the launch of the Apple Watch. Later, Apple would need larger spaces, and then later still it had its own huge space at Apple Park. But there were reasons to choose the Flint Center when Apple did — and it did so years before the Mac.
Three years, in fact. For the Flint Center was also the site of Apple's first-ever shareholders meeting as a public company. The Flint Center auditorium at the De Anza College was needed in order to house all of the new shareholders. That was in 1981, and while the size of the audience will have dictated or at least limited the choice of venue, the Flint Center had an advantage. At that time, Apple was based at 20863 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Cupertino, which was barely half a mile away from the Center.
This was one event you wish had the kind of blanket coverage Apple gets today. For according to various sources including The Pop History Dig, the shareholders' meeting was not a happy one. It's even said that after being interrupted by the crowd, Steve Jobs departed from prepared remarks and gave a speech about respect betrayal. It isn't clear who was supposed to be betraying whom, but not long afterwards, Job was effectively sidelined into taking over the Macintosh.
