Some places become famous because they look extraordinary. Others could easily be mistaken for an ordinary house, street, field, or building if nobody told you what happened there. History has a strange way of transforming otherwise forgettable locations, and sometimes the most important part of a photograph is what you cannot actually see. A quiet patch of grass might once have held an enormous crowd, while an unremarkable stretch of road could have become recognizable to millions of people around the world. Once you know the story, it can be impossible to look at the place the same way again. Here are 15 places that only look ordinary until you realize what happened.©RedditThe Garage Where Silicon Valley Got Its StartA small garage in Palo Alto became the early workshop of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in 1938. It later became known as the birthplace of Silicon Valley.©RedditThe Crosswalk That Became an Album CoverThis London crosswalk looks completely ordinary until you recognize it from The Beatles’ Abbey Road. The famous cover photograph was taken there in August 1969.©RedditThe Neighborhood Where a Nuclear Bomb Was Almost DroppedA quiet patch of countryside near Goldsboro, North Carolina, hides an extraordinary Cold War story. In 1961, a B-52 broke apart overhead and dropped two nuclear bombs onto the area.©RedditThe Field Where Woodstock HappenedA quiet field in Bethel, New York, became the site of Woodstock in 1969. Hundreds of thousands of people descended on the property for three days of music.©RedditThe Motel Where Martin Luther King Jr. Was AssassinatedThe Lorraine Motel looks like a classic roadside motel from its era. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated outside Room 306 there in 1968.©RedditThe Field Where the First Powered Flight Took OffA stretch of sand and grass at Kitty Hawk hardly looks like the birthplace of modern aviation. The Wright brothers made their first successful powered flight there in 1903.The School That Became the Center of a National CrisisLittle Rock Central High School looks like an imposing but otherwise ordinary school. In 1957, nine Black students entered under federal protection during the fight over desegregation.©RedditThe Restaurant Where the Sit-In Movement Took HoldA Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro looked like countless others across America. In 1960, four Black college students sat down there and helped ignite a nationwide sit-in movement.©RedditThe Steps That Turned Into a Movie LandmarkThe steps outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art were simply museum stairs before Rocky came along. The 1976 movie transformed them into one of cinema’s most recognizable locations.©RedditThe Rooftop Where the Beatles Played Their Last ConcertThe roof of 3 Savile Row could easily disappear among London’s surrounding buildings. In 1969, The Beatles unexpectedly turned it into the stage for their final public performance.©RedditThe Plaza Where a Presidential Motorcade Changed HistoryDealey Plaza can look like little more than roads, grass, and office buildings. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated there during his Dallas motorcade in 1963.©RedditThe Room Where the First Nuclear Test Was PreparedMcDonald Ranch House looks like a lonely farmhouse in the New Mexico desert. Scientists used one of its rooms to assemble the plutonium core for the Trinity test in 1945.©RedditThe Street Where the Berlin Wall Used to StandSome Berlin streets now give little indication that a concrete barrier once divided them. Today, much of the former Wall’s route is marked by a simple line running through the pavement.©RedditThe Parking Lot Above Hitler’s BunkerAn ordinary Berlin parking area sits near the location of Adolf Hitler’s Führerbunker. Most of the underground complex was destroyed or sealed after World War II, leaving little visible evidence of what was once below.©RedditThe Field Where a Music Festival Became a DisasterAn otherwise unremarkable speedway in Altamont, California, hosted a massive free concert in 1969. The chaotic event became infamous for violence in the crowd and marked a grim end to the decade’s festival idealism.The post 15 Places That Only Look Ordinary Until You Realize What Happened appeared first on Den of Geek.