Days may be numbered for 80-year-old landmark
SM CANYON — The gasoline tanks are dry at an 80-year-old service station in the heart of Santa Monica Canyon, and it may not be long before the historic business is shut down forever.
Brian Clark, 41, owner of Canyon Service & Detail, is in a tug-of-war with his landlords, who have put the 17,000-square-foot parcel at 507 Entrada Dr. on the market for $2.3 million. Clark said he wants to buy the station, but added that realtor friends have valued it at no more than $1.8 million.
The historic property is owned by descendants of Francisco Marquez, who, with Ysidro Reyes, was granted the 6,600-acre-plus Rancho Boca de Santa Monica by the Mexican government in 1838.
Since taking over the service station in 1996, Clark has feuded with some residential neighbors over a car detailing outfit he runs on the property. They maintain the detailing service is loud and illegal. Clark says it’s essential to the success of his business and supported by most neighbors.
“The station needs the gas to bring in the traffic and the detailing to generate the money,” said Clark, who pays $3,000 a month to rent the 1924 station. Clark added it costs about $20,000 to fill up the gas tanks, an investment he’s hesitant to make while the future of the station is uncertain.
The specialty, high-octane pumps at the station have been dry for about a month. The future of the little station was thrown into doubt by a lawsuit levied by Ted Stolman, 62, a business reorganization and bankruptcy lawyer, who for 24 years has lived on Amalfi Court behind the station.
Stolman started fighting the city of Los Angeles in 2000, after it granted Clark a permit allowing him to do detailing work on the property, which sits in the middle of a residential area and has been able to sell gasoline only with a special permit since 1925, when the property was annexed to LA County. In December, Stolman convinced the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the detailing permit.
“If you allow him to get away with this type of action, then next week he’ll open a 7-11 store and the next week he’ll open a liquor store,” Stolman said Thursday. “A line needs to be drawn.”
Though Stolman and a handful of other neighbors feel the detailing outfit is too loud and congests traffic in the canyon, Clark, who grew up in nearby Mandeville Canyon, said there’s strong support for the old service station — even with the detailing component. And he isn’t giving up his fight.
“I’m not a quitter and I can’t just say forget it,” he said, adding the LA City Attorney’s Office told him not to panic, and that they would review the recent ruling and decide where to take it from there.
Stolman maintained the Ninth Circuit ruling is final and cannot be contested.
In the meantime, the property owners are apparently determined to sell. Upon her death two years ago, Angie Marquez passed the land onto three children, one of whom died and passed it on to her children. Clark said those children are anxious to sell.
There are currently several offers for the property on the table, but none from Clark, said real estate agent Patt Frank, who declined to elaborate on how many offers had been made or for how much. The 17,000-square-foot property could easily accommodate two single-family homes, if developed.
What happens next remains unclear. Clark said he is entitled to a five-year continuation on his lease, which has expired, but that he wouldn’t fight the Marquez descendants if they opt to sell the property. Plus, Clark said he’s been spending $1,500 a month out of his own pocket to cover the rent in recent months.
Stolman said he only wants what’s fair.
“Clark billed it as a ‘save the station’ event, which it never was,” Stolman said Thursday. “Our position all along has been that we want the station to comply with the regulations.
“We’re not saying the station needs to close. We’re just saying, ‘Comply with law.’”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2004. Read the original PDF.