Stripped of its historic pumps, Canyon Service is in escrow to be sold
SM CANYON — Fences have gone up around an 80-year-old service station here, but the fight isn’t nearly finished between preservationists and some residents.
A last-ditch effort to have Canyon Service landmarked as an historic site has stalled the sale of the nearly 17,000-square-foot property to a nearby homeowner who wants to dismantle the old station and donate it to an automotive museum.
Escrow in that sale has been put on hold while the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission reviews the site at 507 Entrada Dr. for landmarking. Commissioners visited the station earlier this month and were expected to make a decision early in 2005.
The sale pits former station operator Brian Clark against residents who live near the station and have complained it’s out of place in the well-heeled Santa Monica Canyon. Clark hopes to landmark the station and continue running it.
If that doesn’t happen, neighbor Christopher Hoffman will complete his purchase of the property, move the gas station building to a museum and possibly raze an historic two-story bungalow also on the site, Clark claimed. Hoffman couldn’t be reached for comment, and broker Patt Frank declined to comment on future plans for the site or the pending sale of the property, which was last listed for $2.3 million.
Canyon Service is owned by descendants of Francisco Marquez, who, with Ysidro Reyes, was granted the 6,600-plus-acre Rancho Boca de Santa Monica by the Mexican government in 1838. Sale of the property is believed to be part of settling the estate of Angelina Marquez Olivera, who died in 2002.
It’s not just Clark who hopes to preserve the old station. The proposal was put forward by the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association, and was supported by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, the Palisades Historical Society, the Palisades Community Council, the Society for Commercial Archeology and the Route 66 Association. If the Cultural Heritage Commission decides to support landmarking, the matter will go before the Los Angeles City Council.
While both sides wait for a decision on the landmark status, the fenced-off station has been stripped of its vintage orange-and-white gas pumps, its old Coca- Cola vending machine and its neon signs, all of which belong to Clark and are being held in storage.
About 700 gallons of high-octane gas still sit in the old tanks underground, Clark said.
Even if the site is landmarked, it’s unclear how it would be used. The station, which is located in a residentially zoned area, has operated for years with a conditional use permit. That permit expires when the property is sold, no matter to whom.
“Once ownership passes... the only thing that will occur is you’ll have a vacant station that people will drive by and that’s all there will be,” said attorney Ted Stolman, who for nearly a quarter century has lived behind Canyon Service on Amalfi Court.
Stolman successfully stopped the station from running its car detailing service earlier this year, after arguing in a lawsuit the operation wasn’t legally allowed. Stolman also fought against the station on the grounds that allowing detailing would set a precedent that could lead to other commercial developments in the canyon.
“If you allow (Clark) 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 told the Daily Press in April. “A line needs to be drawn.”
If the site is landmarked, plans have been floated to turn the historic two-story bungalow into a museum of early Californian history. The station, some hope, would continue to operate.
“The use is also part of the history,” said canyon resident Mike Deasy, who filed the petition for landmark status on behalf of the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association.
Fellow canyon resident Frank Langen, a friend of Clark’s and real estate agent who focuses on properties in the Santa Monica Canyon, suggested the lot be split and the station be sold to Clark for $1 million. The other portion of the property, which measures about 10,000 square feet, could then be used to build a new house, or neighbors could raise money to purchase it and keep it as park space.
“There are a lot of things that are more important than a silly gas station, but I think it’s one of those things that, if it’s torn down, we’re all going to miss it,” Langen said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 28, 2004. Read the original PDF.