Solvang, A Service Station Haven? Part 1
By Curt CraggIf you drive through the tourist village of Solvang today, you experience the feel of Eastern Europe. The quaint Danish and European architecture of many of the beautifully designed buildings that have evolved from the early tourist days of the 1950’s evoke images of Bavaria, rather than the old perception of a “Danish Disneyland”. Of course, as a collector of roadside relics, when I’m driving through town my thoughts immediately turn to more important issues, like where the heck to you buy gas!
The truth is, nowhere. At least not in the tourist part of town, as we locals think of it. You can drive through town from the west and stop at Jim Enderle’s station just before you leave Solvang or , if you’re headed the other way, make the drive to Buellton and the cluster of stations around the freeway ramps.
It may be hard to believe that there was a day when Solvang was a “Service Station Haven”. In fact that time was around the 1950’s and 60’s when for some reason that I can’t explain, there were more places to buy gas than there were T-shirt shops.
Let’s cruise down memory lane on Mission Drive and visit these old stations. My car of choice for today is a 57 Chevy Bel Air, convertible of course. We’ll travel from east to west starting at Kelsey Chevrolet where I might have bought my Bel Air from the new owners of the former Solvang Garage.
Solvang Garage and Kelsey ChevroletThe Solvang Garage was founded in 1912 and was Solvang’s first service station. Around 1925 a new building was erected next door to the old garage featuring modern service equipment and a showroom for Chevrolet cars. Jack Ross would operate the Solvang Garage until 1956 when he retired and sold the business to Frank Kelsey of Arroyo Grande. Kelsey renamed the business Solvang Motors and eventually Kelsey Chevrolet. From the very first gas pump placed at the Solvang Garage until Kelsey Chevrolet moved to it’s new location in Buellton, the dealership would also have a service station on one of the busiest intersections in Solvang.
One of the earliest pictures of the Solvang Garage features a large “Seaside” sign on the roof. Seaside Oil, based in Summerland, California had a large presences in Santa Barbara County in the 1920’s and 30’s. However they weren’t the only brand being pumped at this new service station. In fact Jack Ross’ daughter Gladys tells me that there were probably as many brands of gas as there were pump on the islands. One of those brands for sure was Richfield, as a curb sign for their brand can also be seen in the early photos.
In California, as the service station industry develop in the early 20’s four major companies dominated the branding and marketing of gasoline. They were Standard Oil Company, Shell Oil Company, Associated (better known as Flying A) and Union Oil Company. Smaller aggressive companies were also trying to carve out a share of this burgeoning business, including local Seaside Oil and Los Angeles based Richfield. As a result “perks” were offered to the independent dealers to carry a distributors brand of gasoline. These perks might include signage, gas pumps or even garage equipment.
Emerging from the depression of the 1930’s, many oil companies would end up in a consolidation which would last into the 40’s and continues even today. As this happened the larger companies would be able to offer greater perks that would give them exclusivity at the stations. They would also open corporate owned stations to ensure their presence on a regional and national basis.
Solvang Garage would eventually become an exclusive Texaco dealer and for at least twenty years carry that brand, until after the business was sold to Kelsey. Kelsey would later fly the Richfield banner until the business was moved to Buellton and the history of Solvang’s earliest service station was ended.
[This message has been edited by the poor mans museum (edited 04-28-2005).]
