Historically Interesting Businesses

GAS STATIONS

Introduction: During the first half of the twentieth century, the section of El Camino Real that crossed Menlo Park had about a dozen gas stations, an unusually large number for a small town. North of Santa Cruz Ave, the stations were mostly on the east side (actually it's the northeast side), while south of SCA they were on the west (southwest) side. Over time, the names and or the brands often changed while the structures remained. This is the beginning of a project to identify as much of the history of these stations as possible. In '53/'57/'74 there were 11/10/6 stations respectively. Today there are still 5.

This page is a work in progress. If you have any corrections or additional information about gas stations including locations, dates, personnel, etc., please send to mphistorical@gmail.com .

El Camino Real runs northwest-southeast through Menlo Park, but below we use the simpler notation of just north and south. The even addresses are on the east (Bay) side, the odd on the west. Most of this information comes from the Polk Directories.

*Indicates a current station

Glenwood

North side (1400): Menlo Atherton Shell (Polk '74); L&W Service (Polk '53)--station demolished `ca 2010 for new hotel

South side (1380): *Larry's Union; George & Bob's Union (beginning ~'89); Simon's Union (Polk '57)

Valparaiso

South side (1377): George & Bob's Chevron (Polk '74, '57, '53)--station demolished `'89, now Caldwell Banker Real Estate

1295 ECR (west side)

Triad (Polk '57); Haynie's Texaco (Polk '53)

Note: 1281 is *M & R Automotive

1279 is *Menlo Atherton Auto Repair

1246 ECR (east side)

Rappley's Richfield (Polk '53)

Oak Grove

North side (1200): *Chevron; Lloyd's Menlo (Polk '57); Paul&Ricky's Mobilgas (Polk '53)

South side: *Associated (photo 3:2621)

Santa Cruz

North side (1100): C&P Shell until replaced about 1973 by TLC Hamburgers and Chicken Cafe, which in turn was replaced about 1974 by McDonald's (more research is needed to flush out details of these restaurants)

South side (960): Wedeg's (Polk '74); Standard (Polk '57, '53)

Live Oak

North side (901): The Village Pump (Polk '53); Menlo Park Gas (photos 3:2594-1, 2618)

South side: Associated (photos 3:2594-1, -2 and -3)

899 ECR (west side)

Schick's Flying A (Polk '57)

Middle

South side (495): *Hudson's Shell; Jower's Shell (Polk '57); Gray's Richfield (Polk '53)

College

South side (389): Stanford Texaco (Polk '74); Jower's Shell (Polk '53)

Partridge

South side (275): *Beacon (photo 3:2619); Star & Bar (Polk '57)

Harvard

South side (97): Bob's Union Servie (Polk '57); Acme (Polk '53)

Questions

Wolverton's (photo 3:3016) location?

Last updated: 22 March 2017