L.A.’s Cultural Heritage Commission agreed last Wednesday that the historic service station in Santa Monica Canyon should be preserved as a city monument, against the wishes of the Marquez family members who own the land on which the station stands. While the commission’s decision was a victory for a group of canyon residents who had rallied in recent months to save the station, ‘it is far from a done deal,’ said Brian Clark, who until he was evicted recently, had been leasing the station from the family since 1995. ‘It still needs to be approved by L.A. City Council, and the community still has to find a way to buy the property,’ said Clark, who was ‘pleasantly surprised’ by the decision, after a decade of wrangling with the neighbors, the City and more recently the Marquez family to preserve the station. The property, which includes the gas station and one of the last remaining homes of the Marquez family, the original owners of the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica land grant, is currently in escrow with a neighbor, Chris Hoffmann, who apparently plans to donate the gas station to the Petersen Automotive Museum and make the 17,000-sq.-ft. lot an extension of his back yard. The asking price when the property went into escrow in September was $2.3 million. While the station is in a residential zone (R-1), there has been a conditional use permit (CUP) since 1925 for the gas station to operate in this neighborhood. In mid-November, just as escrow was expected to close on the property, the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association (SMCCA) applied to the commission to have Canyon Service, the oldest full-service gas station in Los Angeles, declared a Historic-Cultural monument. Since that time no one has been permitted to demolish, alter or move the 1922 structure, which was recently fenced in. The station’s fixtures, including the Coke machines, the neon lights, the three restored orange-and-white gas pumps and the antique street sign, are currently in a storage facility. At the commission hearing the Marquez family, in their opening remarks, complained that SMCCA’s application had caused them ‘financial hardship,’ because they have not been able to complete the sale nor re-rent the station pending the landmark status. Clark, who was leasing for $2,000 a month, made a full price offer on the property in September but lost out to Hoffmann. ‘We still want to buy the station [property] if they will sell it to us,’ Clark said. If City Council approves monument status for the station, it would ‘buy some time’ for the community to arrange a purchase of the property, which local realtor Mike Deasy feels is feasible. ‘The majority of canyon residents want to see this station in operation,’ he said at Tuesday morning’s Optimist Club meeting. While he acknowledged that there are some residents who oppose keeping the station, ‘We think it adds to the charm,’ as do several other residents who have already donated funds towards a possible purchase. SMCCA (which represents neighboring residents), already has the backing of Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, the Palisades Historical Society, the Palisades Community Council, the Society for Commercial Archeology and the Route 66 Association.
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