Car Dealership 1925, San Diego, Ca. Reo, Franklin, Pierce Arrow

[Walt G]

I like old architecture "of the era" as much as the cars. Here is one of the dealership buildings for Ralph Hamlin who was a major car dealer in Southern California . Many think of him as a dealer in Franklins but he also in his San Diego location at India and B Streets sold Reo and Pierce Arrow , this included Reo and Pierce Arrow trucks as well. Hamlin had a total of 16 dealerships in Southern California in the Spring of 1925. His network and locations would make an interesting story, and I have that data. He was also active in organizing and helping run the annual custom body salons in Los Angeles .  Another story that needs telling from the era of luxury cars in the 1920s.

[SC38dls]

Walt your literature collection of historical information is amazing. Tell us the rest of the history story. 
dave s 

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Yes, the rest of the story, please.  I really enjoy learning how someone "grows" from the beginning to , in this case , 16. Quite an accomplishment.

 

  Ben

[wayne sheldon]

Just how many more years do you guys have ahead of you?! 

 

"The rest of the story?" Indeed.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

1 minute ago, wayne sheldon said:

Just how many more years do you guys have ahead of you?! 

 

"The rest of the story?" Indeed.

Hopefully a few more.  Just turned 86 going for a century!!

 

  Ben

[keiser31]

That place may have been a Mercedes Benz dealer when I lived there years ago.

 

[Walt G]

The rest of the story would be to long for the forums as I have a list of where the 16 dealerships were that Ralph Hamlin had, plus his history with cars which started in 1905. He was a 'desert racer' with Franklins  and did all kinds of long distance runs, have pictures of cars doing that in the early 1920s. Dirt roads all kinds of neat stuff.  Plus photos like the one I shared of most of the other dealership buildings. Won't be in AACA magazine as there is no room according to the editor  . It is what it is.

[zepher]

Maybe a club marque would publish the story in one of their publications?
The PAS Arrow or the HH Franklin club newsletter/

[Walt G]

Franklin Club has only 3 magazines a year and this would take up the majority of one of those, plus they devote many pages to lists of people in the club who attend their events and list those people's city and state which take up a lot of space. I have offered some things to the PAS in the immediate past - even to give a presentation on coach builders of NY state at their annual meet and it was ignored. Nope on both accounts, I don't force any period information on anyone .

[CChinn]

1 hour ago, Walt G said:

Franklin Club has only 3 magazines a year and this would take up the majority of one of those, plus they devote many pages to lists of people in the club who attend their events and list those people's city and state which take up a lot of space. I have offered some things to the PAS in the immediate past - even to give a presentation on coach builders of NY state at their annual meet and it was ignored. Nope on both accounts, I don't force any period information on anyone .

Walt, That is too bad. However, their loss is our gain. Thanks for sharing all of your stories and history with the time you can devote to it with us. It is much appreciated by many!

Edited January 15, 2023 by CChinn (see edit history)

[Walt G]

I have always been glad to share what I can and have the ability to put all the history pieces together from assorted sources to get a total picture of what really went on in the era. I was very very fortunate to know many "pioneers" when they were in their 70s-80s and I was in my 20s. They were happy to talk about their experiences and I was an avid listener. I try to spread the words that they told me about some of their experiences ""on the job". What I have gathered should not just be kept to myself it needs to be out there , my way of honoring those that did what they did 'then' . This goes well beyond the cars, I am the local historian for where I reside and have authored a book on that, and spoke to many residents decades ago while they were still here. First person information - nothing like it . Some really humorous stories too, wow.

[S36PA]

Walt, You mentioned being willing to do a presentation at the PAS meet on New York coachbuilders. We would be interested in such a presentation. Please message me if you are still interested.  This year's meet is in Glens Falls, N.Y.

[Gunsmoke]

I admire Walt's passion in collecting "automotive and community history" from an early age, a noble and rare endeavor that far too many people neither pay much heed to nor appreciate. My Dad was a very good mechanic and serious car guy (my very tenuous connection of this post to antique cars). His older sister (b 1904) left our town in Eastern Canada around 1930 at the start of the depression and headed West, where she married and settled for the rest of her life in Utah. As a Mormon she was led to a 60 year long genealogy trek (long before internet, Ancestry.com), in the days when gathering history of families, much like Walt's work, involved 3 things: a passion for knowledge of history: time to spend mailing and replying to letters: and listening to others as she traveled the world in search of answers. When she passed away in 1996, she left 10 filing cabinets full of family history (thousands of pages of letters, outlines, loose ends etc) on all branches of our tree, but nothing written as a summary. As a tribute to her efforts and for the benefit of all future descendants, in 2010 I joined 2 of my 1st cousins on a 2 year effort to distill her efforts into a 400 page Family History. We published 100 hardcover copies in 2012 and distributed them to all the 50 or so 1st cousins and their local archives.

 

I refer to this personal story as a way of understanding the herculean effort Walt would face in trying to distill his vast library of material into digestible, interesting and valuable material for all of us to enjoy. I truly appreciate even getting the odd bite of this vast material cache every day or 2, and those little tidbits often lead me to dig a little deeper for the real history of the cars, people and  industry he speaks so fervently about. Thanks Walt.

[Walt G]

Thank you for the kind words, sincerely appreciate it.  WE share much after reading what you stated! My trips to England involved days spent in musty archives, with distant relatives much older then me, etc. BUT the passion to do so to record and share is not stoppable. Although never taking any courses in college or elsewhere on how to write a article or story, I have developed my own pattern of how to approach it and just want to make it a "good read" for anyone interested to take the time to look at my efforts. If it inspires someone, anyone,  to then delve into their own pursuit of gathering history - that is my personal reward.

Not all are capable ( nor have the time or patience) to do what we do , nor have the passion that never ceases.

The interest for history is there, it is evident if you look at the topics and see what is most viewed - thus popular. People like old cars/trucks  but they also like period material, photos etc. especially with the pandemic you couldn't do anything or go anyplace, these forums are and were our savior for us to stay connected to what we love and makes us happy.

Walt

[Shootey]

On 1/14/2023 at 3:48 PM, Walt G said:

I like old architecture "of the era" as much as the cars. Here is one of the dealership buildings for Ralph Hamlin who was a major car dealer in Southern California . Many think of him as a dealer in Franklins but he also in his San Diego location at India and B Streets sold Reo and Pierce Arrow , this included Reo and Pierce Arrow trucks as well. Hamlin had a total of 16 dealerships in Southern California in the Spring of 1925. His network and locations would make an interesting story, and I have that data. He was also active in organizing and helping run the annual custom body salons in Los Angeles .  Another story that needs telling from the era of luxury cars in the 1920s.

Walt, I imagine you know about the Pierce Arrow building still on Polk Street San Francisco.  Also a beautiful  Don Lee Cadillac Building at 1000 Van Ness. There were numerous dealerships on Van Ness. Another that still exists is a Maybeck building at 901 Van Ness originally built for Earle C Anthony Packard. It was later the headquarters of  British Motors which was owned by Kjell Qvale. One more of note is 1595 Van Ness the headquarters of Howard Automobile Co.  Charles Howard was the west coast distributor of Buick and the owner of the race horse Sea Bisquit.  There is a great report on the Van Ness auto row history written by William Kostura for the SF Department of City Planning. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Shootey
Spelling (see edit history)

[Walt G]

Thank you for the comments on the San Francisco auto dealerships! Great.

I own a 1940 Buick Roadmaster model 71c that was sold new in San Francisco by one of the Howard  Automobile Co. dealerships.

Very happy to have it , one of the former owners was the Hell's Angels motorcycle chapter in San Francisco , they bought it to haul their motorcycles in it but never did.

I would love to have a copy of that report on the Van Ness auto row history! wow, never knew it existed.

[S36PA]

S.F. Van Ness Auto Row doc:

 

https://default.sfplanning.org/DPRforms/Van Ness AutoRow ContextDraft Feb2010.pdf

[zepher]

Walt, never stop doing what you do.

I love reading your stories and absorbing all of the automotive history you present to us.

It is very evident that it is a true labor of love for you and I, for one, appreciate it.

[Walt G]

1 hour ago, S36PA said:

S.F. Van Ness Auto Row doc:

 

https://default.sfplanning.org/DPRforms/Van Ness AutoRow ContextDraft Feb2010.pdf

WOW this is incredible absolutely fantastic. Read it everyone or better yet print it out and read it .

I wrote the law for our incorporated village on Architecture, for preservation , and/or changes to be compatible with the existing structure , most made prior to WWII twenty five years ago. The law here was adopted and still is valid . Old Cars + Old Buildings = Old Gosden.

[Shootey]

I believe,  but I’m winging it a bit here, that the study was done in connection with a planned renovation of Van Ness Avenue. It was historically an elegant business and residential boulevard. They have just recently completed a bus-only raised center lane designed to move buses faster. Cars are still permitted but relegated to single lanes each way. All of SF is prioritizing transit, bicycles, and pedestrians over autos.  It’s kind of ironic that Van Ness Avenue was historically the center of the West Coast auto industry. 

[charlespetty]

2 hours ago, Shootey said:

I believe,  but I’m winging it a bit here, that the study was done in connection with a planned renovation of Van Ness Avenue. It was historically an elegant business and residential boulevard. They have just recently completed a bus-only raised center lane designed to move buses faster. Cars are still permitted but relegated to single lanes each way. All of SF is prioritizing transit, bicycles, and pedestrians over autos.  It’s kind of ironic that Van Ness Avenue was historically the center of the West Coast auto industry. 

Also ironic that Van Ness is part the official route of highway 101 through San Francisco.  

[John_S_in_Penna]

21 hours ago, Walt G said:

The rest of the story would be to long for the forums...Won't be in AACA magazine as there is no room according to the editor.

Accounts like yours would have been ideal for the

magazine Special Interest Autos.  I thought it was

very insightful--too bad it doesn't exist any more.

 

In what publication was your original photo--a general

automotive magazine of the 1920's, perhaps?

 

On 1/14/2023 at 6:48 PM, Walt G said:

 

[Walt G]

John

The photo was one of many that were in a 1925 issue of a 9 x 12 magazine issued by Ralph Hamilin and sent to his customers. It was called The Franklin Camel News . Shows many of the other dealership buildings as well as a photo of most of the people who were in charge of that particular dealership. Hamlin became very wealthy because of the volume of sales he did , this affording to add another building to house a dealership.  1925 was the first year that this magazine was issued as well.

Walt

[kar3516]

6 hours ago, S36PA said:

S.F. Van Ness Auto Row doc:

 

https://default.sfplanning.org/DPRforms/Van Ness AutoRow ContextDraft Feb2010.pdf

Thank you!  What a great document with many fantastic pictures!

[Peter Gariepy]

https://goo.gl/maps/ZHiXgLHcEsXrY4Xz5

 

[Walt G]

Thanks very much Peter! Looks like that area has been built up a bit since 1925 and the building I showed has disappeared.

 

To many facets of the old car interest that keep coming up. Everything I look at for one story then opens up several more , all interesting to see and then relate to what was going on now and our perception of the current times. It goes way beyond the cars : culture, attitudes, design and style of everything from the vehicles to street signs, building styles , even the lettering on the store windows or the sides of commercial vehicles , add in the clothing style and you have a window to a totally different era.