Old Gas Station?

it's an old gas station, surprise!

I believe I read an article about this once, that portion of De La Vina was part of the the main drag through town, before the freeway, before State St. went through at the northern end of De La Vina. Hence the filling station. I bet Tom Modugno has a story about it!

It was open until about 10-15 years ago I think.

What is the street address on De La Vina? I have a 1953 and 1963 Polk city directories for Santa Barbara, plus a phone book from the late 1940s, and should be able to tell you the name of the gas station.

Never mind; I found it on Google Street view. It's 403 De La Vina St.

My tattered late 1940s SB phone book says the name of the gas station then was General Petroleum Corp.

The 1953 Polk city directory shows it as two businesses:
--Chandler's Service Station.
--"Werly Cliff Auto Services"--Cliff Werly lived in the 200 block of Oliver Rd.

The 1963 Polk city directory lists it as Petis Auto Repair.

Up until sometime in the 1940's the highway 101 route through Santa Barbara was Hollister Ave. (which is now the upper part of State St. and De La Vina St.) then onto Gutierrez St. to Milpas St., and Milpas St. to Cabrillo Blvd. This gas station was well placed on that route, and was probably a "Violet Ray" gas station (General Petroleum brand gasoline) which dates the station to approx. 1928 (three years after the 1925 earthquake). There was another documented "Violet Ray" gas station in Carpinteria of the same era.