Van Ness Chrysler-Plymouth, San Francisco, CA, at 901 Van Ness Ave. (previously Earle C. Anthony Packard, 1927–1956)
Smith Garage Inc., Chrysler-Plymouth, Salem, OH.
Krebs Chrysler-Plymouth, Sales and Garage, Michigan City, IN.
Joe Rose Motors, Chrysler-Plymouth, Delray Beach, FL.
Fred F. Cain Garage, Chrysler-Plymouth, 50 South Main St., Wilmington, MA.
Tex Brotherton Chrysler-Plymouth-Imperial, 6th & W. Main, Walla Walla, WA.
San Juan Motors, Chrysler-Plymouth, Daytona Beach, FL.
Napleton Motor Sales, Chrysler-Plymouth-DeSoto, Blue Island, IL.
Van Ness Chrysler-Plymouth, San Francisco, CA.
Melrose Motor Sales, Chrysler-Plymouth-Imperial.
Canoga Chrysler-Plymouth, Canoga Park, CA.
The towers on top of Van Ness reminded me that Earle C. Anthony also started KFI. I doubt that those towers were still used for transmitting at the time of the picture, but they were still on the roof.
https://www.thebdr.net/earle-c-anthony-drives-kfi-to-fame/
The KFI towers atop his L.A. car dealership were in use from the station’s launch in 1922 until 1931.
The towers on top of Van Ness have their own story:
https://bayarearadio.org/history/voices-out-of-the-fog/images/radio031
Earle Anthony commissioned San Francisco architect Bernard Maybeck to design his Packard showroom. When I first encountered it, British Motors, then the local Jag/Sterling/Land Rover dealer occupied the space.
There’s an amusing article about the Earle C. Anthony building in Architect and Engineer in 1927: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Architect_and_Engineer/YCxQAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA60&printsec=frontcover
The quality of the photo reproduction isn’t great, but it has some glimpses inside the building. It’s quoted in that SF document Mike linked below.
Glad to see that Packard showroom still exists, it’s Land Rover now.
Would have been cool to walk back in time and see those Melrose 62 Plymouth drag cars.
Those early 50’s Mopars were breathtakingly stodgy, then in a couple of years they went from that to breathtakingly bonkers. What a time.
Yay! Blue Island!
Napleton ended up as a big South Chicagoland dealer.
Surprised at the size of the fleet being offered by Tex Brotherton in Walla Walla.
Even now the population there is under 35,000. He must have been a fast talker.
My guess is that Pasco was the next closest place to find a C-P dealer so they were likely the closest one to many people in SE Washington.
Either way the family did well enough to stay in the car business, though they did expand to greener pastures on the WEsT side of the state and switch to GM, with Buick, GMC and Caddiliac as their current brands.
Been past 901 Van Ness many times in the 70’s through 90’s but mostly 90’s living in The City. O’Farrell on the west side of the block is one way downtown, while Ellis on the east side, is one way out. Today the next building up the block sells Tesla. I noticed that the tops of both buildings are completely covered by solar panels now.
Looks like the Melrose Motors building (in Oakland, CA) is still standing – used now as a Napa store. Melrose had been in business since 1929, when it started as a repair shop, then getting into new car sales with Kaiser-Frazer in the 1940s. Eventually, they picked up DeSoto & Plymouth in the early 1950s, and Chrysler in 1960.
In 1971, the owner ditched Chrysler, and took over a nearby Ford dealership (Ramsey Ford). Melrose Ford was located about a mile away from the former Chrysler location. The Ford dealership lasted until about 2006.
Then-and-now comparison, and Google StreetView below:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TFgee8QoAUuoAzxx5
It was common in the early ’60s to call out individual model names on dealership signs, but Melrose is the first I’ve seen that calls out not just the Valiant (which was a separate make in 1960 only), but the Valiant Signet. The Chrysler 300 gets its own sign too.
Black mid-50s Cadillac parked on the right in the modern view….
’54 Series 62 Sedan.
901 Van Ness is Jaguar Land Rover San Francisco, and the interior is still stunning:
Before most dealers moved to the suburbs for more space, Van Ness was SF’s automobile row.
For some reason, Google Maps won’t let me look at 901 Van Ness Ave.
I’m curious as to when this was built and what its original purpose was – looks older than 1927 to me. The Land Rover dealership in that building today doesn’t even show a photo of the premises on their web site, nor any historical information.
I looked it up, and the building was purpose-built for Earle C. Anthony Packard. Anthony switched from Packard to Chrysler-Imperial in 1956, and then sold the business in 1962, which is when it became known as Van Ness Chrysler.
One if the interesting things I found about about the showroom is that the ceiling (which you can see in the vintage shot and Mike’s recent shot above) is made of pecky cypress. That’s an unusual wood, which has distinctive holes channels in it, and is really beautiful when used as paneling. I can’t imagine what that ceiling must look like in person.
I live about 110 miles from there and get over to SF proper every so often (three or four times a year). I’ll try to get by there during business hours, introduce myself as a car/architecture geek and ask if I can take some photos.
The dealership does have a promotional video on YouTube with some historic shots and a couple of interiors—it was posted six months ago. There is one error—the black and white shot of a Rambler dealer is actually 1600 Van Ness. The narrator never says that was their building—but why not use one of theirs?
Here’s a full history from the State of California:
https://sfplanninggis.org/docs/DPRForms/0719002.pdf
Thank you for this – and also for the video above. Though it’s painful to read that the red Numidian marble exterior columns were painted… beige!?! Eek! I can’t imagine how tough it was to import marble columns from Africa in the 1920s.
Also, it was interesting (though not surprising) to read that the the building was quite controversial at the time. It’s certainly gaudy, and was colorful too. As the report said, some claimed the building shocked “the good American sense of propriety.”
One thing I came across in reading about this building was a claim that the interior light fixtures were sourced from a “Persian harem.” That might be boastful, but given the Numidian marble columns… maybe not. And I did find a photo of the fixtures, and I wouldn’t entirely rule that out (below image of an empty showroom with some theatrical-looking people).
One (seemingly) glaring error in that PDF is that Earle C. Anthony sold Packards from this showroom though 1961, which is three years after new Packards were built. Elsewhere I read Packards were sold there only through 1956, which is also when my local Packard dealership here in Silver Spring, MD, Covington Packard, last sold that make. It seems numerous Packard dealers didn’t bother selling the 1957 models, which would require stocking a whole different set of parts, training mechanics on them, and trying to convince buyers to plunk down Packard prices for a fancied-up Studebaker that was becoming uncompetitive even at Chevy/Ford prices. It’s possible that E.C.A. continued to provide Packard service and sell used ones, just as my aforementioned local dealer did for a few years. The PDF also states the Chrysler showroom swapped locations with their “British Motors” showroom at 1200 Van Ness sometime in the ’60s or ’70s – I think they mean BMC/British Leyland – and that they still occupy the building, and they were the ones who painted the red marble columns beige. Surprised to learn the chandeliers aren’t original, since they look period-correct and appropriate for the room. They do look like they’d give off much better and more even light than the original fixtures.
The original broadcasting towers on the roof are gone, replaced by solar panels. I’m surprised to see cars parked on the roof in the upthread video – was the structure beefed up for that in recent decades or was there roof parking around the transmitters back in 1927?
Anthony’s obituary in Automotive News said he stopped distributing Packard in 1956, but “took on other domestic and import lines.” One of those was Daimler (the British company, not Daimler-Benz); in 1960, he became their West Coast distributor. Others, from early 1960, were NSU and (I assume very briefly) BMW.
Anthony’s automotive division kept on after his death (George A. Wagner was appointed the next president), but I think he cut ties with Packard after Studebaker-Packard shuttered the Packard plant. He stepped down from the Studebaker-Packard board in February 1957.
la673: I don’t have an answer for you, but radio station towers aren’t light. The only stat I could find online is WHO, Des Monies’ tower, and when you count the 137 and a half tons of steel in it’s single tower, the 8,800 pounds of steel in each of the three top guy wires and 3,160 pounds in each of the three lower guy wires, that’s a lot of weight and stress.
I would imagine the non-operable KFI towers atop the Van Ness building weighed less, but not a lot less, and parking cars up there probably required no reinforcements whatsoever.
I saw on this French forum, some old pictures of Mopar dealers of Quebec along with some vintage print ads.
https://tribuneauto.forumactif.com/t3321p150-les-anciens-dealers-mopar-du-quebec
I love the stuff I stumbled on while doing research….anything vintage car related is bound to direct me to a Curbside Classic article. What struck me immediately is the first photo: Van Ness Chrysler Plymouth in San Francisco at the time the building was photographed as mentioned was originally one of the glorious Packard Showrooms (Cathedrals?) that sold those prestigious cars. Not too long after this was a Chrysler dealership, it became home to British Motor Car Distributors and continues to this day (I believe) selling prestigious, stratosphere-price level imports. The dealership has a cameo in the classic Peter Bogdanovich comedy, “What’s Up Doc?” that is must see viewing for anyone on here if not already. When Barbra Streisand directs “Steve” / Howard Banister to take the stolen “Just Married” Beetle up on to a car transporter delivering new VWs, and elude the pursuing Cadillacs and taxi, this dealership is the site of the delivery.