Courthouse Docket

On Saturday, June 14 at 1 p.m. the Courthouse Docket continues as authors Nicholas Veronico and Bruce Cummings will discuss their new book, The Lost Gas Station of San Mateo County.

Caption: Associated Flying A gas station at El Camino Real and Broadway in Redwood City.

The years following the 1906 earthquake saw a migration from the City of San Francisco to the newly forming suburbs of San Mateo County. Transportation on the Peninsula came in the form of streetcars and trains but was soon overtaken by the automobile. Beginning in the teens and 1920s, the Peninsula was inundated with automobile service stations, or gas stations, where smartly dressed attendants sometimes ran to one’s car to fill the tank, check oil and tire pressures and clean the windshield. For example, the City of San Carlos, which spans two miles from the Belmont border to Redwood City, at one time had more than 20 gas stations along the El Camino Real – sometimes one on every corner of an intersection. Changes in automobile size and engine efficiency have drastically reduced the need for gas stations. Long gone are the service stations, and today, many of the former gas station sites have been redeveloped.

Authors Bruce Cumming and Nicholas A. Veronico have sought to capture the bygone era of the service station businesses on the Peninsula through a series of historic gas stations photographs stretching from Daly City to East Palo Alto including every city in between. The authors drew heavily upon the resources and photo collections of the San Mateo County Historical Association in preparing their new book.