For nearly 30 years I’ve driven past the Casa de Cadillac showroom on the southwest corner of Ventura Blvd and Beverly Glen Blvd in Sherman Oaks and always admired its sleek 50s-era signage. But until I found this two-for-one image didn’t I think to look into its history. In 1948, a gas station opened up next door to Casa de Cadillac. Naturally it was called “Casa de Petrol” but not because of the dealership, but because that intersection was known as “Casa Corner” as it also included a Casa burger stand and a “Casa de Cascade” car wash. But even more interesting is that, Casa de Petrol was the final stop in Los Angeles that 24-year-old James Dean made on September 19, 1955. At around 2pm, he gassed up his new Porsche 550 Spyder before setting out on the drive up the coast that took his life.
The gas station was demolished in 2016. This image of the neighboring Casa de Cadillac is from July 2022.
Passed the intersection many times when living in the Valley I never new there was such a rich history.
The Case de Cadillac building was designed by noted architect Randall Duell for Don Lee (of early Los Angeles broadcasting fame) and opened as Don Lee Cadillac in 1948. Duell was involved in many building projects around Los Angeles including Magic Mountain. He designed a store for my parents in 1947 that was spectacular (13813 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks) however, the front was remodeled and now has a rock front and not the large widows that are the significant feature of Casa de Cadillac. The change was made due to earthquake damage. While Case de Cadillac looks almost the same as when it was built (the Don Lee Cadillac sign was replaced), based on what happened to our smaller building, the windows on Case de Cadillac were divided up, thus the present look. The original larger window treatment looked better, but was not safe. The new divided windows still display the cars well, but divide up the panes of glass, and have stayed in place through many subsequent quakes. As for the Standard Gas Station with adjacent car wash I believe that it was originally part of the Cadillac compound, but installed by Martin Pollard (a leading figure in post-war Los Angeles – the Sherman Oaks branch of the library is named for him) who bought the dealership from Don Lee. You are correct about James Dean fueling his Porsche 550 Spyder at this gas station on his way north where he died in a collision on the highway. There are photos of him on-line at this gas station fueling the car. A photographer followed him in the Ford Station Wagon to document the trip and race he was planning to compete in, thus the photographs. Dean lived nearby just south of Ventura Blvd. on Sutton Street and I used to see him mostly zipping around on his motorcycle. The morning of his stopping to gas up near his home, he had picked up the Porsche in Hollywood where it was being prepped for the race. As this was before the freeway opened, Ventura Blvd. was the major highway running north and south, so he stopped to gas up at a station he knew. While that stop at the gas station was documented, as the Valley was the bedroom community for the nearby motion picture industry, if you hung out at the Standard Station you would see lots of neat cars driven by movie personalities. It was where a lot of them put petrol in their rides.
Alan, I love the history you have given us. I remember seeing photo’s of James Dean at that station and always loved the 55 Country Squire Ford wagon that was following Dean. What other stars did you run across at that station? It is to bad it was demolished with such a rich history. You were lucky to have been around then. Thanks for sharing you story.
Thanks for all that great info, Alan!
I have watched sadly as the pieces of this unique establishment have disappeared overtime. There was even a waterfall, thus Casa de Cascade.
Mary, What was the waterfall purpose? Why was that particular section of Ventura Blvd. called Casa?
I read that Casa de Cascade was a car wash.
You can see the car wash sign in back of gas station looking at photo on right, along with cars getting taken care of if you enlarge pic enough.
I don’t know that it had a purpose. As Martin said, I assumed it had been simply a decorative element of the car wash.
I think you’re right – it was purely decorative. In more recent years before it was demolished, the water had ceased running and it looked sadly neglected.
Looks like you might have to walk over to the back shop building to use the restrooms. I wonder if the key tag was labeled Casa de PeePee.