A Family, a Corner,
and Sixty Years.
Long before it was Bob Reed's, this building was already pumping gas. The story of 1641 Palm Avenue is the story of a neighborhood, and one family who's spent six decades making sure it kept running.
Bob Reed's Story
Bob Reed came to San Mateo as a kid in 1948, moving from Council Bluffs, Iowa. He grew up working in gas stations around the area, picking up mechanical work wherever he could, often fixing cars right out of his own.
He started pumping gas at just fifteen years old, and decided right then that he'd own his own station one day. In December 1965 he was an assistant manager for an American Oil Company station in San Mateo, and within the year he was running one of their branded locations himself.
When American Oil pulled out of California in the early '70s, Bob stayed put. His heart, as he put it, was in the Bay Area. Opportunity came knocking in 1973, when he took over a Gulf station at 1641 Palm Avenue that later became Olympic. He bought the land a few years later, and the Reed family has called it home ever since.
A Spanish Colonial Survivor
The station itself predates Bob Reed by decades. It was built during the Depression as a Spanish Colonial Revival-style building, brick facade, tile roof, and all, by noted local builder Hugo Hultberg, who survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake before settling in San Mateo and constructing many of the area's landmark homes.
It opened as Henry's Shell, offering "Shellubrication" and washing to passing motorists. The building has resisted modernization ever since. It isn't on any historic registry, but locals and the Reed family alike treat it like one. "We don't want them," Bob once said of self-service pumps. "I don't believe in it."
The Bob Reed's Timeline
Henry's Shell Opens
The Spanish Colonial Revival station at 1641 Palm Avenue opens its doors, offering gas, lubrication, and washing to San Mateo's Hayward Park neighborhood.
Bob Reed Strikes Out On His Own
After a year as assistant manager for American Oil, Bob takes over his first branded station on Fourth Avenue and Delaware Street. It's the official start of Bob Reed's.
The Move to Palm Avenue
When American Oil exits California, Bob takes over a Gulf station (soon Olympic) at 1641 Palm Avenue, the same building that had been pumping gas since the Depression. He'd buy the land a few years later.
The Oil Embargo
The OPEC oil embargo hits almost immediately after the move. Fuel is rationed, cars line up down the block, and the station can pump only 500 gallons a day, among the hardest stretches in the shop's history.
The Loma Prieta Earthquake
The quake damages the building, forcing major retrofitting. The Reed family works to preserve its historic look and character through the repairs.
30 Years of Service
Bob, Randy, and the family celebrate three decades in business: balloons on the door, hand-lettered signs in the window, and a new generation already pitching in.
50 Years of Service
The San Mateo Daily Journal profiles the station as one of the last full-service stations on the Peninsula, with Bob, then 80, still showing no signs of slowing down.
Still Family-Run
Jimmy Reed, who started sweeping the shop floor at age 11, now currently runs day-to-day operations. Randy still handles the books. The shop is as busy as ever.
It's Always Been a Family Business
Bob and Randy Reed have been married more than fifty years, and partners in the shop for just as long. Their son Jimmy grew up around the station and now currently runs the shop day-to-day; their daughter Jaime grew up around the station too. Generations of grandkids have spent afternoons hanging around the same brick walls.
San Mateo Daily Journal
In 2022, the Daily Journal profiled Bob Reed's 50 years of service: gas embargoes, $7 gas prices, and a shop that just kept going. Read the full feature on their site.
Read "50 Years of Service" ↗