The story of our office

Let's take a second to learn a little bit about our office building, shall we?

Yes it is beautiful and impeccably maintained, which I think really show's the level of respect and appreciation for this town that the owners of the real estate company have. The landscaping alone will take your breath away. How about those Dinner Plate Dahlias that grown year round in our front yard?

Have you ever seen these up close? They are really amazing flowers, and they really seem to enjoy their home under our historical clock tower. 

 
This clock tower is one of the only four-sided Ansonia clock's in the world!
This cool clock is located right in our front yard and was put there around 1985 by the property owners, Edwin Skytt and his father Hans Skytt. It is a cast iron street clock that was originally manufactured in 1914.
This clock was appraised several years ago for insurance purposes and it was determined to be the only four-sided Ansonia clock on public display. The appraisers were only able to find one other in existence in a private collection in Tennessee. There were rumors of a third one, but it was never located. Though Ansonia produced between 1,500 to 2,000 two-sided street clocks, there were only 40 to 50 four-sided street clocks made.

All of this really makes our office one of a kind, but the real history is in the building itself.  Did you know that our little office was originally a gas station? That's right! In the 1950's and 1960's Solvang was  "Service Station Hub" and you had more opportunities to gas up your car than you did to buy a tee shirt. 
I found this little write up from Curt Craig about this history of our building on oldgas.com blog:

In July of 1956, Chick Chicken Barrett opened a Union 76 station in a newly constructed building. We know from his grand opening ad that a pound box of Sees candy was offered to the first 150 customers to visit the new station. Opening on a Saturday in July would require catering to a plethora of tourists, but the locals had been tipped off about the opening in the local paper and no doubt made it to the candy first.

Chick's sons worked at the station when they were in high school. Both boys loved sports. His son Jan was so good that he went on to play professional football for the Green Bay Packers under Vince Lombardi and the Oakland Raiders. Tragically, Jan was killed in a boating accident in 1973.

Barrett's 76 was the midtown station situated at the corner of Atterdag and Mission Drive. Following Lunde's lead, this new station featured the requisite thatched roof and Danish detailing. A canopy stretched out from the roof line shading the pumps and the service lanes. After the station shut down, this canopy was glassed in for a time and the Union 76 became a hamburger hang out.

Just because the gas pumps are gone, doesn't mean that the building no longer exists. One of the more artfully converted station buildings, it now houses the Santa Ynez Valley Real Estate Company. Of the eight service stations that once served Solvang, it's the only remaining building in town.

The canopy has been cut off and is now a dormer window in the roof. The driveway has been replaced with landscaping. If you tried to drive into the service bays you'd end up in Rich Condit's office. Today they'd probably prefer that you come in and sit down rather than drive through their front lawn, but they're still happy to provide you with old fashioned service at this former service station.

So the next time you are in town, stop by and take in a little bit of history and visit browse our current listings to see what we have available for you to call home.