Renovation of Toyota dealership reveals a bit of Geary auto row history

The Toyota showroom at 3800 Geary undergoing a renovation. Inset: before renovation began.

RichmondSFBlog reader Sharon sent me a photo last week of the Toyota building at 3800 Geary (at 2nd Avenue) that is undergoing renovation. After removing the stucco facade, the original brick of the building has been exposed again, along with some early signage.

I got in touch with Richmond District historian John Freeman to find out more about the building. It turns out it’s the only surviving member of what was once a vibrant auto row along Geary. There were once as many as twenty auto dealerships located along Geary from Masonic to 25th Avenue, with the heart of the auto row spanning from Arguello to Park Presidio.

Many of the large buildings along Geary today were once auto dealerships including the post office at 22nd Avenue, the Office Max at Arguello, Kragen Auto Parts at 3rd Avenue, Cheap Pete’s at 7th Avenue, and Lamps Plus at 11th Avenue. Just outside the official boundaries of the Richmond District there were also dealerships at what is now the post office at Parker, the Big O Tires at Cook and Mancini’s Sleepworld at Blake.

3800 Geary originally opened as an auto dealership back in 1922, and served as a sales center for Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Willys-Overland, Jeep, Packard, Nash (then Rambler) and since 1966, Toyota.

The first auto showrooms in the Richmond District were satellites of the Van Ness dealerships. The very first in the neighborhood was Sperry & Lewis Ford, which opened in 1916 right after Christmas at 3924 Geary.

In the January 20, 1922 issue of the Richmond Banner, it was announced that a new showroom for Remensperger Motor Company was under construction on the northwest corner of 2nd Avenue and Geary. Ulrich Remensperger already had a Ford dealership at 1375 Golden Gate Avenue, near Fillmore, and was branching out into the Richmond District.

An old ad for the Reynolds & Seiler dealership at 2nd Avenue & Geary (1966). Courtesy of John Freeman.

Though just a simple truss roof brick barn, the 3800 Geary building was actually designed by the well regarded architect T. Paterson Ross, who is best known for designing a number of residential and commercial buildings throughout San Francisco including the Sing Chong and Sing Fat buildings (1907), the Russian Hill Cooperative (1912-1924), and the Union League Club (1922).

By 1924, Remensperger’s Ford dealership at 3800 Geary had passed to new owners – Campell & Dalton – and a year later Walter G. Campbell became sole owner. In the early 1930s, the corner would become a Chevrolet dealership. From 1938 until 1953, the building housed a Pontiac dealership owned by Roger Boas.

Remnants of the early signage for the Reynolds & Seiler dealership.

In the photo above, you can just make out some of the early signage that was on the building for the Reynolds & Seiler Rambler dealership, which moved there in 1958. By 1966, Reynolds & Seiler added a new product to compete in the small-car craze of that decade: a Japanese car called the Toyota. Fast forward three years, and the dealership was dedicated to selling just Toyotas. The name changed to Bob Reynolds Toyota in 1975, and eventually morphed into today’s San Francisco Toyota.

I spoke with Doug Donnellan, the current Vice President and General Manager at the Toyota dealership. He tells me the showroom is due to re-open on July 4th weekend. Once complete, the building will be LEED certified at the platinum level and will be one of only two Toyota dealerships in the country with that distinction.

Donnellan says the interior of the showroom will be left as it looks now, with the exposed wood beams, high ceiling and brick walls visible to shoppers. The exterior brick on the building will covered again in stucco, save for a small portion on the west side of the building.

Special thanks to John Freeman for providing the detailed history behind 3800 Geary and our once bustling Auto Row.

Sarah B.

Inside 3800 Geary where the barn roof and brick has been exposed during renovation.