When Beckstrom and Co. started as a manufacturer’s representative selling wood doors 50 years ago, a rail car load of doors (1,200 of them) cost $9,000. Today many front door units cost $9,000 or a lot more.
In those early days, the company’s products were sold mostly for large tract developments.
“The builders used all flush doors because they were cheap, $4 or $5 each,” says Bob Beckstrom of Menlo Park, the company’s president.
Twenty years ago, the company began specializing in custom wood doors and millwork for residential and commercial developments.
Today the emphasis is on quality, says Mr. Beckstrom, with panel doors the popular choice.
Beckstrom & Co. carries all-wood doors made from any wood specie, generally available in any size. For example, 36 doors made for the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco are 16-feet tall.
“We have also supplied several winery doors in Napa that measure 10 feet wide by 12 feet tall,” says Mr. Beckstrom.
Homeowners are also finding bigger is better. “A few years ago, the 6-foot, 8-inch tall door was standard. Now many are going for the 8-foot door.”
Bob Beckstrom agrees he couldn’t be in a better place for the business of supplying custom doors. Atherton is filled with impressive homes sporting Beckstrom’s doors, including those of Jerry Rice and former resident Joe Montana.
“I stuffed one of our brochures in Joe Montana’s mailbox,” says Mr. Beckstrom. “His contractor later told me they (Joe and Jennifer Montana) picked doors out they saw in the brochure.”
Hollywood has also beckoned. Mr. Beckstrom recalls a trip south to correct a problem with a French door in Heather Locklear’s Bel Air home.
He recounts the thrill of touring George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch when it was being built. The main house was patterned after the Victorian mansion featured in the television program “Falconcrest.” Doors of a different species of wood were used on each floor: fir, white oak, maple, mahogany and cherry. The five-floor-house included a theater seating 50.
The late cowboy actor and singer Roy Rogers commissioned a front door with stained glass panels and carved images of his horse, Trigger.
You don’t see the use of much stained glass anymore, says Mr. Beckstrom. “People don’t want color. Rain glass, bamboo glass, and seedy glass (patterned glass) are popular,” he says.
Styles in doors come and go. “In the 70s and 80s, the wagon wheel (with a half circle window) was a real hot item. Now craftsmen-style doors are real popular, especially in this area,” he says. “We sell a lot of doors up in Tahoe. They love mahogany and alder (wood).”
Homeowners, especially those with imposing houses, want a door that is rich-looking, not garish. They are looking to make a statement. After all, “The thing you see first is the front door,” he says.
An Oregon coast resident wanted a door with glass panels tinted blue to resemble waves. An Asian dragon theme was carried out in carvings on entry doors and in etchings on a second pair of doors in the front entry in another home. Many costly entry ways feature panels of beveled leaded glass. The price tag on an elaborate entry can easily reach $20,000.
Mr. Beckstrom represents Summit Woodworking Mill in Oregon. “It started out as two guys working in a garage outside their house, now they have 15 employees.” A custom door usually takes eight to 10 weeks from order to installation.
Beckstrom & Co. moved from San Mateo to Menlo Park in 1960. Mr. Beckstrom started working for the company, founded by his father, the late John Beckstrom, in 1968.
Bob Beckstrom is a graduate of Menlo-Atherton High School, class of 1960, and president of the Menlo-Atherton Alumni Association. After graduating from Humboldt State University, he worked for United Air Lines for a few years.
“My dad asked me to watch the store for him while he had a cataract operation. I never left. I hope Rob will do the same.”
Rob is his son, who joined the firm in 2003. “I needed his computer savvy,” says his dad. Father and son run a two-man office, located on the second floor of 648 Menlo Ave. in downtown Menlo Park.
All three of the Beckstrom children, Rob, Lori and Casey, are M-A graduates. Bob and his wife, Mary, live in Menlo Oaks. Ms. Beckstrom is a teacher at Laurel School.
Mr. Beckstrom is used to people making jokes about The Doors, asking him if he is a fan of the late singer, Jim Morrison. He has his own little joke. At the old Town Club, once the hangout for Menlo Park movers and shakers, he sometimes contributed the door prize. It was, of course, a door, courtesy of Beckstrom & Co.
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