Vintage mural planned for Chevron station Vintage mural planned for Chevron station (December 17, 2003)

By Rebecca Wallace
Almanac Staff Writer

A modern new gas station may soon have a neighbor that's a window into the past.

To satisfy Menlo Park's public art law, John Conway, the owner of the Chevron service station on El Camino Real, is planning a mural of vintage images: a 1950s automobile with two old-school gas station attendants. The mural would adorn an 18-foot wall facing Oak Grove Avenue.

"It's 'service with a smile,'" he said of the theme.

Getting to this point, however, has hardly been a cheery road. Mr. Conway has been a vocal opponent of the city's new public art mandate, which requires developers of commercial, industrial and municipal projects that cost at least $250,000 to pay 1 percent of construction costs to install a work of art on the site.

Initially, Mr. Conway sought to pay an in-lieu fee, but the city's Arts Commission turned him down, saying that fee was reserved for sites not deemed feasible for art.

As part of the $1 million station project, Mr. Conway is expanding the service area and moving the gas pumps farther apart. Rather than having to pay 1 percent of that total for art, though, he will likely only have to pay about $4,000 because some of the work is state-mandated upgrades and not renovations, commission chair Nancy Chillag said.

The work has been delayed by the heavy rains, and the station will probably reopen some time after January 1, Mr. Conway said.

Mr. Conway initially submitted plans for the vintage mural to be approved by the Arts Commission at its December 10 meeting, but then pulled them because the initial design for the mural looked too much like an ad and could violate copyright laws, he said. So the artist, Patricia LaFleur, who is already creating a mural at Mike's Cafe on Middlefield Road near Willow Road, is currently redesigning the Chevron mural.

To keep from delaying the Chevron project further, Ms. Chillag said arts commissioners are willing to hold a special meeting on the mural plan as soon as it's ready. The group typically meets only once a month.

"It's a really cute idea," she said of the mural. "I'm happy this is moving forward, and it will be a wonderful addition to the station."

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