Ken Wilson of Bonnie Brae Conoco

INTERVIEW WITH KEN WILSON

When did Bonnie Brae Conoco open, and what was the neighborhood like back then?

We opened in 1942, so we’ve been here for an awful long time. When I started working here in 1978, there were four service stations just on this block. The coffee shop across the street used to be a Phillips 66. There was a Texaco right next door to us, and that building is gone now. Service stations like this are really part of our history and culture. It’s just changed so much.

What are some of your favorite memories about growing up around the station?

It was really great to work here with my dad and my uncle, just to be around them all the time. Getting to know the customers has always been one of our favorite things about a business like this. There are families where I helped their grandparents and their parents, and now I’m helping the kids.

What core business principles did your dad and uncle instill in you?

I think it was just really that you had to work very hard and we were always very honest. It’s pretty simple: You just treat people the way that you want to be treated.

You’re one of the last remaining full-service gas stations in the area. What’s kept you committed to that?

People come in all the time, surprised that we have full-serve gas, and they tell us how cool that is. Full service is a family tradition. Regular customers don’t want us to shut it down. They tell me all the time, “Ken, you can’t ever retire. What am I going to do?” It’s just our personality. We’re an old-fashioned service station, and it feels like an old-fashioned service station should have the option of somebody coming out and pumping your gas. How many places can you go get gas and, if you don’t know how to open your hood or get your gas flap open, somebody will come outside and help you?

What are you most proud of about running Bonnie Brae Conoco?

We’re proud of the job that we do for our customers and we’re proud of all the young men that we’ve helped to become men and learn how to work. We taught them how to be mechanics, or we just taught them how to grow up and be men. We taught them a work ethic. We’re proud of how long we’ve been here and the legacy we’ve built. This business doesn’t work unless you’re willing to put forth a lot of effort.

Photographs by Seth Davis and Maithili Anantpur