After nearly 90 years in business, Oahu’s last Chevron gas station began its transition Wednesday into a Texaco station under its new mainland owners.
Mel’s Sunrise Service Station at 2969 S. King St. is one of 58 Chevron gas stations statewide being re-branded following the sale of Chevron U.S.A. Inc.’s Hawaii oil operations to New York-based private-equity firm One Rock Capital Partners LP.
Island Energy Services LLC, a subsidiary of New York-based One Rock, acquired Chevron’s refinery in Kapolei, retail service stations, a network of pipelines and related port facilities on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island.
The family-owned service station on the corner of South King Street and Kapiolani Boulevard across from the Market City Shopping Center has been a Chevron since 1930, starting with Sheldon Yamada, whose father originally ran the business. Yamada sold the station in 1980 to Melvin and Sue Harada, who previously owned a Chevron on Waialae Avenue near City Mill. Melvin’s father, Richard, also owned a Salt Lake Chevron.
After the sudden death of Sue Harada in 2000 and Melvin Harada in 2001, their daughter Heidi Harada Tamanaha became the new operator.
“It is in a way bittersweet because we grew up with Chevron, and the fact that the next generation won’t see it,” said Harada Tamanaha, 47. “My grandfather had it. My father had it. We had it. It’s almost like Chevron became a household name.”
Although the company will have a new look and brand, “the heart of the family business is still there and will continue serving the local community as it has for the last century,” Harada Tamanaha’s sister, Jennifer Harada Okino, said. All of the current employees will continue with Texaco.
Some of the station’s nine employees — including manager and auto mechanic Michael Wee — have been with the business for decades, and many longtime customers still remember Harada Tamanaha and her sister and brother since their childhood, she said.
“My mechanic manager has been with the business since before I was born,” Harada Tamanaha said. “We grew up here. I remember sitting and doing homework in the office with my mom. My brother and his friends were doing full serve. My parents bought this when we were in elementary or middle school.”
There were 15 Texaco gas stations in Hawaii in 1998 when Texaco formed a joint venture with Shell, and the Texaco stations were changed to Shell stations. Chevron and Texaco merged in 2001.
“A lot of people haven’t noticed really that Chevron is slowly fading out because other stations have already changed,” she added. “It’s the same gas and everything, so it’s not in a way ending. We’re just ending an era with my family being with Chevron, and now we’re going to be a Texaco.”
