by J.K. YAMAMOTO
Hokubei Mainichi

SAN JOSE — For decades, Roy Murotsune’s Mobil service station on the corner of 5th and Jackson was a fixture in the Japantown community.

The gas station closed in 1990. The property went unoccupied and unused, except for storage, for years until Roy’s Station, a coffee shop run by Murotsune’s family, opened its doors earlier this month.

The building, which dates back to 1935, is a historic site that was preserved and renovated. Before World War II, it was known as Bill and Doug’s Gas Station. After Japanese Americans returned from the internment camps, the Murotsune family bought the property and Roy Murotsune ran the station with an older brother and a younger brother.

In the 1960s, the two brothers left to start their own businesses, but then two sisters and another brother opened a snack shop on Jackson Street where Gombei Restaurant is today.

“It was a (soda) fountain. They had milkshakes and snowcones, stuff like that,” recalled Carole Rast, Roy Murotsune’s daughter, who manages the coffee shop. “They had a jukebox, a pinball machine ... This has always been one of those social centers for Japantown. You get a burger, you get your car serviced, you gas up.”

Long Process

The road from gas station to coffee shop was not an easy one, said Rast, whose husband, Frank, was the contractor for the project. “The process with the city and through the Planning Department, with the plans and with the approvals and with the construction and the inspections, (took) about two and a half years.”

A coffee shop was the most viable reuse of the building, she noted. “Because of the zoning and because the building is historic, because of the (environmental) footprint, really this was the only thing we thought about. There is no on-site parking, we couldn’t build up or out, not that we wanted to. We couldn’t change the building ... This was the only alternative.”

Rast had asked the city if the site could be turned into something like a Jiffy Lube, but the city ordinances had changed so much since 1990 that “ we really couldn’t even become a gas station again.”

The three gas pumps have long since been removed, and the area around the building is now a patio. Those who remember the gas station can still find the doorways where cars pulled up to be washed or to be serviced.

Family Affair

Rast’s husband and their daughter Jasmine have been working together in the contracting business for over 10 years. “They were the ones that did a lot of the work. My husband generally does kitchen and bathroom remodels, and so to do a commercial application was a little bit different. We did have to sub out the seismic work and we had Garden City Construction do that because they specialize in retrofitting old buildings. Then we had help with the plumbing and the mechanical, the air conditioning, but as far as everything else, my husband and Jasmine did it — the tile work, the drywall work.”

In keeping with the times, a solar system was installed on the roof.

Asked if the city helped out, Rast replied, “We’re in a redevelopment zone, but it’s not a redevelopment project. We had been offered (help) at a certain point, but there were glitches or changes to our contract that we didn’t feel comfortable with, so we decided we’re not going to do it that way, we’ll just do it ourselves.”

Two other adult children, daughter Tamiko and son Miles, contributed their talents in the areas of web and graphic design, and the younger children, Shameka, Crystal, Daniel, Heather and Benjamin, help out at the store.

Roy and Esther Murotsune, now in their 80s, take delight in spending time at the cafe, chatting with customers and being close to their children, grandchildren and other relatives.

The New Hangout

A bar was set up with outlets so that people with laptops can plug in, and Internet access is provided via wi-fi. At any given time, customers can be seen working on their computers.

The coffee is from Barefoot Coffee Roasters and the tea from Teance, both environmentally friendly companies.

The coffee shop also has a retro touch, with an antique gas pump and a Coca-Cola machine from the days when the drink sold for 10 cents a bottle.

The Coke machine is the original from the gas station, while the pump was obtained through a happy coincidence, Rast recalled. When the couple, who collect antiques, decided to have the machine restored, “I got a hold of Coca-Cola and said, ‘Who does this?’ Because I didn’t want just somebody messing with it. So they recommended a guy in Pleasanton, and when we were there to pick up the machine, that gas pump was there in his driveway. We asked him, ‘What are you going to do with that?’ He said, ‘I’m just going to fix it up and sell it,’ so we bought that.”

Like the pumps at the gas station, the one in the cafe is only calibrated up to 99 cents a gallon, so it became obsolete when gas passed the one-dollar mark.

The response to the cafe’s opening has been overwhelming for Rast. “We were hopeful, but this has exceeded what we had thought was possible. It’s been tremendous community support, neighborhood support.”

The shop attracts both morning commuters who need their daily dose of caffeine and those who like to hang out at night after dinner and a show. Hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The family has also launched a website, www.roys-station.com.