But the spirit of 76 lives on

An unsightly, out-of-business 76 gas station on Carlsbad’s Tamarack Drive/I-5 exit was demolished last week. The final demolition, removal of the 40-foot-high sign with the orange 76-ball logo, was taken down on January 11.

The station reportedly had been the cause of complaints to the city, after it seemed abandoned by Conoco Phillips, owners of the 76 brand. Conoco eventually put up a green mesh fence around the property and blacked out the 76 sign.

After I-5’s construction was completed in 1964 (from Carlsbad’s Palomar Airport exit south to Pacific Beach’s Grand/Garnet exit), to serve the increased motoring public, almost every corner of the new freeway’s exits included gas stations or restaurants. The ball-logo sign could be seen for miles around, several exits in either direction, when lit at night.

When the 76 station closed, the brand moved across the freeway to the east side, into a former Exxon station, in front of a Vons/Rite Aid shopping center (once Safeway/Thrifty Drug). Originally built in the early 1960s as a Texaco station, it was owned by Frank and Brenda Kennedy, part of the Kennedy Texaco family dynasty of several stations in Oceanside and Carlsbad.

According to the North County Times, the California Coastal Commission approved the old station’s demolition in August 2013. Conoco Phillips eventually sold the property. Carlsbad’s neighborhood service director, Debbie Fountain, contacted the new owners, Tamarack Retail Partners, and they were reportedly cooperative about getting the 1500-square-foot lot demolished before submitting a development application.