Tanabe’s Service Keeps on Pumping

Offering “Full Service” Since 1956

Fifty years and counting, Tanabe’s Service in Manoa is still pumping gasoline and fixing cars. The same can be said of the founder’s son, Dwight, who was born just weeks before the service station opened in May 1956. “I don’t know which is in better shape, me or the building,” says Dwight, who started getting paid for his work at age 13 and became a full-time employee at 20.

Classical Gas: George (left) and Dwight Tanabe take a break near one of the pumps. photo: Karin Kovalsky

When Dwight’s father, George Tanabe, applied for and got the Union 76 franchise back in the 50’s, his late wife, Doris, suggested he give it five years. Now 75 and retired, George still comes in for a few hours each day, though he leaves the heavy lifting to others.

But Dwight’s children are not so enamored with the place. What they see is hard work, long hours and rising rents. None of Dwight’s children – two daughters and a son – want to take over the business.

Jonathan Okamura, associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says closures of businesses started by issei or nisei – first and second generation Japanese Americans – are nothing new, but closures have been more visible in urban areas since the 1980s and 1990s.

“It has been an ongoing trend that reflects the rising socioeconomic status of Japanese Americans,” he says. With higher education, children of small business owners often choose other careers.

Dwight is philosophical. “Everything will go on. No one person or thing is so important that the world will stop.”

The world definitely hasn’t stopped for the little Manoa service station, and the numbers reflect that tough reality: The station’s gross profit is less than 5 percent of $170,000 in monthly sales, Tanabe estimates. Tanabe’s grosses 11 cents per gallon; city and county taxes are 16.4 cents each; 29 cents pays for general excise tax and 18.1 cents for federal, he explains. Repairs are much more profitable than selling gas.

Tanabe’s used to provide only full service, but these days most customers choose the “gas and go” option. Full service is still available for a $3 charge, a policy that Dwight Tanabe started last year. That’s working out, but fewer than 10 customers a day request the service.

Although times have changed Tanabe’s still cultivates a sense of community and family. Customers are more like friends, dropping off pastries and manapua and catching up on Manoa news. Sometimes, when a customer calls with a dead battery, Dwight Tanabe not only knows where the customer lives, but has been known to drive over to the house and jump start the car himself.

In addition, George Tanabe says about 500 youths have worked at his service station over the years. Every now and then, he runs into former employees who excitedly ask, “Do you remember me?” It's hard to remember so many faces over so many years. "Their faces have changed, since they were young," says George.

Humble and shy when talking about the business, Dwight Tanabe admits, “A lot of good has come from this place.” He credits the gas pumps and repair shop with teaching his brothers, and later, his children, the value of work. Some employees have gone on to become mechanics, while others chose engineering or computer programming.

“That’s pretty good, though I had nothing to do with it,” he says. “They became better people.”

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