Photograph by George Sakkestad
Los Gatans Frank and Marilyn Dorsa were pioneers in the car-wash industry with their Classic Car Wash business.
Car wash celebrates 35 years of revolutionizing the industry
'Leap of faith' and hard work led to success
By Shari Kaplan
The 1960s was a decade that meant many things to many people. For some, it was a time of drugs, music and free love; for others, it was turmoil, politics and war. For San Jose natives Frank and Marilyn Dorsa, who now reside in Los Gatos, it was a time when a little soap and water would forever change their lives and their fortune.
In 1964, the young married couple embarked on a project which, while small initially, grew and flourished into something of which they are both immensely proud. No, it wasn't having a baby--their son Bart wouldn't come along until later. The leap of faith the Dorsas took was starting a car wash. They celebrated its 35th anniversary this month.
"It was kind of an accident," Frank says of why he chose this business venture. "I was 25 at the time. I was going to Santa Clara University, I was in the Marine Reserve, I was newly married, and I had another job too--and then I bought a car wash!"
Frank and his partner in the local street- and lot-sweeping company they ran had talked of taking on another business investment, but weren't sure what kind. After scanning newspaper ads, they read about a bankrupt Los Gatos car wash for sale.
"We didn't know anything about the car wash business, but we knew how to work hard!" recalls Frank, whose father, Frank Dorsa Sr., invented the Eggo frozen waffle. After taking over the Lark Avenue location, Dorsa and a few other men ran the wash, while Marilyn served as cashier. Cars were pulled through via a motor-driven chain hooked to their front bumpers--a practice that sometimes caused the bumpers to be yanked right off.
"It was the Dark Ages of car washes," Marilyn recalls, laughing. Back then, the couple adds, it took hundreds of gallons of water to wash a single car. Today, thanks to computer controls and recycled water, only five to eight gallons are used.
Marilyn says that back in the '60s, going to a car wash was different in other ways too. Washes had few or no amenities, no aesthetics, were often dirty or run-down, and some had unsavory employees who "leered" at women driving alone.
"If Frank won't say this, I will: He has been a moving force in changing the industry," Marilyn says. "He was the first to sell high-quality goods, to have a gift shop, to have landscaping and to offer complimentary coffee and cider."
The Dorsas were also the first to introduce a "theme" wash, with the 1972 opening of the Delta Queen on E. Hamilton Avenue in Campbell. Designed as a Mississippi riverboat complete with its own lake, the wash was--and still is--a tourist attraction and photo-op for many out-of-towners.
In 1977, the Dorsas added Robertsville Corners Classic Car Wash to serve south San Jose and the Almaden Valley, and in 1980 opened their most recent wash on Prospect Road in Saratoga. Although the layouts differ, all four venues have the same attributes the Dorsas pioneered at their Los Gatos site so many years ago.
"This valley is kind of spoiled. Most of the rest of the country's car washes are not run like this," Marilyn notes with a smile.
"The experience I've gained over the years is that I understand the mechanics of a car wash and the value of having quality machinery and employees," Frank adds. "Your car is your second most important investment, next to a home. It's important to people to keep it clean."
Saratoga, California Since 1955
