Neighborhood institution wings away

by Robb Fulcher

Hermosa institution Tae Joon Kim is saying goodbye after operating the Union 76 gas station at Pier Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway for 27 years, offering full service and old-fashioned self-service that allowed customers to gas up without paying in advance.

With his departure on Thursday, Union Oil began preparations to remove the station's pumps and underground tanks. The property's owner looks to convert the site to a non-gas station use.

Representatives of a property management group were unavailable for comment on the site's future.

"I am sad today," the 65-year-old Kim said by telephone from his Palos Verdes Peninsula home. He may be ready to let go of his 60-hour-plus workweeks but he will miss his customers.

"I will miss them very much," he said. "I am old now and many of them are over 60, and they like the full service."

Kim was born in Korea. Before he left his homeland 28 years ago he worked as city editor for one of the nation's largest newspapers, the "Chosun Daily News."

Six months after he immigrated to the U.S. he took over the gas station lease. The Union 76 started paying dividends right away.

"I got a green card because I had that business," he said. "That station, for all my life, has been a good benefit."

Kim became an American citizen in 1982. He and wife Hwa Ja Kim have two daughters.

Now that he is retired, Kim said he would like to travel the world.

"I would like to see a lot of other places. How do they live? How do they think? What is their philosophy? I want to know about these things," Kim said.

He also would like to take up accordion or guitar, and devote some time to volunteer work with the Hermosa Kiwanis. After joining the group he found himself too busy to participate much.

"I truly love Hermosa Beach," he said. ER