WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA – You might find it a bit dubious that I refer to a carwash as “beloved.”
But one spot in Walnut Creek has been cleaning cars consistently since Walnut Creek was mostly Walnut Trees, and hippies roamed the streets of SF.
Lil Bear Car Wash, which originally launched in 1969 and has been around ever since, is listed as “Closed” online, both on Google and popular sites like Yelp.
We dug deeper and spoke to locals, though, and there’s good news.
Lil Bear has a deep history in WC. If you go back to the 1970s, Lil Bear appears in local historical photo archives as part of the North Broadway and Ygnacio Valley Road area scene.
The Walnut Creek Historical Society’s PastPerfect listings reference aerial and street-view photos from 1974 that specifically call out “Lil’ Bear Car Wash” and “Lil Bear Service” in the same corridor, alongside other civic and commercial landmarks of the time.
Lil Bear was also not always just a single Walnut Creek-only operation. A well-documented photo set from 2008 describes the Walnut Creek site at 604 Ygnacio Valley Rd. as the last remaining Lil Bear location, noting that there were multiple Lil Bear washes around the East Bay in the 1970s (including mentions of sites in San Leandro and Concord).
I’ve always loved the Lil Bear in Walnut Creek, and I’ve taken my car there for years.
Lots of Bay Area carwashes are “touch free” and unattended these days. I prefer a carwash that actually scrubs your car–I’m driving a minivan, not a Maserati.
Lil Bear also has attendants who power wash your car as it’s pulled into the wash itself, specifically targeting any dirt they see.
And perhaps the best part is that they have self-service vacuums connected to an industrial-strength vacuum cleaner.
That lets you power dirt out of the back of your car–an essential for someone like me with three kids–for a couple of bucks.
So if this icon of “Old Walnut Creek” is marked as “Closed,” what’s the good news? It appears that the closure was temporary, and related to renovations taking place at the carwash.
We grabbed permit records, and indeed, the closure appears related to a “like for like” renovation, and still lists “Lil Bear” as the brand behind the reno.
That means Lil Bear is likely updating its equipment. That seems to be taking place in phases, as locals report that in early February, the carwash is once again open. Work seems to be continuing, though.
We’ll be following this story closely, and will let you know as soon as we know more. Join my free 925 News newsletter so I can keep you in the loop.
