Modesto's Finest Garage

They, the ladies, got the vote and now an auto garage with a ladies’ rest room.  What next?  Next would be telephones connecting every individual station with the garage office and individual lockers and a modern wash room for the garage employees.  These are just a few items included in the new Fisk and Davis Fireproof Garage – the most modern and complete in Modesto in 1920.

This long-awaited two-story, reinforced concrete garage was described as second to none, and that’s the type of opening it received.  Hundreds of people ushered in the New Year at the Firemen’s Dance given as the opening of the new garage.  People began to gather about 9 o’clock when the large orchestra struck up the music on the second floor.  The firemen had decorated the entire second floor with flags and greenery and built a platform for the orchestra in the center of the floor.  On the ground floor between the entrance and the gangway leading to the second floor, all the latest models of Oldsmobile cars were on display.  Another area displayed the new car recently purchased for Fire Chief George Wallace.  The firemen and all attending described themselves as well pleased with the celebration – especially Walter Fisk and Loren Davis.

Although the garage had changed ownership before 1925, it remained a garage until about 1933 when it became Valley Tractor and Equipment owned by Harold Hilton.  After WW II, it transitioned into a sports venue called the Uptown Arena devoted to boxing and wrestling.  When interest in those sports began to fade, the building became an area auto parts warehouse and, finally storage for the Modesto Police Department.