By Mary O’KEEFE

If businesses could be comfort food, Bob Smith Toyota would be meatloaf and mac ‘n’ cheese. For over three decades the Bob Smith business has been in the 3300 block of Foothill Boulevard.

But Bob Smith Toyota is not just a business – it is a family.

Mike Smith, former owner of Bob Smith Toyota, and his family lived in La Cañada since the 1950s. Mike’s dad had moved to La Cañada Flintridge in the ’50s.

“It was just a big orange orchard,” said Mike’s son Pete of the area at the time.

The Smith family has been synonymous with car dealerships for over 100 years – since 1917.

In San Francisco in 1917, the memory was still fresh of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that happened just 11 years earlier on the San Andreas Fault.

“It was interesting. The earthquake happened a few years before and horse and carriage was the mode of transportation,” said Mike in a previous interview. “My grandfather said if you want to get out of town quick you can’t do it on horse – you need a car.”

And with that the Smith family bought its first car dealership in San Francisco. The dealership back then was called Smith Anderson. Over the years the Smith family has had dealerships for Volkswagen, Porsche, BMW, Fiat and Dodge Plymouth, just to name a few.

For most of four generations Smiths have been in the business of selling, servicing and leasing cars.

In the late 1980s/early 1990s Toyota was an up-and-coming company. The location of the Toyota dealership on Foothill was owned by a family that wanted to get out of the car business so Mike and his brother Tim purchased the Foothill location.

During that time Pete went off to college then lived in New York. He worked in the insurance business until he called home and said he was ready to continue in the tradition of his family’s auto business. This was right after Mike had bought the Crescenta Valley location.

Mike credits Pete’s return to the success at the Foothill location.

“His arrival was the beginning of our business taking off,” Mike said in a previous interview with CVW. “[Dad] always said you need to keep young, fresh ideas in your business.”

Pete said looking to the future there is a big push for electric vehicles but Bob Smith Toyota is approaching that new technology cautiously.

“We’re following Toyota’s lead on that,” he added. “Everyone has different driving needs, so you can’t have ‘one size fits all.’”

When asked about the longevity of the business Pete, who purchased the dealership 13 years ago, said it came down to the “basics.”

“As my grandfather taught his sons and taught me, and my dad continues to teach me, first you’ve got to take care of your people who you work with. We refer to them as family,” he said. “Then you’ve got to take care of the customers and if you do all of that right then everything else takes care of itself.”

He said he has been very lucky over the years to have the support of his community; however, that support has extended both ways. Bob Smith Toyota has been generous to many non-profits as well as local businesses and schools.

“And we offer a terrific product, so that certainly helps,” Pete added. “We have a great partnership with Toyota. There is no better manufacturer in the business than Toyota.”

It also comes down to the love of cars, which Pete definitely has; however, he also loves working with people – whether staff or customers.

One example of the relationship between the Smith family and the community could be seen on Aug. 7 when Bob Smith Toyota celebrated not only three decades on Foothill but also Mike Smith’s 80^th birthday. Not only family members but customers, friends and reps from Toyota crowded the showroom at 3333 Foothill Blvd.

“I thanked our loyal customers and friends,” Pete said. He also thanked them for their trust and support and told them they were the driving force behind their success.

“We all wished my dad a happy birthday,” Pete added.

Pete said instead of a birthday celebration Mike wanted to shine the light on the dealership; however, it was obvious who the star of the event was and – for everyone who knows Mike – they know that contagious laughter and boundless energy is the foundation of Bob Smith Toyota.

“[The] event was really an excuse to celebrate his birthday. He is kind of our spiritual leader, our head cheerleader,” Pete said. “We wanted to honor him not only for his birthday but for the 31 years up here in La Crescenta.”