Arizona Contractor & Community Fall 2015 V4 I3 | Page 20

Douglas Towne

P

hoenix had a mere 50,000 residents,
George P. Hunt was in his seventh term
as Arizona governor, and the nation was
suffering during the Great Depression. The
year was 1932 and Prentice Automotive
Service opened downtown at 201 South
Central Avenue. The auto repair shop,
which has thrived in Phoenix for more than
80 years, recently had only its fifth change
of ownership.
“It broke my heart to sell the business,
but the biological clock was ticking,” Mitch
DeHelean, the 73-year-old former owner,
laments. The business was purchased by
Phoenix native Dan Kingston, who learned
about autos from his late grandfather,
Charles Hammon. His recent death
inspired Kingston to buy the North Central
garage, now called Kingston’s Prentice
Garage. Besides service bays, tools, and a
reputation for excellent service, Kingston’s
purchase brings with it a lot of Phoenix
history.
Prentice Automotive Service was
started by Jack Prentice in 1932. Ten years
later, he sold it to his son, Elmer Prentice,
who had been working in the garage since
he was 12 years old. After a three-year
stint in a Navy construction battalion
during World War II, Elmer renamed the
shop Prentice Jack Garage and moved to
3826 North Central Avenue in 1947. Later,
it became Prentice Garage at 6335 North
Seventh Street. “There hasn’t been a good
car built since 1967,” Elmer said in a 1975
Phoenix Gazette article.
Robert Walter, the third owner,
moved the garage across the street to 6344

North
Seventh
Street. Walter died
in 1995 from a
heart
attack
suffered in the shop. DeHelean purchased
the garage from Walter’s wife, bought out
the adjacent Jiffy Lube, and moved it into
its present location at 6328 North Seventh
Street.
DeHelean has as interesting a history
as does the garage he owned and operated
since 1996. He gre