About

In the beginning…

Casa de Cadillac (the first dealership in what would become Casa Automotive Group) opened in 1949 at 14401 Ventura Boulevard, and it has operated continuously in the same facility since that time until today. Designed by Randall Duell, Casa de Cadillac is now considered a prime example of Googie architecture. The original dealership was part of the Don Lee Cadillac operations, a dealer group that operated Cadillac dealerships throughout the state of California, including major cities such as Fresno, Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, Pasadena, and Los Angeles. Despite efforts by General Motors to convert several of Lee’s holdings into factory stores, Casa de Cadillac remained in the Lee family.

Ownership of Casa de Cadillac passed from Lee to Martin Pollard in the early 1950s. Pollard was influential in local business and an active member of the San Fernando Valley community. He served at various times as the President of Valley Presbyterian Hospital, President of the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce, the first chairman of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority. In 1959, Pollard was the first ever recipient of the “Fernando Award” in 1959, awarded by the Fernando Award Foundation, Inc. in recognition of outstanding community volunteerism in the San Fernando Valley. Upon Pollard’s death in the late 1960s, the Sherman Oaks branch of the Los Angeles Public Library was named in his honor.

After Pollard’s death, James Wilson became president of Casa de Cadillac and was active in its daily operations from 1963 until 2008. During that time Casa Automotive Group (the parent company of Casa de Cadillac) acquired several additional franchises (Buick, GMC, Saab, Subaru, Hummer, and Kia).

In 2008, Wilson passed ownership to his daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Howard Drake. Howard Drake currently runs daily operations for Casa Automotive Group and Casa de Cadillac.