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(first posted 9/11/2017) Time to go back and pay another visit to Dave Gelina’s Flickr page of his collection of vintage Kodachorme (mostly) slides. This time I visited his gas stations and signs album, and picked out some of them. Is it’s a theme we can easily relate to. these shots from the 50s and 60s make clear how drastic the evolution of the gas station has been, from bucolic country pumps in front of the general store and the typical urban corner gas station with its two pumps and two service bays, to today’s self-serve mega-pumpers. And note what a huge variety of companies were selling gas back then.
This first shot is worthy of a calendar, a winter shot of a Texaco station in upstate NY, if I remember correctly.
Here’s something from a warmer clime.
These two gals undoubtedly keep their elderly Chrysler clean and well maintained.
Uniforms, with hats no less.
A ’63 split-window Corvette getting fed.
Atomic City, Idaho’s store, post office and gas station.
Here’s one from Canada. I know of BP, but not BA.
Cape Cod.
Sturgis, South Dakota.
Waiting for the next customer.
Cola time while the car gets filled up.
Pumps in front of the Lunch Room.
Dressed in their Sunday finery, in Dentom, NC.
An already older urban station.
From around 1950 or so.
Filling up in Pennsylvania, in the winter.
Dowd’s Store, in Fibre, MI.
A house fire nearby. Better that than the gas station.
Humble stations.
Typical country store and gas pumps in Hunter’s Run, PA.
These pumps are in front of Zimmerman’s Hardware store, in Intercourse, PA. Note the non-gas consuming vehicles just past the pumps.
One from the Amalfi Coast area of Italy. Gas stations were always a rather different format over there. Just gas; service was at garages. I guess they were ahead of us in that way.
Another country store in East Derry, NH. Jenny gas.
Classic four pumper in the early 60s.
This is in Los Angeles.
Lehigh Acres. Sounds like Pennsylvania to me.
Letzler’s Motors, a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer as well as Mobilgas.
Los Vegas, naturally.
Small town Missouri. Gravel instead of pavement. The water spigot probably got used a lot.
Lake George, NY.
Paul’s has their own plow truck. This is who bought 4×4 pickups back then.
Rudy’s Garage in San Diego. No need for covered garages.
Nice fastback Chevy.
A ’54 Buick Skylark.
An urban gas station in Boston is also home to a small taxi company.
The free air pump at gas stations was always a draw for kids and their bikes.
Looks like a Model A in front of this neighborhood Sunoco station.
No self serve back then.
The joys of winter.
Presumably the proud owner of his own business.
I was not a fan of those low GM gas fillers when I was a gas jockey.
The previous three shots are from a Union 76 station in Santa Ana, CA. Not that there are two other stations across the intersection.
I love these fine old stations from the late 1920s that were tiled.
Taking the kids for a ride in the Metro.
Dressed up.
I’ll end with this bucolic station, as it’s about as different as our gas stations today as possible.
I could not help, but notice the lack of ethnic diversity in these photographs and wonder if the Southern gas stations were segregated.
The two ladies who’s Chrysler has the bug guard is one of my favorite photos since there is so much detail.
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No “Gate” gas stations? Maybe they are a regional thing, or weren’t around in the 50s and 60s. I am in Russell Springs, KY. I was a gas jockey at one in the late 90s. It closed around 10-15 years ago and the building stands vacant now. Enjoyed all the photos as usual. Keep the great material coming, it is appreciated!
Here’s one from my own collection:
1947, probably Bronx or Westchester County, NY
The cover shot of the Texaco station, along with the two Texaco station winter shots below, are actually the same gas station, about 20 years apart. The cover shot from the 1940’s, and the other ones circa 1968.
All are from Jamestown NY, the northeast corner of N. Main St. & East 5th St. The gas station is long gone, but the wonderful old brick house behind it remains.
I betcha that Lehigh Acres Service Station was right next door to me, in Lehigh Acres Fla. The wide-open windows, summer clothing and other tells just convince me this is right in SW Florida.
What a great series of pictures. Sharing.
Great photos!
I love the pics and I appreciate someone scanning them and it takes work. That said, I don’t like someone claiming copyright for scanning found photos. The person who took the photo is probably dead. Any relatives who’d otherwise have a claim aren’t attached, either. I suspect it wouldn’t hold up in court, but I don’t even like seeing the tag.
I feel fortunate as a little kid in the ’70s, to have seen much of this branding still around. Big oil companies didn’t press for continual brand refreshes, on their stations, the way they do now. So many small town stations, retained their ’50s look. Right down to ancient soda machines and pumps.
The local corner gas station was a path to the middle class for many returning WW2 vets and a “chance to be your own boss”.
Isn’t it Las Vegas, not Los?
At any rate, great photos!
Each photo is a real gem!
I must have missed this when it was first posted, great shots!
I too learned my lesson about making sure the nozzle was securely placed in the filler pipe when I worked at a busy 8 pump station in our little town. There was a knack to getting it just right. Nothing like a face full of premium unleaded to start your shift….
The other potential surprise was if a ’70s Volvo with a partially full tank pulled up. Twist that cap off too fast and you’d get pretty good blast of gas all over your shirt. Not sure why but we learned to give it a slight turn and wait for the “hiss” to subside.
As noted above, you just washed it off and kept working.
M’am, could you please put that cigarette out?…..
I opened each photo and crawled into them. Interesting that every single filling station was filled with Caucasians. That just wouldn’t have happened if he had visited where I grew up. There was always Black gas jockeys. About halfway through the photos, it just suddenly dawned on me. Certainly there were Black customers, right? Not a single photo. This photographer never traveled South?
This leads me to wonder, before segregation was outlawed, how did Black families travel? We know they had their “Green Book”, for accommodations, and they rarely depended on restaurants while travelling, but what about filling stations? Anyone know how that was handled 70 years ago?
I did a bit more research and discovered that Esso filling stations advertised in the Green Book and other travel guides for Black American motorists. I also read that African American families weren’t welcomed at Shell filling stations, and those were avoided. Esso and its subsidiaries saw opportunities to provide these profitable services – and as we saw with Ford Motor Company during the later half of the 20th century, reach out to Black Americans to help establish roots in the Black communities in the USA through business.
Thank you Esso and Ford for seeing citizens beyond their race before 1964.
Found one!
Fantastic retrospect! Surprised not to see a FLYING A station!
The Sinclair station near the top of the page is on the Broad Causeway between Miami and it’s beach suburbs. It still operates as a Chevron.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chevron/@25.8870994,-80.1557552,2494m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x88d9b286e9b63445:0x7353a507bf0e587c!8m2!3d25.8877776!4d-80.1447195!16s%2Fg%2F1tghdys0?hl=en&entry=ttu
I worked at service stations during the summer in my teens. It was hot, greasy and always smelling like gas. Before pollution controls and unleaded.
Joy gas station in Toronto. It’s been preserved for history.
Later shot
Now
I’d be challenged to name the cars in this overhead shot.
Sadly, I can name quite a few. While I may be struggling to tell the difference between a Kia and a Cadillac SUV today – I can look at that photo and tell you with a pretty good level of certainty.
Phrase heard most often at Clark Oil, 2000 Portland in Minneapolis, circa 1969:
“Buck’s worth and a pack of Kools.”
Okay, identifying the cars is relatively easy for anything before the 1970’s, but I get into identifying the pumps: Wayne, Bennett, Tokheim, Bowser, Gilbarco, and the relatively rarer Union. Gulf, Mobil and Cities Service had pretty much special cabinet shapes and designs. Others such as Phillips, Texaco and Skelly tended to choose catalog models. What I like to look for is the rebranded station with either pumps or building architecture that screams (______!) but is now (______.) We still have a bunch of Texaco Teague designed structures here in Albuquerque. That canopy is a dead giveaway.
The picture of the kids filling their tires with free air was from a gas station that was 2 blocks from where I grew up in Chicago—Fullerton and Kostner. Jimmy Leon’s Standard station from which I bought LOTS of gas over the years, My Dad moved into that same home we lived in in 1918 and moved out in 1978—his history knowledge of the area was fantastic. In 1918 a mile West of there was dirt roads and the Western limit of the Chicago city boundary. I am amazed that I did not know any of those kids as it may have been before I was in grade school as the cars are from the late 40’s when I was about 5. Lots of memories from that corner as our family Doctor was above the drug store across the street. Thanks for the memories to the photographer.
Surely you realize that copyrights are held by the original photographer/creator. Mr. Galinas may be violating USPTO laws by slapping on the circle C and placing his name on every photo he collects. I hope he has protected himself with contractual evidence that he actually has purchased the copy rights for all the photos he presents as his own.