Sunday, May 20, 2018

it wasn't so long ago, that a gas station like this was a common sight


https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/old-gas-stations.75124/page-11#post-1909916


https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/old-gas-stations.75124/page-12#post-1925553


https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/old-gas-stations.75124/page-13#post-1947019



An unmolested Pure Oil "English Cottage" -- note the inlaid "P" in the chimney. The brickwork was fake -- they were actually stucco on a metal framework.

Since this photo was taken years ago, a truck smashed into the fronts, and the big window area is a huge hole in the wall now, and the front door was stolen.

It was for sale at a ridiculous price, until the disfiguring damage, and then sold fast once destroyed. No doubt the town fathers made an ultimatum about the eyesore.

https://www.secretsoftheeasternshore.com/wondrous-2-cape-charles-gas-station/  for comparison photos

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/old-gas-stations.75124/page-22#post-2202308

8 comments:

  1. I loved those Mom and Pop gas stations Jesse, they were a great part of Americana that built the fabric of this country. All gone now. All gone. :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yeah, there were 4 little mom and pop gas stations in the tiny town where I grew up, and one of my great grandparents had one of them for a very short time, long before my parents were even born. That concrete pad for the gas pumps is still there, damn near 100 years later, and nothing else remains. Hell, I doubt 5 people alive can remember that station at all. Of the other three, one was torn down around 1979, as it was little more than a shack for a couple mechanics that worked on anything, plows, snowmobiles, boats, cars, motorbikes, pedal bikes, etc. Of the other two, one still remains selling gas, as it's location on the highway entering town, and next to the airplane field is genius location, and the other was converted in 1980 to a diner, and I doubt any sign remains that it was ever a gas station with at least one service bay which later was used for storage for the diner.
      It's a darn shame so many businesses fail, and that life is so damn hard for so many people who are willing and eager to work a hard day of labor to keep getting a paycheck to cover the bills.
      That the mom n pop gas stations and service stations were so damn Rockwell Americana, but killed off by corporations, and OPEC, and whatever else, is a crying shame. The world is a worse place without a service station in a small town for the kids to hang out and pickup a little cash pumping gas, changing oil, and fixing flats.

      Delete
  2. Not so unmolested anymore. Front door smashed and copper front window ripped out....is nothing sacred?

    http://capecharleswave.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/storybook-now.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ah crap. Effing assholes are everywhere, and nothing is sacred. Damn beasts.

      Delete
    2. http://capecharleswave.com/2015/07/sad-story-for-cape-charles-storybook-cottage/#more-16762

      Delete
    3. Burkey, that's an old Phillip's 66 station I believe. We still have one of these in Owego, N.Y. but it's been something else now for many years.

      Delete
  3. Jesse, not all bad news for the old Pure Oil stations. The one in Geneva, IL (Where I lived until a few years ago) was preserved and turned into a drive thru bank!
    http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130930/news/709309945/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. good! Thanks! I've posted a couple restored gas station articles before, this time I just wanted to show a few in their last stage of original use

      Delete