History Old Gas Stations Today-Derelict or Period Restored.

We have the same station here in Flagstaff on Route 66…

It just appears to be a mirror image. Went there every week selling tools to the boat shop and then later to the bike shop. Owners told me it was originally a Phillips 66 Station, seems appropriate!

 

Don't know about the stations but those 2 Buicks make that photo cool.

 

Good ol' Magnolia Oil still in business just not in gas stations. Production and leasing is their main business now.

 

MT. Vernon WA. Used to pump gas now pumps cold beverages.

 

Old RT-66. Shamrock, TX

 

The home of Lead Ain't Dead & Stray Kat 500 - Dewey, OK - @straykatkustoms

I searched for a close-up picture - this is all I could find:

Russ

 

i dont know what is better . the station or the custom valvo

 

2021
Hello,


This past summer, I was in the City of Orange, driving by the old and worn out indoor mall, Main Place Mall. Back in the early days, it was a wonderful outdoor mall with some character. But, as time flies, they enclosed it to compete with other huge indoor malls that Orange County is known for in recent times.

The old real estate slogan, location, location, location did not do this place justice. Even though it is just off of one of the busiest freeways in So Cal, it just did not draw enough patrons. So, the name stores just floated away over time.

In the city of Orange, CA there is a street corner that fits the old neighborhood. Most of the whole city has remained relatively untouched in its historic old homes and preservation is a must for most buildings. That is how cities should look at the old places with a new eye for redevelopment. Parts of the city have the new industrial areas with some cool hot rod shops, but for the most part, it is still lingering in the old days.

Jnaki

Gas stations are no different.


“A small storybook-style building on an Orange street corner has seen better days. Its windows are boarded up. Patches of grass and weeds sprout from broken concrete. And the grounds have been dormant for years since it last saw business as a flower shop. Still, the slim, two-story edifice’s blue-trimmed, steep-sloped and curved roofs remain whimsical enough to attract curious looks from commuters on Main Street.”


“Built for proprietors Fritz J. Christiansen and Carl Emerson Grow, the rare and diminutive building was constructed ca. 1928 and designed in a Storybook or Provincial Revival style. The style reflected the pre-1930 trend in filling stations to mimic the residential architecture of the neighborhood.”

“Nearly a century ago, the former gas station would have invited now-classic cars to pull up to fuel pumps off what was once was a stretch of Highway 101, an arterial road connecting Los Angeles to San Diego through Orange County.

"That the longtime gas station, which first opened for business around 1928, is historic and charming is no haggle. But property owners and preservationists have competing visions over its future — and how it gets there.”

Picture "Rapunzel" throwing down her long hair to the Prince down below…

“The historic gas station was built in Storybook style and has remained largely unaltered for more than 90 years.”

According to the application, the largely intact building is an “exceptionally rare example of a pre-1930s gas station in Southern California.” In fact, South of Santa Barbara only eight gas stations from that era remain. Aside from the one in Orange, there are three in Orange County, all in coastal cities.

“The owners of the building have said that they have no intentions of demolishing the building,”

“We have no reason to believe otherwise. However, we do think it’s still threatened.” They do not see the gas station as endangered, only idle, as the lease agreement for the land around it carries through next year.

“It’s just going to sit there for now.”

 

i think i would restore it , get cute girls to sell $7.oo coffee out the side . and call it job well done .

 

A friend of mine worked at an Esso station in Tennessee as a kid. It was on a corner at the intersection of two busy roads. All day long people would "cut" the corner, dinging the bell. These folks came to be known to my friend as the "Esso assholes!"

I still chuckle at that!

 

Right on.

 

I've seen this one in my travels, but this is a picture from 1974. Can anyone identify the plane? Is it a T-6?

This is according to another website: The Plane Crash Station features a WWII fighter plane installed on the canopy. It has been here since at least the 1950s. It was a Beacon station in the 1970s. Around 2007, the canopy was rebuilt and modern pumps were installed. It is still operating as a gas station.

 

Here's one that I might actually travel to see, some year. It's associated with the Eastern Fresno County Historical Society Museum, as far as I can tell.

 

I've seen this one in my travels. The Fresno Historical Society says it's "Russ Clements service station (1926)." I want to copy the ice door (that's on the other side) for my basement door.

 

Here's some fine art. A photograph by Dorothea Lange, Riverbank, California, 1940. One with kids and a dog (the best), one without kids, and a colorized version.

 

The plane on the canopy is not a T-6 Texan/Harvard but appears to be a Dauntless dive bomber. JW

 

A Douglas Dauntless would be something! That's one of my favorite planes; in a dive with all the flaps and such deployed; my brother had that plastic model, growing up.

 

The tail isn't correct for a Dauntless and i believe you to be closer with the North American T-6 except for the tail. Most likely a North American Yale or BC-1.
It's cool seeing WW2 planes at gas stations as they would have been scraped instead. JW

 

My Grandad owned a Flying A,our across the street nab. owned Gulf,I worked at a Standard Oil summers an after school. This one in the 1950s gave out dishwear with fill-ups,it was Gulf then,but still around.
Built in 1935.
Some history+=
http://www.historicpreservationmiami.com/pdfs/Gulf Gas Station.pdf
I still get gas on open days,but was closed for Christmas when took pic.

 

P40 that lived on a Flying A station in Everett WA. Sorry blatantly disregarding the theme of this thread, aforementioned station is neither derelict nor period restored it's long gone, never got to see it in person. My good buddy Dave who is an Everett fossil took me too its former location a few years ago, at that time a vacant lot, have not been back since.
Happy New Year all!

 

This one is located in North Wilkesboro NC.

 

A couple from NZ. JW

 

This one is across the road from the one above, it used to be a biker type bar 20 + years back. My band did a gig there back then and our bass player knocked over 3 bikes under the canopy with his pick-up in bad weather....we never did go back. JW

 

This station is in Tazwell, Tn. The Rose Service Station. It was built in 1930, and ran as a station until 1956. Route 25( Dixie Hwy) was rerouted behind the station. This caused a drop in business that forced its closure in 1956. The building was used as a residence until 1968. From 1968 until 2001 the building was vacant. In 2001 the town of Tazwell began restoration efforts. The picture is what it looks like today.

 

I see these around, one of my favorites. That one is in Fort Stockton, TX

 

New Market Alabama

 

This place was almost lost forever. It was built in the 1930's in Powell, Tn by 2 brothers. They pumped fuel out of it for 30-ish years. In 2004 it was slated to be torn down, but someone came in and purchased it while the demo equipment was on site and ready to work. It was then restored, and added to the ' National Register of Historic Places. It now serves as a barber shop.

 

Here are a few from my Rt.66 trip thread.