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Filling Station: 1924
... and products. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Gas Stations, Natl Photo) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 10:11pm -

Washington, D.C., 1924. "Havoline Oil Company." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. Early Chassis Dynamometer? Looks like they lock down the automobile and then the drive wheels power a pump. The pressure is measured on the gauge on the "gasometer" in the background. DynamometerThe device is a chassis dynamometer. The dyno operator has his hand on the brake lever (Prony brake). He's either measuring horsepower and trying to relate it to engine condition or using the dyno to load the motor and collect/measure blowby somehow for the same purpose. I wonder if this was a "special occasion" or if there was some other reason the dyno operator had so many helpers? Mechanic Shade TreeThat's a honey locust in the foreground (note the seed pods). Memories of cleaning the pods off the driveway and yard as a kid. The tree also has huge thorns. Special Occasion?It could be this was a demo of the device. The words on the gasometer seem to be announcing its purpose a bit too loudly for normal garage use. Havoline Oil?The sign says Texaco, not Havoline. [The Havoline sign is at top right. - Dave] HavolineHavoline is Texaco's brand name for its oil and products. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Gas Stations, Natl Photo)
Filling Station: 1910
... fountain is gone though, probably replaced by a nearby gas station. "For Medicinal Use" Rooney Malt Whiskey ad in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 3:52pm -

Richmond, Virginia, circa 1910. "Masonic Temple." Note the horse fountain with electric illumination. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Unleaded, pleaseLemme git a bucket of no-lead & a quart of oil ... for my hair! Still thereBeautiful Richardson Romanesque style building built 1888-1893. The horse fountain is gone though, probably replaced by a nearby gas station. "For Medicinal Use"Rooney Malt Whiskey ad in the July 5, 1910, Richmond Times-Dispatch. Shrunken neighborThe building at left is still there, too. But the top two floors have been shaved off. It went from six to four as shown in the recent pic below. Horse fountainI think the fountain was moved to Adams and Leigh by the Bill Bojangles statue. (The Gallery, DPC, Horses, Richmond)
We're the Nuts: 1970s
... Mass., sometime around 1977. Smokes were 57 cents and gas was 56. Taken for a photography class with a 4x5 view camera. View full ... right, a '63 Valiant. I'll take either one, too. BP Station With a little oil spill in front. Great photo, the lighting and ... 
 
Posted by rizzman1953 - 04/28/2012 - 10:43pm -

It was a warm late September night on Route 1 near Saugus, Mass., sometime around 1977. Smokes were 57 cents and gas was 56. Taken for a photography class with a 4x5 view camera. View full size. It's the irregularityThat patch of water/spilled brewsky in the foreground: Remove the effect of its wandering, irregular shape and the photo drops to being just a very good photo. (Cover it and you'll see the difference.) With it and the depth it creates, this image jumps to the Best Picture category. Great job, Rizzo, if I may call you that. I'll take either Mopar (thank you, Jimmy Longshanks). Caught in timeThis captures the moment, the period and the light perfectly. I remember it like yesterday, OK the day before yesterday.1977 I was driving a Fiat 1283P. We were appalled that gas was so expensive. Gas is supposed to be 32 cents a gallon. Inflation was about to spike. I remember getting significant pay increases about 4 times a year, but not getting ahead. Both of my sisters lived in this area of Mass at that time, I remember driving there frequently. This brings back so many memories. Another Fantastic PhotoThis is an award winner for sure. Nuff SaidI love the lines and composition in this photograph. Good work. I may have to have this printed. .57/gallon???!!!Marty, fire up the DeLorean, we are going for a ride! This looks like Jim and Pete should be pulling in to use the phone: "One Adam 12, calling in!" Just Up The RoadI'm going up the road for a Ginsburger at Adventure Car Hop. The Adventure Car Hop jingle: "Oh Adventure Car Hop is the place to go for food that's always right- Adventure Food is always just so, you'll relish every bite- Out on Route 1 in Saugus, come dressed just as you are- Adventure where the service is tops and you never get out of your car." 57 Cents?That wandering flow in the foreground was a premonition! I hope BP saved some of the 56.9 cents to pay for future 'events'. Old MemoriesIf I recall correctly, Adventure car Hop ('WooWoo Gisberg: WMEX DJ) was just up the road. Across the road was a Carvel stand with a miniature golf course replete with large fiberglass creatures. It's a PlymouthDon Struke, the car on the left is a '70 or '71 Barracuda. On the right, a '63 Valiant. I'll take either one, too. BP StationWith a little oil spill in front. Great photo, the lighting and composition are fantastic. Was that a High School or College photography course? Either way I'd bet it was well received. 63 Valiant? Nay!more like a 63-66 Dodge Dart. Mix them up!Back in my Chowderhead period (a New Englander for twenty years) River Queen was my favorite brand of locally produced mixed nuts. Very fresh tasting, with great salt. By far, their best product was Teddie's Peanut Butter - a wonderful natural product that had to be stirred daily and tasted of peanut and salt. Both are wonderful brands and wishing they were available out here in Cali. UnclutteredWhat a lovely, evocative shot. What struck me was the complete lack of junky advertisements taped all over the attendant's little glass-walled building. Try finding a gas station/convenience store with clean, uncluttered windows today. Oh, and SJBill - go to teddie.com. You can order peanut butter online. You'll have to travel back to the site of this photo to purchase River Queen nuts, though. SpookyI love this picture, it's quite nostalgic for me because I remember this era well, I graduated High School in 77. The long haired kid in the Cuda looks like every guy I went to high school with, his car is typical of what we drove back then, Mag wheels and lots of primer paint. I wondered if it would look better or worse if there wasn't any background clutter so I Photoshopped out the sign and everything in the background. While I like it better with the sign I think this is a little more spooky looking. Any chance the OP could identify the exact location for us on Google Maps? Dinoco Was Owned by BP?This reminds me of the Dinoco gas station in "Toy Story." What a terrific composition, I just love this photo! There's so much going on: Mopar metal; mixed nuts; 60's-style angular architecture; and 56-cent gas. I think I'm going to cry! No Self Serve?These were the days when you never got out of your car at the gas station. Leaning into the driver's side window, the station attendant is taking an order something like "Five bucks' worth of regular, please." If he squeegees the windshield and offers to check the oil, it may be worth a dime or a quarter tip! "Main St. Saugus, 2nd Exit"I just drove past where this must have been last night. Based on the exit signs in this photo, I put it on the southbound side of Route 1, approaching the exits for Main St. in Wakefield and Saugus, past the landmark Hilltop Steakhouse. According to Google Street View, there's a Mobil station in roughly the same location today. This is a beautiful photo - reminds me of the work of Julius Shulman. Frank Lloyd Wright: not The attendant’s shelter, notwithstanding someones best efforts, has all the design elegance of a Chrysler Airflow. Note the Mopar muscle stopping at the high octane stuff. The driver is probably asking when prices went up. The building in the background most likely housed the air compressor for the air hose (free, then) hanging on the exterior wall, and assorted mops, buckets, brooms etc. And of course there’s the ever present pay phone that was as natural to any retail business as a cash register. Looks like gas and cigarettes were it for this place. A very dramatic photograph with a real film noir effect. Self serve on the horizonIn September of '77 I'd been out of high school one year and was working at the SOHIO station at the corner of Main & Washington Blvd. in Belpre, Ohio and going to college full time, too. That summer, Standard Oil had decided to convert the island of pumps on the east side of the station to self serve. When a customer pulled up to the pump, we had to go out and unlock the pump with a key that we carried on us. Self serve was confusing to many people for a while. I remember self serve regular was 55.9 at the time. A great time in my life. Thanks for reminding me of it. A thousand times, yes...This is an unbelievably wonderful photo. No matter how anti-BP, anti-fossil fuel, anti-prevalence of the internal combustion engine, or even how nuts one might be ABOUT nuts, great photography shines through. Desktop BackgroundYet another immediately placed Shorpy background on my monitor. Thank you once again. [And thanks to user rizzman1953 for submitting it! - tterrace] I remember this place wellWe used to drive past this spot every Friday and Sunday, Friday going north to Beverly Farms and Sunday, going south back to Boston. The heart shaped sign in the back ground was a wedding shop with the most spectacularly tacky dresses. I always wanted one of the hot pink, ruffled layered ones. There was an IHOP right on the other side of the bridge, that you can't quite see. A More Innocent Time.Sadly, in addition to its beauty, this picture is real comment on out time. No bulletproof glass, no door-lock, no pass-through trough, no security cameras, no panic button. No "Cashier Does Not Have Access to Safe" sign. I'll bet they didn't even have a floor safe! And the attendant even leaves the safety of his fortress. My, how times have changed in just thirty-some years. The good old days?A beautifully composed photograph! All of your works posted here are breathtaking, Rizzman. And, thank you for this site, Dave. A couple of points: I don't think the 'cuda is gassing up; too far from the pump. More like- gimme a pack of Marlboro reds, and did you know there's a guy over there taking your picture? It is cool to see such an unadorned kiosk, but this was a time when we didn't feel it necessary to be constantly shoving snack food and soda (or should I say tonic?) into our faces. Cupholders? Yeah, a little dimple on the back of the glovebox door. For when you were parked, not barreling down the highway at 65 with 44 ozs. of HFCS blocking your vision. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Full Service: 1940
May 1940. "Wiping off windshield at service station in Cairo, Illinois." 35mm negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security ... size. Premlar As a high school kid, I worked at a gas station for a couple years. We initially had the bow ties, but no caps. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/23/2012 - 10:59am -

May 1940. "Wiping off windshield at service station in Cairo, Illinois." 35mm negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. PremlarAs a high school kid, I worked at a gas station for a couple years. We initially had the bow ties, but no caps. Then that sort of went by the wayside. We had one regular customer who ALWAYS wanted us to 'fill it up premlar'. I never was sure why. Did he want half a tank each of premium and regular? We just gave him premium and he was happy with that. KaroCairo is the southernmost town in Illinois. The folks I was working with there explained that I should pronounce the name the same as "Karo" syrup. Full serviceYou don't get that anymore. I worked the full service island at a Mobil station when I was in high school. Check under the hood for you ma'am? Left rear looks a little low. Ah, the days of sell-ups. I even got to pump Ethyl. WindshieldI wasn't around in 1940, but I am old enough to remember "full service." It always seemed that the pump jockey was able to clean off my windshield better than I ever could, even to this day. No streaks! Wonder what kind of magic solution they used in that pump spray bottle? Can I Get 50 cents Worth Please?I'll bet he has the chrome change dispenser on the front of his belt. Those things were murder on paint jobs back then if the guy wasn't careful. Don't ask me how I know. Memories of Dad and the gas stationThe stop for gas was a ritual that fascinated me. Loved ding-ding as the car drove over a sort of hose. Dad got out of the car, conferred with the attendant, and asked for a fill-up. The windows were cleaned, tires and oil checked, etc. Everything in place, we drove off. Me tooWorking at a gas station I pumped the gas, cleaned the windshield, checked the tire pressure, opened the hood, checked the oil and fan belt condition/tightness and filled the window washer tank if the auto was so equipped. Changing tires with an old manual bead-breaker was not my favorite job though. Who's Ethyl?!?!?My kids looked at me like I was crazy (shut UP!) when I said that my FJ Cruiser would only run on Ethyl. Glad someone else remembers the term! --Jim Full Service Gas still exists at no extra costThere are two states where they still pump the gas for you. Residents of Oregon and New Jersey don't have self serve pumps even now. Of course the people who pump the gas don't have sparkling white uniforms with caps, don't do it from globe top dispensers, never have any leaded gas on hand, let alone HiTest or Ethyl, and don't charge 26 cents a gallon any more. 1940 Plymouth?I think the instrument cluster matching what we can see of the posted car gauges is a 1940 Plymouth. [Wow! -tterrace] Sinclair Service AttendantGrowing up we had a Sinclair service station near us and I was always intrigued with the dinosaur logo they used. I see they are still in business but I haven't seen a service station in our area for years. My first real jobAround 1976,I hired on as a mechanic at a local Mobil gas station. I was taught to check under the hood, check the tires, wash the windshield and notify the customer if the oil was low or dirty, and steer them to an empty bay if we had one. The station did not allow self-serve, and this was about the time that self-serve was the majority. We were one of the last full serve stations for many miles. I made a whole $2.10 an hour doing tuneups, carb repair, engine overhauls, transmission overhauls, clutches, and I also used the old manual tire machine. In trade school, they required you to learn how to use the antique, because some of us would be hired at a shop that still used that as their primary tire changer. The reaosn I got the job was because I was fluent with the antique and impressed the boss that I could change a tire faster than he could (a 70 year old man with arthritis) (The Gallery, Gas Stations, John Vachon)
Filling Station: 1924
... You kids get off my car!) What’s next? – siphoning gas? A Bit Bare "My old man's spare tires were only actually tires in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/02/2020 - 10:56am -

Washington, D.C., 1924. "Flat spare tires are numerous around Washington these days due to the youthful football players who have found an easier way to inflate the pigskin than using their lungs. 'Billy' Friel shown inflating his football." 4x5 inch glass negative. View full size. Liberating airThat’s hugely clever. First time I’ve seen such a thing. (No fun for the driver, though: You kids get off my car!) What’s next? – siphoning gas? A Bit Bare"My old man's spare tires were only actually tires in the academic sense. They were round and had once been made of rubber." -- Ralphie, "A Christmas Story" The good old days?I seem to remember those devices in a catalog as a kid in the early '70s. And the illustration showed filling a ball from one of the tires ON THE CAR. Talk about no fun for the driver. Car IDModel T Ford. That's F-O-R-D as in Football Oxygen Reserve Device Inflategate.Photo shows a young Tom Brady actually putting a little air back INTO the spare tire. 15 Years Later --The thing that caught my attention is how very well dressed this 1924 boy was. He could simply be a resident of a wealthy neighborhood whose parents could afford to buy him nice clothes, and later send him to a prestigious college, and eventually make him a vice president in Daddy's company. However, I can't help but think of the many Shorpy pictures that photographers took fifteen years later in which the children were barefoot, their clothes were torn and threadbare, and often needed a bath. On one hand, this photos represented the difference between wealthy urban people and poor rural people, and a 1924 picture of a rural boy might be indistinguishable from a 1939 picture of one. But there were many cases in people who had at least been comfortable lost everything. For two years during the Great Depression, my mother and her family lived in a chicken coop. My paternal grandfather lost his urban house three times, and, at age 16, my grandmother had to ask my father to leave home because he was the oldest male and she could no longer afford to feed four children. How complacently we live during the boom times, not suspecting that they may end tomorrow! Spare AirThe windshield washer on my wife's 1963 Volkswagen was powered by the air in the spare tire. We were married a while before I discovered that. I drove the bug to work, so I had to make sure the pressure was up in the spare. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Kids, Sports)
Shell Company: 1919
San Francisco, 1919. "Shell Oil Co. service station No. 27." Filling something with something, and smoke 'em if you got ... who worked his way through high school, and beyond, at a gas station you would not believe the number of customers who pulled in with ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/16/2015 - 1:57pm -

San Francisco, 1919. "Shell Oil Co. service station No. 27." Filling something with something, and smoke 'em if you got 'em. 5x7 inch glass negative, formerly of the Wyland Stanley and Marilyn Blaisdell collections. View full size. Hope That Stogie Ain't LitAs a kid who worked his way through high school, and beyond, at a gas station you would not believe the number of customers who pulled in with lit ciggies and cigars and tried to pump their own gas. Even had a truck with refuse in the back on fire that pulled into the pumps wanting water to put out the flames. Possibly an economy run?Looks like they're filling a one gallon can with a hose connected to the carburetor. Run it until it quits and record how far it went. Lundburg Shell Service StationPretty sure this is the Shell station that used to be at the corner of Fell and Stanyan until the 1980s. I was a regular there. The wall in the background looks like the wall along the western edge of Golden Gate Park (though the street was widened in the mid 1900s and the grass shoulder removed). The shrubbery is trying to tell me somethingThere's a topiary message in the foreground, but I can't tell what it is. Pretty sure it isn't "Shell". Say it with topiaryIt looks like the low shrubs on the lower left are arranged and trimmed to spell out SHELL. The Park It Is!StanFlouride pegged the location perfectly. The wall of Golden Gate Park in the background is the giveaway. This Shell station was indeed at the NE corner of Stanyan and Fell Streets. Here's a Google Maps view of the location today. It's a familiar scene; I went to high school about three blocks away and walked past the station nearly every day in the 1960s. Could This BeA picture of Jack Benny before he made the Big Time? Go Ask AliceThe Mad Hatters at tea. The CarWhat kind of auto is this? Thanks. [A Maxwell. - Dave] (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, San Francisco, W. Stanley)
Filling Station (Colorized): 1907
... Company. View full size. (Colorized Photos, Gas Stations) ... 
 
Posted by Dennis Klassen - 02/06/2011 - 7:09pm -

Bellows Falls, Vermont, circa 1907. "The Square." (Colorized). 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. (Colorized Photos, Gas Stations)
Richfield Gas Station: c. 1950s
... View full size. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Gas Stations) ... 
 
Posted by Vintagetvs - 09/19/2011 - 2:05pm -

Probably early 1950s, unknown location, possibly Southern California. Found in a lot of old photos bought at auction. View full size. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Gas Stations)
Jessup's Station
... MO, late 1930s. This quaint little sandstone-covered gas station was enlarged in the late '40s, and later razed, replaced by a parking ... 
 
Posted by olpossum - 06/27/2021 - 6:35pm -

St. Clair, MO, late 1930s. This quaint little sandstone-covered gas station was enlarged in the late '40s, and later razed, replaced by a parking lot for the bank next door. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Gas Station: 1925
About 1925 my father had built this station in Logan County, Michigan to supplement their farm income. One of their ... 
 
Posted by Thomas H Finger - 05/06/2016 - 6:44pm -

About 1925 my father had built this station in Logan County, Michigan to supplement their farm income. One of their first customers was my grandpa Eugene Hinkley filling the tank. The boy pumping the hand pump was my brother, Louie Finger, and the old guy watching him unknown. The girl watching the photographer was my sister. Phyl. Which state?I'm curious...is it Ohio, Colorado, Oklahoma, or Illinois? But Michigan...no go with a "Logan". (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Minute Service No. 5: 1925
... is a beautiful thing. Someone had a good idea there. Gas and Gas Are those gas street lamps on the street? And yet the station itself seems to have electric lamps around it. Another example of a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/11/2011 - 12:23pm -

1925. Washington, D.C. "Texas Company. Linworth Place and C Street S.W." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. Street ArchitectureI'm no expert, but that street light looks 19th Century. I always enjoy seeing these moments of transition, as here with automobiles and Victorian-era housing and street lamps. And I'm also guessing that's a Franklin auto sitting at the pump. EmissionsHow 'bout that..... There is still horse exhaust in the street from what, the milkman or possibly other delivery-types. Great image that captures a transitional period in our history. Street Light - Street Sign ComboNow that is a beautiful thing. Someone had a good idea there. Gas and GasAre those gas street lamps on the street? And yet the station itself seems to have electric lamps around it. Another example of a transitional period. I don't think I've ever been in the presence of a functioning gas lamp. Darn it. Long GoneThere's no trace of Linworth Place on current maps, at least that I can find. Either it's the short stretch south of Agriculture that's now marked as 13th St., or it was wiped out for some federal building or for I-395. In any event every single building depicted is surely long gone. Long shadowsLooks like an early morning shot - very long shadows and no evidence of people anywhere, even in the car waiting for gas. Haunting photo. Linworth Place Linworth Place ran for a block on either side of C between 13th and 14th SW. By the 1930s the USDA building expanded south into the north block of Linworth Place. The south block was razed for an engraving annex and steam plant. It's not hard to imagine the need for more space at the USDA given the importance of the agency during The Depression helping farms, food distribution, and loans. Gas lampsIf ever in Manhattan Beach CA, you'll see a handful of streets within a few blocks of the ocean have gas lamps, which are four sided. I bought a house on 21st Street for that reason. So. Cal. Gas Co. has a special division that repairs/maintains them. Minute Service StationYes, it is quite small. (The Gallery, D.C., Gas Stations, Natl Photo)
Foots Whitaker's Station
... This undated photo shows Foots Whitaker and his crew at a gas station he managed in the North Birmingham community in Alabama. View full ... 
 
Posted by Seay Whitaker - 12/24/2011 - 11:04am -

This undated photo shows Foots Whitaker and his crew at a gas station he managed in the North Birmingham community in Alabama. View full size. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Pit Stop: 1940
... "Cherry pickers. Auto of migrant fruit worker at gas station." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon. View full size. ... The sign said, "Clean Rest Rooms," so I did. Still a gas station there. Michigan Street and Third Ave. The building looks the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/14/2011 - 5:47pm -

July 1940. Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. "Cherry pickers. Auto of migrant fruit worker at gas station." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon. View full size. Sturgeon Bay, WisconsinBack in September of 1978, I had the pleasure of driving up the peninsula from Green Bay and spending the day at Sturgeon Bay, at a shipyard that was building a giant Great Lakes ore carrier. What a neat place! Fill er up?Yes sir, that'll be 90 cents please. What took you so long?The sign said, "Clean Rest Rooms," so I did. Still a gas station there.Michigan Street and Third Ave. The building looks the same on Google maps. StylingThis car is probably not much more than a dozen years old, yet to folks in 1940 it already looked like an antique. Such were the rapid developments in automotive styling in that era. The visor-mounted spotlight is nifty though. Car make and gas company?Nice car. I hope someone will identify it, along with the gas company. DetailsLooks like he's due to replace those front tyres soon; I like the spotlight in the middle of the windscreen visor. And, there is a clear demo for the usefulness of running boards when you had to carry everything you possess along with you. Worn and tired.Those front tires, especially the right front, are as worn as the rest of the car. The drivers door has a serious rust issue going on. Must have been a nice car when it was new. The Car1929 Reo Flying Cloud. That other carLooks about like the 1936 Dodge my folks had. First car I can remember. Their next car was a used 1948 Chevy bought in about 1950. The GasStandard Oil Red Crown filling station. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Gas Stations, John Vachon)
Western Standard: 1941
"1935 Ford Tudor sedan at gas station." The year is 1941, and we are somewhere in Southern California. ... the machine. So solid and husky. That's One Clean Gas Station Not a bit of litter in sight. The car looks good too. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/21/2021 - 12:25pm -

"1935 Ford Tudor sedan at gas station." The year is 1941, and we are somewhere in Southern California. Kodachrome by our West Coast "carrespondent" Don Cox. View full size. I wishsomebody can recognize that art-deco-ish entrance for the location of the pump. Car design that evokes confidence in the machine. So solid and husky. That's One Clean Gas StationNot a bit of litter in sight. The car looks good too. Ghost ferns?What do you suppose the plants are in the lower right corner? Strange thing! Kodachrome Automotive BeautyWhat a lovely looking automobile! Wow, I sure miss the days of yesteryear! Too many people on the planet, too homogenous! Lead WarningGas pumps still had the warning "CONTAINS LEAD" in the 1960's. I never gave it a second thought as I filled up with premium. What were we supposed to do with this information, not drink the leaded gas or not inhale the exhaust fumes? The government was a little less excited about those issues back then, and I was absolutely clueless. [What you were supposed to do with that information was not employ gasoline for cleaning, heating, cooking or anything else besides its intended use as a motor fuel. - Dave] Interesting Aftermarket Directional SignalsAftermarket lights on the bumper appear to be directional signals. Factory signals were only introduced on more expensive makes in 1939. This Ford is also in great shape for a six-year-old car in that period. Spokeless Scene stealing little '35 has been equipped with later rims, clearance/accent lights added above bumper. Ford grille shell nameplate and some side brightwork appears to also have been removed from hood sides? What a sweetie! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGa59ESP1ps I've never seen that before. The compressed air and I suppose water hoses imbedded in the pump island are a new one on me. It seems very practical and eliminates a lot of clutter. The little crank to reset the pump counters brings back memories. The little yellow accessory lights on the bumper of the '35 are nifty. The no frills single windshield wiper, not so much. Air & Water HosesRob Ellie's comment about the embedded air and water hoses aroused my curiosity. Where is the spring loaded reel that retracts and stores the length of these hoses? There doesn't appear to be an access plate in sight to allow repairs when the storage reels or hoses eventually need repair. Gramps Would Be ProudMy grandfather (Mom's pop) ended his career as a VP for Standard Oil of California, later known as Chevron, based mainly in San Francisco and worked with both "Company Ops," meaning fully owned and run by the oil company, and the franchisees. He was a complete stickler for having the stations look spotless and if inspected by the company, enough demerits in the looks department could send a manager out the door. This was the norm, especially in stations around the downtown core of cities where there was intense competition. Gas was uniformly cheap, but it was the service aspect of the operation that built loyalty. He would have certainly liked the good and tidy looks of this example, wherever it was. Lead additiveDave, lead was added to gasoline to reduce engine knocking, boost octane rating and lelp wear and tear on valve seats. [We know that. The question was the reason for the warning sign. - Dave] Color Makes it RealThat is beautiful! My first thought: Is that the way things looked back then? I thought everything was black and white." Color brings history a little bit closer to my reality. Thanks Dave. Grandpa at the GulfSince this picture is from 1941, I recall that my grandpa (Mother's side) ran a Gulf station right here in town from 1941 to '51. Thanks to the local historical society, of which I'm a member, I was able to obtain a nice image of the station, which existed until at least the first few years of my life. I remember well losing Grandpa in 1974, and only wished I'd have been old enough to think to ask him more about his younger days. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Don Cox, Gas Stations)
Service Man: 1940
July 1940. "Gas station attendant. Millburg, Michigan." Medium format acetate negative by John ... ensure that bowtie is straight. Nowadays you would need a gas check and a confined space permit to enter this place if it was in an ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/27/2019 - 2:34pm -

July 1940. "Gas station attendant. Millburg, Michigan." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. I’m from Michigan.Thanks Shorpy for a glimpse of the past. I love this photo! That peanut machine!Back in my (very small) hometown the Chevy dealer had that same peanut machine sitting on a counter by the front door. It cost a penny! And since I used to pick up my newspapers for delivery there (they were dropped off by the Greyhound bus) I would regularly feed that machine. Occasionally something inside would break and you could get hit that lever for as many times as you wanted and fill your hand with Spanish peanuts. Consider thisIf you have time to lean, you have time to clean. Mirror, mirror on the wallStrategically placed to ensure that bowtie is straight. Nowadays you would need a gas check and a confined space permit to enter this place if it was in an industrial setting. 1940My parents were born that year. They'll turn 80 in 2020. Looks like Elizabeth Bishop had it right... in her poem 'Filling Station': Oh, but it is dirty! --this little filling station, oil-soaked, oil-permeated to a disturbing, over-all black translucency. Be careful with that match! What is it?Gentlemen, what is a "telephone directory"? Did it direct you to the nearest telephone? And if it did, what exactly is a "telephone"? Now THAT's a gas station attendant!That is the most "at your service" kind of guy you could ever have ask the timeless full-service question, "Check under the hood for you, ma'am?" Any non-serious motor car need you might have is no challenge for this cat and his immediate surroundings. Just pull up, and let him ask the questions. Fill 'er up? Check under the hood? Left front looks a wee bit low, let me check the pressure for you. As one who used to pump Ethyl, at a Mobil station off I-70 mind you, the regular customers knew I would answer all those questions without ever asking them, and I would wash the windshield because that's just what you did at the full service pumps. Today, I challenge you to find a full service drive at any gas station. It's a true slice of Americana that I feel proud to have been a part of, albeit the last wave of such a service that is all but extinct these days. I think I'm going to have some T-shirts made that say "I pumped Ethyl," and see if anyone under the age of 60 buys one. Happy New Year to Dave and band of Shorpy. I love what you guys do! Be well, everyone! Rough around the edgesThis guy will never find himself singing and dancing in the opening sequence of the Ed Wynn or Milton Berle shows. The Spirit of CommunicationThat archangel clutching thunderbolts and wrapped in cables was called the "Spirit of Communication" and was used by Bell from the 1930s and well into the late 1950s as seen on this phone directory from Cameron, Texas. (The Gallery, Gas Stations, John Vachon)
Ghost Office: 1912
... lights It looks like there are two types of lights gas and electric? [There are two temporary lights wired to the taller ... plate is big (5 x 7 inches). - Dave] The New Penn Station This wonderful building is slated to be renovated into the New Penn ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/02/2021 - 2:39pm -

New York's new post office on Eighth Avenue circa 1912. Enlarged in 1934, it's now called the James Farley Building. View full size. In this seemingly deserted time exposure we can see the ghostly images of three different sets of legs. HauntedMy last 2 posts disappeared in front of my eyes, haunted? N.Y. Post OfficeNew York General Post Office, now designated the James Farley Post Office, Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets. [Thanks! I added that to the caption. - Dave] A modern viewYou can see the building as it is now. The street lightsIt looks like there are two types of lights gas and electric? [There are two temporary lights wired to the taller ones. - Dave] Phantom limbsAlso we have three sets of ghost shoes walking down the street. Each footfall makes for kind of a stop-motion effect in this time exposure. Ghost LegsTo get the image this stunningly sharp he probably set his camera to a very small aperture and because of that and slow film at the time, took a long exposure on a tripod - so that's why you'd see the people walking by. This is a great find! [Re "slow film time," there was no film back then for view cameras like the ones that made this picture. They used glass plates coated with emulsion. The image is sharp because the plate is big (5 x 7 inches). - Dave] The New Penn StationThis wonderful building is slated to be renovated into the New Penn Station, despite much rancor over the conversion. It is situated across from the old Penn Station (by McKim, Mead, and White), which was torn down in the 1960s in favor of the new (and godawful) Madison Square Garden. It was this destruction that spurred Jacqueline Kennedy to save Grand Central Terminal, which was also slated for destruction. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, NYC)
Hamilton: 1942
... Office of War Information. View full size. Passed Gas (station) Today, the major change is that the gas station has been replaced - ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/21/2021 - 10:25am -

April 1942. "Hamilton, Ravalli County, Montana." At the Montana Cafe: "Good Eats." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size. Passed Gas (station)Today, the major change is that the gas station has been replaced - not the other was around for once !! - by a building that looks almost as old as this photo. https://www.google.com/maps/@46.2470347,-114.1565847,3a,60y,329h,100.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFsPTzGIyaBHFlbQyW8dbbA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Still thereThe JC Penney's building is still there. https://www.google.com/maps/@46.2470347,-114.1565847,3a,90y,320.98h,90.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFsPTzGIyaBHFlbQyW8dbbA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 As Seen on 2018 OctoberHere's Google Street View of approximately the same location taken in October of 2018. https://goo.gl/maps/4MSJgbY4h8TtTCiU6 Bet they wished- - they had kept those streetlights, they did not ! Mostly intact.https://goo.gl/maps/Andk1QMEwJneevbK7 *Sigh*Who will be the first commenter to correctly embed a Street View of 21st-century Hamilton? A True PioneerPenney's had the foresight to lock down their website decades before we were blessed with computers. Dave, here is a testThis should embed a map Hamilton but it isn't working. The address Google supplies to embed doesn't look the same as it usually does. Just FYI. [Don't use an "a href" tag. Simply copy and paste the code google gives you, as I've done below. - Dave] Thank you, Dave. It's 6AM the next day and after sleeping I realize I overthought the problem. I wish I could say it's the first time I've done that. More Good EatsGreat article about the cafe, and the sign lit up! (The Gallery, Gas Stations, John Vachon, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)
Chicago: 1915
Chicago circa 1915. "Van Buren Street Station. View north along Michigan Avenue." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit ... Fe Center) at left, built 1903-1904, and the People's Gas Building at right, built 1910-1911. The two-bay "penthouse" perched atop ... northeast corner, visible in this pic. The Glass Gas Ceiling The big white building in front of the Art Institute is the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:07pm -

Chicago circa 1915. "Van Buren Street Station. View north along Michigan Avenue." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Route 66!On our left, the first two large buildings and that interesting tiny one have been replaced. Next, the intersection of Michigan and Jackson Drive. In the summer of 1926 Jackson Drive would become the very start of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles! The next two buildings are today known as the Sante Fe Building and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. And of course the Art Institute overlooks the train station. The Art Institute of ChicagoI was just thinking of this place the other day. The building in the foreground background is the Art Institute of Chicago. Every year after Thanksgiving, they put the wreaths around the necks of the lions that stand in front of the building. The area still looks fairly similar to what it looked like back in 1915. The train tracks are still there, and most of the buildings along Michigan Avenue are still there. The Spirit of ProgressThe statue atop the Montgomery Ward building was later moved a couple of miles to Ward's Chicago Avenue building, where she still resides. She is depicted on many Ward's stores around the country. Daniel Burnham's Big BuildingsThe two largest buildings in this photo are both works of the office of D. H. Burnham & Co.: the Railway Exchange (now the Santa Fe Center) at left, built 1903-1904, and the People's Gas Building at right, built 1910-1911. The two-bay "penthouse" perched atop the cornice of the Railway Exchange was originally occupied by part of the Burnham architectural office; it was cut back during the building's restoration in the 1980s so that it is no longer visible from the street. This small change made a distinct improvement in the building's appearance. Van Buren Street StationThis is the Illinois Central disgorging passengers at Van Buren Street station. The rail yards on the far right have now been covered over by Grant Park. The building at the northwest corner of Jackson and Michigan is the Railway Exchange (later the Santa Fe building). My father-in-law's office, 40 years later, was on the 15th floor, northeast corner, visible in this pic. The Glass Gas CeilingThe big white building in front of the Art Institute is the Peoples Gas Co. building, completed in 1910. Here are two shots (date unknown) of the interior showing the gorgeous glass ceiling. I wish I could find more photos of the interior of the building. A similar view in 2018. Taken from the East Congressional Parkway, Van Buren Metra station in the foreground. The building with the circular windows on top now has a Motorola sign. (The Gallery, Chicago, DPC, Railroads)
Q Street Gas: 1920
... 27th and Q, NW Ads from 1920 indicate a Penn Oil station located at 27th and Q streets NW. I've added this photo to my ... It's so hard to fill up with the invisible kind. Gas 30-Cents a Gallon in 1920? Gas cost too much in 1920. Thirty cents a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/11/2011 - 6:51pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Penn Oil, Q Street, Georgetown." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. 27th and Q, NWAds from 1920 indicate a Penn Oil station located at 27th and Q streets NW. I've added this photo to my growing Google Map Mashup of Shorpy's D.C. area photos. Visible GasolineGood to see that they're selling "Visible Gasoline." It's so hard to fill up with the invisible kind. Gas 30-Cents a Gallon in 1920?Gas cost too much in 1920. Thirty cents a gallon? Heck, on the corner of 13 Mile Road and Ryan Road in Warren, Michigan, during the late 1960's, we could get gas for 19-cents a gallon during the "Gas Wars". Not only that - we could get an inflatable Dino the Dinosaur (Sinclair), a full set of Detroit Tigers Glasses (Marathon) and other stuff I've forgotten from Standard (Amoco) and Gulf. Those 1960's "Gas Wars" - those were the good ole days. Forget that 1920's nonsense. How could a poor Flapper gal get about with the cost of gas? Tiger in Your TankDon't forget the 1960s Esso "Tiger in Your Tank" Tail to hang from your gas cap. That was worth a fill-up. Wow, Shorpy Shrinks The World!I grew up in Warren, Michigan (11 mile & Mound) and also remember the "Gas Wars." My mother had a fit when she moved me into MSU. Gas was 69 cents a gallon just off campus. My going to college was going to send her "to the poorhouse." A Gallon of GasIn current dollars the price of gas in 1920 was $ 2.75 per gallon - almost the highest price on the graph. About ~5 years later when flappers drove up to the filling stations and stepped out of their Ford roadsters wearing high heels, the station was (hopefully) paved and the price had significantly dropped. So there was spending money left for make-up, cigarettes and filling the hip flasks. [It's interesting to note that for 50 years the absolute price of a gallon of gas stayed pretty much the same -- 20 to 25 cents from 1920 to 1970. - Dave] Chart: New York Times (Click to enlarge) Washington MonumentYou can see the top of the Washington Monument on the right. That must mean this was on the south side of Q. Probably near Kew Gardens, which I think was already built around then. Gas Prices Over the AgesThirty cent gas in 1920 is equal to $3.10 a gallon today. I'd be happy to pay that, and so would my poor Flapper gal. Bleak Station; Free AirThis enterprise presents a bleak vision, with its blank sign on our left, the stakes dancing around the small evergreens out front, the bare limbed tree, and the near-desperate appearing proprietor. I wonderIf that's the site of the selfsame station that was in Georgetown when I went to school there--it was a really old-fashioned one that may have been closed. Visible GasThe old system of filling your tank used a hand pump to pull the gas out of an underground tank and into the glass beaker on top of the pump. That beaker had painted lines on the side which told you how much gas you were paying for. You can see both the hand pump and the glass beaker. Notice the chicken wire around the beaker to ward off rock throwers. Gas on the cheap In the early sixties, I worked at an independent gas station that closed its bays and installed a dozen double pumps, then they offered gas for 30 cents a gallon, about half price. The place was mobbed all day, plus they gave out colored chips with each purchase that could be redeemed for dishes, lighters and bric-a-brac. My friend Bob and I spent a whole blazing summer out there wearing aprons full of chips and pumping like a tornado was coming. Those two fellows probably prayed for business like that. (The Gallery, D.C., Gas Stations, Natl Photo)
Grassy Butte: 1936
... Roosevelt's tour there. View full size. Still a gas station there But the original buildings are, no surprise, gone. Love ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/28/2012 - 2:24pm -

July 1936. "Grassy Butte. The drought area of North Dakota." One of dozens of photos snapped by Arthur Rothstein of the Dust Bowl-era Midwest during the summer of Franklin Roosevelt's tour there. View full size. Still a gas station thereBut the original buildings are, no surprise, gone. Love That 17 Cent GasI had to say it! Lots of competitionLooks like two Hardware Stores, Two General Stores and at least three Gas Stations in this little place. Three gas stationsThe primary business in town seems to be pumping gas. "Sure don't look none too prosperous"A quote from Tom Joad. Although a couple of years before its publication, this photo makes me think of Grapes of Wrath. This little town is also north of Steinbeck's Joad family's travels along Route 66 from Oklahoma. I think the gas pumps on the opposite side are Phillips 66 though, which received its name from the Phillips brothers when their gasoline was tested on Route 66 and the test auto went 66 mph. The Dust Bowl It was in 1936 when my mother's family gave they're farm in Scottsbluff, Nebraska back to the bank and moved to California. She was 9 at the time and had a lot of memories of the trip, none of them bad, even though I am sure it very hard. +76Only one brand of gas, down from the previous three. I would have loved to step inside Robert Evans' hardware store, but I bet the locals now drive 40 miles to the Wal-Mart in Dickinson. Bad day at......Grassy Butte. Keep an eye out for a one-armed man getting off the train! [Well done on the Spencer Tracy film reference! - tterrace] That was a place and timeNorth Dakota 1935-'36 - when the Earth basically said, "Die," to the people. The previous winter ranged down to -60°F and one N.D. town reported six solid months where the temperature didn't rise above freezing. Then came the summer of '36 and the second killer depression heat wave - and again it was N.D. that got the worst, with a national record high of 121° that July. That's 181° in temperature variation from midwinter to midsummer - probably more than any place outside Siberia then or now. Beer signIf you look at the full-size version, and blow it up a little, you see three Stroh's Beer signs on the "Meals and Lunches" building. They have "Stroh's" in the normal script with "beer" in block caps, both in white, with a solid dark six-pointed star as background. This is the first time I've seen this Stroh's logo, and a quick search of the net didn't turn up any other examples. Perhaps unique to a particular distributor? [It's for Gluek's. -tterrace] Gluek Beer(say "Glick") was brewed in Minneapolis from 1857 to 1964, and later on in Cold Spring, Minn. Today it is brewed exclusively for Gluek's Restaurant in Minneapolis. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Dust Bowl, Gas Stations)
Old-Timer: 1937
... effects of the great Ohio River flood of 1937. Shell station And it appears there's a Shell gas station across the street, thanks to the reflection, bringing this somewhat ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/14/2012 - 6:28pm -

April 1937. "Old man on the street in Shawneetown, Illinois." Cornering the market. Medium-format nitrate negative by Russell Lee. View full size. Old ShawneetownThis is the Posey building, which stood on the SW corner of Main and Washington, now an empty lot, like much of old Shawneetown. It housed a Kroger store, and I think the Gallatin Democrat newspaper on the second floor. On the NW corner of Main and Washington is the old court house, built circa 1840 and one of the few old downtown buildings still standing. It's an Illinois state historic site, but is shuttered and rotting on the inside. There's quite a few other shots of Shawneetown by Lee, who was there to document the effects of the great Ohio River flood of 1937. Shell stationAnd it appears there's a Shell gas station across the street, thanks to the reflection, bringing this somewhat undated image squarely into the middle of the 20th Century. I wonder which is olderThe man, or his hat? Lots of changeHe looks like he is in his 70s. That would put his birth at the end of the Civil War. The transcontinental railroad, the development of paved roads, the invention of internal combustion engines and air travel happened during his lifetime. His horizon went far beyond that of his father. More change on the wayHe was about to witness a lot of local change: Shawneetown was flooded (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River_flood_of_1937) a few months before the photo was taken, and the entire town was moved to "New Shawneetown" a couple of miles up the hill. That sill was designed for comfort!Or else it's seen a lot of sill sitting, it conforms nicely to the human posterior. Splish SplashI hope you're not walkin' too close to those downspouts in a heavy rain. Just the right height. Those were the daysWhen I was a kid, we could get canned goods for a nickel. A nickel! (The Gallery, Russell Lee, Stores & Markets)
Filtered Gasoline: 1920
... that magazine, giving an unusually detailed look at the gas station (and gas pump) of a century ago. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/09/2014 - 11:28am -

Washington, D.C., 1920. "Nation's Business." A photo made by Harris & Ewing for that magazine, giving an unusually detailed look at the gas station (and gas pump) of a century ago. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Ta heck with the gas stationIt has nothing to recommend itself except the gas pump. The architecturally wonderful ones had a few more years to arrive. I'm trying to figure out what the structure behind it is. Looks like it must be part of some kind of heating system but it's so odd looking. Good to the last drop!It looks like our motorist has emptied the reservoir on the gas pump and is now draining the last of the fuel from the hose, although he might shake the nozzle once or twice just to get the last few drops before returming it to the dispenser. Solid DriverClearly a utilitarian ride, double plates testifying to jurisdictional complexities in Greater DC, fenders displaying results of intimate contact with its surroundings. The visible gas pump, if in the same condition today, would almost surely be worth more than the car would bring under the same conditions. Back to the futureTwo thoughts: 1) reminded of Amoco's "Final Filter" ads, in the 1960/70s, that took note of an in-line filter installed just behind the nozzle. 2) I thought "self-service" emerged during the 1970s. Apparently this approach was in use during the build-up of the service station infrastructure. Steel DrumThat barrel shaped thing behind the gas pump is a Specification 10B steel drum, the predecessor of the more familiar straight sided steel drum in use today. It was probably dispensing lube oil, and the quart pot on top reaffirms that. Larger oil buckets are sitting on the ground next to it. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Gas Stations, Harris + Ewing)
Self-Service: 1920
... D.C., 1920. "Nation's Business." Back at the filling station seen here yesterday. 8x10 inch glass negative by Harris & ... only did the brand name change, but the sign touting clean gas moved from the wall behind the station to the other side of the station. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/10/2014 - 4:42pm -

Washington, D.C., 1920. "Nation's Business." Back at the filling station seen here yesterday. 8x10 inch glass negative by Harris & Ewing. View full size. *POSITIVELY*Do you think people actually bought the sign's message about dirt or water in the fuel? In my lifetime, most of the contamination of fuel occurred at the station's tanks, not before. Marketing-speak! Innovation -- Not!The post-'73 oil crisis tendency for US gasoline sales to become largely self-service (except for the handicapped, those willing to pay a hefty surcharge, and anyone purchasing fuel in New Jersey) apparently revives a much older practice, as the two photos in this series attest. My own memories date from the mid-1940s, and self-service was by then unknown in any place where I witnessed cars' being refueled. One wonders not why the practice was revived but, rather, why it was abandoned for so long? Not same dates in 1920It seems that not only did the brand name change, but the sign touting clean gas moved from the wall behind the station to the other side of the station. [The sign is suspended from a wire strung between the two gas pumps. -tterrace] You can trust your car --Huh, I could've sworn this was a Texaco dealer just yesterday. That wallIs screaming for the sign painter's touch. You too can pump your gas like thatIf you have a hankering to have your gas put into your tank using the amazing force of _GRAVITY_, there is a resort (I forget the name) on road into Kings Canyon National Park in California that has not one, but two, working pumps just like the one in the picture. Dodge BrothersThe old Dodge looks much spiffier with the optional wire wheels. Cars, and such1920 Dodge, maybe a little earlier. Model T or TT in the background. Interestingly, Wikipedia dates coveralls to the late 1920s but they seem to be fairly common in earlier-than-that Shorpy photos. Anyone know when they were really introduced? Cameo appearancesTurnbuckle star! Also, Dick Cheney. Two brands at the same station?So the pump on the right had Texaco gas and the one on the left Standard gas? Maybe they were owned by the same company at one time; don't recall my oil company history the way I used to. SpiffyThe wheels may be spiffy with those wire wheels, but the tires look like bicycle tires! They look like they might collapse at the first big pothole. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Gas Stations, Harris + Ewing)
More Mystic: 1940
... Administration. View full size. Well, the Mobil station is still there The streetview vision of this is just too depressing, ... And the fine folks of Mobil Oil still have their gas station. The following for those of you who wish Mr. Delano had pointed his ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/16/2019 - 10:38pm -

November 1940. "Street scene in Mystic, Connecticut." A view down East Main Street of the Christopher Morgan house, last seen here. 35mm Kodachrome by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Well, the Mobil station is still thereThe streetview vision of this is just too depressing, as the whole look of the street has changed for the worse, though a number of the buildings are still there. And the fine folks of Mobil Oil still have their gas station. The following for those of you who wish Mr. Delano had pointed his camera at the filling station: FunnyThe old house at the end of the road looks like a Bed and Breakfast when viewed in color. The same house looks haunted in black and white. Trolley TracksIf you look at the centre of the street you can see evidence of the rails for the streetcars that once ran in Mystic. The condition of the tracks and the lack of overhead wire indicates the system was abandoned sometime previous to 1940. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Jack Delano)
Rusty Tailpipes: 1960
... Still Muffling John Holland's Texaco service station at 319 13th Street is long gone, Midased right off the map. The brick ... or something to identify this location (Holland Service Station didn't do the trick). Then I got stuck on this. What is that? ... (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Columbus, Ga., Gas Stations, News Photo Archive) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/04/2022 - 9:02pm -

From circa 1960 Columbus, Georgia, comes this News Archive photo of a Midas Muffler Shop next to Holland's Texaco service. Fill 'er up with Su-Preme! 4x5 acetate negative. View full size. Still MufflingJohn Holland's Texaco service station at 319 13th Street is long gone, Midased right off the map. The brick building across the street still stands, taller and longer. "Let us Marfak your car" "A properly lubed auto will bring $75 to $100 more when you trade it in after 2-3 years." So says the Marfak advertising of the day. "The Green Grease that doesn't wash out on wet roads or melt on hot days." What is that?I was searching, without luck, to find a street number or something to identify this location (Holland Service Station didn't do the trick). Then I got stuck on this. What is that? [You mean the thing that looks a like a giant muffler? Right next to the sign that says MUFFLER SHOP? Hmmm. - Dave] Yes! That thing! What is it? Of course you're correct. I wasn't thinking in terms of 1960s-style advertising. You just brought back some memories. I looked it upAs Steve Belcher pointed out, Marfak was both a product and a process, the name of which, in advertising at least, was used as a verb. According to BrandlandUSA dot com: One of the more forgotten sub-brands of a major oil company is Marfak Lubrication. Marfak was the lube brand of Texaco and Caltex. If Havoline was the actual oil, Marfak was the process. I can’t say it was actually used much as a verb, as I never heard the word used; I only saw it above station bays. But the slogan was “Let Us Marfak Your Car.” Thanks for that! p.s. When my daughter lived in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for several years after her marriage, I used to drive through Lewisburg every couple of months when I went to visit her! Lovely drive along the Susquehanna. Can-do attitude at work?I find it hard to believe a news photographer got extra points back in the newsroom for including three garbage cans so prominently in the foreground. I also suspect proprietors of the two businesses were less than thrilled with this all-inclusive view. [Photos get cropped before publication. These are scans of the uncropped negatives. -Dave] Put a muffler on them cans!!!I remember when I was a kid, the guys in the trash truck would have to first wrestle the lid off and lift the can up, tip it over then bang the sides of the can on the truck to make sure everything was out. That was really loud, especially early in the morning! So yeah, the cans could have used a muffler from the friendly folks at the Muffler Shop. BUT,not a Milton Signal Hose in sight? Avert your gaze!Forget those trash cans, what about that Medusa's head over in the corner? "I've Been Marfaked!"... As heard in Ghostbusters, the Shorpy Director's Cut. Hat tip to Steve Belcher for the comment about the Marfak advertising: "The Green Grease that doesn't wash out on wet roads or melt on hot days." Some Like it HotAll you need to know about Marfak grease is in this Australian TV commercial from 1961. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Columbus, Ga., Gas Stations, News Photo Archive)
Verified Lubrication: 1939
1939. "Service station in Washington, D.C." Continuing today's Essorama. 35mm nitrate negative ... I wonder if those seven oil pump dispensers between the gas pumps are there year-round? I'd hate to be the grease monkey who has to ... (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., David Myers, Gas Stations) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/27/2013 - 6:06pm -

1939. "Service station in Washington, D.C." Continuing today's Essorama. 35mm nitrate negative by David Myers. View full size. Sardine parkingMy assumption is that the customers did not park their own cars (just imagine what that would have been like), but that attendants jockeyed them around in order to cram as many in as possible. They would by management decree therefore be mindful of not dinging adjoining doors. UnexcelledI come for the parking, but I stay for the greasing! Something bigSeems to me most of those cars are jammed in there because something's going on nearby. The two women with the bags to the right of the pump jockies appear to be wrapping up a shopping trip. That 25 cents parking fee is a little over four bucks today. I parked on Wisconsin Avenue in D.C. a few weeks ago and it was a lot more than that! Looks Like a Toy From this AngleLooks like one of those tin lithograph service station toys with a really fabulous collection of toy cars. I want one. Door DingsImagine the door divots those big old swinging slabs of steel could make. My wife complains because I park the ol' Ford at the back of the Piggly Wiggly parking lot to avoid door dings from suburbanites in SUVs. She's in a snit because she has to walk a few extra yards to get her hummus and meatless meatballs or whatever nonsense she's feeding me these days. O'Donnell's Sea GrillFrom their website, "The O’Donnell’s story began over three quarter centuries ago when Tom O’Donnell opened his first restaurant, the “Sea Grill”, in downtown Washington, D.C. at 1207 E Street, N.W. in 1922." Molasses in JanuaryI wonder if those seven oil pump dispensers between the gas pumps are there year-round? I'd hate to be the grease monkey who has to pump four quarts of 90-weight when the temperature dips into the single digits as it can do in D.C.! As the saying goes, Slower 'n molasses in January! The location today and about that beerView Larger Map Also Senate Beer was brewed on land that now is part of the Kennedy Center and includes the Watergate Complex. Yeah that Watergate. Parking 25 centsGetting your car out from the back row -- $10!!! OnceI went to a filling station that didn't verify I was lubed properly -- once. Amazing how new all those cars areThe oldest one I see is the '30-'31 Ford. Rumble seat eraI suspect a few of these cars would have had rumble seats, probably the roadsters and coupes, because that would have been the likely time period. My older cousin had a hot rod about this vintage in which he would often take my sibs and me for a ride and that exterior seat was great fun for youngsters (up and down the very steepest hills of Ct.) although it probably wasn't so safe. Senate Beer & AleSenate was brewed in D.C. since the Civil War by the Christian Heurich Brewing Company. They survived Prohibition, but not their big national competitors like Pabst, Schlitz and Budweiser. They closed their doors in 1956. A rare early Esso signthat neon sign with the older type lettering is a real collectors item today. Verified LubricationYou know a joint is on the up and up if they verify the lubrication. It almost makes me want to go back in time to 1930s D.C. to find out exactly what that means. Verified lubricationis when you pump so much lube into the fitting that the boot ruptures and grease leaks down on the floor. Verified means . . . According to an ad in a 1951 edition of the Biloxi Daily Herald, "Standard VERIFIED Lubrication is a thorough, scientific lubrication procedure that gets the RIGHT amount of the RIGHT lubricant at the RIGHT place." It is "more than a 'grease job.'" Presumably, it also involves somebody verifying something, although you can't see that from the advertising copy. Suicide doors everywhere!It's amazing how many of the cars in this picture have rear-hinged "suicide doors" - not just for the rear doors of four-door sedans, but also the two-door coupe in front of the small hut. Two-door coupeThe two-door coupe in front of the small hut is a 1935 Chevrolet Master Coupe. 1935 was the only year that Chevrolets had rear hinged front doors, and it was only on the Master series. The Standard model had conventional front hinged doors and the styling was almost identical the 1934 models. The Masters had the front grille of the '34s and the body resembled the 1936s. Washington Garage Filling Station Washington Post, September 24, 1933. Washington Garage Firm Acquires Holdings. Washington Garage Parking Service is increasing its downtown parking space in the block bounded by Pennsylvania avenue, Twelfth, Thirteenth, and E streets northwest. It has leased for an indefinite period from C. Heurich, jr., Realty Co., 23,000 square feet of property in the block with frontages of 170 feet on Pennsylvania avenue and about 30 on Twelfth street. … The additional leases, according to company officials, will give it the largest parking lot in the South. They will continue to operate the garage service which caters to downtown hotel business. The company also operates a standard automobile service station at Twelfth and E streets northwest. C. Heurich, jr., Realty Co.That probably explains the Senate Beer billboard. Christian Heurich bought a great deal of land in Washington, DC and to this day various members of the family hold real estate throughout the city. Incidentally, his grandson Gary brought the brand back in the 80's as a microbrew. I still have a 6-pack. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., David Myers, Gas Stations)
The Good Gulf Gas Man
My father at the grand opening of his Gulf Gas station in Gulfport, Miss., circa 1955. You will notice that as a former U.S. ... 
 
Posted by DoninVa - 09/20/2011 - 9:19pm -

My father at the grand opening of his Gulf Gas station in Gulfport, Miss., circa 1955. You will notice that as a former U.S. Marine he has the thumb and forefinger of his right hand properly along the seam of his right trouser leg. View full size. Funny...My grandfather was a Marine and that was the way he naturally stood. I never realized until now that it was because he was a Marine! Thanks. Gulf station in GulfportWhere else? The CarThe car 1950 Chevrolet Fleetline, with dealer plate under trunk handle. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Gas Stations)
Pittsburgh: 1941
... photo is a parklet called Morrow Triangle. The filling station and church are now the site of a car dealer. Unless there was a street ... thought that Atlantic sign was a street. It looks like a gas station to me, or something else. It's Deutschtown This is the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/17/2023 - 2:46pm -

June 1941. "Rain. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. I love the rain...This photo immediately brings forth the smell of rain, the hiss of car tires as they pass and the drip drip drip of rainwater off the eaves of the porch. Pittsburgh by VachonThis is a beautiful picture. John Vachon's photos did not have the pathos and personal drama of Dorothea Lange's work, but more than any other American photographer, he has left an invaluable scrapbook of the vernacular American landscape. He is my favorite photographer. What are the towers ...... in the background? Is that another church? Looks Orthodox. Perhaps someone familiar with Pittsburgh will know. A Rainy DayThe person walking with the umbrella really makes the photograph work. You can almost feel the rain.. Pittsburgh PrecipitationI agree with others here about the evocative quality of this photo. Staring at this for a few moments I swear I can hear the rain coming down! Canada Dry SpurCanada Dry Spur ("the cola drink with Canada Dry quality") was Canada Dry's attempt at entering the cola wars. By this time of course the company was owned by P.D. Saylor and Associates and the only connection with Canada was the name. Such a wonderIt's 103 degrees on my front porch (yes, that's in the shade), my part of Arizona hasn't seen rain in 3 or 4 months. Guess whats going on my desktop. Thanks. DSS Look how it falls straight down!Not only can I relate to DSS since we don't get a lot of rain in West Texas, but I'm just amazed at how it's coming *straight down*. (Huge gusts of wind aren't sucking her umbrella inside out, and the rain isn't coming in sideways and raising welts on her skin!) P.S. Not that I'm complaining...I love it here, and my glasses usually protect my eyes from the infrequent SIDEWAYS rainstorms! Tioga Street, PittsburghPittsburgh has a lot of onion-dome ethnic churches all over town. The 1941 City Directory lists a Wm. James Confectionery at 7314 Tioga Street, which is where Point Breeze meets Homewood meets nothing original still standing. This would be east of downtown. South Side P-BurgThis looks like the "South Side" of Pittsburgh and if I am not mistaken, this is an orthodox church which is now the private home and studio of the owner of the number one Pittsburgh chain of hair salons and spas. Morrow TriangleAtlantic ave is a one-way northward running street to the east of downtown. The only intersection that makes a bend like the one photographed is at Liberty and Baum. There are no row homes or churches there now though. The vantage point of the photo is a parklet called Morrow Triangle. The filling station and church are now the site of a car dealer. Unless there was a street name change that the Atlantic ave in the picture is different from the current Atlantic ave I think I'm right. [The "Atlantic" sign is advertising a brand of gasoline. - Dave] It's SouthsideI've lived in Pittsburgh all my life and this shot looks remarkably like the Southside (flats) to me just off Carson Street. Many churches of similar Greek Orthodox venue there. A previous poster indicated he thought that Atlantic sign was a street. It looks like a gas station to me, or something else. It's DeutschtownThis is the corner of Madison and Lockhart, looking west. The church with the onion domes is St. Mary's -- Bavarian Catholic, believe it or not. You can't go and see this intersection anymore since it was destroyed in the 1980s so that the Parkway North could be built. The church is still there, although now it's a hotel. Pressley StreetThe previous comment is correct. That's St. Mary's (now known as the Priory) which sits at 614 Pressley Street. Atlantic GasThe Atlantic sign is for the gas station. Atlantic petroleum was founded in Philly, then eventually acquired by Sunoco in the 80's or 90's. (The Gallery, John Vachon, Pittsburgh)
One Second Fast: 1943
... circling buzzards (really), and inbred locals (at a remote gas pipeline station), (1) meth-addled trucker, and (2) tow-truck drivers sharing graphic ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/05/2012 - 6:06pm -

March 1943. "Seligman, Arizona. Teletype operator in the telegraph office of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. The time here changes from Mountain to Pacific time." Medium-format safety negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Oh....for the InternetI actually ran a Teletype machine in the mid 1960s, pretty much the same as these. One of my first full time jobs. I worked as a timekeeper for a construction site here in Ontario and had to send daily weather reports to the head office in Winnipeg. It was weird because you were always ahead of the machine as you typed, and there was no spell checker either ... shoulders back and sit up straight. Seligman I beg to differ with the caption. I believe that the time in Seligman never changes at all. No more than a wide spot in the road, it had to have been the model for Radiator Springs in Disney's "Cars," bypassed by the interstate and frozen in time. It's like the flippin' Twilight Zone out there. My Rasta roommate and I endured a breakdown 50 miles from Seligman on a trip from Southern California to college in Flagstaff, AZ many years ago. It was circling buzzards (really), and inbred locals (at a remote gas pipeline station), (1) meth-addled trucker, and (2) tow-truck drivers sharing graphic blood and gore stories the whole way to town. Needless to say, Rasta Boy was terrified, and later asked me where I'd learned to "talk Hick." (I'm still not sayin'.) Where's WaldoThere are all sorts of hidden treasures lurking in this picture. I love the visor that is hung behind the Pacific clock. Looks like it's probably chilly outside, too, seeing this young girl's furry-collar coat hanging on the wall. Compared to what?That "One Second Fast" thing intrigues me. What would they be comparing that to? One second faster than what? Had the atomic clock been put into service by that point? Their timekeepingseems to be quite percise, but the filing system (stacked in the window) looks a lot like my office! Teletype Model 15Teletype Model 15. A closeup of the keyboard if you scroll down the page a bit. Back in the early 70s I had one of these machines hooked to my amateur radio and could send and receive teletype messages or "super low resolution" images formed by strategic placement of characters on the printer roll to make an image. Some of them were quite lengthy (banners) and took quite a while to receive or send. (Considerably slower than the slowest dialup connection). Quartz? I don't need no stinkin' quartz.One second? My overpriced Seiko isn't that accurate. Why one second fast? I see her coat hanging by the clocks. So she gets to go home a little early on company time? Next to the tracksNote the bay window so the operator could see down the tracks and hoop up orders to the train crew. That is a railroad car outside. SeligmanI've passed through Seligman on Highway 66 several times in the last 10 years. I was sad to learn that the Harvey House next to the train tracks was recently torn down. Staying at the Supai Motel and having a mediocre breakfast in the diner down the street is as close to time travel as I've experienced. Seligman history: http://www.seligmanhistory.com/index.html SeligmanI've been to Seligman, too. On a drive from Flagstaff to Vegas. It is the land that time forgot. I fully expected Rod Serling to come out with some kind of announcement. However, I did get some cool stuff in some of those shops. Just a secondThe idea was probably to glance at the time on the clock and by the time you typed in the time (about 1 second later) you would be as accurate as possible. Disregarding the question of "faster than what." One Second FastAccurate timekeeping was extremely important to railroads back in the day. Timepieces would be tested once a year, primarily pocket watches used by conductors and station personnel. I assume that the postings on the Seligman clocks were the result of some sort of test and this was used to indicate their accuracy rather than for a 1 second adjustment on train times. CalibrationIt's fairly common practice with delicate equipment to label or note an error, rather than trying to eliminate the error. When you open up the case and start turning screws or wiggling wires, you risk destroying the instrument. As long as the error is linear and predictable, it's less expensive to adjust your mind than to adjust the instrument. KeysThe keyboard of the Teletype seems to have a lot fewer keys that a standard typewriter (or computer). Can any former operators remember what the difference was? The clocksSince the clocks appear to have mercury compensated pendulums, they are probably free running - not slaved to a line master clock. One second no doubt refers to their 24 hour rate - they gain one second in 24 hrs. MaybeMaybe the clocks are one second fast for when the operator has to record the time. By the time she records the time of day, one second has elapsed and the other end of the telegraph line is getting a more accurate reading. RegardlessTimely accuracy not withstanding, those two clocks look like they belong in some fine residence or the lobby of a hotel somewhere. Not the least bit industrial in design! I shudder to think what they'd be worth today or how hard it might be to find one! Clock CalibrationAccording to a photo caption of similar clocks in the book Faces of Railroading, the clocks were calibrated by a daily telegraph signal from the U.S. Naval Observatory. 32 keysThere were 32 keys, 26 letters and some punctuation. A shift key was used for numbers, much like early manual typewriters. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprinter Old time precision surprisesInteresting, I had not heard of the telegraph time signal. It's the telegraph equivalent of radio station WWVB used by my kitchen clock! Railroad AccuracyAs stated by Texcritic, timekeeping was critical for train operations. For example, a train order might direct one train to "wait at" a particular station until a specific time. This train order would also be directed to an opposing train who choose their meeting location based on this information. Conductors and engineers would be directed to check their watches with a standard clock at the beginning of each duty tour and no watch could be more than 30 seconds off the standard time. The clocks in the stations were checked at least once a day by a telegraphic signal from headquarters. TrainsHow fascinating! When I was a young teenager, one of my uncles was a dispatcher for the Baltimore and Ohio. His little shack, laughingly called a "tower," was about 10 by 10, and I recall his typewriter was all-caps, on which he typed the train orders and tied them in the "hoops" as mentioned elsewhere. There were three sets, and on a couple of occasions he let me hand them up. I had to stand on tiptoe as the steam loco passed and the trainman leaned far out to snag the order. Then, about mid-train, the conductor leaned out and got his, and finally the brakeman on the caboose got his. How long ago and far away! Seth Thomas.Cuando se tomó la fotografía los relojes ya eran bastante antiguos. Conservo, en buen uso, otro Seth Thomas que compró mi bisabuelo, algo menos sofisticado, pero que tiene la misma caja y los mismos adornos. He preparado una foto pero no sé como subirla... Good thinkingWonderful filing system! Can't think of a better place for that fire extinguisher... One Second FastThese signs were on all of the Santa Fe official clocks, if the clock got too far off of official time, the clockman would come in and fix the clock. Nobody but the clockman was allowed to adjust the official clock. LTRS and FIGSThe military still used these teletypes when I was in the Army in the 1970's. If I remember correctly, the "shift" keys operated differently from typewriters. Character codes were shared between letters and numbers/punctuation with preceding LTRS and FIGS codes to shift between them. That is, when the FIGS key was pressed, a FIGS codes was sent and all subsequent character codes were interpreted as numeric characters (figures) until the LTRS key was pressed. That would send a LTRS code and return the unit to alphabetic operation. Standard timeIt's because of railroads that we have time zones. Can you imagine trying to arrange a railway schedule when every town had its own time? VibroplexThat sure looks like a Vibroplex bug sitting on the table just over her right shoulder...a semi-automatic morse code generator. Love the coat hookI love how there is a nail in the wall for the coat hanger under the light switch. I can see her coming in in the morning, turning on the light, removing her coat and hanging it up there under the switch. Then turning it off at night. So practical. Not like today where light switches and coat closets are miles apart! There's a clock like that in SacramentoThere is a similar clock on display at the Calif. State RR Museum in Sacramento. It is a work of art. These would be worth a fortune today. Noisy MachinesIn 1967, I was in school learning how to use these Teletype machines. Talk about noisy! I was a fairly fast typist and the Teletype machine was a slow machine to type on, which was a bit frustrating when your fingers wanted to go faster than the machine did. These are ancient machines now but looking back to'67 I didn't have one thought to how old they were, I just didn't like all the noise and slowness of them. Thank God for progress!! Seth Thomas 19's Standard ClocksBob Wells, Watch & Clock Inspector for Santa Fe, told me back in 1970 about the two 19's in Seligman. It was a unique period for several years that you could purchase Santa Fe clocks; mainly Seth Thomas clocks such as a #19, Gallery, School House,#2 and a few E. Howards. All Santa Fe timepieces were called in and eventually displayed in a warehouse in the San Bernardino yard including the two from Seligman. What a sight that was; there were five #19's side by side for sale and most remained on the wall for a year waiting for a buyer. The #19's with the Montgomery Dials as pictured sold for $3500, a #2 for $350 a School House for $100. Some internet chatter says over 300 of 19's were purchased by Santa Fe. Bob Wells said it was around 15. It took me a year save $3500 to buy a #19 along with the one second sign just prior to Bob's retirement in '73 along with all Santa Fe Watch and Clock Inspectors thus ending an era. It arrived in a box car from Topeka. Bob and I drove his station wagon to the box car and then we drove to my house to set it up. Such service from a very nice man. He loved those 19's but was never able to afford one after retirement. We remained good friends and shop talked clocks until he passed away in the 80ies. Last October a Santa Fe ST 19 went up for auction and sold in the 100K range. I just hope the two in Seliman got their Finials straighten out as they are incorrectly placed. For 100K, you want it perfect. Two timesUntil 1950 Seligman was the west end of the Albuquerque Division and east end of the Arizona Division -- the former ran on Mountain Time and the latter on Pacific. When the west end of the Albuquerque Division moved west to Needles, the time change moved west too. And not just railroad time -- until the beginning of the war, road maps showed the time change at Seligman instead of at the state line as it is now. "1 Second Fast" means the time on the clock is one second ahead of the correct time -- nothing to do with the rate at which the clock gains time. The crews that use the clock to check their watches don't care about that; they just want to know what the correct time is at this moment. (Technology, The Gallery, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Backstage With Elvis: 1956
... It looks like Tri-X, from the grain. The King at the gas station My agent back in Denver ran into Elvis at a gas station in Needles ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/11/2013 - 6:40pm -

May 27, 1956. Dayton, Ohio. A 21-year-old Elvis Presley with his cousin Gene Smith backstage at the University of Dayton field house, where they sang for a zillion swooning coeds. 35mm negative by Phillip Harrington. View full size. The fever that started it allAt the moment this photo was taken, cousin Gene wasn't feeling well. Elvis is attempting to assess whether or not he has a fever, after Gene remarked, "Lord Almighty, I feel my temperature rising. Higher higher, it's burning through to my soul." And the rest is history. The mosquitoes were bad......that spring in Dayton. Clearly. The tapWhen the boys were touring on the road regularly they often did things to break the monotony. One thing they did was play a game where if one of them was talking and one of the others tapped them on the head they would have to immediately start talking about something else without completing their thought. This I believe is what Elvis is doing to Gene. My Dad Played with ElvisMy father's greatest claim to fame is that he played in the pit orchestra that accompanied Elvis on his tour of Florida in the summer of 1956. My dad played the saxophone for all the opening acts, and then he sat through the show while Elvis performed onstage. He said Elvis spent a lot of time backstage talking to his cousins. But dammit, he had never had his picture taken with Elvis!!! If anyone ever finds one, please let me know! I ThinkHe is about to tell him he should have had a V-8. I met Elvis!Back in 1970s L.A. I met the King, he was with his daughter Lisa. We spoke for about 5 minutes regarding his astrological birth sign, Capricorn. His interest was numerology and he redirected the conversation to me, asking my birth date. It was amazing to see this famous man focusing in on me, a stranger and my numerology. On his neck was a gold charm necklace with different symbols of various religions. Very much a kind, outgoing and warm gentleman. Never did get his autograph, that would be quite valuable now. FilmIt looks like Tri-X, from the grain. The King at the gas stationMy agent back in Denver ran into Elvis at a gas station in Needles when she was 12 I saw him too!It was in 1990, walked into a McDonalds and there he was, eating a Quarter Pounder and Fries. Elvis--The Early YearsIn the very beginning, the King toyed with the idea of becoming a faith-healer before realizing he could sing! The Dayton gig(s)More on that here. (The Gallery, Elvis 1956, Music, Phillip Harrington)
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