View showing the West-Way Super Service station located on the southwest corner of Western Avenue and Harold Way in Hollywood. (1933)
(first posted 8/4/2017) In the early days of motoring, fuel, oil, and Model T parts could be found at village blacksmith shops, livery stables, and general stores. As more and more motorists took to the roads, specialized businesses opened to cater exclusively to the needs of the automobile. Early service stations in urban areas were often appended to the street side of existing businesses, in newer, less developed regions, like Southern California, dedicated buildings sprang up on choice corner lots. Water and Power Associates, an industry nonprofit, has compiled a library of what these early LA pit stops looked like. Some were workaday, some were straight from the fancies of an architect, some were paragons of luxury, and some were just …odd.
View showing a 4-pump Signal Service station in Glendale, California. Large signs read Auto Laundry – Signal Purr-Pull (1931)
View showing a Gilmore Gas station selling Blu-Green Gasoline. The clear glass globes at the top of gas pumps allowed the color of the gasoline to be seen. E.B. Gilmore jumped on this unique opportunity to become the first oil company to market gas by its color. Blu-Green and Red Lion Gas fueled the cars and imaginations of West Coasters from the ’20s to the early ’40s. (ca. 1929)
‘Full Service’ at Union Oil Company service station. (1931)
View of the Standard Stations, Inc. service station in Huntington Beach. A large oil field is seen in the background. (1937) This is undoubtedly looking South on Pacific Coast Highway, with the beach to the right of the frame.
View showing the Umbrella Super Service Station (Violet Ray) and its many services, 830 S. La Brea Ave. (1930s)
View showing the Calpet service station, with a Moorish-style roof, located across the street from the Cole House (and later the I. Magnin store), southeast corner of Wilshire and New Hampshire Avenue. (1930s)
View showing a General Petroleum Corporation Violet Ray gas station on North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood. (1930)
A Union Service Station cyclist to the rescue at 4004 Wilshire Blvd. (1932)
View of Specification Motor Oil System service station on the southwest corner of Washington Blvd. and 8th Avenue. Apparently the “Specification Motoroil System” was a national chain that did not last too long [no records]. (ca. 1930s)
(View of the Royal Albatross, an airplane used as a service station, located on the eastern vertex of a narrow strip of land bordered by Ventura Boulevard, Ventura Place, and Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Gasoline pumps are set up under the wing spans. (ca. 1939)
You could gas up your car beneath the wings of a grounded airplane at Bob’s Air Mail Service Station on the corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Cochran Ave. (1936)
The Hollywood-Vine Service Station and Parking Garage, with free parking provided for nearby establishments, including the Pig ‘n Whistle, Dyas Restaurant, and Hertz car rentals. Not only did attendants service a customer’s car and park it, they also took their laundry for dry-cleaning. (1930)
Life Magazine cover photo showing Gilmore Serve Yourself station where you could save 5¢ per gallon by filling the tank yourself. View is looking east on Beverly Boulevard. E. B. Gilmore appears to have invented the self-serve gas station. He created a “gas-a-teria” not far from Farmers Market where customers saved 5 cents per gallon by filling their own tanks. Those who preferred to have their gas pumped by “professionals” at the gas-a-teria sometimes got unusual service when young women on roller skates would glide to the pumps to gas the cars up. (1943)
Check your air, mister?” Nina Meloni, manager of the Victory Girls’ gas station, and Verda Curtis, putting air in tires, work at the modern service station at 8th and Alvarado Streets, during World War II. (May 14, 1942)
Postcard view shows gas prices advertised at a service station. Eight gallons for $1 with full service! (1941) This is now a Vernon Fuel Distributors station offering Regular for $2.74, per Google’s most recent Street View. Still heavily industrial, Alameda Street remains a major trucking corridor.
View showing an Associated Oil Company gas station whose premium gasoline sold under the Flying-A brand. Taking a cue from drive-in restaurants, the building has a flying-saucer awning and glowing centerpiece for added height and visibility. (ca. 1930s)
View showing Jack Colker’s 76 Station located on the southwest corner of ‘Little’ Santa Monica Blvd. and N. Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills. The Union 76 gas station was designed by architect Gin Wong of Pereira and Associates and completed in 1965. The design came earlier, though, and was meant for a very different location: in 1960, Wong designed the building to be part of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Its futuristic style was intended to complement the airport’s famous Theme Building. But since it didn’t work out with the overall LAX plan, this amazing building ended up as a gas station in Beverly Hills. (2012)
Gilmore Gasoline service station, 859 North Highland Ave. [Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #508, view from north.] The building became a Starbucks shortly before this photo was taken. Built and designed by R.J. Kadow in 1935, this Art Deco gas station was one of the original service stations for the Gilmore Oil Company. The station remained with the company until its merger with Mobil Oil in the 1940’s. It was later leased by Texaco. (2015)
All photos and most captions courtesy of Water and Power Associates.
The re-use of these old stations is often remarkable. That final photo of the Starbucks is a great example. But, especially in smaller towns in Northern California, you’ll see some terrific conversions that stayed faithful to the original architecture, and even occasionally the paint schemes.
What great pictures! Old filling stations are fascinating to me, and the variety in 1930s-40s California is so much greater than what I grew up with.
The second picture (Signal station in Glendale) looks almost modern with its roof, multiple drive-in lanes and the little booth for the cashier.
That Standard station in Huntington Beach (with all of the oil derricks behind it) looks almost like the petroleum industry’s version of “farm to market”. “We get it from the ground, refine it and pump it into your car all at one location!”
Finally, I love the shot of the Victory Girls servicing the little Willys Americar. Was there a single better car to go through the fuel and tire rationing of WWII with?
“Gilmore Girls?”
Probably a Crosley would be about the only thing on 4 wheels that would use less gas. (Prewar models were equipped with a 2-cylinder engine.)
Here’s one 30 miles from me in Winston-Salem, NC.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11631
I work in convenience store renovation industry so I love the old architecture and design stuff. Fun to look at compared to the rectangles of today in the US. Other countries have more daring designs, for sure.
This restored gas station in El Paso used to be a TV repair shop. It looks like there may still be some kind of business using it.
Very nice, thank you .
I began my California career in a 1923 Atlantic Richfield Station, it was one of the few that wasn’t Corporate owned and so was still intact although the service bays added on over the years we *much* bigger than the tiny glass shack next to the three pump island .
The original two holer back to back bathroom is still there, now inside the service area .
My first VW Shop was in a tin 1930’s building behind a “Rocket” gas station that still had the rocket in 1970….we just rented the time shop out back, an Old man ran the gas station (two pumps IRC) and lived there, slept on a cot on the compressor room .
I too miss those old Gas & Service Stations greatly .
Some are still standing here and there in Cali. and are being used as shops .
I knew a nice old guy who discovered a Chevron training facility all closed up and intact in El Sereno on Huntington Drive , bought it and turned it into his private auto museum, he’d invite a bunch of us to an open “Car Night” every so often, the place inside was stunning, all the original hoists and tiles works were intact and operational .
As soon as he passed away it was razed and developed, what a shame .
-Nate
Another angle on Bob’s.
The view today: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wilshire+Blvd+%26+S+Cochran+Ave,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90036/@34.0622921,-118.3473128,3a,75y,326.19h,77.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sw7vueUXhICv7X8bbCETqwA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2b91ff6cb900f:0xe1deff06d51f8f4a!8m2!3d34.062349!4d-118.3471998
I wonder if that is the same light pole?
Ugh nothing more depressing than looking at before/afters. Rarely in my life have I exclaimed “what an improvement”.
Those “Wilshire Specials,” as these lamps were called, are no longer used but there is a short stretch in Downtown LA where they are still standing and supplemented by newer designs. Each corner has a stylized figurine “supporting” the boxes. The apartment building in the shot is still there today as well, and fully restored I might add, as most old buildings in the Miracle Mile are. The office building on the location of Bob’s is Lee Tower, opened in 1961 and the first skyscraper built in Los Angeles.
These are awesome. Filling stations and motels from the 20’s through the 60’s were so creatively designed. It’s a shame commercial architecture has lost that sense of whimsy.
A big part of the reason for that kind of architecture was to get your attention while you were driving down the highway. The building itself was an advertisement. Now, with the development Interstate highways (like we discussed yesterday), you usually can’t see the actual gas station or motel building from the highway, so there’s not as much reason to make them look interesting. Instead, they put up a giant sign that’s visible from the freeway.
Signs have gone equally downhill however, Google vintage billboards and many are practically as elaborate as these buildings. Now they’re just interchangeable rectangles on sticks.
I think a lot of it was from rules and regulations that came about over the years, which were often spurred on by oddly gloomy people who are afflicted with some condition they call “eyesores”. It supposedly stems from looking at things that aren’t uniform and boring, and they spend much time giving “earsores” to anyone who doesn’t suffer from the same ocular deviation.
Kidding aside, I have often struggled to find businesses while driving in unfamiliar areas. This was mostly in that awkward period after easily identifiable signage, unique building styles and color schemes went away… but before I obtained my first GPS/smartphone. Some areas aren’t too bad, but I had an especially difficult time in Glendale, AZ. All of their businesses are in shopping plazas that consist of uniformly shaped stucco boxes painted the color of chocolate mousse or dirt, marked with tan/brown rectangular signs using black or white letters and placed no higher than 6 feet off the ground. It’s easy to punch in an address and let Siri (or whichever virtual heckler your mobile device uses) guide the way now, but I spent too much time craning and squinting instead of looking and driving back in the noughties.
That 1941 Reliable Gasoline 8 gallons for $1 works out to $2.17/gallon in today’s money.
Art Lacey got a surplus B-17 bomber in 1947 and set up the Bomber gas station and restaurant on US 99 in Milwaukie, Oregon, outside Portland. They had 48 pumps at their peak. In recent years it went out of business. But the B-17 has been rescued and is now being restored. (Gotta love that ’59 Caddy that’s photobombing the crew.)
I was thinking of Bomber Gas when I saw the planes. The Lacey Lady is being restored at McNary Field in Salem. The organization has a fly-in, car show and airplane rides every June to help fund the restoration. They’ve calculated that it will take about $9 million til 2025 to put her into tip-top flying condition like ‘Doc’ and create an associated museum. The work they’ve done so far is terrific and it’s scary to see the deteriorated condition of the unrestored parts of the plane.
http://www.b17alliance.com/
This space age googie gas station is not too far from where I work in Sacramento. It almost looks like some for of alien space ship landed in the parking lot.
There was a gas station almost exactly like this just over the river in West Sacramento on West Capitol, I believe, back when I was in the USAF.
Let me know if it’s the same one!
This one is on Auburn, in northern Sacramento. I guess technically it would be in Carmichael or Foothill Farms. But from what I’ve heard there used to be several of them around the Sacramento area. There’s another one that’s not quite as well maintained over in Orangevale. As far as I know those are the only two that are still operating. I’ve seen pictures of a third one that now serves as a used car dealership.
Here’s the one in Orangevale:
Me likey .
-Nate
Thanks, WildaBeast..
I loved Sacramento in the early 1970s, as I was stationed at Beale 1969-1973. I was a graphic artist in the wing HQ squadron of the 9th SRW supporting the missions of the SR-71.
I sure had the right car for the time as well – a yellow 1964 Impala SS convertible. Cruised around the entire area all the time, living “American Graffiti” before the movie!
Sorry for telling my story, albeit briefly for the umpteenth time.
My dad was stationed at Mather around that same time period. My office is on the site of the former McClellan AFB. The Air Force once had a big presence in Sacramento and Northern California.
In Wisconsin we still have a couple pagoda-styled gas stations. Heres a link to a clip on youtube featuring one in West Allis. There is also one in Cedarburg that was a jewelry shop the last time I was there.
For those who like airplane information, the “Bob’s Air Mail” station used a Fokker F-32. It was a former Western Air Express airliner. The F-32 has a quite unusual set up for the four engines – pusher/puller each side. The system was ineffective; the rear engine overheated and did not contribute much motive power.
The “Royal Albatross” airplane is hard for me to identify exactly but I am pretty sure it is also a Fokker. It was likely a tri-motor (as were most Fokker airliners of this era). My best guess is a Fokker F-XVII or F-IX; the cockpit and nose arrangement seem closer to these versions but the tail does not (it may have been modified by the proprietor).
I love old gas stations, drive-ins (theaters & restaurants) and other structures that show a sense of style and permanence.
Those buildings were built with pride in mind. No where else but in the LA area do you find so much surviving Googie architecture. Take a look at so many Denny’s Restaurants out there, the one in Burbank at the corner of Lankershim & Burbank Blvd. fits the bill quite nicely.
Thank you for such a fine article!
Speaking of aircraft, here’s a photo of the Roasterie coffee shop in Kansas City from our recent trip in late June. A real DC-3! I wonder how much of the start-up cost is wrapped up in that plane and its mounting? That plane is also their logo. It had better be! I love it!
The people who set the angle of that plane are too used to jets or aerobatic displays at air shows. No DC-3 (or any other prop plane of its type/era) ever climbed at anything close to that nose-high attitude. If that thing were actually in the air at that attitude the very next movement is the nose dramatically dropping because of the stall.
I too love these old gas stations! I (mis)spent my youth hanging out at a Sinclair station, that later became Ashland in a small village in western Pa. typical 1950’s box design with what looked like porcelain siding ,metal actually. Vee shaped lights over the pump island, and no canopy. Miss the smells of a real service station too. Not unpleasant, but the smell of oil, and grease, and gasoline. The sound of the air compressor firing up. And the “ding ding” bell. And a free (imagine that!) air pump with a crank handle that you could set the air pressure, and it would “ding” every time a lb.of air pressure went in. The tire machine that used hydraulics and a prybar to take the tire off the rim, and a few wacks with a hammer to put it back on. And they cleaned your windows and checked the oil!, Nowadays it’s 12 gas pumps, and a giant convenience store with a deli! Times do change!!.. Now Get off my lawn, you young punks! 🙂
I loved those old gas stations, you really bring back the sounds and smells. But cars have changed too. Check out the level of maintenance required to keep a 1960 Ford on the road. (From Old Car Manual Project) Every time you get gas check the oil, tires, coolant and battery water. Grease the front end every 1000 miles. Frequent tune-ups. On and on. Lots of good revenue to keep that great old service station open and staffed.
Now cars rarely use much oil, tires keep their pressure, joints are permanently lubed, and tuneups are history. Most all the service requirements are gone or much less frequent. So pump your own gas, wipe your own windshield and please buy some beer.
The first service needed on my new electric Fiat is in two years, to change the cabin air filter and just look everything over.
I saw one of the vintage pictures above advertised “Vogue Tyres”. When did Tyres become Tires in the US?
Yeah I agree very much that times have changed. Back in ’69 I had a ’62 Dodge Polara 500. 2dr hardtop 361 hipo 305 hp motor. Passed everything but a gas pump. Sunoco 260 (anyone remember that?) was its drink of choice. Dreaded dual point ignition, big ass 4 barrel carb. I was 16, and had a 16 year olds budget. Soooo…tune ups where a do it yourself thing. Ever try to set not one set of points, but two? EVERYTHING was labor intensive. Now days in my Sr. citizen years, I drive a plebeian Taurus. 117,000 miles, original plugs, oil changes every 7000 miles, MOL, no grease fittings, bullet proof electronic ignition, fuel injection, runs great. Can you imagine buying a car circa1969 with 117,000 miles on it, and paying more than $15 for it and using it for nothing more than what we western Pa. country boys called a “field car” just to beat the crap out of until it died. Times they do change!
The next year, 1961, on the otherwise not redesigned Fords they went to 30,000 chassis lubrication. I don’t know what engineering changes allowed that. And 4,000 mile oil changes, probably due to better full flow oil filters and detergent oil.
“… typical 1950’s box design with what looked like porcelain siding, metal actually.”
Those and even houses were built that way using porcelain metal square panels. The firm that built them was the Lustron Corporation. There is a Lustron web site about the homes that were built after WW2.
A fascinating read. Many Lustron homes are in the Cincinnati area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lustron_house
As a native Californian, these are immensely fascinating to me. The diversity of the architecture is wonderful! I think another reason we don’t see this kind of creativity nowadays is because of the expense of building and permitting unique structures (at least in California).
Beautiful stuff – art deco and streamline moderne and just plain weird… love the Moorish one. What kind of gas company would choose the name “Violet Ray”, though?
X-rays and ultraviolet light were new and exciting technologies then. So why not combine the two?
The Specification station looks like it inspired White Castle restaurant designs, but also looks like a movie theater or even a lighthouse.
About 2 miles from my house is a new Gate Oil station under construction. For a gas station/convenience store, the structure is huge…another architectural trend I don’t care for, buildings that are designed to look massive.
Where I grew up: in rural northeast Pennsylvania, at least 1 or 2 gas stations in a small town had a small/one car showroom as they “doubled” as car dealerships. In the 50s there were 6 or 7 Ford dealerships within 20 miles of my hometown…today there are 3.
It’s odd that the Union Oil shield/logo that’s present in the 4th and 9th photos looks just like the Union Pacific railroad’s logo, but some quick Google research indicates they weren’t related. Trademark laws are supposed to prevent this sort of confusion.
I’m not a lawyer, but I think sometimes trademarks only apply within a specific industry, particularly when it comes to common words and shapes. I’m guessing the shield shape is considered to be “common”, especially since it’s also reminiscent of the US highway signs. So another gas station can’t use a shield logo, but a railroad can, on the grounds that consumers aren’t likely to confuse a railroad with a gas station.
Union Oil of California adopted the blue and orange “76” logo and brand image in 1932, still in a shield. It became a rectangle in the 1940’s and the current circle in the 1950’s.
Markham Moor in the UK is/was a striking building. Still there, and has listed status, I believe.
What a great article (actually all of today’s articles have been amazing- CC is really something else these days). I really like the repurposed Starbucks- better than knocking it down!
That Union Service Station cyclist reminded me as a child in L.A. how your gas station or dealer service guy would arrive at your house in one of those three-wheeler cycles to pick up your car, attach the cycle to the rear bumper, and drive off. Your car would be returned the same way, cycle attached to the rear bumper, then the guy would return to his station on the cycle. Talk about service, imagine that today. We had a Flying A service station near our home, it was used for all our family car service and gasoline needs, the owners became friends of my parents, and their daughter attended my elementary school. They and their business were an integral part of the fabric of our neighborhood in the 50’s. As a native Los Angelean, this is a fascinating article, thanks for posting.
Service Station Owner is another category of businesspersons which has mostly vanished. There were at least 3 of them living within a couple of blocks of my home back in the day.
The privately owned service station where they not only sold gasoline but serviced cars are apparently a thing of the past. I’m not sure if any exist anymore. Sad.
Tom Waits once said he liked living in L.A. because he could eat at a restaurant shaped like a hot dog. I imagine he meant Tail of the Pup on La Cienega. I had a few hot dogs there.
If you like Vintage Service Stations, check out “A Small Case of Larceny” with Micky Rooney in about 1947 about two WWII Veterans who open a gas station . Rooney’s hapless partner rides a shiny new Harley Davidson KnuckleHead .
-Nate
Thank you for this article, I loved it! So many beautiful structures, I can’t even pick a favourite. I’ve been sending this article around to my non-automotively inclined friends and family because some of these are just so fascinating. There have been a couple of service stations I’ve seen over the years that were vaguely interesting but they were nothing compared to this. I literally never thought there would have been any this gorgeous.
More of this, please!
Thanks for the compilation! Most of these locations are familiar with me, being a Downtown LA native. The Calpet location at Wilshire/New Hampshire is about five blocks from my house at Normandie and Wilshire. The famous Brown Derby restaurant was midway between these two intersections. That Gilmore station-turned-Starbucks in Hollywood is across the street from my middle school, Bancroft M.S. It was closed for as long as I can remember and always had filming information posted in the windows. The Starbucks opened about a year ago and is incredibly busy nowadays.
That Violet Ray station on La Brea is still standing as a auto-garage strip mall, the bays rented out by several shops. The umbrella structure is no longer there but it is also flanked on the left side by an equally famous Firestone service center.
The gas station that opened at LAX turned out to be Chevron in a flying saucer design.
That station’s employees helped us out with a friend’s dying starter once — no charge. Back when they actually were “service” stations.
Companies were so much more creative with their building design back then. Nowadays, a gas station is usually the single least attractive thing that can be put up on any given lot…
Also really glad to see that the Jack Colker 76 station is still standing. Mid-century magnificence! It’s actually somewhat similar in form to the landmark Eduardo Catalano house (1954) in Raleigh, NC, with its hyperbolic paraboloid roof–a building that was the recpient of rare praise from Frank Lloyd Wright. Sadly, the Catalano house was razed in 2001 and replaced with two generic McMansions–it’s a good thing this 76 did not fact the same fate! I checked it out on Google Maps and there’s actually quite a bit of interesting architecture at that intersection.
More early LA Gas Stations @ http://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_LA_Gas_Stations.html
where most of the above photos came from!