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Same here. Probably what I'll be buried in if I'm not cremated.
I think I’ll choose to be tree food. In my blue jeans and All-Stars. Hope the tree doesn’t mind.
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Old gas stations
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I think I’ll choose to be tree food. In my blue jeans and All-Stars. Hope the tree doesn’t mind.
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It's been abandoned for a long time and mostly gutted. The pumps have been removed, but don't know about the underground tanks.
1930artdeco
Practically Family
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- 673
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- oakland
Clean it up, get rid of all the hazmat and you could move in.
Mike
Mike
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This very image appeared in one of my Facebook groups this morning, along with the note that the gas station no longer exists.
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The person I lifted this image from says it’s from an old Texaco ad. Perhaps our Lizzie, she of the Havoline coursing through her veins, could confirm or debunk that assertion.
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LizzieMaine
Bartender
- Messages
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- Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Yep. That was a very specific campaign from about 1940, where they were emphasizing that there are more Texaco stations in the US than any other brand, and that no matter what dark and forsaken road you're traveling on a rain-slashed November night, you will find Registered Rest Rooms and the sad soul whose job it is to keep them clean.
When Texaco sponsored Fred Allen's radio program in the early 1940s, after he signed off the show each week and the ON AIR light went out, he'd say to the studio audience "...and the next time you pass by a Texaco station, for Gawd's sake, stop in and visit the poor man! He's LONESOME!"
When Texaco sponsored Fred Allen's radio program in the early 1940s, after he signed off the show each week and the ON AIR light went out, he'd say to the studio audience "...and the next time you pass by a Texaco station, for Gawd's sake, stop in and visit the poor man! He's LONESOME!"
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1941:
1940:
1940:
LizzieMaine
Bartender
- Messages
- 33,752
- Location
- Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The "Registered Rest Room" program was a real thing. The company had a fleet of cars called the "White Patrol" who'd drive around making random stops at Texaco stations specifically to check the condition of the restrooms, and if you were out of compliance they'd pull your sign. Considering how much attention they gave the program in their advertising, this was a pretty big deal.
The requirements were not all that onerous -- the restrooms had to be cleaned at least twice daily, they had to be adequately supplied with soap and paper goods, and they had to be equipped with functional locks and a coat hook. Given the complete slovenliness of tourists passing thru, the twice-daily cleanings were dreaded.
Most other oil companies had similar restroom-enforcement programs that lingered on into the '70s before people stopped caring. Our actual Registered Rest Rooms certificate hangs on my bathroom door at home to this day.
The requirements were not all that onerous -- the restrooms had to be cleaned at least twice daily, they had to be adequately supplied with soap and paper goods, and they had to be equipped with functional locks and a coat hook. Given the complete slovenliness of tourists passing thru, the twice-daily cleanings were dreaded.
Most other oil companies had similar restroom-enforcement programs that lingered on into the '70s before people stopped caring. Our actual Registered Rest Rooms certificate hangs on my bathroom door at home to this day.
- Messages
- 13,672
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- down south
Spotted at the flea mall but I figured you good folks here could appreciate it. An old Esso travel cooler/thermos jug. Looked like it might hold half a gallon.
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- New York City
Great find, awesome whale.
LizzieMaine
Bartender
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- Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
That Happy The Oil Drop sure gets around.
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In 1971 after I left university having decided I had read enough books it was time to learn something I had no clue...(a lengthy list) so I decided to become an auto mechanic. I knocked on gas station doors until an owner, needing a pump jockey back in the day of full service gas attendants, hired me under the terms....I would pump gas but when slow I could work with him in the shop and he would teach me auto mechanics. One of my jobs was keeping the washrooms clean ....let
s just say it was not high on my to do list....If I could get away with it I left it for the evening/weekend guys to clean. I after all was 'almost' a mechanic.
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^^^^^
In my high school years I worked at a couple of gas stations owned by the same fellow — a full-service Texaco in the South Park district, and an entirely self-serve Gull (not Gulf) in the Georgetown district.
At the latter I sat in a glass booth, maybe 5 by 12 feet total, including the one-stall head accessed from the outside. I took money for gas purchases and sold cigarettes and snack foods through the window. It was dreadful, really, sitting in that glass box. On slow days the clock seemed to run backwards.
In my high school years I worked at a couple of gas stations owned by the same fellow — a full-service Texaco in the South Park district, and an entirely self-serve Gull (not Gulf) in the Georgetown district.
At the latter I sat in a glass booth, maybe 5 by 12 feet total, including the one-stall head accessed from the outside. I took money for gas purchases and sold cigarettes and snack foods through the window. It was dreadful, really, sitting in that glass box. On slow days the clock seemed to run backwards.
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Slippery little devil, wasn't he?
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- down south
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Ozark, Missouri. I would like to see more trucks like these restored.
- Messages
- 17,213
- Location
- New York City
Ozark, Missouri. I would like to see more trucks like these restored.
Agreed. They do pop up in old movie now and again - very iconic.
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Ozark, Missouri. I would like to see more trucks like these restored.
Perhaps this observation might more fittingly belong in the “You Know You Are Getting Old When” thread, but I’m thinking that I’m among many here who remember when these were just used trucks. Not “classic,” not “vintage,” not “collectible,” just trucks you could buy on the cheap.
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I get that. There was a guy in my Dad's vintage car club that always showed a nice, original 1937 Plymouth truck (with a plumbing business signage) and I always thought it was "old" (we had a 1941 Plymouth Sedan Delivery). In 1970 (when I first remember it) that truck was 33 years old. The one above is probably twice that old now.
