Old gas stations

[2jakes]

Tudor style gas station in San Antonio. (present)

Pure Oil gas station. (past)

 

[2jakes]

I don't ever recall my folks redeeming them although there were several stacks
of books in one of the kitchen drawers!

 

[2jakes]

Tudor style

Pure Oil gas station

Coke sign similar to the one on the above photo is still active at another location.

Heavy neon lighting the way in the evening for curb-side "bar-b-que" sandwiches.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

My favorite style of station...

Rob

 

[LizzieMaine]

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

 

[2jakes]

Spanish tiles and stucco walls are #1 for me.

This beauty is near my area:

And this fellow took it a step further by adding the signs and pumps
back on another Mobil station.

I can sit back and relax listening to the
1934 Yankees vs Tigers at Navin Field.

Courtesy of Mobil gas...

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's something about the way he talks about "Bug-A-Boo" on that broadcast that makes me want to run right up and fumigate my closet.

(They don't tell you that "Bug-a-Boo" was just perfumed kerosene with a tiny bit of pyrethrin mixed in. Don't spray it with a cigarette sticking out of your face!)

 

[Stearmen]

They started using dinosaurs in advertising in the 1930s, to illustrate the ancient age of the fine crudes used to make their products,and used a circular red and black trademark featuring a black brontosaurus on their oil cans during this same period. They ran a lot of magazine ads feauring themes like "THIS TYRANNOSAURUS REX LIVED X HUNDRED MILLION YEARS AGO -- That's how old the crudes are in Sinclair Opaline Motor Oil!" These were the first enduring uses of dinosaurs as a motif in advertising, and for a long time, a lot of what "everybody knew" about dinosaurs came from these ads.

But the main station sign during this period was a circular logo with no dinosaur - instead they had the letters "H C," for "High Compression." The green and white trapezoid with the green brontosaurus at the bottom showed up in the late 1950s, and remains in use to the present day.

Sinclair ceased to exist as a company during the 1970s when they were bought out by Atlantic-Richfield, but the name and trademarks were sold off and a new company established to use them. It has no connection to the original Sinclair, but has a strong presence in that company's former marketing territory, and they brought the dinosaur back by popular demand not long after the new company got going.

Sinclair's exhibits at both New York Worlds Fairs -- 1939-40 and 1964-65 -- both featured educational displays about dinosaurs, which made huge impressions on the generations of kids who toured those exhibits, and helped make American kids of the mid-20th century very dinosaur conscious. It was one of the Boys' most popular merchandising tie-ins -- and no royalties to pay!

Even though I still joke about "killing some dead dinosaurs." It was very disappointing when I got older and found out, they had nothing to do with oil, it was the mighty plankton that gave us our go juice!

 

[Stearmen]

Does anyone remember those wax like weed killer sticks with a peace of rope you would pull behind you on your grass, back in the 60s-70s? I thought Chevron made them, but a Google search of Chevron weed stick, well you know what results you get!

 

[Fading Fast]

There was a local oil and gas company where I grew up - Raritan Oil Company - that had a handful of gas stations and issued its own gas credit card. Which, I believe, was literally a credit card for just those few stations. My dad had one and he paid it off in full each month.

Looking back on it - it seems a bit odd that a very small chain would issue a card just for those few gas stations and, odder still, that my dad (who never borrowed money a day in his life) bothered to have it as all he did was send the company a check in full each month or hand it in, in person, at the executive office pictured below (which was right across the street from one of their stations).

The picture below is of the executive offices (today I guess) as back in the late '60s/'70s it was a nicely maintained building that, as a kid, seemed impressive as I didn't go into the "executive offices" of practically anything back then. I even "ran the check in" as I got a bit older and it felt kinda neat handing it to the woman behind the window who took the payment. Sad to see what the building looks like now.

I also remember they gave away calendars, ice-scrappers and baseball caps as we had every free doodad they offered.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

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

I'd love to convert one of these to a home, and live in it.

Rob

 

[LizzieMaine]

Does anyone remember those wax like weed killer sticks with a peace of rope you would pull behind you on your grass, back in the 60s-70s? I thought Chevron made them, but a Google search of Chevron weed stick, well you know what results you get!

I do remember those -- they were an "Ortho" product, which was Chevron's chemical subsidiary. "Weed B Gon" was the brand name, I think.

 

[BobHufford]

This station was in my neighborhood as a kid. I frequented the 7-11 across the street. Now a pasta place.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There was a local oil and gas company where I grew up - Raritan Oil Company - that had a handful of gas stations and issued its own gas credit card. Which, I believe, was literally a credit card for just those few stations. My dad had one and he paid it off in full each month.

Looking back on it - it seems a bit odd that a very small chain would issue a card just for those few gas stations and, odder still, that my dad (who never borrowed money a day in his life) bothered to have it as all he did was send the company a check in full each month or hand it in, in person, at the executive office pictured below (which was right across the street from one of their stations).

The picture below is of the executive offices (today I guess) as back in the late '60s/'70s it was a nicely maintained building that, as a kid, seemed impressive as I didn't go into the "executive offices" of practically anything back then. I even "ran the check in" as I got a bit older and it felt kinda neat handing it to the woman behind the window who took the payment. Sad to see what the building looks like now.

I also remember they gave away calendars, ice-scrappers and baseball caps as we had every free doodad they offered.

There were quite a few little regionals like that -- in New England, we had Jenney, which eventually got absorbed by Cities Service, and became the foundation for the dozens and dozens of Citgo outlets that still dot our regional landscape. "Gibbs Oil Company" in Boston was another New England regional that got absorbed by a big company -- BP in their case -- and lost its independence.

My favorite New England regional -- and one of the few that still exists -- is Haffner Oil Company, which still has stations in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachussets, and still uses its old trademark from the Era -- a donkey kicking up its hind legs, with the slogan "IT KICKS!"

 

[Fading Fast]

There were quite a few little regionals like that -- in New England, we had Jenney, which eventually got absorbed by Cities Service, and became the foundation for the dozens and dozens of Citgo outlets that still dot our regional landscape. "Gibbs Oil Company" in Boston was another New England regional that got absorbed by a big company -- BP in their case -- and lost its independence.

Was it common for them - Raritan Oil had, for example, maybe, five stations - to issue credit cards just for their stations? Seems crazy, but that's a "today" perspective, maybe it was convenient in a time before everyone had a "universal" card?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Jenney had cards, but they were a big regional covering all of New England. I think they had at least a few hundred stations at their peak, so that would make sense.

When we had our station, we ran local "credit accounts" for regular customers aside from accepting the regular Texaco card, but we didn't issue any special card for these. Basically if my grandfather knew you and trusted you, you could run a gas tab, which would be written down on a slip and stored in a drawer under the cash register. When I cleaned out this drawer after we closed, I found unpaid tabs dating back to the 1940s.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Speaking of Jenney, they were another company that went in for "house" style stations --

There are a lot of these around New England that have been repurposed into one thing or another.

 

[Fading Fast]

There were quite a few little regionals like that -- in New England, we had Jenney, which eventually got absorbed by Cities Service, and became the foundation for the dozens and dozens of Citgo outlets that still dot our regional landscape. "Gibbs Oil Company" in Boston was another New England regional that got absorbed by a big company -- BP in their case -- and lost its independence.

My favorite New England regional -- and one of the few that still exists -- is Haffner Oil Company, which still has stations in southern New Hampshire and northern Massachussets, and still uses its old trademark from the Era -- a donkey kicking up its hind legs, with the slogan "IT KICKS!"

How much does everyone want to see that donkey lit up at night kicking away?

There is something appealing about analog solutions - in this case, showing motion through a serious of neon lights that will go on and off in sequence versus digital. Today, there are many digital solutions that could make that sign more realistic, but they would lack the charm and intuitive creativity of the analog sign.

Maybe in part it is because we'd know that a digital sign is nothing new - just bringing digital technology to bear in an already old way - that we wouldn't be impressed. But the analog one shows its creativity to the viewer in an almost tactile manner.

 

[Fading Fast]

Jenney had cards, but they were a big regional covering all of New England. I think they had at least a few hundred stations at their peak, so that would make sense.

When we had our station, we ran local "credit accounts" for regular customers aside from accepting the regular Texaco card, but we didn't issue any special card for these. Basically if my grandfather knew you and trusted you, you could run a gas tab, which would be written down on a slip and stored in a drawer under the cash register. When I cleaned out this drawer after we closed, I found unpaid tabs dating back to the 1940s.

In a way, the "Raritan Oll" credit card was just a fancy version of your grandfather's house account or tab as the Raritan card wasn't scanned into any system, it was just pushed through one of the old style hand held imprint press machine (you signed and kept the all-but-un-readable back copy).

Then, at the end of the month, a bill would be mailed that showed each charge. Maybe the "slips" from each charge were entered into an early computer program (by hand, I'd bet) so that a statement could be generated, but if so, that was the extent of the "automation." So, it really was just a gussied-up* house account - I think, unless I'm missing something.


* Another one for the "Terms Which Have Disappeared" thread.

 

[LizzieMaine]

How much does everyone want to see that donkey lit up at night kicking away?

There is something appealing about analog solutions - in this case, showing motion through a serious of neon lights that will go on and off in sequence versus digital. Today, there are many digital solutions that could make that sign more realistic, but they would lack the charm and intuitive creativity of the analog sign.

Maybe in part it is because we'd know that a digital sign is nothing new - just bringing digital technology to bear in an already old way - that we wouldn't be impressed. But the analog one shows its creativity to the viewer in an almost tactile manner.

Knowing first hand the maintenance challenges of outdoor neon signs -- ours is a nightmare to keep lit -- I'm really amazed that Haffner's, which is a little family-owned company, goes to the trouble of keeping them lit. It's really a lot of fun to see one.

I also love that their convenience stores are called "Kick Stops."