Old gas stations

[LizzieMaine]

This is the prototypical Shell station of the late 1950s-early 1960s. The tall red pillar thing is intended as an abstract representation of a chimney, which was added to make the usual porcelain-box design into something slightly evocative of a cozy family home.

This may also be the rarest gas station design to find in unaltered form. Thousands of them were built, but starting in 1967-68 Shell instituted a major remodleing campaign that turned most of them into the "ranch style" stations. All the porcelain was stripped off and replaced by fake brick, fake gable roofs were added, and the "chimney" was turned into a squarish pylon carrying the new Raymond Loewy "controlled background" sign. Some stations escaped this remodeling, but those that survive today have in just about all cases have had the top of the "chimney" lopped off. Start looking for them among the auto-and-small-engine-repair shops in your area, and you're bound to see them.

 

[triple-d]

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Wonderful photos...

 

[2jakes]

 

[2jakes]

I love this thread!

 

[triple-d]

Agreed ....great thread..!!!!..lol

 

[3fingers]

The pylon was a thing with more than Shell.
There were many International Harvester dealers that had something similar to this building. There were standard designs of varying sizes that you could choose from, but all of them had the pylon.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

Rob

 

[2jakes]

There's no place like "Home Sweet Home" and a fire softly burning!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Dino fans please attend carefully....

 

[2jakes]

Rob

Rob;

There's Exxon gas pumps out in front now.

Foot-long sandwiches are on sale @ 2 for price of one!

 

[2jakes]

Are you kidding me ?

I would not have lasted 10 seconds...

looking this clean!

Gawd... I luv this thread!

 

[Fading Fast]

Dino fans please attend carefully....

Fantastic. You have to check your cynicism meter at the door or the self-promotion will drive you nuts, but once done, what a great time-travel moment. And good to see the Sinclair Dino (apparently, "Dino" to his friends) get the billing he deserves.

It's not like I'd like to have one of those pressed dino souvenirs - nope, I'm way too mature to want one of those.

Two non-Dino-related thoughts. One, how could it ever have been financially possible to build all that for a temporary fair? And, two, while the attire was not unexpected - very early '60s - I did notice a lot less men wearing ties than I would have guessed (but it also looked pretty hot).

Lizzie, thank you for posting it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Are you kidding me ?
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I would not have lasted 10 seconds...
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looking this clean!
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Having pumped gas - in the '70s in jeans and a t-shirt - I can't imagine doing it in a pure white pair of pants and shirt - crazy!

You get dirty when you lean over the first car to clean the windows or kneel for one of the hundred reasons you kneel down in that job.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sinclair had already done big dinosaur exhibits at the 1933 and 1939-40 fairs, and though the models themselves were different in 1964-65, you have to assume they reused much of the research. Likewise, in the earlier fairs many of the models were taken on the road for various promotional events, so they were able to make back some of the cost in that way. This was repeated after the 1965 fair closed, with a 37-city tour of the Sinclair marketing area for the most popular models in the exhibit. While all the 1930s Fair dinos are lost, several of the 1964-65 models were sold off after the tour, and still exist in various states of preservation.

But yeah, nobody who ever participated in a World's Fair ever made any money at it -- and all Fairs themselves end up in the red, which I guess is why they don't have them much anymore.

 

[Fading Fast]

...But yeah, nobody who ever participated in a World's Fair ever made any money at it -- and all Fairs themselves end up in the red, which I guess is why they don't have them much anymore.

I know they used a lot of "disposable" material, but still, there was some serious investment in time, money, labor, material that, on the surface, seems crazy. I'm glad to know that my back-of-the-envelope thought was accurate - they didn't make money.

 

[LizzieMaine]

New York got Flushing Meadow Park out of the 1939-40 Fair, and that bit of leftover was the only reason 64-65 could be done at all. There were even delays in demolition afterward because the Fair corporations could only pay the work crews piecemeal. The 1939-40 grounds weren't fully cleared until 1942, and there are still a few ruins of the 64-65 fair standing.

 

[Fading Fast]

New York got Flushing Meadow Park out of the 1939-40 Fair, and that bit of leftover was the only reason 64-65 could be done at all. There were even delays in demolition afterward because the Fair corporations could only pay the work crews piecemeal. The 1939-40 grounds weren't fully cleared until 1942, and there are still a few ruins of the 64-65 fair standing.

I haven't looked recently, but as of a few years ago, you could still see some of those ruins if your plane banked the right way taking off or landing at LaGuardia. It was cool, but odd - how could that still be there?

On our flight back from Michigan after Christmas this year, I did get a great view of Citi Field, looked better than I thought it would.

 

[2jakes]

I've been kidding folks from up North about all the snow they're having.
It seems Mother Nature is listening in.

In my neck of the woods... it is dropping
into the 20s and more with snow.

Something which is very rare for us!

CHEERS!

 

[triple-d]

So are some of these recent pics ?^^^^

 

[Fading Fast]

Nice one 2Jakes. Right down to its little light in its protective cage, everything just works in this pic. Why a gas station in snow should feel warm and homey makes no sense to me, but there you have it.