Old time gas stations

Here's one that you can add to your collections. It's new and never been posted before. This is a photo of a gas station owned and run by my family (Brinkley). It was located on the corner of California Ave and Southern Ave in South Gate CA.

Not sure what year this is. My Grandmother wrote the location of the gas station but no year on the back. My great Uncle Roy remembers going to the station as a young kid. I'd say it's the late teens early 20's based on the C-Cab and the cars on the road. Plus Walnuts were .20 cents per lb.

Any clues to hone in a year???
 

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Photo is of my wife's Interior Design Studio in Canfield, OH.. was a gas station for only a short time as St Route 62 was re-routed one block North.
 

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Here's one that I passed by back in November that's still standing in Asheboro, NC.
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When that first picture is blown way up it almost appears to be a double exposure. When you look to the right of the rear passenger side tire there appears to be the frontend of what might be a TT truck. And yet the wall behind it seems to run through it. The apparatus under the ramp apears to be railroad tires until you blow it up and you notice what appears to me a oversize worm gear on it. The wheel on the other side of the picture appears to be a lot wider and smooth. Behind the back drivers side wheel there is a little stand of some sort with havoline on it (which makes sense it's a Texaco station). The car itself is a later model T. There are a quite a few people to the right watching as if this is some kind of a demonstration. Is there a chance the car is powering the apparatus rather than the apparatus being used to do something to the car?
 
Del- You need to set her up in new digs and make that one your playhouse!
Buz- I always thought an old station would make a great apartment for
a car hobbyist. For some reason, I'd love to have one of those!
 
This was Grandad's with my dad's Model a sitting out in front.
 

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Sure looks to be. The left and right vertical posts both have the same havoline oil signs nailed to them and the tracks are the same.
 
One of the many aspects of the 'Old Car Hobby' is all of the collateral avenues of fascinating 'side roads' of history that accompanied the development of the automobile. And the humble Gas Station is one of them. For the automobile to work in the 'grand scale', there also had to be other 'infrastructures' to make the automobile fully utilized.

Three things come to mind - the most important was roads. Secondly, motivation to 'get out of town'. And thirdly, the gas station, to allow greater travel than just the paved roads of towns.

If one were to have a greater wish to delve deeper into these interesting 'side shows' of the automobile, a good starting point would be getting and reading several books and magazines that deal with not only the early gas stations, but also road development.

A quick look at my automobile book collection turns up the following (with LOTS of vintage photos of 'cars in action') :
CHECK THE OIL (gas station related), by Scott Anderson, 1986
THE FIRST HIGHWAYS of AMERICA, by John Butler 1994
arba PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ROADBUILDING, by Charles Wixom 1975
"The Super Service Station" (1936) Merchandising Magazine for Gas Stations.
"The Highway Magazine" - 1923-1924 - "Published in the Interest of Good Roads".
"Concrete Highway" Magazine - January 1917 - July 1924

A good "Google Search" , I am sure, will produce more 'stuff' than any one can possibly swallow.

- Doug Vieyra, Eureka, Calif 62 degrees at noon
 
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While bored at work one night I was able to watch on you tube 'the bountiful harvest'(?) by Ford. It talks about how Ford bought X amount of lbs./tons/gallons/ whatever of other commodities. So as the car expanded through roads and stations, it expanded other industries as well.

Mike
 
I had a little bit of a different reaction than many of you guys. Photos like this show to me how much business existed back then on a small, informal scale, compared to the size of business we see today, and not just big box stores. And not just gas stations, also retail businesses such as candy stores, record shops, haberdasheries, hat shops, bakeries, diners, dry cleaners, etc., all existed at small levels.

Naturally there were exceptions but the way many businesses existed with low levels of floor space and inventory (and presumably profits) amazes me.
 
This goes to ModelaKid1 Glad to see you two again I was wondering how you were doing...... keep up the good work. Do you have your A finished so you can start on hers.
 
Rt66 New Mexico...
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What goes around comes around....
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The gas station 'Bertha' was purchased from, Newport NY.
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Bob
:cool:
 
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