Old gas stations

Rob

 

Thought you may like this old gas station and diner that used to be just a mile from where I live nowadays; Inverness, Scotland. The photos are from 1936 and that was the main (only) road north back then.

18739760_2259169370975675_3255994619657773381_n by HanauMan posted Jun 8, 2017 at 4:12 PM

The inside of the diner.

18739620_2259175430975069_2638276842651437426_n by HanauMan posted Jun 8, 2017 at 4:12 PM

Of course, it is all gone now and a modern highway totally bypasses this site. There is a motorcycle dealership on the same site now.

 

The photos aren't working for me.

Rob

 

auto-tan

 

I'm guessing that's self service or he is the best-dressed gas attendant ever

I get it's staged, but darn they all look good. And I know there's a thousand opinions about why people dress more then and less now and all the good and bad to that; but I'll say this, they look darn nice to me.

Freakin' great find 2jakes. No way that white blouse wouldn't take a hit if she really used that crazy nozzle.

 

It would probably be more accurate to say that the well-off dressed better than the herd back then and that is still true. What was actually being worn depended on fashion. And if you knew fashion better than I do, you could probably date the photos within a year or two.

 

Either that or we're looking at the winner of the 1928 Harold Teen Look-A-Like Contest. With Lillums, yet. "Hot pups!"

 

I used to live in Bay City, Michigan, which didn't claim to be his hometown but did claim to be the town where he was killed in a drunken brawl.

 

In my neck of the woods (southern West Virginia), the local folk hero is John Henry (the steel driving man). He's not as well-known as Paul Bunyan and his story has never been elaborated on and is more likely to be mostly true. Part of the reason may be that he was a black laborer, a group that has never exactly been romanticized the way loggers have been. There are statues of him and bronze plaques here and there but as far as I know, he never sold gasoline.

 

Leeds, Alabama, a little town about 10 miles east of me, also lays claim to John Henry, so he's pretty well known down here. It's still disputed in some circles, but apparently there's sufficient evidence that not only is the story true, but that it happened during the building of the Coosa tunnel there. And no, as far as I know, he hasn't sold gas around these parts either.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

We were taught the John Henry story in school (3rd grade if memory serves) and, while he ultimately failed in his effort, he was presented as a hero to our class. I absolutely remember feeling badly for him and that story has stayed with me to this day (I'm 52).

 

Gone & mostly forgotten.


^^^^^^^^
Unless you can do it in 9 seconds, because the
Bull can do it in 10.


Not anymore!

 

Is that a young Burt Lancaster?

 

Makes me think of the Alabama town featured in To Kill a Mockingbird -- though these people, the customers, would have been the elite of the county.

 

Then and now.

Rob

 

He did, however, have his own radio show in 1933 -- "John Henry, Black River Giant." He was played by a fine Puerto Rican actor named Juano Hernandez, and was portrayed as "moving with enormous strides, his flaying arms, his powerful body" overcoming every obstacle. Brother Henry might not have gotten the publicity of Bunyan, but Bunyan never had such a radio show.

 

Rob

 

“SANITARY ICE CREAM" ???



SOS LizzieMaine!

 

Maybe just part of the whole "Sanitary Movement" thing where announcing you were connected to it meant your factory, delivery system etc., was focused on cleanliness (a big thing at the time).

Where was this ⇧ when I needed it yesterday in the "This or That" thread?