And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Saturday, April 25, 2026
Remember when you would pull into a place like this and you'd hear, "ding, ding," to let the service guy know to come out?
In 1972 at the Gulf station at Petaluma Hill Rd in Sonoma county (just off 101) you got a steak knife with every $3 spent. The cheap gas was 25 cents a gallon, my Triumph 2000 sedan had a 10 gallon tank, to spend $3 I'd have to pump the extra into the back seat... I never got a steak knife.
Today's kids will never know about hanging out there with buddies, helping change tires, ogling girls who buy gas, the smell inside the garage of tires and burnt rubber. A kick from the past!
Correctimundo! I was out there a few years ago, and whipped into a WaWa and proceeded to shove my credit card into the reader. A chubby little gal came running up yelling No, no, no, you can't do that! She then proceeded to tell me it was a state law and then asked if I knew why. No, pray-tell, why is that? I asked.
Because, she said, people from New Jersey are too fkn stupid to pump their own gas and started laughing. I'm in no position to challenge your expertise, I told her and started laughing myself.
Building still stands, but no signage and is buttoned up tight. The town of Concrete is located in a beautiful area, but sadly now has a troubled reputation.
Little rubber hose. Check the oil, clean the windshield, $.35 Ethel!
ReplyDeleteOh, and don’t forget the S&H Green Stamps, steak knives and drinking glasses.
DeleteIn 1972 at the Gulf station at Petaluma Hill Rd in Sonoma county (just off 101) you got a steak knife with every $3 spent.
DeleteThe cheap gas was 25 cents a gallon, my Triumph 2000 sedan had a 10 gallon tank, to spend $3 I'd have to pump the extra into the back seat... I never got a steak knife.
**This image shows Peterson's Texaco gas station in Concrete, Washington, in July 1958. **
ReplyDeleteThe red pump on the left probably is diesel. There's also a 550 gal.tank that could be kerosene, as there's two pumps next to it.
ReplyDeleteYou can trust your car to the man who wears the star.
ReplyDeleteToday's kids will never know about hanging out there with buddies, helping change tires, ogling girls who buy gas, the smell inside the garage of tires and burnt rubber. A kick from the past!
ReplyDeleteMy mother refused to pump her own gas. She went to a full service gas station until the day she died.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived on the East Coast and stopped for gas in New Jersey, their state law dictates that service station employees have to dispense gasoline.
DeleteCorrectimundo! I was out there a few years ago, and whipped into a WaWa and proceeded to shove my credit card into the reader. A chubby little gal came running up yelling No, no, no, you can't do that! She then proceeded to tell me it was a state law and then asked if I knew why. No, pray-tell, why is that? I asked.
DeleteBecause, she said, people from New Jersey are too fkn stupid to pump their own gas and started laughing. I'm in no position to challenge your expertise, I told her and started laughing myself.
Spent the summer of 1969 working at a full service DX station. We had U Haul trailers and trucks too. $1.25 an hour
ReplyDelete'Ma'am, your blinker fluid is low, I have a spare, just pull up to put 'er on the rack. Be done in a jiffy.'
ReplyDeleteS&H green stamps. Gas wars where stations competed with each other handing out glass mugs, silverware, and other items.
I don't see the black rubber hose in this photo.
I rode my bike across those hoses. Drove attendant/mechanic nuts
ReplyDeleteI can still smell the blue windshield cleaning fluid they used to use.
ReplyDeleteBuilding still stands, but no signage and is buttoned up tight. The town of Concrete is located in a beautiful area, but sadly now has a troubled reputation.
ReplyDeleteBack when the attendants wore clean uniforms and a smile
ReplyDeleteAnd a real PIA to hear that ding, ding when you had both arms deep in an engine bay!
ReplyDelete