When was the last time you saw a gas station with a roof tiled in a gorgeous geometric pattern, 15-foot gates with fancy grillwork, and attendants wearing some sort of harem-in-the-Arabian-desert uniform? I’m guess it’s been a LONG time. But if you had been driving along Wilshire Blvd in the late 1920s around Vermont Avenue, you would have seen this Calpet gas station at 3237 Wilshire. And if you had, surely you would have pulled in and filled your tank, right?
When was the last time you saw a gas station with a roof tiled in a gorgeous geometric pattern, 15-foot gates with fancy grillwork, and attendants wearing some sort of harem-in-the-Arabian-desert uniform? I’m guess it’s been a LONG time. But if you had been driving along Wilshire Blvd in the late 1920s around Vermont Avenue, you would have seen this Calpet gas station at 3237 Wilshire. And if you had, surely you would have pulled in and filled your tank, right?
WOW!
I wonder how much influence the con artist Wilshire had in these creations?
He died destitute on September 7, 1927 in New York. So probably very little influence, if any.
I didn’t know Gaylord Wilshire had such an ignominious end.
another view of the lovely ladies at work
https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/gallery/Calpet%20w%20ladies-lac.jpg
Thanks, Johnny!