We’re looking at the Los Angeles Pacific Rail Road’s ticket office that stood at Hollywood Blvd and Ivar St in Hollywood. My car expert tells me that the vehicle parked out front looks like a circa 1907 Royal Tourist, which confirmed my suspicion that the photo dates to the first decade of the 20^th century. And that means Hollywood Blvd was still known by its original name of Prospect Ave. I wonder where the nearest gas station was.

** UPDATE ** – The question of where these people bought their gas came up on Facebook. One person said: “Gas was sold in hardware stores and similar places until real gas stations came about 1905 to 1907 but didn’t show up in common used till after about 1913 or 14.”

My contact at the Petersen Automotive Museum said: “It was a time when small gasoline brands proliferated before the large distributors like Standard Oil came to the fore. Interestingly, in 1907 Standard first began to pump gasoline at multiple regional stations that were relatively homogeneous in appearance that could theoretically offer buyers the same quality of fuel and type of service regardless of location. Prior to that, blacksmith shops retailed tins and barrels of gasoline gasoline that they had retrieved from bulk distributors on the outskirts of town. Later, individual proprietors sold gasoline that they first dispensed from pumps on sidewalks (brought in by means of tankers, both horse drawn and gasoline powered) then out of repair shops, car dealerships, and, in rural areas, repurposed barns and sheds.”