The concept of drivers pumping their own gas was unknown until Gilmore Oil opened their self-serve gas station near Farmer’s Market at the corner of Third St and Fairfax Ave in 1948. I don’t know if they came up with the catchy name of “Gas-A-Teria” or some wisenheimer did as he was pumping his gas, but the nickname caught on. In order to encourage drivers to do what they were used to other people doing for them, Gilmore offered their customers a 5-cent-per-gallon discount. It did the trick as we can see from this circa late 40s photo.
Gilmore Oil’s innovative Gas-A-Teria self-serve gas station near Farmer’s Market, corner of Third St and Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, circa late 1940s
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Farmers Market, Gas stations. Bookmark the permalink.
I love the restaurant movie-like “marquee” across the street advertising spaghetti, so am wondering if it was a movie theatre before it was a restaurant. Canter’s used to be a movie theatre, so it’s not out of the question!
Good spotting. I missed the spaghetti sign and yes, it looks like it could have been a theater, just like Canters.
Given that the national average gas price was 26 cents a gallon in 1948, a 5-cent discount was pretty steep and substantial as a percentage of total cost.
And you didn’t have to worry about the pump jockey forgetting to put your gas cap back on or messing with your tire pressure!