Imagine driving home one night along Wilshire Blvd, you realize you need to fill the tank, and the next gas station in your headlights has red tiles in a striking geometric pattern and a dome that looks like it had come from a Maria Montez movie set in a Persian desert. This Texaco gas station was at 3237 Wilshire Blvd between New Hampshire and Vermont Avenues. In the 1920s it was under the Calpet brand. I don’t know when it switched to Texaco, but I’m guessing circa early 1930s. I tip my hat to Texaco for not tearing it down. That, of course, would come later.
Bix on Twitter/X posted this interior shot showing wonderful wrought iron gill work:
This is what this corner looked like in May 2022. It’s an empty lot that looks like a building site.
Used to be a gas station/Food Mart there 4-5 years ago, with a Denny’s on the other side. The Denny’s is now closed and surrounded by a fence. When I first saw that period photo I thought the roof was on fire!
“On opening weekend in 1927, customers streamed in to the accompaniment of an orchestra and were greeted by film stars including Buster Keaton and Norma Talmadge.
Calpet Girls greeted customers in Tunisian costume, and male station attendants pumped gas in white shirts, bow ties, and maroon jackets with puttees and breeches.”
From: https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/calpet-super-station-demolished/
Now THAT is the way to open a gas station.
White jodphurs and the ability to make change…that would require two advanced degrees in brain surgery and costume design today. And an environmental engineering certificate to pump the gas. No wonder it’s gone! On the bright side, tradition is holding…the bicyclist has a red rear tire apparently. The future is looking bright.
How Grand must it have been to fill up at that station!!!! The attendants look like they were off to the polo grounds. Class pure Class!!!!
I know, right? I would’ve driven all the way over there just to experience it!