Filling up at San Antonio's collection of historic gas stations

The expressway construction craze that began in the 1950s was not kind to traditional downtown districts, including that of San Antonio, Texas. Monster expressways slashed through the heart of the city, redirecting much of the downtown's residential and business blood toward the booming suburbs. Hundreds of old buildings were razed to make way for the onslaught of concrete and asphalt, and just as many were abandoned, condemned to a slow death from neglect.

Vast amounts of money have gone into the resuscitation of the city's downtown, including the restoration of many of the surviving historic buildings and neighborhoods, and the construction of a beautiful River Walk. Despite all the improvements, San Antonio's central city has a Disneyland, tourist-oriented feel that lacks the buzz of a downtown where people live, party, shop and do business twenty-four-seven.

What seems to have survived this wave of destruction and reconstruction are hundreds of tiny pre-World-War II gas stations. A few are virtually intact, the same as they were when the owners walked away perhaps during the tough economic times of the 1930s. Fewer still have been converted to modern uses that respect original architectural details. Dozens have been turned into taco or ice-cream stands by Mexican owners with electric color palettes in mind. Many are empty and tottering, looking as if the next strong wind might knock them down.

Regardless of their condition or aesthetic significance, these ubiquitous relics appear to survive under an impregnable bubble. I asked some locals and no one knew exactly what kept the stations from being demolished. One mentioned the work of a "a bunch of gray-hair preservationist ladies in tennis shoes." But there also seems to be an unwritten commandment against messing with these small, vulnerable structures.

You quickly learn to pick them out by their basic bone structure hidden under a myriad architectural disguises—Art Deco, Mediterranean, Tudor or utilitarian 1950s modern. Spotting them along some of the main thoroughfares—Fredericksburg Road, San Pedro, Broadway, St. Mary's Road—became a game for Stew and me. Stew had the far better eye.

Below are some samples from our gas station tour of San Antonio.

(1) 1021 Laredo Street. This station, built around 1938, has a 
ghostly aura. Except for the missing gas pumps and the boarded-up 
windows and doors, it looks pretty much as it did when the owner 
shut it down. Nowadays it sits, looking rather helpless but 
untouched, tucked between an arterial expressway, a huge 
billboard above and a noisy dog kennel behind. Across the street 
is a modern Candlewood Suites hotel. If that billboard ever 
blows down, it's all over for this tiny gem.  

(2) 1021 Laredo St. This was the main door. 
The blue tiles at the foot of the walls are typical 
of this style of gas station. The ceiling under the 
canopy, maybe pressed tin tiles once, is now gone. 
The molding around the door looks Art Deco to me. 
Humble Oils, founded in Humble, Texas in
1911 eventually became Exxon.

 
(3) 1021 Laredo Street. The gas pumps are long gone, 
but the post for the air hoses, neatly painted red, remains.
(4) 1021 Laredo Street. The peaked tin roof and the ziggurat tile 
pattern can be found in other gas stations in San Antonio.


(5) King William District. Located at one of the entrances of the 
King William Historic District, this former Texaco station's cabin 
style reminded me of something one would find in the backwoods 
of Wisconsin. Not much was done to it when it was converted 
into a drive-through beer and snacks store with a small outdoor sitting 
area. Many of the homes in the nearby King William District have been
so fastidiously and fussily restored that looking at them 
for too long makes your teeth hurt.

(6) 1502 No. McCollough Ave. This store's basic design, 
the peaked tin roof and the detail over the door, reminded us of the 
Art Deco look of station (1). But the Aztec Sun Blast paint job is 
definitely not Art Deco. The object under the right pillar is a badly
beat-up public telephone.

(7) 1502 No McCollough. The posts holding up the front canopy 
don't look original, and probably there were some ceramic 
tiles at the top and bottom of the exterior walls.

(8) 3502 St. Mary's Street. This is now Pugel's Hot Dogs. A 
thoughtful preservation. The owner kept the two entrances to the 
service bays, now covered with glass doors, and otherwise 
did little to change the exterior of the building. 

(9) 3502 St. Mary's. Other than installing a new window between 
the two front doors, the owners left everything intact, including 
the ribbon of ceramic tiles.

(10) 2324 No. St. Mary's Street. The signage on this restaurant 
must have been done by a tattoo artist on drugs. The front posts 
don't look original, but the rest of the Mediterranean flair is all there.

(11) 1726 St. Mary's Street. Crouching timidly between an 
expressway on one side, a monster-size billboard above and 
a construction site on the left side, this specimen has the look of 
an endangered species. But its trim above survives as do the two service
entrance doors. And judging by the hundreds of other old gas stations 
still standing in San Antonio, I bet no one is going to bring any harm
this one, no matter how battered it may look.

(12) 2222 N. San Pedro Ave. This is a curvaceous beauty, 
all its corners seductively rounded, along with the full-length bay 
windows, and the round porthole windows. There's a service 
bay on one side and a second one on the other side. A
sign suggested someone had bought the property and might be
readying to bring it back to life.

(13) Bliss Restaurant, 926 S. Presa St. A no-expense-spared 
conversion of an old Humble station into a $$$$ restaurant. The 
original station had the same lines, tin roof and tilework as 
the one on Laredo St. (pictures 1-4). The original building was
expanded to such an extent that the finished building
almost eclipses the original structure.

(14) Bliss Restaurant. The main room at Bliss, 
which were once the service bays of the original 
gas station. The brick walls and the roof 
beams were left exposed. Very cool space.

(15) Purple vision: one of our favorites, though I forgot to put down 
the address. Yes, purists might quibble about the 
color scheme or the placing of large pots of cacti on the roof 
of the canopy. But whoever owns this former station did respect
the basic Mediterranean design, including the two rounded 
service bay doors.

(16) Period-appropriate artwork. The owner 
must have commissioned the 1930s-style artwork.


(17) A bit of purple humor at the purple gas station. 
 (18) A touch of Tudor. During the 1940s a so-called Tudor Revival
style became the rage in residential building. It was completely
made-up, having little or nothing to do with Henry VIII or the 
other Tudors. This gas station seems to have been built of brick
and then sheathed with wood and plywood.


 (19) A coin operated air pump victim of a collision.

(20) I can't imagine these chimneys ever
worked, wood fires being not a good idea
at a gasoline station.
 
(21) Grand prize winner (no cash involved). This former Mobil
station is located at one of San Antonio's primo locations—the
intersection of Broadway and Austin Highway. It's been through
a few reincarnations according to a friend, before turning into
an upscale women's clothing store. The luxe exterior of the
gas station has remained pretty much intact, with the area under
the canopy closed in to provide additional retail space.

(22) Details, details. Though the restrooms were
moved, the architect kept the original 
doors and lighted signs. 

(23) Night vision. The rotating neon Pegasus on the cupola of 
the building was restored to full working condition. In Greek
mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse that carried
thunderbolts for Zeus. Pegasus was first trademarked by the
Vacuum Oil Company, and through later iterations became
Mobil Oil, which ultimately merged with Exxon. 

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Comments? Stew and I admittedly didn't do much original research, other than asking friends and then driving all over San Antonio looking for gas stations. So, if anyone has additions, corrections or amplifications please feel free to leave them in the "Comments" section below this post, and I will publish them.