When service stations became gas stations in Los Angeles


As someone who loves old movies, and old photos, I enjoy seeing service stations, especially in Los Angeles. But as someone who lived in Los Angeles, I much preferred gas stations. I'll see if I can explain.

When I was a kid, in the '60s, my parents would go get gas at service stations. They would drive up, and when they rolled over a little cable, a bell would sound, summoning the attendant to the car. My dad would say something like "Fill 'er up!" and the attendant would pump gas into the car, check the oil, check the tires, and make recommendations for whatever he saw that either needed maintenance, or repairs. These types of places existed for quite a while, combining the sale of gas with car repairs. And the cars that my dad drove, beginning with his first one in the 1940s, required a lot of repairs, including grease. And then things started changing, and cars needed less of that. By the time I started driving, in the mid-1970s, mostly cars just needed gas.

Self-service gas stations started appearing, which would allow you to get gas without having to listen a sales pitch for tires, or oil, or anything. You just bought the gas, paid the cashier, and left. And when I was living in Los Angeles, in the 1980s, it got even better for people like me, who never liked service stations, and only wanted to get their gas and go with a minimum of hassle and delay - you could pay at the pump, with a credit card. No human interaction was needed at all!

I just loved the pay at the pump gas stations, and as someone who has always embraced the newest technology, I learned that you could get gas as if it were a racing pit stop - in just a few minutes. I would get gas on my way to work, or home, without it chewing up a lot of time. Yep, I was one of them thar young whipper-snappers, always in a hurry, dag nab it! I just had better things to do with my time thant sit around waiting to fill the tank of my car with gasoline, like going to see my gorgeous girlfriend.

Sadly, when I moved to Phoenix in 1989, there weren't pay at the pump stations, so I had to learn to set aside time, and be patient. Some places were still the old-fashioned service stations, which which give you a sales pitch for tires and oil, and the rest required you to walk into the cashier, hand them a twenty dollar bill, wait for them to turn on the pump, then walk back in to get your change. I had been spoiled in Los Angeles, so this took some time for me to get used to. For quite a while I would set aside getting gas as a Saturday thing, and remind myself how wonderful it was to be away from the smog and crowding of Los Angeles. Eventually, of course, Phoenix caught up.

I really do wonder about the leisurely pace, back in the day. In old movies I see cops directing traffic by standing in the middle of the street, service station attendants crowding around a car cleaning the windshield and checking the tires, I have to wonder when young people like me got to be in such a hurry! I guess that's just the way things go.
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