Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Old gas stations

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
51169cefdd07d814557c56a9946a4b56.jpg




Rob

B90A117B-DEF6-429C-9680-F78B91664F6A.jpeg

Sears and Woolworth.

In my neck of the woods, Woolworth transitioned from retail clothing on
the first floor and grocery merchandise
on the basement to tourist bric-a-brac
items in it's last years before closing for
good.
The store offered real baby chicks &
rabbits in assorted colors around Easter. Also baby turtles, goldfish, canaries and parakeets.
The sound of brass cash registers, birds
chirping and aroma of fresh popcorn
and cotton candy, I still can recall.
My grandmother had several bamboo
cages with the pretty glass containers
which she would fill with Hartz bird
seed.
The smell of birds and newspaper on
the bottom of the cages. Whoowee!

Sears provided the Levis "shrink-to-fit"
blue jeans made in the U.S.
My jeans were super long at the bottom
and big at the waist.
Levi recommended 2 or 3 inches,
my folks would add a couple of more inches because I was growing "faster than a speeding bullet"!
I remember cars having running boards.
My uncle was the only one that allowed
me to climb on them when he was pulling
into the driveway.
The reason I recall cars with running
boards from an earlier era was because
nobody in the neighborhood could
afford new ones except for the rich
folks that lived across the railroad tracks.
 
Last edited:

Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,815
Location
The Swamp
Looks like the Mercedes "Ponton," so nicknamed because of a bridge-like structure in the front suspension. The '57 Chevy parked on the other side of the cafe/motel suggests this was taken some time after the year; the Pontons were produced from 1953 to 1962, with the 6-cylinder sedans, the most powerful ones, being from '56-'60. A fairly unusual car to see in America back then outside the big cities!
 
Messages
17,195
Location
New York City

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
Looks like the Mercedes "Ponton," so nicknamed because of a bridge-like structure in the front suspension. The '57 Chevy parked on the other side of the cafe/motel suggests this was taken some time after the year; the Pontons were produced from 1953 to 1962, with the 6-cylinder sedans, the most powerful ones, being from '56-'60. A fairly unusual car to see in America back then outside the big cities!

My grandparents actually had one! They bought it when they returned from Japan in 1958 and replaced it with a 1965 Pontiac GTO.

Mercedes-Benz.jpg

Grandpa, Grandma, and Dad, c. 1959-'60.
 

Benzadmiral

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,815
Location
The Swamp
My grandparents actually had one! They bought it when they returned from Japan in 1958 and replaced it with a 1965 Pontiac GTO.

View attachment 96382
Grandpa, Grandma, and Dad, c. 1959-'60.
A company called ITC, I think, issued a 1/25 scale plastic model of it in about '63. That and the famous "Gullwing" as an AMT kit were about the only MB models I can recall from my car-model period, 1963-1966. There might have been others, I suppose, but they were just never marketed in my area.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
She looks like my Mom! (She also got things done...)

0400C7AA-8A49-4F5E-9F86-F82D387ADB18.jpeg
My mom's hair was that texture and color.
It was a custom in social events for a girl
to wear a flower in her hair.
I have read that if the flower was in the
right side, she was single and available.
Left side, married or had a boyfriend.
Mom.jpg
My mom at my grandmother’s house a month
before I was born. :)
 
Last edited:
Messages
17,195
Location
New York City
Fading Fast, we don’t have that white stuff and was wondering if this is still
done.
View attachment 96407

If this ever happened today, they wouldn't even bother with a trial, they'd just take the kid's parents out and shoot them. It's not ubiquitous yet, but in the designated areas in Central Park where you can sled (and where safety bundles of hay are set up around every tree and potential obstacle in a three mile radius), each year, I'm seeing more kids wearing helmets when they sled. We've come along way from that photo Jake.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
If this ever happened today, they wouldn't even bother with a trial, they'd just take the kid's parents out and shoot them. It's not ubiquitous yet, but in the designated areas in Central Park where you can sled (and where safety bundles of hay are set up around every tree and potential obstacle in a three mile radius), each year, I'm seeing more kids wearing helmets when they sled. We've come along way from that photo Jake.

I still see this in the surrounding small towns, not so much on the freeways.
Although I have seen mattresses and sofas that were not secured.
d06e58f18826ee382547faa1d2dae365--chevrolet-trucks-gmc-truck.jpg
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,130
Messages
3,074,684
Members
54,104
Latest member
joejosephlo
Top