Historic Hood River
Commuters General Gasoline
6-17-2020
Notes
There’s so much to enjoy in this image that we can overlook the fact it’s not in Hood River. This stylish gas station was on Broadway in Burlingame, California (not Portland, as I first posted). The design of the station and the sign graphics are impressive.
The building in the background says “Circulating Library” on the awning. There is also a “Broadway Tamale Parlor,” a Real Estate agent with the address of 1100 Broadway, and a Broadway Cab Company with the phone number Burl. 5464.
This image is from the DeWitt album. Pansy DeWitt’s notes indicate this was Allyn, Mal and Ralph’s station about 1930.
Reader notes offer more context about the owners of the station and its location.
Category: default
Tags: 1930s, automobile, Burlingame, Button, California, DeWitt, gas station, library
Tags: 1930s, automobile, Burlingame, Button, California, DeWitt, gas station, library
Dale Nicol
I wonder today, how many people know how these gasoline pumps worked?
WAAAM has one in Museum 3 that was restored and you can see up close, all of the simple operating details.
Will
Maybe not Portland, but Burlingame, CA:
The Broadway Arch is an early example of adaptive reuse in Burlingame. Dating back to what remained of the vast Howard Estate, the sign was originally erected on El Camino Real and Howard Ave. to advertise the Pacific City amusement park in the early 1920s, a beloved, albeit short-lived destination on the "beach" of what is now known as Coyote Point.
When the park failed in 1923, the sign was salvaged and sold to the Broadway Development Association. In 1927 a newly worded sign that read: "Broadway-Burlingame" was installed over Broadway at California Drive to advertise the shopping district. The beloved sign was restored in the late 1980s as a result of the "Save the Arch" campaign.
L.E.
A tamale parlor would sure make more sense in California in the 1930’s.
That is quite a history Will. Good job. In the 1930 census Ralph Button, (born 1883 in Wisconsin), is living in Burlingame, San Mateo, California. His occupation…… he owns a service station.
In 1900 he had been living in Hood River with his brothers Malcom and Allen. I didn’t take the time to research them. I suspect they are in California in the 1930’s.
L.E.
Ralph, Allen, and Mal are sons of Frank Button who died in Hood River in 1922. He and his wife Ethel are buried in Idlewilde. His occupation is farmer and by now, HHR readers should be familiar with the Button Farm location.
Will
Not sure this is how to post Google map location, but here the sign can be seen in its present condition:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5875846,-122.3634128,3a,51.1y,217.58h,87.34t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1skU6GLuH8VuQIxK0bYR2_tw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DkU6GLuH8VuQIxK0bYR2_tw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D211.4847%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192
Harold
Check out this photo:
https://burlingamehistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/2005-224broadwayarch1933.jpg
Harold
And here’s the correct link for current street view:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5876119,-122.3634567,3a,75y,228.33h,88.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVTOqO1aiOUTZdwTwPZNlHg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Harold
I guess the box keeps cutting off the ends of our links…….
Another try:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5875421,-122.3632934,3a,75y,255.09h,87.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stgKFvG4g2ar9WzTlV-buaw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Kenn
I remember pumping gas up into this type gravity fuel dispenser at my grandfathers tire shop and gas station in Grants Pass. It is first filled and then drained to whatever mark the customer wanted (and could afford at .20 per gallon).
ArthurB
OK, Burlingame California makes more sense. I’ll correct the post!
ArthurB
yeah, sorry about the difficulty embedding link, but that’s tied to security measures. If I dive into the code to fix it I could easily break something more important. Squashing the thousands of bots trying to flood this site with annoying messages hasn’t been easy!
L.E.
Arthur, this is an example of why this site is so great. We are always learning.
I find that even though the link runs out of the box, when I copy and paste, it still works.
When I first visited the rural area of central British Columbia in the 1960’s, there was no electrical power. There might be a farmer or a little post office/store/gas station combo that had one of these gas pumps. So, I actually have been able to see them work.
Jeffrey W Bryant
All three of those Button boys died in California. Edgar Button died in Hood River.