Historic Hood River
Fashion Service Station
1-16-2019
Notes
The corner of Front and State Street has had a gas station almost since gas stations were invented. This view is from 1928. Too bad they don’t have the price posted.
Ed. note: This is most likely the corner of Front and Oak Street. Both corners has service stations in theis era.
Charlott
I think in my growing up years this was a Chevron station that was ran by Wayne Bowlsby. It seems it was in a different building though.
L.E.
Opened up the photo and recognized it. Actually, nothing looks the same, but it looks the same. If that makes any sense.
Mary Bartmess Kramer
Wayne Bowlby did have a chevron station, but I think it was at the corner of Oak and Front Street. He later was president of the Oregon Gas Dealers and which made it so we did not have to pump our own gas. Thank you Wayne!
LMH
Arthur, my brain keeps telling me this corner was Front and State streets, but I’m not entirely sure. Note the absence of the house just to the north on Front and it looks like a limited view of the battery and electrical shop east wall. It kind of looks like the pictured station maybe the corner of Front State and Oak streets. At one time three corners of this block had separate gas and oil service stations.
LMH
The fourth line should read "kind of looks like the pictured station maybe the corner of Front and Oak ".
Thanks to Mary for the Wayne Bowlby reference.
Arthur
If LMH is correct this is north of the Laraway House instead of south. It would be in the parking lot for the Gorge Surf House. I’ll search for another photograph to be sure.
L.E.
Is that the Yasui store in the background?
Arthur
L.E., you can see the early wood frame building facing onto 1st Street across from the Mt. Hood Hotel Annex. We saw this in the 1883 Watkins photo and a later photo when it was the Post Office. I’m not sure if the Yasui Bros. were tenants in 1928. I have worked out their timeline with Homer Yasui, but don’t have it memorized.
L.E.
Just wanted to make sure it was the same building.
Wouldn’t it be great if the old photos revolved like Google’s?
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=281
J.E.
Does the sign say "Fashion Service Station?" The old fashion Stable was down on Front off the end of Oak, I have been told. Could it be property adjoining the old stable?
Charlott
Then Mary I had my station area mixed up. Then this would have been where Chambers had his station up around the corner?
Arthur
1928 Sanborn map shows a service station on each corner, both similar buildings at a 45 degree angle pointing at the corners. They were separated by the Laraway House and a workshop. Since we can see the Mt. Hood Hotel annex, I think LMH is right identifying this as the service station at Oak and Front, across the street from the Fashion Garage. I’ll update the notes.
Patti Myers
Service center reminds me of "Oscar’s" Texaco; at the corner of May & ? across from Hospital.. (formerly home of Ex) My father always took his vehicles to Oscar for repairs. 😇
Patti
Correction… Oscar’s Service Center was "Shell" not Texaco ðŸ˜
Dwaine (Spike) Goodwin
1950’s that was a Shell station owned and operated by the Phile family who lived in a house just to the south of the station. They had two son’s who attended HR schools during that time (Ray and Phil)
Barbara Parsons
I remember Norman and Gary Pheil who went to HRHS in 1954-58. That house in the photo is where they lived. I think their dad had some kind of delivery business. Gary was the only one of us in the class of ’58 who got a brand new car for graduation. He was a very kind boy. A few weeks after my mother died in 1956, when I was still in a terrible state, he invited me to go with him to sell tickets to the school play. It was a "dark end stormy night," and he let me wait for him in the car with the radio going while he dashed out in the rain and knocked on people’s doors.He was so good at changing the radio dial that we got to hear "Behind the Green Door" about a dozen times that evening.
Jeffrey W Bryant
W. L. Huckabay opened Huck’s Service Station on State and Front streets in 1924.
https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn97071110/1924-02-21/ed-1/seq-15/
Jeffrey Bryant
“Doc” Maddux opened an auto-electric shop next to Huck’s service station in 1924.
https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn97071110/1924-07-10/ed-1/seq-5/