Thursday, April 11, 2013

Restored 1934 Richfield Service Station Colinga

This Richfield Service Station in Coalinga was built in 1934. In 1966 Richfield Oil Corporation  merged with Atlantic Petroleum to form Atlantic Richfield Company better known as ARCO. I could not get inside the fence to photograph the service station so I held my tripod snug to the iron fence surrounding the station. I had a similar problem when photographing the station in the post Wenatchee Gas Station Restored except I held the tripod straight up in the air and was lucky enough to get a good set of bracketed shots to make a HDR image. While processing this image I could not help but notice the gas station air hose bell, when I thought about how those disappeared during my lifetime and I had not even noticed. Gone are the days when you pull into a service station and hear a "ding ding" and someone runs out to pump your gas, clean your windshield and check your oil. I sure am glad that they are preserving those memories by restoring some of the old service stations. The service station is located next to the R.C. Baker Auto Museum at 297 W. Elm St. Coalinga, Ca 93210.

2 comments:

  1. Rick, you won't have to take pictures behind a fence if you are in the Rancho Cucamonga, Ca area as we are restoring a Richfield Gas Station right now. The station was built in 1915 and became a Richfield gas station in the 20's. Go to Route66ieca.com to see the progress of the Cucamonga Service Station. Steve

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks I love old gas stations next time I am down that way I shoot it. I tried to go to your site but it did not load will try later.

    ReplyDelete