Red Umbrella Project #23   

Dino and the Red Umbrella

for sale

This cute building at the end of the main drag in Spur is for sale.  It may have had many lives, but probably started out as a gas station.  I spent time looking for what "brand" it might have been.  Many of the early filling stations were built according to a company blueprint.  I just learned that the building on the road out of town that I didn't photograph was a Phillips 66 gas station cottage. (Note to self:  If you see it and it interests you, shoot it!).   If you have a clue about this building, let me know -- even my buddy Steve didn't have any information.  For more than you ever wanted to know about gas stations, visit Roadside Architecture.

Burlington Avenue
Spur, Texas

turnaround café

 

This post continues the culinary review of Spur, Texas.  The Turnaround Café is located in a former gas station (Exxon maybe?).  I wish I had gone inside to see if the washing bay was being utilized.  Dining rooms appeared to be on the opposite end.  On this side of the building, there is no clue that it's a dining establishment except for the "open" sign and curtains in the window.  The only sign is on the side of the building facing main street.  At noon on Saturday there was a fair crowd, judging by the number of pick-ups.  Situated at the corner of Burlington Street, which is the main drag, and East 6th Street which leads to State Highway 70, I'm guessing the Turnaround Café got its name because you have to turnaround here to get anywhere else!

 

Turnaround Café

202 Burlington

Spur, Texas

8.16.2014

the pit stop

 

By definition, a pit stop is a brief stop during a journey to refuel or rest.  This building is at its final pit stop.  Often built by major oil companies, gas stations marked highway routes.  As traffic patterns changed and businesses changed hands, the classic stations of the 50s and 60s, with attendants who filled tanks and washed windshields, were abandoned.  Often they were repurposed - as this building became Your Pit Stop Auto Service.  Now it appears to be "in the pits" awaiting a new life.

 

511 North 4th Street

Lamesa, Texas

6-16-2014

betty a la marilyn

 

1930s sex symbol Betty Boop does a 1960s sex symbol Marilyn Monroe pose on the side of a defunct gas station in Dickens.  Or did Betty do the cheesecake version first?  With the "dry line" this morning, there was definitely wind to blow one's skirts up.  (Blue jeans not so much!)

 

Dickens, Texas