fill me up with premium

I must get along to the Southbank Centre for the Ed Ruscha Retrospective before it ends in January. An ideal excuse to post some pics of modernist gas stations...

Auburn Blvd, Sacramento, Ca. Old Hwy 40

Alum Rock Avenue in San Jose, c. 1960. Lovely engineering, really typifies the space age "Googie" look of roadside architecture. Modern, clean optimistic and confident, I love it.

More European in scale, n'est pas? From the auto museum in Hilversum, Holland

This curved, triangular structure was originally built to be part of LAX, but it now protects drivers filling their tanks at the Jack Colker Union 96 station on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills, wouldn't be out of place on the strip.