Pump and Circumstance: Glory Days of the Gas Station [Paperback]

John Margolies (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996

Pump and Circumstance is a rich and lively celebration of that icon of American roadside culture: the gas station. John Margolies traces the entertaining and significant tradition of gas station design, history, and lore - from horse-drawn pumps at the turn of the century to the convenience stores and self-serve pumpers of today. Particular attention is given to "the golden age" from 1920 to 1940, when humble curbside stations evolved into palaces of petroleum. Then, the whole experience became much more than just filling the tank: attendants in spiffy uniforms bustled about among gleaming pumps, eye-catching signs, and strings of pennants flapping in the wind. Those days are gone now, but John Margolies brings this era back to life by combining rare archival photographs, postcards, advertisements, and other service station artifacts and collectibles with his own trademark color photographs. He delves into such diverse and unusual topics as the hoopla of the sparkling and sometimes not-so-sparkling rest room; the evolution of road maps; and the development of gas pumps from jerrybuilt hot water tanks to the sleek, computerized vending machines of today. Pump and Circumstance is the definitive book of its kind - a nostalgic and lighthearted remembrance of the gas stations of our youth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Margolies presents an affectionate scrapbook history of the gas station as American roadside icon.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Margolies is the ideal tour guide through the ephemera of the American roadside. Bookshelves seem to be bursting with this far-from-scholarly but endearing genre of architectural publishing, and Margolies's pictorial look at the American gas station is a solid addition. Using postcards, his own contemporary photographs, and archival material from a number of petroleum companies, the author offers a bouncy look at a steadily changing highway icon. The spare text is full of tidbits of gasoline retailing lore and its evolution from the homey, early stations through slick industrial modern to the stripped-down self-service outlets of today. But it is the often surprising, occasionally nostalgic images of gas stations, retailing schemes, service station attire, and even road map designs that form this book. Recommended for academic and public libraries.
- David Bryant, New Canaan P.L., Ct.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 127 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch Pr (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821222848
• ISBN-13: 978-0821222843
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,465,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Icon and Institution, June 29, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pump and Circumstance: Glory Days of the Gas Station (Hardcover)

This is one of two books written by Margolies which I have just re-read. (The other is Ticket to Paradise.) Regrettably, copies of both are now difficult to obtain but well-worth the effort. Each focuses on what may seem to be a highly specialized subject. In fact, both offer a wealth of information and commentary concerning a basic component within the development of U.S. culture. This volume focuses on the "glory days of the gas station." At least some readers of this review recall traveling across the country decades ago and pulling over where they could fill up their vehicle's gas tank. For many summers, I drove from Chicago to Los Angeles along Route 66 and stopped at several of the locations featured in this book. I have forgotten when but, at some point, the filling station became a service station. Upon arrival, an eager stranger appeared to fill up the tank, check the oil and tire pressure, wash the windows, and encourage me to purchase a canvas bag filled with water in the event the summer heat depleted the water in the radiator. One attendant who resembled Gabby Hayes noted that I might also need extra water "if this thing of yours breaks down in the middle of nowhere."

Margolies organizes his material within five chapters: Pump and Circumstance (signage); Pioneer Days (road maps); Golden Age: 1920-1940 (Pop Architecture, Aircraft, Razzmatazz: Kid Stuff, Believe it or Not!, Razzmatazz: That's Entertainment!, and Deco Moderne); "Going, Going...: 1940-1965 (Razzmatazz: Postwar Frolics, Porcelain Enamel, restrooms, and Razzmatazz: The Best of the Best; and Back to the Future: 1965-1990. The book is filled with superb illustrations (the best of which being archival photographs) and the text is based on a wealth of primary sources. Chapter 3 was especially interesting to me because it examines (with some of the best graphics in the book) various gas station architectures which include the Gulf Lighthouse Service Station (Miami Beach, FL), windmill-shaped buildings (Saint Cloud, MN), shell-shaped Shell gas stations (Winston-Salem, NC), the B-17 "Bomber Gas Station" (the plane installed above the pumps in Milwaukee, WI), "Bob's Airmail Service Station" built around a 32-passenger Fokker plane (Los Angeles, CA), and a zepplin-shaped building grounded beside the Pennzoil pumps (near Pittsburgh, PA). Photographs of most of these facilities are included, accompanied by brief but informative commentaries.

I highly recommend this book (as well as Ticket to Paradise) to those who share my interest in icons such as the gas station. Its evolution has been inextricably involved in the cultural history of the United States.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PUMPS, PETROL, PROMOS AND PIZAZZ, November 28, 2000

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pump and Circumstance: Glory Days of the Gas Station (Hardcover)

Margolies has done his homework. In addition to a good written history of the "filling station," he has come up with photos and postcards depicting all aspects of delivering gasoline to your hungry tank. Following are just a few:

A station shaped like a red and white teapot, complete with pouring spout, in Zillah, Washington, built in 1922.

A 50 foot high tepee shaped gas station from Lawrence, Kansas, built in 1930

A station with a roof shaped like a red cowboy hat with a 50 foot wide brim, and restrooms in a structure shaped like a pair of cowboy boots, in Seattle, Washington, built just after World War II.

A station utilizing an actual B-17 Bomber overhanging the gas pumps from Milwaukie (sic), Oregon, again built just after World War II.

A flying saucer service station from Ashtabula, Ohio, built in 1966.

There are lighthouses, windmills, giant soda bottles, icebergs, and a myriad of other shapes and styles including art-deco, ceramic tile, cape cod, and just plain wooden sheds and concrete blocks.

The book includes a written history of filling stations from tanks atop horse-drawn carts to today's stations. Every kind of pump from hand cranked to coin operated to visible level to today's 24 hour automated pump are displayed and discussed. There are men's and women's uniforms, and there are advertising slogans, signs, very artistic give-away road maps, and even a discussion of the evolution of "the clean restroom" as an advertising feature.

We live in the era of the automobile, and PUMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE is, in addition to being brainfood for the nostalgia buff in all of us, a history of that still unfolding era.

This is the kind of coffee table book that any over 30 guest in your home will be drawn to and, pointing at some illustration, say, "Hey, I remember those."

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nostalgic look in the rear-view mirror, April 22, 2000

By 

Keith Nichols (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pump and Circumstance: Glory Days of the Gas Station (Paperback)

This handsome book arouses my nostalgia for the good old days of motoring both visually and educationally. Besides tracing the evolution of gas-station architecture, gas pumps themselves, and petrol merchandising, the book displays top-quality photo reproduction. This is especially to be appreciated for the way it shows the details in the older pictures, which were made in the days of slow, fine-grain films. And the book's generous page size helps the photos stand out, too. There's a good bibliography to further stoke the nostalgia.