I’ve previously discussed my visit to the small town of Truckee, which rests on California’s eastern Sierra Nevada slopes and which you can read about at this link. The town has a nicely preserved historic core, with lots of buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
My favorite building in Truckee was this old Flying A Service Station, which brought back memories of many like it I’d see when I was much younger, under a variety of banners like Texaco and Sinclair’s. Most of these old buildings have been torn down and replaced by large self-serve fueling outlets, each with an attached convenience store. These new structures may be efficient but they lack the intimacy of these old stations.
Even this Flying A station has changed. Gone is the gasoline, grease and oil — it’s now a real estate office, the service bays nicely upholstered and furnished, with realtors sitting at their desks typing on their computers or taking care of business on their cell phones.
Still, a hat tip to Engel and Völkers who have done a great job preserving the building, including the signs and gas pumps and even the sense of its atmosphere. It was tempting to pull up to the pumps and say, “Fill it up, Premium”.
