Lots of good news in this post for a change! The long-abandoned “White Elephant” gas station in Roanoke, AL from 1922…:

… started housing a drive-thru coffee shop last year:

In 2023, this long-vacant former Pure Oil gas station in Brewton, AL…

… was painted pink and began housing the Fancy Taco and Grill:

This former station in Jacksonville, FL…

… began housing Dreamette Ice Cream earlier this year:

This former station in Pensacola, FL…:

… is now being restored — StreetView from April:

But even better – this article from October shows many photos of the progress — and it looks GREAT!
https://www.pnj.com/picture-gallery/news/2023/10/19/historic-sinclair-gas-station-restoration-in-pensacola/71244529007/

This former Texaco station in Gainesville, GA looked like this just a few years ago…:

Restoration of the building began in 2018. In 2022, it opened as the Standard Service restaurant and taproom:

Another miracle – this station in Beardstown, IL…:

… has been transformed into this ice cream shop:

This nice little former Sinclair station in Lincoln, IL still had the original colors and porcelain enamel panels. It was one of just a handful of these buildings in a fairly original state:

… but now the building’s been painted over:

Here’s a tragedy in Evansville, IN. This special station looked like this in 2010 — shabby but there was still hope of turning it around:

I followed its progressing demise at StreetView for years now — missing the roof in 2015:

and now — just the little octagonal footprint:

After decades of being vacant and then many years of restoration, this station in New Orleans, LA has opened as a Cafe Habana:

This station in Brunswick, MO is gone now:

Restoration of this former Skelly station in Macon, MO started earlier this year:

That’s enough for now. I should be able to wrap up Gas Stations in the next post. Then, I’ll be starting on the Signs section.

Happy trails — and Happy New Year!
dj & the dogs

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