Gas Station (Abandoned)
Encinitas, CA
Photo courtesy M.C. Morrissey

Check out the huge overhang on this abandoned gas station in Encinitas. The pumps may have stopped doing business, but the building still had something to show off when this photo was taken. Apparently, sheltering a car could call for considerably more than a plain little roof.

That broad canopy is the attraction here, recalling the days when service stations used bold shapes to catch motorists’ eyes. Before reading a price sign or spotting the brand name, travelers could recognize a place to pull in from the architecture alone.

UPDATE: The station was already abandoned in this view. Its later fate hasn’t been pinned down, so there’s no telling yet whether that big canopy survived or went the way of the pumps. Quite a piece of roadside architecture to leave behind. 10-26