Here’s another closed gas station in Tucumcari, N.M., that’s been repainted to help dress up the town a bit. This station, which is nearly finished, is made up to look like a petrol stop from the long-defunct Whiting Bros. chain.
Richard Talley, owner of the Motel Safari and one of the volunteers in this townwide effort, said the artwork and lettering were done by local artist Doug Quarles, who plans to paint a mural on one of the walls as well.
The group repainted another station to look like a Texaco.
Next up for the Tucumcari group is another closed gas station that will be repainted to resemble a Continental Oil Co. business.
As I’ve said before, this is one of the best ideas that’s come up on the Route 66 corridor in a long time. Dozens of towns along the Mother Road suffer with closed gas stations that have become or are deteriorating into eyesores. A few gallons of paint can rectify that and give such towns a new twist for tourists.
(Photo courtesy of Richard Talley)
I agree this is good news for the local economies, but I have to admit, I’m obsessed with photographing those rundown stations (and houses and stores…) along the way. Something about their loneliness and desolation that I love. Which I realize says more about me than the buildings (ha).
Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of those shots along the way, on your way there! The problem with our community is there are so many of those old closed up buildings, tourists were asking if either the town was closed itself, or if it were safe to be there. The gas stations are just one of many projects we have in the works now, to rectify any of those concerns, not to mention how do you show someone what a Whiting Brothers station used to look like, when there’s basically all but none left! A black and white photo might do it, but it’s black and white, you’d never know what they really looked like, and now we’ll have some fine examples in living color for all to see. Anyone can of course, still take a black and white photo of them though! We had to do something, and this has been a great start going forward for the future, not to mention helping to save the buildings as well. Who knows, maybe in a few years, they’ll be nice and aged again for you?