These guys looked vaguely familiar, but when I saw the coin changer and the Star book peeking out of the shirt pocket, I KNEW where this was taken: The Star Service Station at 600 Broadway.
I bought a lot of gas from them over the years. They were in the perfect location: across the street from Nowell’s Camera Shop, on my way to The Missourian, and close to the Rialto, where Lila worked. Oh, yeah, also nearby to Tony’s Pizza Palace. What more did a young man need in the 60s?
Grand Opening December 1965
I filled a bunch of those Star Stamp books over the years. Ninety stamps would earn you $1.50 worth of free gas. I’ve never been a smoker, but my eyes open when I see smokes for a quarter a pack.
This was a full-service station, too. None of that pump-it-yourself stuff in those days. I don’t remember if they’d vacuum your car like Brune & Eaker’s Phillips 66 that I wrote about earlier.
Locksmiths, shoe stores, jewelry, gas stations
When I searched for stories about 600 Broadway, I found that it has been lots of things over the years. Here’s a sample:
- Oct. 18, 1932 – Joseph Mosley, formerly of Dongola, Ill., today opened a jewelry sales and repair shop at 600 Broadway, in a building with Ed Randol’s shoe repair shop.
- May 25, 1937 – Wm. Hartung said today he will move his sporting goods store possibly Monday from 611 Broadway to 600 Broadway. The store has been located on the south side of the street for nine years. The new location is near Frederick St., where a shoe repair shop formerly was located. The building interior is now being repaired and repainted, this building also being owned by the Hartung family. Both the store and the repair shop will be transferred to the new quarters.
Aug. 26, 1948 – Hartung’s Key & Repair Shop has a newly painted red and silver front. Wm. C. Hartung, owner, has been in the present location the past 48 years. His father, G. Hartung, owned the business before him.- Apr. 25, 1989 – A representative from Wisdom Oil reported on Monday the theft of gasoline from 600 Broadway.
- Nov. 11, 1990 – At first glance, the service station at 600 Broadway here may appear to be the victim of a business gone bad. There is no attendant, and the building behind the pumps appears to be boarded up. Jamie Estes, president of Par Enterprises, which owns Par/Gas explains, “This station is a Par/Gas Fueling Club station. You can be a member if you have one of five credit cards – Par/Gas, Sinclair, Master Card, VISA or Discover. You drive up to the pump, insert your credit card, wait about 20 seconds, follow the instructions, and pump your gas. It’s all that simple.”
- May 28, 2003 – Broadway Station is set to make another go at it at 600 Broadway, this time thanks to new owner Stephen Majeed, who also owns Sprigg Street Station. His station will have gas pumps and sell everything expected at a convenience store except liquor and beer. That’s because it’s too close to a couple of churches. He’s remodeled the interior and has added a drive-through.
- Nov. 21, 2006 – Broadway Station reopened at 600 Broadway for a short time. Owner Steve Majeed opened the station to unload the 6,000 gallons of gasoline still in the tanks, selling the fuel for $1.29 a gallon. Majeed wanted to get rid of the fuel because he planned to build a new strip center there called Riverside Mall.
Stevies Steakburger in 2009
Stevies Steakburger was in the building when I was in Cape in October 2009. The white building on the right is Annie Laurie’s Antiques, formerly Brinkopf-Howell Funeral Home.
My 1959 Studebaker (cost $25) burned a lot of oil. The Star station was a favorite stop of mine because they sold rerefined engine oil for 25 cents a quart.
You must have liked Lynn Latimore, second picture of him working at a gas station. I can remember going to Hartungs for bicycle parts when i was young then buying gas from the station.
You’re right. He’s one of those folks who has a face that looks familiar, but I can never put his name with his face. Here’s the other Lynn photo.
I can’t remember his name, but I believe the fellow on the right in your picture is the son of the folks that owned the VW dealership. He gave me a ride in his “Bug” from StL Airport to Cape in 69 as I returned from a USNR two week (paint chipping) deployment to a dry docked WWI Destroyer Escort in Long Beach, CA.
Ah……those are good war time memories from back during the “Big One”.
YN5 Brune, Ret.
THE GRAY HOUSE IN THE BACK GROUND OF YOUR PICTURE WAS MY UNCLES’, VERNON NATIONS, FOR SEVERAL YEARS. I REMEMBER PLAYING ON THE STEPS AT ONE TIME. YOU COULD DRIVE UP TO THE BACK OF THE HOUSE AND NOT HAVE TO CLIMB ALL THE STEPS IN THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE. I REMEMBER WATCHING THE CARS ON B’WAY FROM HIS FRONT PORCH.
bradI remember Long Beach, in summer of 62 I did the same thing on a tin can. We had good two week duty except for the paint scraping with the reserve.QM4.
Hi Mearlin,
As if two weeks of painting and chipping down in the bilges of a WWI rust bucket wasn’t bad enough, the other shoe dropped when I went on active duty. All the military and yeoman training that I was supposed to have gotten on those two “Training Cruises” had been checked off as “completed” in my service record.
So to the ‘Lifers’ on the ship I was not only “just another f–kin college puke”, but was worthless and unprepared on the job as well.
Well, at least all the hippy draft-dodgers didn’t spit on us when we walked through the airports. Oh yea, perhaps I just blocked that out.
Good thing I’m not still sore about all that 40 years later.
Ah…. good times!
Brad
For Bill East: I had an Oldsmobile and kept a five gallon can of rerefined Star Oil in the trunk. When the oil light would come on I would ‘guess’ about two quarts into the engine and forge ahead. Never changed the oil or the filter and fared pretty well.
When delivering pizzas for Paglia’s I borrowed my
brother Tim’s 1961 Chevy Biscayne for a night.
He told me to put gas in and check the oil. I put
in a gallon of Star gas and 6 qts of rerefined
(used) oil. Car used more oil than gas!